Revell Douglas Boston III (SAAF) and P-70 Nighthawk (USAAF) double build (1/72) [FINISHED and FINISHED]

[klr]

My first builds for this GB. These are both based on the old 1967 tooling, updated in 1982 to cover the P-70 night fighter. As I wanted to build both, and they have 90% commonality, it makes sense to have just the one build thread.

 

 

I bought both of these kits in 1996 a few weeks apart, probably in different cities. Combined cost: < 10 Irish Pounds (c. 12.70 Euro in today's money). The P-70 is in a Matchbox box, which in those days was just another way of selling any mold owned by Revell.

 

Because I dislike painting black on black plastic, I have swapped around most of the parts. The basic tooling includes the drill-out holes for the P-70 ventral gun pack, and for the dipole aerials on the port wing.

 

 

There is one missing main undercarriage door (easy to replace), and one missing tiny oval side window (Clearfix to the rescue).

 

I have nothing fancy planned for either kit. The bomber kit has the option to build a USAAF A-20C, but the SAAF Boston III was always my first choice.

Edited February 16 by klr

[81-er]

Welcome  A nice pair of builds to run in tandem

 

James

[AdrianMF]

Nice to see an old kit getting some love!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Wings unlevel]

Nice choices, great to see the Havoc getting some love. For a moment I thought you were going to do the original Revell boxing scheme, which looks fantastic, and I would have loved to have seen someone else attempt! 🤣

[klr]

Progress has been slow but study. I chose to undercoat the interiors with Revell 45 (RLM 02), as otherwise it might have taken 3 or even 4 coats of Humbrol 226:

 

I was wondering why the control sticks are molded at an angle. Well, it's because the attachment point is too far forward. I could have drilled out a newer point further back, but what the hell. No-one will notice when the canopy is closed. Ditto the lack of an instrument panel.

 

The wings went together very well - hardly any clean-up work required.

 

The main wheels don't need to be cemented in place, which is handy, as it makes it easier to complete their painting in situ:

 

The next progress post should be tomorrow or Sunday. I have just assembled the fuselage halves, now I need to clean them up.

[klr]

As promised. The P-70 ventral gun pack join to the fuselage is good, the join between the front section of the gun pack and the main body not so. I have hopefully put enough weight in the nose, but I won't know for certain for a few days.

 

The Boston fuselage. There is no obvious place for nose ballast with this, so I opened up the hole beneath the tail, into which a provided stand will go.

 

The nose fuselage halves are slightly too wide, but narrowing them before assembly wouldn't have done much good. The one-piece plexiglass nose is slightly too wide, and also too high, with limited scope for adjusting it before attachment. I will probably need to apply some thin plastic card behind the top section of the glazing, and smooth it until everything looks normal.

 

The cheek blisters for the forward-firing machine guns were tricky to fit, and need some more cleaning up. So do the main fuselage joins for that matter. Be that as it may, I hope to have the fuselages complete tomorrow, and the tail planes fitted.

[klr]

Ah yes, the joys of a kit from the late 60s. The pilot's canopies aren't high enough. Fairing down the fuselage behind is not an option IMHO. I'll have to build up the fuselage sides beneath the canopies, tapering this down towards the front.

 

 

It's a similar issue with the rear canopies, although not as pronounced:

 

I've also mated the nacelles (sans engines) to to the wings. In advance of completing and fitting the engine blocks, I also tested the fit of the cowlings, of which more in a moment.

 

The cowlings are asymmetric, and I don't think you could fit them to the wrong side even if you tried. However, they were all also sub-standard fits. On a whim, I switched them between kits, and that significantly improved the fit for all four cowlings.

 

There is still however some work to be done at the top of each.

 

More progress reports tomorrow, hopefully.

 

[AdrianMF]

Wow! This is like a reference work for "annoying things about old (and some new) kits".
 

Looking good though.
 

Regards,

Adrian

[klr]

23 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Wow! This is like a reference work for "annoying things about old (and some new) kits".
 

Looking good though.
 

Regards,

Adrian

Despite the shortcomings, I really like this tooling, probably because the surface detail is (IMHO) a very good representation of the real thing (full 3.6MB image here:) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/A-20_Havoc.jpg

 

 

Anyway, more pics later today.

[thorfinn]

Lovely work so far! Quite a bit of deja vú as well, re the difficulties, having built the 'Nightfighter' issue of the kit as a workaday 9th AF version.

Well worth the effort, as it builds up to quite a nice little representation.

Cheers

[vppelt68]

Your twin colour build gives all Matchbox-lovers goosebumps

[klr]

So ... slight change of plan in terms of the sequence. I attached the wings last night. The attachment slots are overly tight and needed considerable sanding down, but better this than loose. The resulting fit was very good but not perfect, requiring considerable time and attention, mostly on the upper side.

