GWH 1/48 P61 Black Widow "Glassnose"

[Phil]

And here we go............

Today was a miserable rainy day so since it is 01/02/13 in Australia........

a full day at the bench with no interruptions

First off I addressed the non rotating props.
Simple fix really, cut off the prop pin and drill a hole through, make a shaft from scrap spru, and a locking donut

The next thing was one tedious step, cutting off all those molding pins from part I31 for the opened rad flaps, just to get it out of the way.

Curious to see how the engine all fitted together I assembled one and held it together with blu tac, Pe piece to go on later, but with the cowling on you can't see any of the nice detail

So I got creative........

And the props spin perfect!

 

[jknaus]

Great start. That engine looks pretty good already, but with some extra detail it should look awesome.

James

 

[Sherman 18]

I like this plane so I will be watching!

 

[moon puppy]

 

[nerdling]

Here share some of that

 

[DaneBramage]

Rainy Day- Build Away!!! Looks excellent so far!!!! like the panels

 

[moon puppy]

I see someone has already moved your build Phil so let's git'er done!

 

[Phil]

Thanks Terry & Bob, I penalized myself a day on the build!

Resuming very soon

 

[Phil]

ok, first thing I found about this kit is you have to be extra careful cutting the pieces from the spues as alot of the pieces are thin and finely detailed, with multiple attachment points the first piece was broken which was a support piece for the pilots seat.

going back to my first review pics shows the broken piece first time out of the bag

some of the parts are very fine, these are the arm rests for the gunners seat

one neat idea the GWH kit has is this plastic sheet on both sides of the Pe which allows you to cut the Pe part straight through the plastic leaving the free Pe piece right there - no Scud Missile!
Just peel back the plastic, remove the cut Pe piece, then reseat the plastic sheet ready for the next time

And here is my total for tonight! this could be a very slow build!

 

[Phil]

Working out the two zinc chromate colours in the fuselage today I noticed this decal,

expand it to full size,

now the letters seem to read

LOOKATTHATE CAT SWE PRODUC

PEOPLESWEETDGROT

break it up and remove the e and s, add ed and you get
lOOK AT THAT CAT WE PRODUCed


very strange!!!

as for the other one - it beats me!!!

 

[Phil]

Well............

some progress on this, impressions - plastic reminds me of Classic Airframes - very soft - one has to be careful with sanding.

Cutting parts from sprues - Much care and thinking how to do it - cut willy nilly - you got probs!

I made the pic 2000 pixels so you can have a good look at the joins

wig to boom outside - ok, a little squeezing with the fingers while the Ca glue grabs and holds needed - the gear bulkheads need a bit shaved off but have to be careful you don't start cutting into the detail

wing to boom inside - a bit of a step, sanded lightly to clean up a little but a fair amount of detail there, it will be hard to spot I think when all joined up to the fuselage, left it alone.

wing to boom Top - a bit of a step, it sands down easy, again care needed with the plastic, also you need to check your join on the rear wing inside of the flaps as the glue grabs

wing to boom inside - another view to show the fit -

Boom seam - nice fit joins very nice, you also need to trap the movable rudder when gluing these together, instructions are rather vague to tell you the best way of attaching the rudders, either when the booms are together, then join the two pieces of rudders, or do the rudders first then trap them between the booms, i did the later.

Point to remember, with the gear well sidewalls you must align these carefully otherwise one edge will stick out and the other will push in, you can align this when gluing the two booms together - i glued the well after the booms were together after the discovery of gluing it in to one side first - :bur2:

Note - the Ailerons are ONE piece with two T attachments, these must be put in before gluing the wing together!

completed wing to stb fuse bottom - Dry fitted only
fit is how you see it, slight gap front and rear

completed wing to stb fuse top - Dry fitted only
fit is how you see it, slight gap front and rear

and the completed radar dry fitted to bulkhead- a few wires needed I think!! :biggrin:

I have lots of sub assemblies going, this kit is not to be rushed, dry fitting is essential IMO, I have found that a lot of the joining pin holes need re drilling out, and some joining pins shortening, injection pin marks are prevalent I guess it's up to the builder to decide whether to remove or leave, some won't be seen, some will.

Now for the port boom/wing assembly...!

 

[MrT]

Looking good Phil!! Moving right along.

B)

 

[nerdling]

Looking pretty good Phil. So would you say the kit is worth the extra price over the old Monogram bird?

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Phil]

So would you say the kit is worth the extra price over the old Monogram bird?

I'll reserve my views until I see a Monogram kit being built,haven't seen anything on pit detail etc on the Mono, so until then jury is still out!

Can't fault the detail on the parts, fit wise seems good so far, as I've said before the two things I just don't like are the non rotating props and the lack of supplied nose weight as shown on the instruction page as a molded item that slots straight in behind the IP.

kit guns look nice, the 50 cal barrel is not drilled out so I did that, although it is a bit off center oob, the 20mm is drilled out for you though

the two radar poles cleaned up - these had 5 attachment points on the spru - 3 would be plenty!
at least I didn't break them while removing and cleaning them up!

 

[Paulw]

Well Phil, there is no want for trying. I think it looks rather keen. I will have to wait until the whole show is over.

 

[Sherman 18]

 

[lupanzer]

....beautiful plane....great model ... And excelent assembly!

:drinks

Luiz

 

[Old Dog]

 

[Phil]

Thankyou all!

I got the ''green chromate'' parts done today going by this photo colours this is what I came up with

It will do me fine, I added a couple of drops of Testors (very light!!) ZCGreen to Humbrol 117

started detailing the parts tonight, more soon