1/48 P-61 Black Widow, "Moonlight Serenade" - Revell kit - Work in progress

Has it really been over a year this thing has been sitting on my bench? Time sure flies.

Picked things up again. Attaching the last of the gear doors, flaps, antennae. Getting the last bits painted up before doing the main fuselage black.

As many folks have noted, the clear parts are almost unusable. I'm going to see if I can make them work, but the fit is abysmal, to say the least. For now, I'm pretty happy with how we're coming out.

I painted a few of the panels gray-black in the hopes that it'll give a little depth to the final black on the fuselage.

Definitely a learning experience. I honestly have no idea what was going through my head when I glued the drop tanks on before painting the kit. I put in the gear because they're trapped between the fuse halves, but I think I had a moment of temporary insanity with the drop tanks.

Ah well. Progress continues. Got the clear parts in as best I could, managing to break one of the small windows in half. It was molded very, very thinly. Almost paper thin. The other side was normal thickness.

Overall, I'm pleased with progress and enjoying it. This is the second coat of black acrylic brushed on. I feel like I can thin the paint out even more than I have been.

Great progres on this"vintage" kit.  Everyone on youtube puts this kit down but you are doing a great job with it.  I've had this kit in my stash for so long but seeing your build has made me want to get my kit out and start working on it.

TJS

Thanks Tom! I know there's a lot to nitpick, but hey, it's still pretty damn cool. Just got the last coat of black on. Next is touching up the cowlings, then Future, then decals and weathering.

I haven't decided if I'm going to do the museum-shiny Moonlight Serenade, or if I'm going to make it look more worn.

Looking good.  Encouraging to watch your progress - I too have this one in the stash

It's always nice to see a classic come back to life!

You can never go wrong with "worn & weathered" in my humble opinion.

TJS

MR TOM SCHRY

You can never go wrong with "worn & weathered" in my humble opinion.

True. Then I can call my painting mistakes "weathering."

Meanwhile, slow but steady progress continues.

Got the first coat of Future on to prep for decals. I have a few spots where it puddled a little thicker, which I've never had happen before. Guess I've got to be more careful!

I assume I should hit them with fine sandpaper before the next coat, yes?

Not unless you let it dry real hard first.

Thanks John. I was going to give it a few days.

I was wondering if the next coats would self level, but I don't want to find out three coats down the line that I've still got raised puddles at the edges of my wings.

I mean, I know this isn't exactly a show quality piece here, but I'd like to make it look as nice as my current skill set allows.

ManSkirtBrew

Got the first coat of Future on to prep for decals. I have a few spots where it puddled a little thicker, which I've never had happen before. Guess I've got to be more careful!

I assume I should hit them with fine sandpaper before the next coat, yes?

If you haven't addressed the Future puddling yet, I recommend instead that you take a weak ammonia solution, like Windex, and use a paint brush to apply it to the dried pools and puddles, till you can see them dissolve.  Then you can remove the excess acrylic as necessary, and let the remaining liquid self-level.  That will be easier on the details than sanding would.

the Baron

take a weak ammonia solution, like Windex, and use a paint brush to apply it to the dried pools and puddles, till you can see them dissolve.  Then you can remove the excess acrylic as necessary, and let the remaining liquid self-level.

Hey, thanks! This worked a treat. It took the Future off completely in the high areas, so they should blend back in with the next coat.

Long, thin decals are too stressful.

I agree!  Looks like you took care of business.  That green on black looks awesome.

Thank you!

I'm having all sorts of new problems with this build. I put one more coat of Future to seal in the decals before moving to the bottom, and it hazed up around the decals. You can see it at the corner of the triangle here. It's all over the areas where I applied decals.

Could this befrom the Micro Set/Micro Sol that I used on them? I didn't do anything to clean it off before brushing on Future over it, but I've also never done it before.

Should I be cleaning that off with something before applying another coat of Future?