Just about to start on a new endeavor, trying to conquer the notorious lady, Revell’s 1/48 P-61 Black Widow. Apparently she has numerous fit issues, especially with the clear parts. They say she is a tough lady and from what I’ve heard she has often made modelers give up on her.
We’ll see how long I survive, as those widows are known for destroying their suitors.
I am planning to do the “Midnight Mickey” version, which means olive drab/green base color. From what I’ve seen, these planes very pretty battered, so weathering should be fun.
After my first experiment with the complementary pre-shading method on my last build (Tamiya’s 1/48 Zeke where I used dark yellow primer followed by purple pre-shading before IJN Ash Gray base color), I will test the method further and go with the same primer, red or dark red pre-shading followed by the olive drab/green base colors.
I have built 4 of these over the years and it is a beastly kit. I took 2 kits on each build to make one finished model, but now with all the after market goodies available 1 kit can get it done. Looking forward to watching your build, good luck!
Good Luck Nikola. The latest incarnations of this kit are brutal fit-wise because the molds are shot. Try and get your hands on a white box/black lettering early Monogram release and you’ll have more success, particularly the clear parts. They are all over ebay.
Just wanted to share with you my rough “virtual test” for the complementary pre-shading method for the Widow. The colors are approximate. Here it goes:
Step 1 - Dark yellow primer:
Step 2 - Complementary pre-shading:
Step 3 - Base color:
Bellow - Regular pre-shading for comparison:
Comments, opinions and criticism are more than welcome!
Thanks for the encouragement! If the clear parts turn out to be a real problem, I will just go with a “one of a kind hard top convertible variant” with tops left at the hangar for maintanance [:P]
Dark yellow primer and complementary pre-shading finished for the interior parts of the plane. I used red pre-shading for interior green base (cockpit etc) and purple for zinc chromate and aluminium (wheel wells, underside, etc…)
The project is going slowly because I had to spend A LOT of time cleaning flash and seam lines from every single piece. The molds are really old.
I can’t imagine what’s in store for me when time comes to fit the pieces together, as the wings already caused some slight issues, but we’ll see.
The kit is notorious for a reason, but hey, it’s a skill honing challenge.
Also it’s a great subject so I keep on going!
Anyhow, bellow are the project update photos. Again I apologize for the image quality.
She is a real b%#ch when it comes to flash and seam lines, and fit also from what I’ve seen dry fitting some parts. So much time wasted. Certainly bad choice for someone with two small kids and very little free time, haha. But since I love this aircraft, I will try and endure everything she throws at me!!!
Well keavdog, the comments may not be encouraging if you are looking for a ‘shake and bake kit’; but if you want to build a fine P-61, this kit will provide the means to do that, provided that you are willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. It will certainly hone your modeling skills.
Don’t be discouraged at all, it is definitely a great subject to build in my opinion. I am probably whining too much since I have very little free time. And I just got back to modelling few months ago after a 20y break so I am no expert either.
One can say that although it is a challenging kit, it is a skill honing experience and fun to build.
As I mentioned in the opening post, from what I’ve heard it made some modellers give up but I think that one just needs more patience, that’s all.
We’ll see how it develops further. Will keep updating.
Step 2 - Complementary pre-shading:
