Anigrand 1/72 McDonnell P-67B Moonbat "Virgin Widow II"

[Rhino]

It snowed here today. Snow means MODEL TIME!! Some cockpit paint and a few decals. The fuselage halves are still not bonded together, so additional switches, gizmos and airplane hoozies can still be added. The 3 sided instrument panel is adorned by P-51A and the lower P-39 1/72 ProModeler instrument decals from 1997. (51 + 39 =67!!) I'm still puzzling out the air intercept radar screen and guns. Stay tuned, Friends for more Moonbat model mischief!!

 

[jeaton01]

Koolo!

 

[moon puppy]

(51 + 39 =67!!)

 

[Duke Maddog]

Enjoy Chris! We have a ton of rain here in SoCal so I'll be working on a few kits myself. Perfect modeling weather out here!

 

[Rhino]

The dreaded, much touted winter storm has arrived here. Snow blower is up and fueled. Cars have been started and defrosted. Trash is burned and the stew is on the the simmer.

Airplane gizmos, widgets and hoozies installed in the P-67's "front office". Radar scope, gear retract handle, fuel selectors and decorative circuit breakers and warning lights.

Now it's time to reveal two pitfalls of the Anigrand kit discovered so far.

1. See pictured the very fine turbosupercharger exhausts. No amount of sanding will make these fit in the aft end of the engine nacelles. I sanded one until it was almost see-through. Still no soap.
Solution: Add a tiny bit more weight to the front of the nacelles, block off the openings and make these from copper tubing.

2. The kit canopy doesn't fit well. The pilot seat is too wide at the top to fit inside the thick but crystal clear canopy.
Solution: Sand the pilot seat and repaint it. Easy deal!
Finding a vac-form canopy for her proved fruitless. A substitution may yet be made.

I'm not happy with the kit supplied control stick. The Moonbat had a P-38/A-20 style control yoke. I imagine she would have been a muscular plane to fly. I'm marking for a total of 4 20mm and 2 37mm guns for the combat Moonbat (?!)
External fuel tanks could be an asset for Iceland based P-67's.
Stay tuned for more Moonbat Model Mischief!
Thanks again for looking in!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Nice work Chris! Good luck on the exhaust tube fit!

 

[moon puppy]

2, 37mm guns? Woof!

 

[Brokeneagle]

 

[Rhino]

My learned resin aircraft model friend advises using JB Weld clear to assemble the major parts of this model. Frank says C/A glue becomes brittle in time and your model my not age well. JB does not. In that light, I made my first attempt at applying JB clear as an adhesive. Mix well, as you might any epoxy and apply sparingly.

Mistakes I made on my first try.
1. I mixed way too much.
2. I applied the clear JB with a popsicle stick.
3. Having applied way too much JB, I got it on my fingers and reverted to 9-year-old Rhino and got gooey fingerprints all over the engine nacelle in question.
4. I hurried. There is NO rushing clear JB Weld. Once you apply it, line up your parts and clamp it, YOU MUST WALK AWAY!
(I'm not good at walking away.)

After conferring with Frank, I made a second attempt. I applied the JB with a toothpick. I cleaned up everything with Acetone.
I took my time getting the parts properly aligned, clamped and left it alone for an hour. Staring at the model for an hour does NOT speed the curing time.

Other things I learned about JB Weld Clear.
1. Sanding it is near impossible. You score/cut/scrape any excess to remove it. JB is tenacious!
2. The smell it makes is similar to hair coloring. PLUG YOUR NOSE! (or color your hair!)
3. NO second chances! Make double damn sure your parts EXACTLY are where you want them!

Filling gaps and sanding them smooth is very much like the process I use on my ship model masters. Mark the seam with Black Sharpie, dab C/A Glue along the gap, gently wet-sand the joint until the black goes away and remark with Black to see if the gap is filled. Repeat as needed. I would fault my alignment before I faulted the kit castings.
"Mark-dab-sand, Huh." will be a lengthy procedure.
"Test-fit, grind/sand, test-fit, Hmm." is sure to be similar.

The cannons will need shell ejector ports, so I approximated those too. The Oldsmobile 37mm guns are quite a bit longer than the Oerlikon 20's. 1/350 5-inch .45 caliber turned brass gun barrels should be close for the 37's. If they aren't they will look suitably deadly!

I never did wish and do not now wish anyone here to think I am a "Know-it-all" about resin airplane models. I am NOT!
My hope is that if you build a resin aircraft kit, you can embark on your own "adventure" and benefit from my experience. I know a little less about hair coloring.

