P-61, as close to real as I could get...

[Wurger]

Thank you very much. As an artist I paint protraits, land and sea scapes, and occationally wildlife. The point of my model is two fold. One is to improve my humble modeling skills, the other is to try my hand at painting WW2 aircraft... especially night fighters since there are so few of these types of paintings around. I needed a plane that was as accurate as possible. For P-61's there are only four in existance and I don't live near any of them. I'll post a couple of examples of my work if you like to give you a better idea what I can do.

Thank you very much for the nice answer.Glad you joined us. Your paint below looks really cool. If you want to show us more of these I suggest starting a separate thread in Personal Gallery sub-section that can be found in the Current Section.

my best

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thank you Wurger, you are very kind. I think as time allows I will post some paintings there...

 

[Lucky13]

Looking forward to them!

 

[beaupower32]

Yep, thats a great looking model, and painting. Cant wait to see what else you have.

 

[Wurger]

With all here.

 

[Airframes]

I agree, a very nice painting, and an unusual 'canvas' too.

 

[A4K]

fantastic work mate - the model and the painting!!!!! Is it painted in oils? Looks like some pastels in there too.

 

[Maglar]

Top marks on the plane mate, and the painting sweeped me off my feet!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

The painting is all acrylics on a concrete cutting blade and sealed with varnish.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Ok, I finally have the closer view pictures I promised. I also will include a rare photo of "Lady in the Dark" that shows a different antenna than is normally included in kits.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Here are more photos showing the side air intake compared with one on a real P-61B and one of the front wheel and a comparison photo. The last photo is from the MAAM Black Widow restoration project giving a close look at the elusive right side air intake and red outer handle.

 

[Wurger]

 

[B-17engineer]

Sweet work!!

 

[Lucky13]

Top notch!

 

[Crimea_River]

Nicely done. I remember building that kit many years ago. Was and is still good.

 

[Gnomey]

Good stuff!

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

I thank you all for your encouraging remarks. My next project will be a Mossie, NF Mk II. By the way, does anyone have tips on how to make good seat belts? I tried one technique of using wire and paper tape. The results were ok but I would like to do better.

 

[B-17engineer]

Ok.... I am a beginner myself but, what some people say is to take strips of aluminum from saya wine bottle and use those, or you can use Tamiya 6mm masking tape and cut it to size... and then there are Photo etched parts.

 

[Maximowitz]

Very nice work indeed. Nice to see another member interested in the Night Fighter War.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Very nice work indeed. Nice to see another member interested in the Night Fighter War.

I'm currently working toward becoming a project manager for my company and I found that night fighters are a great example of the different approaches people have to solve a given common problem. In this case night fighting. Each plane I've studied has a development history. The P-61 was designed from the very beginning as a night fighter. The Mossie night fighter was an adaptation of an already successful platform and a logical choice since the British had already tried using an A-20 and Bristol Beaufighter. The Germans seemed to try to make everything a night fighter and see which one worked best. The He 219 Uhl was also a great example of feature creep, lack of support from senior management, and bad planning for parts flow. Otherwise it was a great plane. The Japanese tried a different approach by adapting a recon plane with cannons behind the canopy and pointed at a 30 degree angle up. Very sneaky if not the first to employ this technique. The Russian Pe3 bis used a spot light on the left wing once they visually acquired their target. The Potez 631 was just a good example of poor planning. It was woefully underpowered and too much resembled German Me 110's. Many of their night fighters were shot down by their own people. So you see, Night Fighting is a fasinating subject.