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

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Exhaust Stains Redux Redux: Went over the stains with another coat of X-19 Smoke followed by some Clear Flat to tone down the shinyness. In person it look dark to me but once again comment please and suggestions.
Also the decal sheet has solved the mystery of the windows. Note: Emergency Release. The same on the gunner's window plus a decal on the pilots side: Emergency Release Other Side. So my take is that these two were latched at the top and open hinged at the bottom to be totally removed in an emergency situation allowing the Gunner and Radar operator easy egress
 

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Nice Mike, on a widow, there are three stain lines and they can go back pretty far. I have used grey chalk with a stiff bristle artist brush to pretty good effect along with grey pastel. here are a couple of pictures for reference, even found the one on the windows from the flight manual. Hope these help.
 

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Good stuff going on here. Mike, if you're not using an air brush, I think the best technique for something like an exhaust stain is to dry brush the paint on in a stippling manner. Best achieved with an old paint brush with the hairs cut back close to the hilt so that the brush is stiff. Put a bit of paint on the brush and dab it onto a piece of paper until the paint appears as faint smudges then continue the same on the model. Build up til you're happy with the finished results.

Having said that, what you've done so far is good but if you want to expand the stains per the pictures, this might be something you may want to try.
 
Ilyushin, Not exactly sure to what you are refering but if you mean the model, I get most of mine on Ebay now since I'm 150mi from the nearest Hobby shop
Bill, great reference material, I was going by a model I saw on line which only had the two lines. I will definitely work on adding the third line tomorrow. On the top pic they do not seem to reach the booms but on the last pic they really cover the entire boom and even onto the tail. The degree of contrast also amazes me. I expected some darkening but these appear as a light gray? I am a bit leary about chalk/pastel as I've new used them before though Vic suggested them as a way to "dirty" the entire aircraft
Andy, that is what I am doing though because of the extent of the stain a "damp" brush is more like it. I started with X-19 Smoke and eventually a dark grey. Terry and Vic have been helping me quite a bit as this is a first for me.
 
Mike, the good thing about chalk is that you can remove it completely with a damp cotton ball with absolutely no ill effects to the paint. Now a bit about Lady and her exhaust streaks. Hers were quite extensive as it faded the white star and bar on the side. Here is a reference I got from Zotz decals. I like Zotz because he doesn't make any decals for any planes unless he is sure it is accurate. See what you think.
 

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Ok, Exhaust stains one more time, he said hopefully. From Bill's pics the Widow's exhaust is light and extensive none of which I expected. So I switched to a light grey (Tamiya's Sky Grey) and tried to damp/dry brush the lighter color in. Additionally, I added that third central stain.
Someone also mentioned "Nose Art". Gotta love the Lady
So gentlemen comments please
 

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