**** DONE: 1/48 P-61A – Heavy Hitters II GB

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Thanks Bill - certainly does.

The dash 2 specs are below, which means all three types were used, yellow zc, green zc and Northrop Cockpit Green were used.


E&M Manual specs:

'All exposed interior surfaces of the gunner's, pilot's and radio operator's compartments shall be finished with Northrop Cockpit Green (12 oz. of black camouflage enamel AAF 14109 to one gallon of zinc chromate primer Spec. No. AN-TT-P-656). This includes the seats and all other interior parts and surfaces except the instrument panels which will be dull black. Interior surfaces visible from the exterior shall be finished with one coat of dull enamel, AAF Spec. No. 14109 to match exterior surfaces. All unexposed interior surfaces of the gunner's, pilot's and radio operator's compartments, as between the flooring and the crew nacelle bottom, shall be coated with zinc chromate primer only, Spec. No. AN-TT-P-656. All exposed interior surfaces and parts of the turret compartment shall be finished with two coats of darkened (yellow-green) primer, Spec. No. 3-100-I. Unexposed interior surfaces of the turret compartment shall be finished with zinc chromate primer, Spec. No. AN-TT-P-656. All interior surfaces of the cannon compartment shall be finished with two coats of darkened primer (yellow-green), Spec.No.3-100-I.'
 
Thanks Geo - yep, it was on the cover, a great piece of art.

My Decals arrived on Friday and look great. There are two options to do this aircraft, one immediately after the V1 victory, or another a little later with more mission markings and shark mouth. From my understanding, the nose was never plain white, unless it was the translucent original finish to the nose cone.

I've made quite a bit of progress this week, so a new update very soon.

Cheers

Peter
 

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Okay, Okay! 8)

Some History

To fly these night fighters, the United States needed a different breed of aviator. So difficult and dangerous was the assignment that the AAF relied on volunteers only. Yet the mission was so exciting that there were always plenty of volunteers. One wartime ace, Robert "Shorty" Graham described night flying as "an indescribable experience with its stars, moon, and cloud valleys" that helped offset the dangers. In addition to having basic flying skills , the night pilot had to master twin-engine flying, night formation flying, night gunnery, night recognition, night navigation, ground control radar, and blind landings. The enormity of this task, compounded by a shortage of training aircraft and instructor pilots, delayed the formation of the first specifically planned U.S. night fighter squadron, the 414th, until January 1943. Priorities were never high because the same British squadrons that had helped to defeat the German Night Blitz over England were still available to fight for night air superiority in support of the Allied cause.

...the AAF assigned the V Interceptor Command initial responsibility for night training.... and were ordered to Orlando, Florida to train personnel for defense wings. With no trained instructor pilots, or R/O's, no aircraft. no radar, and no communications equipment the <Command> faced the monumental challenge of training sufficient crews to man seventeen night fighter squadrons within twelve months.

Conquering the Night, Army Air Forces Night Fighters at War, Stephen L. Farland.


Pic 1
Conversion Training in Orlando in early to mid 1943 Herman Ernst stands beside a P-70. Most of the training was conducted in P-70's before the first delivery of P-61 to the training units began in November 1943. The 422nd Fighter squadron was activated on the 1st Aug 1943 and was the first night fighter squadron to complete training in the P-61 in January 1944.

Pic 2
Edward Kopsel in the rear of the same P-70. This pic and the one above credited to Herman Ernst and appear in the publication "Queen of the Midnight Skies" Pape and Harrison.

Pic 3
25447 was a P-61A-5-NO. It did not carry under wing hard points for additional fuel or ordinance. The slots in the bottom of the wing for the hard points need to be filled, and the best way is to cut some plastic card of the same width and glue in place. Trimmed flush, all I need to do is re-assert the panel line to complete the job.

Pic 4 and 5
The 20mm guns are assembled next. The molding is great, and GWS have even found a way to hollow out the bores by some clever molding. Well done GWS!

Pic 6
The individual parts are painted ready for assembly. Gun bay roof will be yellow green zinc primer as per E M instructions.

Pic 7
Assembly complete and ready to install in the fuselage.

Pic 8
Onto the cockpit interior. I started with assembly of the seats first, and you certainly need to be very careful as the parts are small and fragile. Toothpick for scale. This is the pilot's seat, and I don't think you could improve much on this with resin. Very fine molding.

Pic 9
This is the Gunner, R/O seats. One assembled and the other in parts - they are both the same. Again very fragile and you need to be very careful cutting them off the sprue.

Pic 10
Okay - cockpit bits and bobs ready for installation.

Pic 11
In this shot, I have added all the cockpit sidewall detail to the sides and sprayed the interior. Green Yellow zinc primer for the cannon bay and turret area, and Northrop Cockpit Green for the crew areas. The colour used as Northrop Cockpit Green is Tamiya Flat Green XF:5, which I understand to be a close match.


End of update.

Cheers

Peter
 

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