So I guess what we need for the HB P-61 is a "B" nose and main

[Rob Colvin]

I was a bit frustrated with them myself...I used them on my F-84 in hind site i should done it with tape and a new no11 xacto blade.

 

 

 

Yuk - thought I'd try some on the He111 - complete waste of money as far as I was concerned. Fresh scalpel blade and Tamiya tape quicker and more accurate IMHO...

 

Iain

[Mark P]

If you are looking for other marking selections in an effort to build a P-61A, Eagle Editions has opted to scale up their 1/72nd and 1/48th scale P-61A markings into 1/32nd scale. This was just recently announced.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

[TimW]

The great dilemma....I received the Kits World decals for two P-61As of 6th FG. Cutting off 6mm of the nose seems straightforward enough; but is the semi-transparent nose accurate? Based on the pictures I've found it seems like its....but I thought I'd check with those who are better versed in Black Widowness than I am!

 

Or is there a lot more work to do than I thought and so maybe I should just go with a B....

 

Regards,

 

Tim W.

[Dave Williams]

The great dilemma....I received the Kits World decals for two P-61As of 6th FG. Cutting off 6mm of the nose seems straightforward enough; but is the semi-transparent nose accurate? Based on the pictures I've found it seems like its....but I thought I'd check with those who are better versed in Black Widowness than I am!

 

Or is there a lot more work to do than I thought and so maybe I should just go with a B....

 

Regards,

 

Tim W.

 

I think it's been mentioned before in the other threads here, but what you need for to make an A is to chop 8 scale inches off the front fuselage and delete the drop tank mounting points under the wings. For a B, you need to remove the curved line from the radome, modify the MLG doors, and remove the trim tabs from the ailerons.

 

I think the photos you looked at answered your question about the nose. Very early ones had a translucent (not sure whether it came that way, or it was clear and fogged after exposure to the sun and elements) section. Note that many with the translucent nose had a dark gray band of paint along the bottom edge of the nose as can be seen in the photo below. This was lead paint to reduce radar reflections from the ground..

 

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/6248/p61noseart4.jpg

 

Note that neither 'The Virgin Widow' or 'Husslin Husey' had the turret. If they had anything up there, it would have been the fixed gun installation with a cover, as they were built after turrets were dropped on the A model.

[Derek B]

The great dilemma....I received the Kits World decals for two P-61As of 6th FG. Cutting off 6mm of the nose seems straightforward enough; but is the semi-transparent nose accurate? Based on the pictures I've found it seems like its....but I thought I'd check with those who are better versed in Black Widowness than I am!

 

Or is there a lot more work to do than I thought and so maybe I should just go with a B....

 

Regards,

 

Tim W.

 

These links might help you Tim:

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=43842

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=42876&page=2

 

Cheers

 

Derek

Edited April 27, 2013 by Derek B

[jacksdad64]

Has anyone heard anything about any AM exhausts?

[TimW]

Thanks for the input, all. The Virgin Widow is the one I was thinking of doing. Can't be too hard to fabricate a cover for the turret.

 

This really was helpful!

 

Cheers,

 

Tim W

[Vandy 1 VX 4]

Tim W

 

Lone Star Models makes a top turret cover. Its half way down the page on the right side http://www.lonestarmodels.com/Conversions-1-32.html I just orderd mine yesterday.

 

Cheers

[Fred Jack]

It's been over a half century from the first 1/32 plane until the release of a P-61 and people are complaining about which version is on the market, even before it has come released in other countries. Why can't everyone just be happy with what they got? Kit manufacturers read these sites. the after market guys don't really need to read them to produce mods, but if a kit company does and builds different versions, it delays other types of aircraft from coming out like a Lockheed Hudson.

