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1/72 Dragon P-61 WIP Finished

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  • Member since
    June 2010
  • From: Rochester, New York USA
Posted by rocker286 on Monday, March 5, 2018 2:16 PM

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but awesome job! I really like the way the Widows look in OD green! 

4badges

  • Member since
    July 2012
  • From: Douglas AZ
Posted by littletimmy on Sunday, March 4, 2018 10:33 PM

Awesome job  ! 

I will be looking back to this for reference for my 1/48 build...... whenever I can get back to it.

 Dont worry about the thumbprint, paint it Rust , and call it "Battle Damage"

  • Member since
    October 2009
Posted by JacknewbIII on Sunday, March 4, 2018 10:14 PM

Everything about this build is master quality. Nicely done!!!

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by simpilot34 on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 4:36 AM

Bow DownWOW what a great finish!!!! Love evrything about it!! Really like your paintwork too!!

Cheers, Lt. Cmdr. Richie "To be prepared for war, is one of the most effectual means of preserving the peace."-George Washington
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Thursday, January 11, 2018 4:41 AM

Flawless museum quality build right there.  Well done!

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, January 11, 2018 12:41 AM

There was no link to the A or B and the turret. It was the same turret as the B-29, control system too, so it was a supply deal.

My F-I-Law's P-61 had the turret. He was the crew chief, but since he owned the airplane and the pilots came and went, he and the RO were the only two who had been together since the beginning.

His original pilot was given a P-47 and died in a landing accident.

He flew  in the gunner seat a couple of times.

The ferry tank as far as I know was used in the original deployments to Samoa and Saipan.

In Europe, they came over on ships and only at the very end of 1944.

It's a heck of an airplane. Mostly it was used as a low level attack bomber, like a Mitchell or an A-10.

Come in fast and chew up the target with concentrated cannon fire and explosive munitions.

The four cannons had ammunition towers in the fuselage, say 18" square and four feet tall, so that you could not go fore and aft from the front to the back. Like a B-25.

That was different for them. They'd had Beaufighters wheer all three crew could trade around on  a eight hour mission. Fly the plane, nap on the deck, watch the radar scope.

Great model. I have two but I don't know if I'll ever build them. My daughter and I put together the Monogram one for him, and a Beau, and they were on his mantle .

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    February 2012
  • From: Olmsted Township, Ohio
Posted by lawdog114 on Thursday, January 11, 2018 12:21 AM
Stellar work Fermis. Those walkwaydecals are a pain. I always paint the general area red then use thins trips of tape for the pattern. Of course it's easier to do in the larger scales. Thanks for sharing.

 "Can you fly this plane and land it?...Surely you can't be serious....I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

 

 

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Thursday, January 4, 2018 1:19 PM

Thanks again, dudes!Toast

 

GMorrison

Very nice model!

 

I notice that you've built her with the long range ferry tank in the turret position. I have never seen anyone model that before. You did have a set of AM 50 cal. barrels, but changed your mind?

 

Truth be told....I had no clue about the ferry tank until I openned the box...??no guns??...what's this??? It wasn't until later that I figured out what it was. The kit didn't provide the gun turret...just the tank or a "plug".

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, December 28, 2017 3:43 PM

Very nice model!

 

I notice that you've built her with the long range ferry tank in the turret position. I have never seen anyone model that before. You did have a set of AM 50 cal. barrels, but changed your mind?

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Thursday, December 28, 2017 3:17 PM

Award winning work as usual fermis! The lighting in the bottom pic really shows off the weathering which I dig. These things look like the weathered pretty heavily. Whats on deck now?

Eric

 

  • Member since
    August 2013
Posted by Jay Jay on Thursday, December 28, 2017 12:02 AM

what a great job !  Yes Beer  I just love the OD paint scheme although I didn't realize that the P-61 livery was done in anything else but black.  Now I hafta do 2 of em,1 black and 1 OD  Wink

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm finally retired. Now time I got, money I don't.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Cleveland, OH
Posted by RadMax8 on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 11:04 PM

Excellent work and detail considering the scale. Love the P-61, not sure if I like OD or black better!

