**** DONE: 1/48 P-61B Black Widow - Pacific Theatre of Operations II

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Airframes said:
Good info Bill. Got plenty of photos of the main cockpit upper hatch, and the lower, rear belly hatch, but nothing on the rear upper hatches.
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The picture on Maam's website I'm talking about shows the radar operators station and the top of the glass. In the picture, you can see a latch for the widow/door. Since the latch would only be on the side opposite the hinges, I surmised that the hinges must be on the bottom.
 
Understand what you mean Bill. It just seems a bit odd that a hatch would open downwards, onto the area a crew member would step on to. I'm wondering if the latch at the top released the hatch which, if it was only held by catches or pins at the bottom edge, would then be released, to be pushed out of the frame, rather like the hatch in the port side of the B-25 nose glazing, which was an escape hatch.
 
Bill, Terry, I too thought it was wrong to open the hatch downward which is why, initially I glued it open from the top. Terry's explanation seems to make the most sense. The kit directions say to glue it closed or just omit it from the model so it makes a lot of sense that it was removeable.
Bill, now that I look closely at your pics I do see a line which, in the top photo begins/ends at the Lady's head and begins/ends at her hand. While in Pic #3 the line goes completely through her hair/arm/hand and there is a Box-shaped figure almost covering the L in Lady. Neither the kit directions or decal sheet have this line and the extra decals for the Lady version do not have it either nor do they show this line, so me neither.
P.S. Experience gained is directly proportional to items ruined...DON'T fiddle with a model UNTIL ALL decals are set and DRY
 
For the hatch, here is what I believe based on what I've read about the plane. The radar operators glass hatch on top is for escape should the plane ditch in water. This is shown in the P-61 manual. The gunner's hatch is probably for the same reason unless they didn't have a ladder to service the gun turret. Then the hatch makes sense to gain access onto the wing and the gun turret. Mike, don't worry about the red line. There are photos of lady with and without the red line. I believe there must have been some accident and some brass decided that all planes for that unit should have a red line to keep an idiots from walking into the props.
 
Likely, there is a big warning sign on the front hatch saying, "Warning - Walk Aft" and on the inside of the front wheel doors saying "Propeller" 'Walk Aft"
Shades of Indiana Jones...
 
mikewint said:
Likely, there is a big warning sign on the front hatch saying, "Warning - Walk Aft" and on the inside of the front wheel doors saying "Propeller" 'Walk Aft"
Shades of Indiana Jones...
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Actually Mike, your plane should of had decals that said just that. One on the wheel well bucket and one located on the inside of the front landing gear doors.
 
Me too Wayne, but you Guys put me into the "finger-painting" category.
Wait til the next build, I'm gonna take some Al-wire and knit a working 16-cylinder radial engine
 
The Widow is 99.8% complete. Actually I could declare it done but I'd like to try doing some weathering/wear/usage on it for the first time. Terry and Vic have been trying to help me with some basic techniques (Lord help them). I've tried to do exhaust staining (case you did not recognise it). I tried Tamiya's X-19 SMOKE. It's very thin and dark so it really did not show on the black Widow. It basically made things more shiny. I also had a bottle of Model Master JET EXHAUST. (Yes I know those 4-bladed thingeys are not jets) I mixed the two and damp brushed it. I sorta-kinda like it but what do you think? Any suggestions?
 

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Okay Mike, sent you a bit of a spiel on this, if you have the goods at hand, give it a try on a bit of scrap first. No need to spoil P-61 at this stage until you perfect your method of weathering. Plenty of time to do the GB build before closing.
 
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Exhaust stains Redux: With some highly valued help from a master of the modeling art. I darkened the stains with a dark grey. They look much more realistic (to me anyway) than the earlier set of pics. I hope the difference shows. Suggestions comments appreciated.
 

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