@Magnus
If you haven't seen a P-61 built yet, here you have lots of opporunities! It's probably so rare built because it's a cruel old kit - at least the 1:48 scale one.

@Scott
Your P-61 become a really nice Black Widow with all these PE-parts

@Hermann
Same about your P-61! Is it in 1:72 scale?

@Damian
I've looked in the Pin Up Campaign to see how your P-61 proceeds. That looks really good what you make there!

And now some quick pictures of my Black Widows first expo last weekend at the Technikmuseum in Speyer. We were about 40 modellers in the hall with the former sovjet space shuttle "Buran", an austrian Saab Draken, a french Mirage III, some fanatstic old cars and a few wonderful old amercian fire fighter trucks (the youngest from 1961) ..... If I wouldn't build aircrafts I would build these trucks!

Here you can see my table with about 20 models


"Lady Gen" in belgian winter .....


.... and "The Spook" somewhere in the Pacific ....


Ciao
Torsten

Thanks Torsten ..it is the 1:72 offering from Dragon. It has great detail for such a small scale but the build required quite a bit of work to get a good fit.

Thanks for the comments on my FW 189. I appreciate it. As already pointed out MPM makes a FW 189. I have their kit in my stash and it looks much better than the Airfix kit, but is also much more recent.

Torsten, you can follow my FW 190A-8 build in the Aces High II tread, but if you want to share some pictures by email give me a PM.

Thanks again for the comments

Hi,

I'm looking for some help. I recently got this kit from a friend but it has no instructions. Does anyone have scans of it?



Mark

How many do you need, Mark? I have this kit by the hundreds (okay, about a dozen) in my pile. Just give me a PM with you email adress and I scan it for you at the weekend, okay?

Happy modelling!
Torsten

Torsten,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I sent you a PM with my email.

Mark

Hey Scott, just remembered that I promise to check this out for you. I've looked through my references and found several pics of extended dive brakes, but they are all b&w. It looks to me that the inside surface of the dive brakes is very pale, and would most likely be either bare metal or Zinc Yellow.

Hope this helps. Cheers, D

Torsten,

Thanks for the scans!!

Mark

Thanks Damian!

I also consulted with my boss, who flies.... his mechanic works on old war birds and hopefully has asked him. Boss figured they'd be the anti corrosion chromate green but hasn't heard from his mechanic.

I think if I don't hear from the mechanic I'll go with the chromate green as that's what the rest of the exposed metal is.

Here is some progress photos:
I managed to set the engines (which I loaded with ball bearings) to the wings:

The added weight didn't help one bit as the tail immediately dipped to the ground

My main disappointment came from the canopy: upon removing the mask, I noticed that the clear plastic had fogged up. I'm not sure if it was a direct result from the adhesive from the Eduards mask or if it was from the gator glue that I used to fix the canopy to the fuselage.:


I've added the landing gear to the fuselage. I still need to fix the gear doors and the nose wheel:


The next step will be painting the main guns, adding the propellers, and finally applying the decals. Thanks for watching,

Hermann.

Your Widow looks really nice in that satin black, Hermann! What nose art will it get?


Have you put some weight in the nose? This bird needs a lot of heavy metal! Okay, mine is 1:48 but I put about a kilo or so in it ....


I'm not sure, but it might come from the glue. I have also used the Eduard mask on my kit and the canopy was okay after removing the mask. Have you tried furniture glue already? That's what I always use for canopies.

Ciao
Torsten

Thanks Torsten.

Unfortunately, I decided not to weigh down the nose and I'm now regretting that decision. The reason was becuause there is no support bracket to secure the nose to the fuselage and I thought that the added weight would make the task of gluing the nose a difficult one.

In terms of the canopy, I think that the reason for the foggy finish might be due to the fact that I left the mask on for too long. Since I do not get the chance to visit my builds as often as I would like, the mask will stay on the canopy for several weeks before it is actually removed. For future builds, I'll try to mask the cockpit with tape instead of relying on masked canopy.

You mentioned that you used furniture glue but I'm not familiar with it. Are you refering to white Elemor's glue or something similar?

Hermann.

Hi Hermann,

yes, you should have put some weight in the nose and then glue the nose to the fuselage. Lay it on a small construction over night which holds the nose tight to the fuselage if there's no support bracket. Maybe use some rubber bands. The next day it should be okay and no worries about a tailsitter. Well, better luck next time I'm afraid, now you have to use a stick to keep this beauty on all wheels. Best to use a clear part. I did it that way with my first ever P-38, there I also had no weight in the nose It was "Screaming Kid", the aircraft of John Loisel.

