Thanks for the words. Well, I think I'm done. It's the 1/48 Great Wall "revised" edition of the P-61 B-2, in the markings of "Lady In The Dark" from the 548th Night Fighter Squadron. In this plane, it's widely believed (not confirmed) that on August 14th 1945, Capt. Lee Kendall and R/O Lt. John Sheerer scored the last kill of WW2, claiming a Ki-44 Tojo without shooting a single round. Its my understanding the Japanese pilot saw the Widow pouncing and during evasive manuevering, it ended up in the drink.
I built this one on the heels of Great Wall's Fw 189 which was reportedly their first plane kit. I wanted to see what improvements were made if any. I also wanted to see how it compared to the 41 year old Monogram kit. This one is light years ahead of the Monogram version in easy of build and detail. Apparently there are some accuracy issues, but hey....it looks like a P-61 to me. This thing was truely a pleasure. On the downside, the landing gears are kind of wobbly and the front gear is short. The props and hubs are one piece and I didn't like the wheels (personal preference). This kit did not come with drop tanks? They aren't even on the instructions. I had to hork them from an old Monogram kit. Also, the decals were thick like Scotch tape.....worst ever. They even scoffed at Solvaset. GW, if your listening, have someone else make your decals.
On this project, I ended up using Quickboost props, Eduard Brassin wheels (very nice), Quickboost belly cannons, and Print Scale decals as they were the only ones I could find for LITD (the latter for the aforementioned reason). Print Scales were horribly fraglile and I needed to substitute an Aeromaster P-38 sheet for the insignias. I was having Techmod nightmares. I also corrected the front gear by lengthening it at the top with a piece of sprue.
Black has always been a challenge to paint and weather convincingly, at least for me. As I previously stated, I experimented with different shades of grey and employed my usually streaking. After my decaling debacle, I decided to use a Grey Flory wash in the panel lines to represent the Iwo Jima coral dust. It left the overall look kind of grey and dusty which I found appealing for this particular aircraft. Well, I think I captured the look I was going for. What do you folks think?
I can tell you on my next Widow, and there will be a next Widow, it will be olive drab over neutral grey and in the European Theater.
Thanks for following...comments and criticisms welcome...
Joe