discussion Monogram P61 Black Widow 1/48 scale

[yak face]

Heres the old Monogram P61 Black Widow , an oldie but goodie ( amazingly the tooling dates back to 1974!!).I picked this up for £5 at Cosford a few years ago minus box . The decals were shot but I wanted to do a particular airframe anyway so i got aftermarket ones. The kit is fantastically detailed with all sorts of open panels etc (which i didnt bother with as I like to see a fairly clean airframe ) but has a couple of minor inaccuracies , namely the tyres and engine cowl flaps. The kit was based on the prototype xp61 which had smooth tyres , all the production aircraft had treaded ones , and the p61B had automatic cowl flaps which means the kit ones with one engine closed and the other open is wrong. to sort this I used aftermarket wheels and cut the cowl flaps off and refixed them open on the closed engine. the other additions were eduard belts , resin guns and a few scratchbuilt details (landing lights ,exhausts, aerials etc.)

I used the raised panel lines to my advantage by undercoating the whole thing in silver then giving it a coat of hairspray before spraying the black . this made chipping easier and also meant i could carefully rub off the black on the panel lines to reveal the silver ,the flaking of paint along panel joints being a characteristic of most p 61's. Anyways heres the model , a P61B 'Little Audrey' based at RAF Scorton ,North Yorkshire june 1944. The unit training here before being sent to France later in the year.
as always comments ,criticisms ,observations welcome , cheers tonyView attachment 283798 View attachment 283799 View attachment 283800 View attachment 283801 View attachment 283802 View attachment 283803 View attachment 283804 View attachment 283805 View attachment 283806 View attachment 283807 View attachment 283808 View attachment 283809 View attachment 283810 View attachment 283811 View attachment 283812 View attachment 283813 View attachment 283814 View attachment 283815 View attachment 283816 View attachment 283817

 

[rickoshea52]

Very nice. You've nailed the weathering on the black airframe.

 

[yak face]

Very nice. You've nailed the weathering on the black airframe.

Cheers Rick , I didnt want to go too mad as although these aircraft did weather quite badly after a while , at this time in this airframes life it would still have been fairly new , cheers tony

 

[Gern]

I was going to say this is a little gem; but it's too big for that and 'big gem' doesn't sound right! It'll have to be a cracker!

 

[Guest]

Magnificent build, Tony. Very, very nice!

 

[john i am]

Another cracker to the collection Tony loving the scheme and Audrey looks at home on the nose.

 

[Guest]

"Oldie but goldie...."!!! I'm a great fan of Monogram-Kits and your Black Widow is really a cracker, Tony!!!
All thumbs up!!!!

Cheers
Stefan

 

[papa 695]

Awesome work Tony.

 

[spanner570]

Terrific aircraft, me old mucker!

Top drawer build......

 

[Guest]

That's really top drawer stuff there Tony! Black is such a hard colour to get looking right, but you've nailed it.
The weathering is just right & you've really shown off the detail.

It takes me back to building the same kit as a kid, when Monogram meant state of the art! As I recall, my booms weren't quite right...had to check the autocorrect there!

 

[yak face]

Thanks everyone i forgot to mention the base is Eduard PSP Marston matting , bargain at about £6 !

 

[colin m]

Very nice Tony. It ticks all the boxes for me. Great use of 'problematic' panel lines. But imagine flying the aircraft when all four guns fire, just above your head !

 

[flyjoe180]

Beautiful build Tony, that looks A1

 

[BarryW]

I remember that kit from decades ago, a nice kit and yours has turned out beautifully Tony. I like how you used the raised panel lines.

 

[Robert1968]

Very nice Tony really looking great
I made this kit a few years back exact avd well it was a lovely kit ( not up to this standard of brilliance though.
100% Awesome

Regards

Robert

 

[Guest]

She's a beauty Tony, always like the looks of the Black Widow.

Have fun, John

 

[yak face]

Thanks everyone , glad you like it , cheers tony

 

[dave]

Superb job, Black is such a hard colour to get looking good.

 

[grumpa]

Though not a "plane guy" the BW was always one of my favorites, great work Tony............jim