Sure as I'm sitting here, Revell Ag will release a 1/72 XP-67 Moonbat about the time I get ready to paint this one.

Thanks again for looking in!

 

[Impisi]

I really like what you doing here and I'm sure it will look good in the end!

 

[Duke Maddog]

It looks like you're having too much fun Chris! Love it! I'll be taking notes on the JB Weld, although it doesn't work on plastic to fiberglass. Ask me how I know....

 

[moon puppy]

I didn't know this. hope my Comets hold up!

 

[Rhino]

I got frustrated. I commented to Frank about how much "Blacksmithing" and patience a kit like this takes and how my hat was off to him for having his resin airplane models come out so well. The wheels of creativity were wedged against one another.
"I'm going back the the Navy where I truly belong!" His sage advice was "You'll Survive".

Then the "Big Guns" were rolled out. In a flurry of properly "lubricated" creativity, I threw caution to the wind and Stinko'd the Moonbat assemblies together. "What could possibly go wrong?!"

Masking the joints to keep the Stinko JB clear that might squooze out onto the rest of the surfaces seemed like a dandy idea.

A couple hours later, applying Tamiya putty to obvious gaps seemed a logical next step.

The nacelle to fuselage joints are still not perfect yet. The underside lined up a little better than the top.
Plenty more "Mark-dab-sand, Huh" to do.
Frank was right.
Just a little more Moonbat progress from you serial poster!

 

[centaur567]

Looks like your Ding Bat is starting to look like a Moon Bat. Keep up the good work!! Gary S. LGB XLV MMXXIV

 

[Impisi]

keep it up! Anigrant are quite basic but much better than Unicraft i.e. and others. With some filler and some sanding it'll look good in the end.

 

[moon puppy]

Has that blended body (like F16) look to it doesn't it?

 

[Impisi]

Has that blended body (like F16) look to it doesn't it?

hmm, I can't see a F-16 but it reminds me on a Naboo Fighter

 

[Rhino]

hmm, I can't see a F-16 but it reminds me on a Naboo Fighter

Now there's an interesting paint scheme idea. NabooBat?
It's been said that a similar lifting body/wing design was employed on jet aircraft much later on McDonnell's F-15 Eagle and on Grumman's F-14 Tomcat as well. I imagine the Moonbat and Tomcat may have responded similarly to a hard roll input by having the the nose yaw opposite to the roll, without application of rudder force.

A happy accident of the XP-67's design was her small radar cross section. Not that radar technology was terribly sophisticated in 1945. This was also the first airplane (I think) to employ the combined aileron/flap control surface or "flapperon" as in later Grumman US Navy jet aircraft.

Some scribing for speed brakes and spoilers may occur. Fuel fillers are in the works as well as an improved canopy for the night-fighter "B" model Moonbat.

The first attempt at replacement exhausts looks promising.

Pinning the horizontal stabilizers in progress. .020" brass wire hopefully will provide strength enough to make a lasting model. I may mold the kit gear and cast it in white metal. I considered molding the propeller spinners and white metal casting them for future Moonbat Builders.

Under the heading of "Who would notice anyway?" buying similar looking metal landing gear and adapting them seems less looney. A friend of mine built a 1/24 Mustang and put a Chevelle suspension under it. His Mustang model won several awards.
Take THAT, rivet-counting, know-it-all contest judges!

Thanks again for looking in!

 

[Rhino]

The Accu-Hunch-Weather-Guess, brought to you by Hy-Vee, Fareway and Price Chopper food stores predicted "severe winter storms" for us beginning Friday at dawn. Sure enough, some snow fell. It's Iowa. It's winter. Not even truly newsworthy.

After the hungry snow gobbling machine has been properly fed, Winter is prime model time! Tail planes fitted. They look almost pretty good. The horizontal stabilizers require lots of trial (and error) fitting. The fit of their leading edges demands lots of the afore mentioned blacksmithing
I learned that C/A glue does NOT bond to black Sharpie coated resin.

In other resin model news, Frank asked me to make 5 copies of these 1/48 Apache parts. I thought up all kinds of complicated ways to get these fine little bits mastered. After some serious consideration, I chose the "Simple" method. Not my usual way of doing things. The castings will prove whether my efforts are successful or not.

Thanks again for looking in!

 

[Impisi]

ah it's taking shape - get a R2D2 unit and of you go