I got started on the 234 and the kit looks decent. First had to cut out the top of the fuselage for the radar operator.

and got a good start on the office wich is lacking detail so I'll scratch some items to make up for it

Getting closer to paint.

All the seam and sanding work has been completed. Aerial mast, radar antenna and dipoles attached. Canopy masked. Priming tonight?

Ok, now I will cut to the chase and show you the finished model...  May I present to you the product of about four months labor.  My P-61A  Nocturnal Nemesis ...

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Doogs the Mossie is looking clean and nicely prepped

NFN Outstanding Widow ,the 4 months of hard work have paid off with a very authebtic build that is stunning!!!

Doogs, I'm liking the Mossie too! 

NFN, awesome job on the Widow!!!  That was an incredible amount of work you put into it. 

Nice Widow. The work definately paid off.

NFN- fantastic work on the Widow. Exceptional results, inside and out.

NFN, very sweet build..! makes me wanna get one of mine outa the stash !

Thanks guys.  much appreciated.  :)

NFN - Love the Widow! One day I'll work up the courage to build one of those!

And...the Mossie is over the hump! There's nothing quite as satisfying as seeing primer cover up all those nasty-looking puttied areas and leave a nice, smooth surface!

The concrete monster managed to claim the little observation window on the underside aft of the bomb bay, but it's in an out-of-the-way enough location that I'm not going to sweat it. Other than that, everything appears to be 5 by 5, so I'm sort of waiting for the inevitable something to go wrong, as it does on every project!

DoogsATX

Lookin' good Doogs - is this going all-black or gray & green? Not sure the paint bottles are to scale, they look a little oversized to me...

VanceCrozier

 

 

Lookin' good Doogs - is this going all-black or gray & green? Not sure the paint bottles are to scale, they look a little oversized to me...

Actually, I'm going to do it up as the Oscar Meyer wienermobile. Hence the red and yellow paint!

This one's going to be all black...or black grey, with black pre-shading. We'll see how it goes...

DoogsATX

 

VanceCrozier:

 

 

 

Lookin' good Doogs - is this going all-black or gray & green? Not sure the paint bottles are to scale, they look a little oversized to me...

 

 

Actually, I'm going to do it up as the Oscar Meyer wienermobile. Hence the red and yellow paint!

This one's going to be all black...or black grey, with black pre-shading. We'll see how it goes...

I'll be watching you, I'll be doing a similar treatment on my P-38. Primer / straight-black preshading / thin coats of almost-black. I'm hoping to mimic some wear by laying down matt black layers first and finish coats of gloss black in the appropriate areas. Anything I've found so far shows the NF Lightning as allover gloss black.

Doggs, The Mozzie is looking great...gotta love that first coat of primer and how it starts looking like a finished project.

NFN...man that widow came out superb, definitely an inspiration for a future build

I found the article for color on the early Brit nightfighter camo scheme. I plan on doing this treatment on the Beau fighter I'm working on now. http://www.ipms-belvoir.co.uk/PDF/Beaufighter.pdf

NFN, awesome work!  That is an inspiring build.  As my kids would say, "you've got epic skills".  I updated the completed build post.  I hope you'll stick around, as we still have a long way to go.

Trey, your third build is already taking shape.  Very impressive.

Doogs, your Mossie looks great.  True that, about smooth primer.  I am about to go check where I shot some on my P-70 yesterday.  I have a feeling it still needs work.

Cheers,

Greg

NFN: Wow, she looks great! Glad I decided to go with the all black Widow, hopefully that will give me some contrast with yours.

Trey: Gee, number three and I'm still bogged down with my first build :( Good stuff!

Doogs: Looking good! Gosh, you're making me want to run out and buy a night fighter 'skitter now...

Gregbear: Can you add one more to this build? It's a Tamiya 1/48 BeauFighter MkVI

Got the cockpit and rest of the interior about ready to button up. I'm still new to kit building so I thought I'd try some different things on this one. I gave the interior a very light burnt umber wash then dry brushed with aluminum. I also used the kit supplied decals for the harnesses. I cut them out on the backing paper and used Micro liquid tape to attach them to the seats. Highlighted them with a dark grey wash. Not thrilled with the result but its something different for me.

I did straighten out the seat. Don't know why the main decal on the instrument doesn't show up at all

Doogs the primer looks like it laid down nicely !

jbrady that is a sweet lookin office ,the wash looks like it turned out fine to me

I got the primer on and now I'm trying to rescribe some lines.I'm using a curved tip blade thats made for this but do'nt like the results ,anybody have a better way of rescribing?

thanks

Jbrady: Looks good to me. The colour on the various knobs and controls make the detail 'pop' for me.

Trey: Great job, wish I could move as fast as you. Btw, Squadron makes a scribing tool but frankly I hardly ever use mine. Good old #11 knife blade is mostly what I use.

Gamera thanks,I've got one thats almost identical. I've tried the #11 too just thought maybe there was a better way. My problem is probably technique, the lines are'nt coming out as clean as I would like.

treyzx10: I just use an exacto needle punch that I run on a whet stone once in a while. Seems to work just fine.

TREYZX10R

Gamera thanks,I've got one thats almost identical. I've tried the #11 too just thought maybe there was a better way. My problem is probably technique, the lines are'nt coming out as clean as I would like.

Trey, someone once told me that if you run a bead of Tamiya extra thin glue in the seam after you scribe it it will clean it up nicely.  I've tried it and it works like a charm.

For panel lines, my suggestion would be to put a piece of tape along the line you want to clean out or draw.  This will give you a straight edge to go by and help prevent you from jumping around as a #11 blade tends to do unless you move very slowly and with short strokes.  You can also use a sharpened needle to run along the tape line.  Not straight down but at an angle as if you were pulling the point of the needle back.  Resharpen the needle with a soft stone from time to time to keep it really sharp.  That should help somewhat I think.  :)

I only really scribe when I'm cleaning up puttied-over panel lines, but I use an old airbrush needle and it seems to work well. Doesn't seem to exhibit the same propensity to slip and take off across that nice, smooth wing the way a #11 or dedicated scriber seem to.

Also...got the Mossie pre-shaded last night. I decided to lay it on pretty heavy since I know the "almost black" is going to have really solid coverage, and it'll be a fine thing to keep from obliterating the pre-shade. Figure the thicker bands might give me a bit more room for error.

Also discovered a downside to the Grex Tritium. That trigger spray is nice, but at the end of the airbrush session my hand was so cramped up that I couldn't grip the garage door tight enough to turn the knob.

That's good info..  

I believe I will try to finish a plane I started last year but put on hold for some time.  A Fiat CR 42 CN Italian Night Fighter.  I'll submit a photo of where I'm at currently later.  :)

jbrady, Nice job on the cockpit. Nice and subtle shading.

Trey, Love the gun pod (I assume) on the bottom of you A/C

Doggs, Cramping huh? That was one of the main reasons I wanted the Grex...to stop the finger cramping I get with a traditional AB

I have started my J1N1 and will post pictures when I get to a good step to show what I have been doing.

Which version of the J1N1 are you going to do?  Early or late?

I am doing the early one, with the glass nose and both sets of cannons. I prefer the looks of the late model and the kit does come with some of the parts to make the late one, like the diopoles and the solid nose but I don't know what else makes the late model so I am going with the early one. 

If I remember correctly, the early one had a kind of hump behing the cockpit, the late one had even lines to the fuselage.