Aaron Skinner
On the P-61, the spoilers are on the right way. Although incorrectly shaped and represented as retracting down into the recesses molded on the wing surfaces in the kit, the Black Widow, as I understand, was one of the first aircraft equipped with spoilerons. They are curved and come up vertically from slots in the wings with the brackets toward the front.
Neither GW or the reviewer got it right... The spoilers aren't hinged at either the front or the rear of the wing.. They're stowed inside the wings, as you pointed out, and not visible unless the yoke is turned. He has them mounted in the "Up" position on both wings at the same time... Nope. They operate the same way ailerons do, turn the yoke to the right and the the right spoiler comes up, dropping the right wing, turn it to the left, the left one comes up and drops the left wing...
Showing both of them up is akin to mounting both ailerons in the same position, like they were elevators... In a turn, only the "inside" wing's spoiler comes up; the other one, on the "outside" of the turn, remains stowed inside the wing.
As for their shape, you're right, they got them wrong in shape and surface. They're curved, and they also have several rows of holes in them, ala SBD dive-flaps, and they slide up and down vertically, not hinged like a door... But I'll let the guys make the call as whether or not this matters...
But while we're at it, check out this video, Flying the P-61 Series Airplane from the US Army Air Force's training films
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo-f2x8T7d8&feature=related
Around the 6:10 mark, you'll see the spoilerons in action during pre-flight cockpit checks.
IMNSHO, the GW P-61, although it does look like a beautiful kit, isn't all that much "better" than the Monogram kit... It has about the same number of problems; it's just that the problems are in different places than the Monogram Spider.... Whether or not someone wants to spend around Ninety to a Hundred bucks is their business, but based on what I've read, what I know about the Monogram Widow, what i've researched about the Black Widow itself, and knowing how to "fix" the Monogram kit (I've built seven or eight of 'em), it's not worth the price to me, nor would I recomend it to beginners, especially since you can only build one variant, SOB...
Pretty sure that GW will try to solve that last issue though.. A few extra parts is all that's needed to build a B variant, so another sprue is all that's needed..
BTW, I didn't read anywhere that the kit has the SCR-720A radar set... Is it included in the GW kit?