Northrop's P-61 Black Widow by Revell: WIP

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Northrop's P-61 Black Widow by Revell. It seems that many of the P-61 model kits I found during my on-line research were finished in the typical black livery. However, not all of the actual aircraft were finished in this manner, there were some in various shades of army green. Based on the photos I've seen of actual aircraft, I decided to paint mine in Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green.

This is the Northrop P-61 Black Widow by Revell. I built one of these kits as a teenager back in the mid Seventies. So, yeah, it's a nostalgia build.

 

 

Here is the version I remember building the first time around.

 

 

I did some color tests with Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green over a number of different primers and directly on the bare black plastic. I even tried the Gray-Green over TS-102 Cobalt Green just to see if that made any difference. It did not. Though there were subtle variations, there's not enough of a difference for me to bother with any special primers or treatments.

Tamiya Gray Primer it is!

 

 

The first and probably the most involved of the sub-assemblies to tackle in the cockpit. Typically, the inside areas of aircraft of this era are painted with zinc chromate paint. This paint can range in color from yellowish-green to greenish-yellow I decided to use Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green to represent this paint.

 

 

I decided to do a mockup so I can check to see if the finished model will fit in its intended display area. Good news! My measurements and estimations were correct! I even have room to make this into a little diorama.

 

 

This thing is a bit bigger than most kits I normally build. Here it is on the desk in my regular work area next to one of my current projects.

 

That's all for now. As always, thanks for stopping by for a look and if you have any comments you wish to share, please feel free to post them.

David G.

Edited August 1 by David G.
typo

[TransAmMike]

That should be a cool build David!!   I'll be looking in.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Really cool old airplane. Looking forward to watching it come together.

I have that older boxing somewhere. An acquaintance gave it to me after he finally realized he wasn't ever going to progress beyond the glooey-fingerprints-on-everything stage.

[David G.]

11 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

That should be a cool build David!!   I'll be looking in.

Thanks Mike, It's good to have you along on this one.

 

10 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Really cool old airplane. Looking forward to watching it come together.

I have that older boxing somewhere. An acquaintance gave it to me after he finally realized he wasn't ever going to progress beyond the glooey-fingerprints-on-everything stage.

Thank you Bill, it does seem like a tricky kit but maybe that's because I'm not used to building aircraft.

David G.

[ksnow]

Sweet project. I will definitely be following this.

[David G.]

21 hours ago, ksnow said:

Sweet project. I will definitely be following this.

Thanks for your interest Kyle, I'll try not to disappoint.  

David G.

[stavanzer]

That P-61, is an Uncompleted Aurora Kit, that Monogram got in the famous buy-out in the 1970's. Monogram finished the tooling, and brought it out under their name.

It seems tricky, because it is tricky. It has never been an easy kit to assemble. But, it looks Great when done. Many of the Olive Drab P-61's in the ETO, had  White Paint on the forward part of the Radome.

Good Luck with the build. You are doing a great job so far. (and, Yes, the Cowl flaps on the engines have always been that Way. One Opened and One Closed)

[David G.]

22 hours ago, stavanzer said:

That P-61, is an Uncompleted Aurora Kit, that Monogram got in the famous buy-out in the 1970's. Monogram finished the tooling, and brought it out under their name.

It seems tricky, because it is tricky. It has never been an easy kit to assemble. But, it looks Great when done. Many of the Olive Drab P-61's in the ETO, had  White Paint on the forward part of the Radome.

Good Luck with the build. You are doing a great job so far. (and, Yes, the Cowl flaps on the engines have always been that Way. One Opened and One Closed)

Thanks for the information regarding the kit's history Alan. This is one of those facts that one kind of absorbs but never really recalls where one learned it. You know, one of those facts that reemerge in the future like; "I seem to recall that this kit started as an Aurora kit but..."  

At least for me anyway.

I'm glad to know that this kit's trickiness is inherent to the kit and not the builder. That shores up my confidence a bit.

Thanks for the compliment and the tip too. I've already masked and sprayed the radome in Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green and white. It will be soon featured in an update. 

Thanks again for all the valuable input and information Alan.

David G. 

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

At least once a year I try to step outside of my comfort zone and build something other than one model cars or trucks that I typically build. The Northrop P-61 Black Widow by Revell is this year's challenging diversion.

And it is proving to be a challenge.

Basic assembly and primer for the wings and their flaps.

 

 

Repairing some gaps in the leading edges of the wings. Given the age of this kit I shouldn't be surprised that the molds are a little rough.

 

That's all for now.

As always, please feel free to post any comments you may have and thanks for taking the time to stop in for a look.

David G.

 

[Little Timmy]

I have built 3 of those kits over the years ( number 4 is in a box of dust on my workbench right now )

I've done the Black version, the Olive drab with White nose version, and even a clear nosed version. ( I don't recall where I came up with research  for the clear nosed variant. But I had to scratch build the radar equipment for it. )

I plan on using a photo of my wife as the nose art on the next one.

I will be following along as yours progresses...

( is that really a word ??? My spellchecker  had a fit with it 

...)

 

 

[David G.]