Hope the be able to do the same in 1/48 scale soon. 

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Katy, TX
Posted by Aggieman on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 10:56 PM

Your Widow is a work of art. Good to see one not in an all black scheme.

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 8:01 PM

ToastToast

 

Done!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to light this thing, for the camera to pick it up like the eyeball, is about impossible.

This is about as close as I could get, to how I see it with me eyes...

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 12:06 PM

Radio antenna

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 11:49 AM

I noticed those items as well.

I ignored that darker patch/streak. Black and white pics seem to amplify contrast. I'm going to use a silver pencil to hit those rivets. It doesn't stand out so much, like paint does. And...those "tear drops" on the antennas will be gloss black (but not too glossy!).

 I'm gettin pretty close now. Got 'er on 'er wheels and adding all the fiddly bits. A bit more weathering to go, too. Gettin ready to go fly now...I'll be back on this afterwards...should be done tonight!

 

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Wednesday, December 27, 2017 10:32 AM

Getting better and better! I seem to recall having the same issue with those walkways when I built mine.

I have been looking closer at some original imags of Jap Batty and there are a couple of things that stick out:

In the first, and more so in the second picture with the contrast enhanced, you can see what looks like a much darker area starting from behind the nose art and moving underneath the canopy quite a ways back. I'm wondering was this overpainted previous nose art? Some sort of repair? I tend to think its not repair as it doesnt really follow any panel lines it appears.

Also of note are all of the fasteners that have had their paint chipped off from removal and replacement. This would be cool to replicate. Not sure how one would pull it off without it looking gawdy though.

Thirdly, the thing sticking out from the side that looks like a counter balance (I'm sure this is not what it is) appears as though it is black and glossy?

Eric

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Sunday, December 24, 2017 10:28 AM

Markings on!

The nose art and tail numbers came from an a/m set (that didn't have any of the other markings), the rest came from the kit, which were terrible. The walkway stripes ended up turning into about 56 pieces. In the process of getting them to the point of "passing"...more words I didn't even know I knew, spewed from my mouth. Once those were all done, I sealed em in with another gloss coat. For the first time, I used salt (Flickr isn't uploading that pic, for whatever reason). I wet down the model (working in sections) and dabbed on some seas salt...let dry...then sprayed lightly with a light grey, tinted clear gloss. After that dried and salt removed, I used the same tinted gloss for the exhaust staining.

The effects are a little blown out by the lighting, but there's enough there to get the idea...

 

 

 

A wash, dull coat and some pastels will finish things off.

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Sunday, December 24, 2017 10:28 AM

lewbud

Fermis,

The P-61 looks great!  How did you do the nose and keep it translucent?   

Thank you, Sir!

I added a little bit light grey paint(enamel) to clear gloss(lacquer). This will still give you the consistency of paint, and I find that it works far better than trying to use highly thinned paint.

  • Member since
    June 2008
Posted by lewbud on Sunday, December 24, 2017 10:13 AM

Fermis,

The P-61 looks great!  How did you do the nose and keep it translucent?  I have one of those in the stash.  Hopefully it will look like this when I'm done (with a little help from Lone Star Models).

Buddy- Those who say there are no stupid questions have never worked in customer service.

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Friday, December 22, 2017 6:06 PM

Jester75

 

 
fermis

 ...he said we'd have been "dead stick" in a matter of minutes.  

 

 

Damn, good work getting it back down quickly!

 

Propeller...not my first rodeo!!!

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Friday, December 22, 2017 2:14 PM

fermis

 ...he said we'd have been "dead stick" in a matter of minutes.  

Damn, good work getting it back down quickly!

Eric

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Friday, December 22, 2017 1:59 PM

Jester75

Yikes! Oil pressure is kinda important right, lol. Did you figure out why it dropped? 

 

Yeah, oil pressure is a good thing to have! This particular plane has a fairly new engine in it. They had an issue the other day, and it was determined to be a loose connection to the gauge. Everything checked out during the run-up...and still in the green just after we left the ground...until it wasn't! I didn't get the full rundown on it, but when the mech checked the system...he said we'd have been "dead stick" in a matter of minutes. Continental is going to replace the engine(warranty). So they're down another plane for a while. They had a 172 get backed into by a fuel truck at one of their other locations, and took one of the 2 from here to fill that void.

