Andwil

The interior parts have all been airbrushed zinc chromate green and the cockpit sidewalls, control column and radar operator’s bulkhead have had some detail painting. Bottom left in the photo is the cockpit rear bulkhead from the Dragon kit, which with a bit of trimming will fit. As this part is better detailed than the Hobby Boss part I’ll use it. To be continued. Thanks for looking. AW🕷️

I see that Fly have just released 1/72 Tigercats….. AW

Certainly still interested. In fact extending it to include the 2nd Sino-Japanese War opens the door for a Chinese Curtiss Hawk I have a kit for. AW

Well the calendar hasn’t been too kind to me, a lot of the GBs I am particularly interested in overlap during the period when I also have some trips away booked (SWMBO is a very keen traveller). P-40 and Cool Cats are looking doubtful for me at this stage. Other GBs where I had hoped to enter two or three builds are now realistically only going to get one entry. Still hope to get 9-10 builds done though. AW

Very happy that Stick and String got up but sorry that High Wing and Specialists didn’t. I can fit most of my planned builds into other GBs but I think the He-219 will be staying in the stash for now. Final choices will be made once the calendar is finalised. AW

A start of sorts, various components primed: Many of the parts are on a par with the Dragon kit detail wise, the control column and nose gear leg I would say are superior. The engines are not as well detailed but are not going to be very prominent inside the cowlings and behind the big props. Unfortunately the Dragon engines don’t fit. The three holes for the locating pins on the turret filled with plastic rod: To be continued. Thanks for looking. AW🕷️

My Hobby Boss P-61 arrived today: Good sturdy box with 9 sprues of grey plastic in a number of bags: plus the clear parts wrapped in protective foam. The decals (which won’t be used other than the IP and a small PE fret complete the package: On initial inspection the kit is simpler than the Dragon one, not as detailed but nicely moulded with no flash. Other than the seats I don’t think I can use any of the parts that I saved from the wreck of the Dragon kit. Interestingly, the Hobby Boss canopy and gear bays and doors are considerably longer than the Dragon ones. I will make a start on this tomorrow. AW🕷️

Fantastic work on those seats. The cockpit is looking great, hopefully it won’t all be lost nice it’s closed up! AW

Good luck with the build. Hopefully the kit goes together better than the 1/72 Dragon one that just turned to 💩on me! AW

If you’re happy for me to do that, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll edit the title appropriately. AW

Off topic, but nice to see so many WWI subjects on display. AW

As I really want a Black Widow in my collection I have just ordered a Hobby Boss kit. When it arrives I’ll start a new thread. I have saved some bits of the Dragon kit which I might be able to use on the new one. I must admit the old mojo took a serious hit yesterday but having fallen off the horse one just has to get back up on it again. AW

I have reluctantly abandoned this build and consigned the kit to the bin. The booms and tailplane fits were absolutely awful, I had to saw the locating tabs off the tailplane as it sat a millimetre or two above the fairings on the fins. The fit of the booms to the wings was dreadful and once in place revealed that the port side one had a distinct twist. It also transpired that one wing was higher than the other. The result was that nothing would line up square. It was just not worth persevering with and it certainly was not much fun. AW

My plan is to pack as much as possible to the nose and the fronts of the booms, behind the engines. I’m taking this one slowly, bit by bit. Today I attached the wings. As @M.T.Dolby found, the wing to fuselage joints are not good. I had to do a fair bit of filing and sanding to improve the fit. The problem is chiefly with the attachment tabs which I think are too high. If I was to build this kit again I think I’d cut them off and pin the wings with brass rod. Here are the wings on and with the booms dry fitted to check alignment: The fit of the booms is also poor and will need some work. The gaps at the wing roots: Which have been shimmed and had filler applied. Up until now the fit of this kit has been very good, it’s a shame Dragon really dropped the ball on the wing and boom fit, which are they most important ones on a twin boom plane to ensure correct alignment. Thanks for looking. AW🕷️

Jumping the fence on motor bikes. AW