8 hours ago, Little Timmy said:

I have built 3 of those kits over the years ( number 4 is in a box of dust on my workbench right now )

I've done the Black version, the Olive drab with White nose version, and even a clear nosed version. ( I don't recall where I came up with research  for the clear nosed variant. But I had to scratch build the radar equipment for it. )

I plan on using a photo of my wife as the nose art on the next one.

I will be following along as yours progresses...

( is that really a word ??? My spellchecker  had a fit with it 

...)

 

 

 

Thank you Tim, it's good having you along. 

Using a photo of your wife would make for some cool nose art. I haven't decided what to do for this one yet but I'm working on some ideas.

BTW if you have any photos of those P-61s you mentioned, feel free to post them here. I always enjoy seeing what other builders have done with the same kit.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I'm slowly getting back into the bench groove so here's another update on the P-61.

Test fitting the crew cabin and fuselage. The seam at the top needs a little smoothing out.

 

 

Still more test fitting and lots of zinc chromate paint and some weathering washes.

 

 

The seats have been installed and the interior is mostly done.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may wish to share.

David G.

[stavanzer]

Very Nice Detailing on the inside.

[David G.]

11 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Very Nice Detailing on the inside.

Thank you Alan, it's most kind of you to say so.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

According to some opinions I've encountered out there in the wilds of the interwebs, this kit is a rather poor example of aircraft kit design quality. As far as I know though, it's the only one like it available and I do have a certain emotional connection that informs my desire to build it. And any build I complete this time around will almost certainly be better than the one I knocked together in 1976.

So in spite of and because of all that, work on the P-61 continues!

The interior is completed but work continues with the seam on top of the fuselage.

 

 

Due to the age of the molds, the two fuselage halves do not mate evenly. This will require some more putty, sanding and filing to correct.

 

 

A little sanding work reveals the high and low spots that still need to be addressed.

 

That's it for this round!

As always, thank you for taking the time to have a look and please feel free to post any comments you may wish to share.

David G.

[stavanzer]

David.

Great Wall Hobby makes a P-61 that is Light Years better than the Aurora/Monogram/Revell kit.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/great-wall-hobby-l4810-northrop-p-61b-black-widow--172248

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/builds/gwh/build_gwh_4810.shtml

But, so far you are doing well.

[David G.]

6 hours ago, stavanzer said:

David.

Great Wall Hobby makes a P-61 that is Light Years better than the Aurora/Monogram/Revell kit.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/great-wall-hobby-l4810-northrop-p-61b-black-widow--172248

https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/builds/gwh/build_gwh_4810.shtml

But, so far you are doing well.

Thanks, I may have to look into that.

David G.

[Little Timmy]

Sorry to respond so late.

I don't have any pictures of the last three I built, but I do have a few shots of the one still laying on my bench ... for the last 6 years...

 

And, I had some help .... very little help...

 

Didn't mean to hijack your build thread.

I'll  go sit in the corner now... and observe  from  afar. 

 

[James2]

Airplanes are such a challenge to me, it's like building a model from the inside out! You're doing a great job on yours. I started a Curtis P-6 Hawk years ago, maybe I should finish it!

[David G.]

12 hours ago, Little Timmy said:

Sorry to respond so late.

I don't have any pictures of the last three I built, but I do have a few shots of the one still laying on my bench ... for the last 6 years...

 

And, I had some help .... very little help...

 

Didn't mean to hijack your build thread.

I'll  go sit in the corner now... and observe  from  afar. 

 

It's not a hijack Tim, I invited you to post some photos. I always enjoy seeing what other builders are doing with the same kit.

It's where I get some of my best ideas... I steal them!  

Seriously though, you have some good detail painting going on there, no thanks to your faithful and fluffy assistants.

Thanks for posting the photos Tim, I truly did enjoy seeing them.

 

12 hours ago, James2 said:

Airplanes are such a challenge to me, it's like building a model from the inside out! You're doing a great job on yours. I started a Curtis P-6 Hawk years ago, maybe I should finish it!

Thank you James2. They're a challenge for me too, which is why I'm building this one. Once a year I like to step outside of my modelbuilding comfort zone and challenge myself by building something other than a typical model car. It's been nearly half a century since I built a model plane and this is only the third or fourth one that I remember building.

So yeah, it's a good challenge.

Thanks again,

David G.

 

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

It's been a little while since I posted an update to the Northrop P-61 Black Widow, so here it is.

Masking for a test shot of primer then hopefully some color.

 

 

The seam blending looked pretty good so I shot some Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green. I also started assembling the turret and threw it in for a test fit.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may wish to share.

David G.

[stavanzer]

Silk Purse>Sow's Ear!

[David G.]

20 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Silk Purse>Sow's Ear!

Thank you Alan!

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

It's time for the next update on the P-61.

Here's a second pass at smoothing and filling the seams in the wings.

 

 

With the wings filled, smoothed and painted with Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green, it's time for a test assembly.

 

 

Here's a shot of the front of the aircraft with some tape added for structural integrity

 

 

And a quick shot of the completed interior.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may have.

David G.

[Madhatter]

Nice work David! I keep confusing this with the P38 Lighting for some stupid reason. This one is much bigger than the 38. What scheme are you going for?