Don't worry about keeping the masks on for too long. I leave them also right from the beginning to the end of the build, which can take months. These masks from Eduard do no harm to the canopy. It took me 10 weeks to build my Ki-45 Toryu from Hasegawa last year and the masks were on the canopy nearly all the time. So I think it comes from the fumes of the glue. Maybe you can repair it by brushing some Future over the canopy. It's worth a try.

Furniture glue you can get in every "Do-it-yourself-store". Here in Germany the most well known is Ponal made by Henkel. But you sure have something aquivalent in the USA. It's a thick white liquid but when it is dry it becomes clear and holds the canopy to the fuselage. And no acid fumes to spoil anything. Just ask the assistant in the store. Instead of that you could also use Clear Fix from Humbrol.

Happy modelling
Torsten

Hey Hermann looking good so far. I feared the same as you when it came to weight, I did put some in the nose but I noticed on one of the sprues for this kit that there was what looked like a blank that fits in the nose piece but it wasn't mentioned in the instructions. Fortunately this stood about 1/2mm proud and assisted in attaching the nose to the fuselage.

What I didn't realise was that this blank also forms part of the wheel bay wall at the front. If you notice you have a small hole there so I'm assuming you didn't spot this omission from Dragon (why would you if they didn't tell you ). this could work for you as you may be able to cram some weight through the hole, secure it with some white glue (I think you call it Elmers glue over there) and leave it overnight sat on its nose to set.

Hope this helps

Thanks Allen for pointing that out. I do see the part that you mentioned and it fits nicely to the nose. I just finished the process of removing the nose from the fuselage and I'm about to start filling it up with ball bearings. The part the you mentioned should offer some assistance when I glue the nose back to the fuselage. Hopefully the extra weight will bring the nose down. I'll post updates as they are available.

Thank you Torsten and Allen for the much needed support and guidance!!
Last night I managed to detach the nose from the fuselage without any complications. I then proceeded to fill the nose with ball bearings hoping that the extra weight will keep the tail from sitting:

I then added the mystery part that Allen mentioned and it did the trick by providing the needed support for when I reattached the nose back to the fuselage. I let the glue settle and dry and then it was off to see if the extra work paid off :

YEAH!!
I'm back in track ..next I''ll have to retouch the paint and followed by adding the decals.

Looking good Hermann.

I'm stalled on mine - I'm masked, sanded and primed, but I can't seem to find any alone time to paint.
Hopefully... HOPEFULLY I'll get to hit it with the gray belly color tonight and the OD top color tomorrow and get decalling over the weekend.

BTW - I cheesed out on the nose weight. I'm just using the clear stick that came with the kit to keep the butt up.

Well done, Hermann! That looks much better than before. So no more sleepless nights because of a tailsitting Black Widow .....

@ Scott
Which one of your OD-Widows will it be? I guess you will find some time for painting on the weekend. That I also hope for both my Fw 190, though there's still some work to do before .....

Torsten

Super work guys. Hermann I'm glad you got you Widow to sit right, it's coming along really well.

Scott I'm looking forward to seeing your Widow with some colour.

I wonder if there's ever been a bigger collection of P-61's in one place ? Now I'm thinking maybe mine should be here also instead of in the Pin-Ups Campaign, but then again the scenery over there would make up from being away from it's family

Cheers, D

I'm leaning towards "Moonhappy"

Great work Hermann. Well worth the extra effort to get the widow on it's nose wheel.

Simon

Jesper – Incredible job on two olds kits, and great aircraft. I wish some of the modern kits would include a variation of those clear plastic stands. Really like the weathering in your bird.

P-61s – Couple nice birds; as many, I have the old Revell in my stash but will wait till I have the skills (and AMs) to give it justice.

Happy Belated Birthday O Glorious Leader – a pint for you mate .

Hermann - couple suggestions from my very meager experience: Goo gone (the one with the lemon smell) will remove excess adhesive from tape/masks, just use a bit and scrape with a flat toothpick. I then used a 2000 grit buffing cloth, followed by Future/Klear, and “rescued” the canopy. I have left masks on (tamiya tape, low tack painter’s blue tape) for weeks/months without issue. Really nice job with the nose recovery, great technique to remember!

Thanks for the comment, James. I appreciate it.

I agree with you on the clear plastic stands. That would make a difference as often the aircraft look much different and more attractive wheels up.

some progress.... all the attachments (gear doors, wheels, props, etc) are painted and ready to be attached. I just have some touching up to do on the body and wings. The attachements and decals.

General shot with the last bit of masking... I've since unmasked everything but the windows.


detail of the spoilers (or "spoilerons" as they can be called since they took the place of the missing ailerons on this craft)