P-61 1/32 Hobby Boss (In progress)

Hi Optilium, 

Great work so far!

I love this bird and will definitely be following your build. 

I am a couple of steps away from finishing my 1/48 Revell kit, which was terrible since the moulds are shot, but it was a good skill honing experience. :)

Looking forward to your further posts. 

Best, 

Nikola

Very nice build.  My favorite aircraft.

very nice. I just got this in after a 2 year search for the right price. I too will go down eduards path with metal barrel replacements as well with custom insignia and stencil masks. Never built any HobbyBoss before and having a look through the box shows me that there is plenty to go at.

That birds going to need some extra shelf scale!  Nice job on the cockpit. Looks to be packed with detail.

beautiful job, I love the large kits since they are so much more impressive and easier to work with.  Wish I had the time, patience and skill to get into the kind of detail you have but that wont ever happen.

thanks ! I really love this airplane as well; I've already built the Revell P-61 but i was not satisfied and i was young  

yep Mopar madness ! I think 2h was needed to make and pack each canopy inside/outside. In particular for the p-61 which has plenty of glass parts, I think it's not a waste of time. And it allows me to keep them clear as well.

Part II ! 

It's always pretty boring to do 2 times the same thing but anyway...I use references from the flight manual of the P-61 of Avialogs.com (which I recommend if you need refs) to build gears and add more details like the hydraulic circuit of the brakes

Howewer I didn't find any photos from the gear trap so i did same thing than previous: add random pipes and pumps 

I really appreciate hobby boss products. They're really complete with full metal parts, protection of fragil parts and they think about the balance of the model at the end (and it's clearly not the case for all brands e.g: Honk Kong Model ). it's the third from Bobby Boss I build, and I'm plainly satisfied. I recommend that brand ! (snapdragonxxx  )

Next part: The engine ! 

I know the owner of Hong Kong models and he is a good friend of mine.

When he released the B-25 kits he took the advice of distributors who told him NOT to put weights in the kit(s) as that would make the boxes weigh more and cost them more money in transport.

As it is, he is not happy with the UK pricing of his products and feels that UK builders are not getting a fair deal.

You can get B-25 nose weights from CMK.

On this score, it is time manufacturers listened to the end builder and involved them more for research etc. The issues are that the research etc can get out there and than means that other manufacturers may beat them to the punch. Secrecy is everything.

I do like HK kits. Their Lancaster and B-17 are fabulous and go together really well and look the bees knees when done and it is the size of them that provides the WOW factor.

I didn't manage to get hold of the B-25's and do look forwards to geting hold of them at some point.

Sometimes it is a price point that ends up disappointing builders detail wise, sometimes it is a moronic distributor money grabbing and telling a manufacturer that if they put something in a kit then they won't stock it as their costs might go up by 0.001% in transport fees. Sometimes it is a lack of research when all they needed to do was reach out to someone and promise them a release kit as a thank you. Sometimes it is trying to do production on the very cheap (airfix/revell).

Is it time Manufacturers have their own online store? Maybe that time has come.

That's interesting SnapDragonXXX. It's a real shame however. I was set up and i didn't think about the problem of weight which I didn't encountered for some years. Anyway, the problem has been "resolved" by adding a bequille...

I think so. Some brands still continue to make complete products but they are rarer than ever: Italeri, Hobby Boss... which continue to add references and metal parts in theirs products...

I am going to have a bash at HB's 1/18 new Me262.

Not as detailed as the 1/32 stuff and recent Airfix 1/24 and looking at the kit parts most of it looks screw together it will be the painting of the huge beast that will give it life as well as extra detail by adding wiring etc using various widths of wire.

Having spoken to Top Notch Models today about Masks for this instead of using decals I am wondering if the size will facilitate the option of being big enough to having stencils cut too.

Things are being delayed as far as distribution and I probably won't get my hands on it while june or later.

I wonder if an alternative timeline paint job would be an idea with a African campaign splinter camouflage 1946 job.

for the part III, i'll cover the making of the engine (the second one). 

I wanted to get a little bit more realistic engine so I added some weathering effects, and particularly on the gearbox:

The gearbox was first painted with chrome. Then I added Panel Line accent color and a piece of foam to tempo and obtain a striped and worn effect. Some Brown line accent color was added as well to obtain a slight effect of rust. Then a little thinner to clean the aspect and smooth the excedent. 

As on the previous engine, I add ignition wires to increase realism with copper wire. 

See you last part for the result, which gonna be delayed because of a lack a black paint  and the current situation...