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Friday, December 22, 2017 11:00 AM

fermis

 

 
Jester75

Good luck on the flight training, that would be awesome. 

 

There really is no comparison between the kit parts and the replacements, those kit inserts are absolutely atrocious. Nice work on the details. Looking forward to some paint!

 

 

 

 Today was a little exciting...just after t/o, and beyond the point of being able to set 'er back down, the oil pressure gauge worked it's way down to zero. Did a slightly low and close pattern, put 'er down nicely!

 

 

Yikes! Oil pressure is kinda important right, lol. Did you figure out why it dropped? I remember going up in an Piper Apache with my dad's old boss many years ago. One of my dad's coworkers asked him if what would happen if he lost one engine. He non-chalantly reached up and flipped a switch and instantly one set of gauges dropped to zero. His reply was "I guess it'll keep flying."

I've looked at a lot of pics and I think you nailed the fiberglass nose.  

Eric

 

  • Member since
    August 2012
  • From: Parker City, IN.
Posted by Rambo on Thursday, December 21, 2017 8:05 PM
Looking great, love how you painted up the nose

Clint

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Naples, FL
Posted by tempestjohnny on Thursday, December 21, 2017 5:19 PM
Like what you did on that frosted nose.

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Thursday, December 21, 2017 4:22 PM

Jester75

Good luck on the flight training, that would be awesome. 

 

There really is no comparison between the kit parts and the replacements, those kit inserts are absolutely atrocious. Nice work on the details. Looking forward to some paint!

 

 Today was a little exciting...just after t/o, and beyond the point of being able to set 'er back down, the oil pressure gauge worked it's way down to zero. Did a slightly low and close pattern, put 'er down nicely!

 I think it's quite rare to get a decent/passable(with little help) kit engine. Quickboost kills it with these things!

 

Got some colors thrown at this little beast!

 

(Pics don't show the pre-shade/highlighting effects very well at all...a bit washed out in the lighting)

 

 

 

For the nose, I masked and sprayed the lower portion in a very light grey. Removed the mask and "frosted" the top portion with clear gloss, tinted with the same light grey...

 

 

 

As is typical, pics don't quite tell the same story as what you actually see with the eye.

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: N. Georgia
Posted by Jester75 on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 12:00 PM

As an ex-Michigander from south Detroit, I have shoveled my fair share of sidewalks and steps although that probably pales in comparison to an airport! Good luck on the flight training, that would be awesome. I sometimes wish my job had seasons. Working in IT Being the IT department I am basically on call 24/7 it seems.

 

There really is no comparison between the kit parts and the replacements, those kit inserts are absolutely atrocious. Nice work on the details. Looking forward to some paint!

Eric

 

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Monday, December 18, 2017 7:52 PM

Thanks guys!Toast

Toshi...I did need just a little bit of putty, and there was a little step, down from the wing to the boom. I did a little grinding and sanding on the wing to smooth it out.

Jester...well, I do still just work on one at a time...work a while on one, and when it gets to a point that things need to dry, I pack it up and set it aside, break out the next! As far as time goes...well, work season is over, so I have a lot of time! This last week was an exception. I took on a little side job for one of my summer customers...that ate up 2 half days. I'm also "on call" for snow removal at my local airport(graveyard shift). I had 40 hours there last week (and it'll all be melted away by the end of this week)....plus I had another 10 hours of taking care of the snow at my place and my parents...plus started flight training again (going for Commercial/single engine add on....IPC...and multi engine "refresher"). Busy week...so things have been slow going at the bench!

That said...

Got this one a little closer to painting...

 

Worked the engines up. Quickboost didn't include the rods, so I used some stretched sprue for those...

 

 

Also used some copper wire to wire up the mags...

 

 

I had to add some spacers around the outside to get a snug/centered fit in the nacelles...

 

 

Just gotta do some masking and prep some of the fiddly bits and it'll be headed to the paint booth!

 

 

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