1/72 Bell XP-83 Anigrand resin

[TheRealMrEd]

While the XP-91 Thundercepter V-Tail model works it's way through the paint shop, I've decided to while away the waiting hours by starting another resin airplane, the Bell XP-83, by Anigrand.

 

This model has a certain interest to me, because I originally started working on it piece-meal a few years ago, and then when I got to that point, I discovered that my kit had two right side intake nacelles, but no left side.  I emailed Arnold at Anigrand to ask whether he might supply the correct part I needed.  He soon replied that during a move, the molds for his original XP-83 had been lost or damaged, and that he would like to find one of those older kits, to remaster some molds.  I volunteered what I had (forgetting to enclose the wings) and sent it off to him.  After several months of not hearing back, I sent a couple of emails, but got no response.

 

About a year or more later, I was browsing his website, and saw that the XP-83 was for sale again.  I figured he had forgotten his promise, so I just ordered another kit, paying with Paypal.  Soon, I got an email from Arnold saying that he had lost my email address, but remembered my name, and he refunded the price of the new model plus shipping, so he did, in the end, honor his promise.  A very nice gentleman!

 

After seeing the remastered kit, I compared it to the old one I had started.  First off, unlike the old kit, the newer one had only 1 teeny tiny pinhole, and virtually no flash at all.  In addition, this time the kit had a clear cast resin canopy, rather than the usual vacuform, which the old kit had.

 

Anyway, here is the kit box, and the instructions:

 

 

As you can see from the parts explosion, there aren't many parts to this kit, which meets my simple model desires at this time!  I started off the build by prepping the interior of the fuselage and intake/engine nacelles (one of each persuasion this time!):

 

 

The cockpit area and front wheel well were given a shot of Interior Green, while the nacelles had a shot of black primer at either end. When dry, the cockpit interior was given a coat of clear gloss, to attach some cockpit decals, which are fine for the very tiny cockpit on this model, and won't really be seen much later on.  The decals for the side console will be cut from portions of this old IPMS sheet which I found on line, and used for these situations.  This sheet happens to be one I recently acquired on E-bay:

 

 

Above right, After the nacelle primer had dried, I shot the interiors where needed, with some Alclad II Aluminum, and the engine faces with some Alclad II Polished Aluminum.  The photo shows that the background area of the engine face on the right side has been painted flat black, while the one on the left has not been thusly painted yet.

 

Next, the engine fan blades were given a wash of black to pop out the blade detail a little:

 

 

Above right, they are then glued into the nacelles with CA.  The whole point of all this is to make the engine fronts stand out a little, while giving the illusion of depth.

 

Next up, the cockpit "detail" is done, with the kit supplied decal added to the instrument panel.  In retrospect, I probably should have used some from the IPMS sheet, but you can't see much of it when done, anyway.  The two areas on the sides of the decal shows where the edges of the panel need to be sanded to fit the cockpit.  The simple seat gets some tiny strips of aluminum foil, painted a light grey on the dull side, and the the tips of the strip on one end are bent over to the grey side, to represent tiny buckles.  They are shown here attached with white glue, and when dry, will be bent down into their needed shapes with a toothpick:

 

 

Next, the decals were added to the side consoles, and when dry the cockpit wash given a coat of matt clear.  Then, the fuselage halves are CA'd together and when dry, the I.P., control stick and seat are inserted into the cockpit.  Also shown is the spiffy new cast resin canopy:

 

 

The canopy pour block needs to be sawn very carefully from the canopy.  Resin tends to be brittle, so I wouldn't attempt to snip it nor snap it off!

 

 

Above right, After sanding the fuselage seam a little, the canopy has been attached with G-S watch cement, and the tail attached with CA.  Masking tape has been added to keep the tape off of gluing surface, and "X" marks where each side of the fuselage will also be black primed and then painted Aluminum, as were the nacelles, earlier.

 

Well, that's enough for the first install.  If you'd like one of these kits, I can certainly recommend the new tooling.  Get 'em before they're gone, HERE.

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Well, having finished the XF-91 Thunderceptor,  I was able to turn my attention back to this build.  The next picture shows the engine nacelles and parts attached, and shows the engines, at least as much as can be seen:

 

 

It was here, while working on the other model, that I forgot to take a few pictures.  Fortunately, this was mostly of the wings and horizontal stabilizers being attached to the fuselage, which was straight forward with no major fit problems.

 

So, the next picture shows the aircraft after having been given a coat of Alclad II Black Primer, followed by a coat of Krylon Gloss Black Enamel, followed by a coat of Alclad II Polished Aluminum:

 

 

Above right, after masking with some Parafilm "M", then shooting some parts with Alclad II White Aluminum, removing the masking, and then re-masking other parts, then shooting some other metallic colors plus the Interior Green wheel wells, it looks like so.

 

Below, with all the masking removed (except for the canopy's masking) the whole model is given a light misting of 10% Alclad II Aluminum and 90% thinner, to sort of blend the various panel colors together better.  After the decals have  been applied and allowed to dry, later on, the whole model will be given a coat of Alclad II Klear Kote Semi Matte to kill the shine a bit.

 

 

The rest of the build was simply to add all the pitots, antenna, landing gear, gear doors, gun barrels and the like, none of which were eventful.  And so, the model is done:

 

 

As is customary, I will add a few RFI pics soon: HERE

 

She's not a very complicated nor alluring model, but I'm glad to have her in the collection.

 

See you all next time,

 

Ed

Edited December 2, 2020 by TheRealMrEd
added link

[HOUSTON]

 Ed.

 

SUPER  build.

 

 

gonna check RFI .