 

 

The top rear edges of the cowlings have all been extended. Any remaining gaps will be easy to fix. However, I still haven't glued them on, as I need to complete the engine blocks next.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 1/14/2024 at 4:35 AM, klr said:

Ah yes, the joys of a kit from the late 60s. The pilot's canopies aren't high enough. Fairing down the fuselage behind is not an option IMHO. I'll have to build up the fuselage sides beneath the canopies, tapering this down towards the front

I used small plastic strip to build up the rear and the fuselage ring to push my canopy forward slightly. 

[klr]

18 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I used small plastic strip to build up the rear and the fuselage ring to push my canopy forward slightly. 

Plastic strips is exactly what I plan on using, same as I did to close the back of the cowlings. I'm also using them on a Do 335 in the Frog GB, not just for the canopies (again), but to close up gaps in the wing assemblies. Can't get by without them.

[81-er]

You're making a fine job of knocking these older kits into good looking models

 

James

[klr]

OK, I didn't get much done yesterday, but I've caught up somewhat today.

 

The engine blocks attach to the main undercarriage nacelles at a shallower angle than the nacelles themselves. Whether this is right or wrong, whether or not it will be noticeable when all is said and done ...

 

... engine blocks attached (note the fuselage spine still needs some cleaning up):

 

.. cowlings attached, and propellers dry-fitted:

 

... but are the propellers too far forward? To be investigated. If necessary, the shafts will have to be shortened, possibly quite a bit.

 

On the Boston, I finally tackled the alignment issues with the nose glazing. Step 1: cover the offending areas with plastic card. I have thinner card than this, but it's transparent, and might be tricky to work with in this scenario.

 

 

Step 2: Sand and file the bejeezus out of it, until only what's needed is left. It looks a bit messy, but it's almost there. Prior to starting the main paint work, this is one of the areas to be primed and cleaned.

 

 

Next up - finally - will be those troublesome canopies. After that, the undercarriage doors. I still need to fashion one replacement for a missing door.  After that, the night fighter radar and other aerials. I'll probably glue the tail stands on, as they will always be required, and I don't want to lose them.

[81-er]

They may be needing additional work, but they're shaping up to be a nice pair of builds

 

James

[klr]

9 minutes ago, 81-er said:

They may be needing additional work, but they're shaping up to be a nice pair of builds

 

James

I'd certainly like to build them again sometime (just not soon ...), given the range of possible markings. I am already on the lookout for some stash replacements, but it might take a while. According to Scalemates, these are the most recent boxings of this tooling. With Revell reboxing the MPM/Special Hobby tooling, there's little prospect of seeing this old tooling being re-released Vintage Classics style. Revell doesn't tend to sell off it's old molds, that I know of anyway.

[klr]

OK ... time to remedy the canopy fits. This is being done on both kits:

 

The rear canopy fit is now quite good, and any remaining issues can easily be sorted:

 

The front canopy is now OK, but there still a small gap underneath the windscreen, not readily visible here. That's next on the list.

 

[klr]

The canopies are now all attached, but some work remains, partly because they are not properly molded. Noticeable is the gap at the end of the rear canopy on the P-70.

 

The gap under the left side of the Boston windscreen looks worse in this photograph than it is to the naked eye, which is always the way,

 

On the whole, the Boston turned out better, but the sides underneath the rear canopy had to be tapered in for a smooth transition.

 

Another gap under the left side of the windscreen, so at least the the two kits are consistent.

 

So there is quite a bit of clean-up work to be done, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just as long as it's not a Turbinlite*

 

*For anyone who doesn't get the joke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinlite

 

 

[81-er]

Those are certainly a much better fit now than they were

 

James

[klr]

I haven't done much over the past few days. I realised the propeller shafts were not too long, but rather the opening at the base of each propeller needed to be widened. Unfortunately, I mislaid one propeller, and only found it after I'd stepped in out, requiring very careful repairs. I have also done some research, as in looking again at the photo I posted last weeks. It seems not just the blades but also the spinners are matt black.

 

 

I also applied some Clearfix, including to fill in a missing side window or two. That panel behind the rear canopy still needs some careful sanding down.

 

Hopefully I will have the undercarriage doors sorted by tomorrow.

[klr]

Progress has been painfully slow, as I prioritise the Do 335 in the FROG GB, and the usual demands of normal life. There was a "step" at base of each windscreen. Having this was unavoidable unless I was prepared to have the front canopy roofs sloping down towards the front, which was not really an option. So yet more work with some plastic card, files and sandpaper.

 

 

 

While the cowlings were generally a good fit, this was not so at the top, where there were noticeable gaps and "steps". All quite unsightly, now hopefully remedied,

 

 

I applied a coat of primer to the wing roots to pick out any remaining gaps and other blemishes that need to be removed.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to give these my full attention (such that it is) over the weekend.

 

[vppelt68]

A very admirable effort with these oldies!

[klr]

I've decided to resume work on just the P-70 for now, leaving the Boston until later. This is partly because of the simpler paint scheme, and partly because the P-70 airframe needs much less cleanup work. Anyone who spray-paints their models may not realise (or remember!) just how long it takes to hand-paint even a simple scheme. At least this has proved me right about swapping the parts around. It's a lot easier to paint black on light plastic than on black plastic.