SPA Modeler

I haven't got words.....

Thanks all!
This kit had been bugging...begging???...me for well over a year. Nice to have it done!!!

BlackSheep214 wrote:I just noticed there aren’t any gun barrels on the dome piece. I’m assuming only the nightfighter versions did?

This was a new one on me.
It's actually a fuel tank. It should be in two pieces...a circular tank, with a fairing at the rear.
Had I found this out sooner (before it was installed), I would have scribed the line between tank and fairing. I kinda just "cheated" it with shading during the painting process.

Fermis - this is the kit I did in my youth years:



As you can see, there is a gun turrent on top.

In late production A models the turret was removed, made an extra tank, or made to fire forward only. There was a buffeting problem while rotating that wasn't fixed until the B model came out

I looked in scalemates website and saw different kit versions - gun turrents, domed, no dome, etc... An interesting aircraft indeed.

BlackSheep214 wrote:I just noticed there aren’t any gun barrels on the dome piece. I’m assuming only the nightfighter versions did?

All operational P-61s were night fighters. They did have secondary night interdiction capability and use. And there was a photo recon version of the design, but that was the F-15 Reporter, IIRC. All that aside, early in the Widow’s service life, the top turret was found to cause buffeting in flight during use, so it was removed during the A model production. Later those problems were solved and it was re instated during the B model series. Some A’s had a plate over the turret base for a flat top appearance.

BlackSheep214 wrote:Fermis - this is the kit I did in my youth years:



As you can see, there is a gun turrent on top.

I have done... ...4 of those, over the course of my modeling career. Only one remains, and sits proudly on my shelf! This one goes back a good 7-8 years.

Noseart is from the spares box.



I did a complete rescribe. I also did a rivet job...one by one, with a needle.



Painting pretty much wiped out the rivets, unfortunately. It was painted with Wally the Walmart Wonder (cheapo, Testors a/b), before he got buried in the back yard.

But that kit is “unbuildable”... at least that is the reputation it seems to have nowadays...

Got any black “Black Widows” there Fermis?

Stikpusher wrote:But that kit is “unbuildable”... at least that is the reputation it seems to have nowadays...

Got any black “Black Widows” there Fermis?

Everything is buildable!!! Some just fight a lot harder than others! That one took a lot of extra work.

All previous Widows were black. The first was way back before I used paint. 2nd was done on my first return to building...rattlecan paint job. 3rd was also a rattlecan job and actually sat on my shelf until I built the one above. I robbed the old build of one of the cowlings, so I could do both sides the same. I sent the other side to another builder some years ago. So...no...no black Black Widows.

Found this on Youtube last night - Dogfights: Nightfighters. Go around the 18:30 minute mark and it talks about the P-61 Black Widow's role during WW2 Germany. I never knew it was used in Europe as a nightfighter. I've always thought they were used more vs. the Japanese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3RoJZ-tH1Q