GWH 1/48 P-61A Black Widow "Jukin Judy"

[72modeler]

Just got back to your WIP and she's coming along very nicely! Those crew stations are going to look great under all that plexiglass with all of the extra detailing you have done...sure was nice of the MAAM to take so many detail in-progress photos of their Widow just for us modelers!

Mike 

[Christer A]

Thanks Rui & Mike!

It's good to hear that GWH improved on the kit, even though it's too late for me to get the new edition 😎

 

That Eduard set looks like the business, too bad that Eduard has discontinued all GWH P-61 sets now.

[Christer A]

I was assaulted by an evil mancold last week and that hit me unusually hard, probably with a sinus infection as an added bonus. One can't really say that it has improved my modelling speed, but it seems to let go now, so maybe a dare to sit a few hours in front of the bench?

After looking at how much work I was doing in the cockpit I went back to main landing gear bay and decided to add a few more things.

Just a few strips of evergreen but it looks a bit more fun now.

My 3D printed magnetos was finally installed:

All this "to-scale" stuff doesn't really work, since it's way too small to be seen. Note to self: do all screws, connectors and whatnot much larger than life!

Speaking about 3D printing, I got a request to do some gunsights and radio-equipment from Swedish Air Force. Full documentation will be sent to me, so I have no excuses of not doing it.

Made a test assembly of the 10 parts for the radar.

Looks quite ok in plastic, but I won't leave the cover off in any case. One mustn't spoit the whalemouth!
 

Went back to the cockpit again and tried to finish most of the parts, first up the throttle which was given a bunch of leavers:

Not in the same class as an Eduard sheet, but much better than nothing.
I'll think I'll leave the left side like this:

There is no active gunnery station on this so I guess there isn't much in the way of wiring back there. That's a bonus for a lazy person like me!

The heating system for the front cockpit was put together.

A small intake on the outside was drilled out and attached. This leads in to a glow plug heater on the rear bulkhead and then there is a long rubber hose running along the floor to give some heated air into the cockpit. Comfy!

I didn't have any spun wires of the correct size so I took a Ø1mm evergreen rod, and wrapped led wires around that. It wasn't that hard to do! Maybe those expensive spun wires are an luxury item I ca do without? Probably not...

 

Looking forward, there is some extra control panel in front of the major one. 

Seems like it would block the view of the instrument panel, but all cockpit pictures shows it like this, so someone obviously thought it to be good enough,

 

This isn't the first edition of this kit, so GWH has provided 2 small correction sheets and also a resin gunsight.

Thanks!

 

The GiB:s entry ladder was finished. Naturally the steps should be in Ø0,4 but I only had Ø0,5...

I hope no one will notice!

Maybe I'll add some handrails later on.

All cannons have their barrels removed and a few plastic guides were added

Also added a few pellets for nose weight. I guess I'll need a lot of it!

 

Then I had an IKEA moment: Two recliners BENGT and one captain chair FABIAN was assembled and got belted.

Edaurd neet not to worry that GWH will run them out of businees here. Still, it's better than no belts at all.

FABIAN also had some structure added on the backside:

 

Some few things to do but it looks like I need to start painting the internals now.

Feels like a scary prospect...

[Christer A]

I was working from home yesterday and decided to take a little bit longer lunch and do some proper work.

In the end, I had primed and shot both Interior green and Yellow Zinc primer onto almost anything.

Now it's time to start the detail painting, and some weathering.

[Knaupel]

Your detailling is very good! Like it a lot!.

 

Peter

[Christer A]

Thanks Peter!

Progress in December has been slow unfortunately, but some paint have been splashed around with hairy sticks and sometimes even airbrushed.

Looking at the main fuselage halves, the black primer paint in combination with the very thin Mission Models interior green produced a quite dark version of IG.

Touchups with IG are much lighter, but that on the other hand makes it perfect for drybrushing!

 

The canvas door/cover towards the gun turret compartment was painted differently, just to have some contrast. I wonder if I have some nice stencil to put on the fire extinguisher? 

 

The belts are not yet fully painted, I need to do something towards the buckles, and a wash will definitely help, but they are quite bland and boring compared to Eduard Steelbelts or HGW paper belts. Ah well, they came with the kit so I'll use them in any case.

 

 

The instrumentpanel will be fun...all instrument gauges are separate decals!

I foresee a long decalling session to sort that out.

 

The main wheels came out good, the extra detailing looks fine. Maybe the "roof" looks a bit bare, but no one will even see that 😉

 

I have 2,5 weeks of X-mas vacation coming up, so I hope I'll be able to fill some of it with plastic! 

[Ran]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:18 PM, Christer A said:

Thanks CR!

 

During the weekend I made a small start in the cockpit, but those pictures will come later.

However, during today's lunch walk I popped in to an Arts & Craft store nearby and found this:

Spun Ø0,3 and Ø0,4mm tin wire. This stuff should be excellent for all kinds of hoses and stuff in the rather large and comfy cockpit.

Minimum quantity was 5 meters of each size, so now I'm set for life 😎

Hi Crister

 

Great build - one of my favorite airplanes and the first diorama I've built as a kid

Can you share more info on the spun wire - I'm looking for one.

Thanks

Ran

[billn53]

Ditto on the spun wire...

 

Edit: I learned that the spun wire is used for making Swedish "sami" bracelets, and the wire is known as "Tenntråd". A Google search on this led me to some online sources.

[Christer A]

You guys are correct!

This kind of spun wire is used a lot in bracelet-making here.

 

Here is one store that's selling it

https://www.tnkreativt.com/tenntrad-c-73.html

The price is decent, but I have no idea if they ship outside of Sweden

 

These people though

https://www.slojd-detaljer.com/range/jewellery-making/thread-wire/tin-thread-2746

They appear to be willing to sell to other countries, but the price is enormous, and the minimum length is 5 m.

Still, if you're willing to pool your resources, then I guess the price per cm will be better

 

Oh, my P-61 has recieved a bit more stuff in the cockpit.

An update will come soon.

[Ran]

Christer - many thanks!!

I ordered from TNKreativt AB

Edited December 22, 2019 by Ran

[billn53]

I ordered from saamisupplies.com

 

-Bill

[Christer A]

Well, If everyone has ordered their Tenntråd, then maybe I can post an in progress picture or seven?

I've decaled a bunch of stencils and stuff, some randomly and some according to the instructions.

Some of the stencils were supposed to go onto the upmost rim of the cockpit but the decals were twice the size of the plastic? Can't really see how that's supposed to go.

For the pilots instrument panel, all the dials were supplied as separate decals, so that took a while 😓

Crazy stuff!

The seatbelts were painted and heavily washed. At least I thought so yesterday...

Some neatening of the wash, and a few more dings and scratches and then I'll flat coat the entire innards.

Let's get it on!

[reini]

That is stunning job! Really good looking interiors with nice added details, really makes it come alive. Great paintjob too  

[woody37]

It’s going to be a shame to hide this lot inside the fuselage. Stunning paint work

 

[Christer A]

Thanks guys!

I have closed up the fuselage now, but then I packed away the entire kit. It needs to rest for a while, so that I have some time and space available for the Dual J21R in the Nordic GB, dual Harriers, one F-100F Wild Weasel and the request to finish my Sea Vixen!

Plenty to do then