The Official P-61 Group Build Thread

Sorry to hear about your back, Ross.  I know exactly what you're going through.  I completely destroyed my back a few years ago in a game of paintball.  Hasn't been the same since.  It goes out of whack every now and then for no reason and all it takes is a wrong turn to lay me up for a few days.

-Fred

Fred, for me it's anything from a few days (no biggie) to a few weeks. This is going to happen periodically for the rest of my life. From the sound of it, you too.

Just remember: Pain is the universe telling you that you're not dead yet! 

Yup, the back is one of those things that never fully heals.  All you can do is be careful and learn what an oncoming spasm feels like to hopefully avert it.

Pain may be the universe's way of telling you you're not dead, but it's also it's way of sometimes making you wish you were.

I've had back spasms that felt like a dull pain to a kick in the jewels to full-on vomit inducing.  It's bad when a back spasm can make you lose your lunch.

-Fred

Go ahead BB34.  It would be nice to see someone build one of these things

-Fred

I'm still here, Fred.

just haven't done much with it, though.

been busy trying to finish up projects that are 'almost done' to get them off the workbench so I can get to these group builds.

C'mon guys - where's all the enthusiasm that was here at the beginning?

Gets t'buildin'

-Fred

Gigatron wrote:

C'mon guys - where's all the enthusiasm that was here at the beginning? Gets t'buildin' -Fred

Soon as I get the oak tree off my house…

Actually, it's off, all the leaks are temporarily patched, and some of the wood is cut, split, and stacked in the newly expanded wood rick.

I've promised myself that this week will be all writing and building…except for cutting the grass if it ever stops raining… If it doesn't stop pretty soon, I'll have to use the chainsaw on the grass!

Ross,

Thanks for the lead - I actually found this Warbird Tech book at the LHS today and picked it up.  I think that this will help out a lot.  I also found the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's web site which also had some great photos of their restoration project.  Here's their web address.   http://www.maam.org/p61.html

Steve

A serious bump for this Group build, I started a couple days ago, and so far there has been really bad fit problems, I sculpted almost with squadron white putty here it is

If theres any interest all comments welcome

Andrew,

Ouch!  That looks like a really bad fit.  If you're using the top turret at least a portion of it will be less visible.  I had a poor fit there as well but it was not that bad.  The worst fit on my build so far has been right in front of the instrument panel. 

I haven't worked on this build is a while - can't decide on whether or not to expose an engine or not.  I've built a Verlinden engine but am not really happy with it.  I bought some QuickBoost engines that look really nice so I will probably go that route.

Steve

Holy Moly does this mean people are actually still working on these things?  I had given up hope of ever seeing another one completed .

-Fred

Progress, I glued on the wings, landing gear, and more interior pieces.

The group of pilots that flew the -widow, including my other dad, pretty much are proud that no one was ever shot down by another a/c. He was thrown' about, kinda, in early '45, but thru a long and arduous fight home, avoided same. Seems that the pilot was beheaded by a 37mm in the Brenner Pass on the way to bomb trains, and "dad" crawled forward, took over the controls and flew in and then back out. Didn't bail out because the RO in the back was in shock, from the impact of the shell.

He had one victory in the P-61, and quite a few earlier in the Beaufighter. i have pictures I might share.

Oh no, no offense and I'm just adding to your story. The P-61 is a rare and strange airframe and I really like your project.

I'll get up the piccy's.

Thing is, the one model available is a nightmare.

No, it would be an improvement if it were a nightmare

It's almost as if they engineered the kit so that no two pieces would go together.  Imagine if one company had purchased 1000 different puzzles and then took one piece from each puzzle and put it in a box and then said "here, you try to put this together" - that's what we got with this thing

-Fred

Howdy everyone!  I've actually been working on this group build for the last 2 weeks or so and have made some decent progress.  I do not have any photos to post at this point, which I suppose is unusual for me since I typically photograph all stages of work.  Anyway, I have buttoned up the crew compartment and applied a generous coat of putty to conceal the rather sizable gaps and am now test fitting the windscreens and canopies.  Talk about horrible fit!

Does anyone know if there are any aftermarket pieces for this kit (the venerable old Monogram kit)? I've done a search at Squadron but found nothing.  If nothing exists then I will just persevere through this horrid molding.

Hey Steve,

LoneStar Models makes a resin cockpit and radar operator's station.  I know someone also makes PE, resin guns, replacement open cowl, replacement engines and wheels.  I got them from Hannants in the UK (I think it's www.hannants.co.uk).  They were the only place that carried all the AM parts.

Looking forward to pics, if you ever post'em

-Fred

Aggieman wrote:

Howdy everyone!  I've actually been working on this group build for the last 2 weeks or so and have made some decent progress.  I do not have any photos to post at this point, which I suppose is unusual for me since I typically photograph all stages of work.  Anyway, I have buttoned up the crew compartment and applied a generous coat of putty to conceal the rather sizable gaps and am now test fitting the windscreens and canopies.  Talk about horrible fit! Does anyone know if there are any aftermarket pieces for this kit (the venerable old Monogram kit)? I've done a search at Squadron but found nothing.  If nothing exists then I will just persevere through this horrid molding.

I think you need to check squadron again

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=RM7546

if you scroll down you can find the aftermarket stuff. Hope this helps.