[Fred Jack]

Another thing, back decades ago, Monogram released a 1/48th P-61 in both A & B in the same box with decals for both as Wingnut Wings does today with various mods of a plane. The other companies add teaser parts or blanks showing they may or may not make another version. This proves that many companies are purely in it for the money. As was shown on TV the amount of profit the Nike owners make in China, which is why our own companies moved there, I can not be convinced that HK is not making at least a hundred percent profit.

[TimW]

Tim W

 

Lone Star Models makes a top turret cover. Its half way down the page on the right side http://www.lonestarmodels.com/Conversions-1-32.html I just orderd mine yesterday.

 

Cheers

Excellent. Order already sent!

 

Tim W.

[eoyguy]

It's been over a half century from the first 1/32 plane until the release of a P-61 and people are complaining about which version is on the market, even before it has come released in other countries. Why can't everyone just be happy with what they got? Kit manufacturers read these sites. the after market guys don't really need to read them to produce mods, but if a kit company does and builds different versions, it delays other types of aircraft from coming out like a Lockheed Hudson.

Another thing, back decades ago, Monogram released a 1/48th P-61 in both A & B in the same box with decals for both as Wingnut Wings does today with various mods of a plane. The other companies add teaser parts or blanks showing they may or may not make another version. This proves that many companies are purely in it for the money. As was shown on TV the amount of profit the Nike owners make in China, which is why our own companies moved there, I can not be convinced that HK is not making at least a hundred percent profit.

 

 

First, what should the companies be in it for? Philanthropy? That's the free enterprise system, supply and demand, charge what the market will bear. Prices aren't going to go down. Model companies are marketing to an ever shrinking, more selective and demanding group than ever before. That group also has more disposable income to spend on higher priced kits, but expect to get a certain level of accuracy and detail for their money. This ain't the 1960's, sell tens of thousands of kits to kids at $1 a pop. This is sell a 1000 kits at $100 a pop. The hobby isn't expanding (people wise), so they have to make their $$$ by selling more expensive kits to fewer people.

People are going to complain regardless if its about which version, the problems with the kit, etc. Pointing out errors and ways to correct them is not complaining however. Ignore the complaining, it shouldn't effect your enjoyment of the kit at all. As far as the companies being reactionary to what they read on these forums, I think you are giving the forums too much credit. Delay production because they might release different versions of the same kit? As if they create their business plan by reaction here and on other sites? No. Its quite likely these companies have a number of kits already in different stages of production, and a release schedule/plan that probably stretches out several years. I have read that Trumpeter has had masters for some of their unreleased but long rumored kits for that long. BTW, if the complaining and bitching really does bother you, get off the forums. I did for over a year, and to tell you the truth it was a nice break. But when I came back of course, nothing has changed nor will it. So either go with the flow, glean what you need from the forums and ignore the rest, or walk away and don't look back. Frequently I think I should have went with option 2...

Edited April 28, 2013 by eoyguy

[Dave Williams]

It's been over a half century from the first 1/32 plane until the release of a P-61 and people are complaining about which version is on the market, even before it has come released in other countries. Why can't everyone just be happy with what they got? Kit manufacturers read these sites. the after market guys don't really need to read them to produce mods, but if a kit company does and builds different versions, it delays other types of aircraft from coming out like a Lockheed Hudson.

Likely because it's an expensive kit and it doesn't correctly represent the version it proports to be. It actually doesn't represent any P-61 version. Some people expect a certain level of accuracy, especially for a $130 - $150 kit. In this day and age, there really is little excuse for getting it wrong. Even a modicum of research would have found the errors. People can build the kit OOTB if they want, but for those that are a bit more concerned about accuracy, they have to do extra work and possibly spend more money to an already expensive kit to correct it.

 

Why can't everyone just be happy to have a kit? Why should we accept errors and not say anything? As far as kit manufacturers reading these sites, maybe some do, and maybe some don't, but few of them fix anything. Trumpeter kits have lots of errors. Hobbyboss put the wrong speed brakes on their F-84 kits and made some errors on their big IL-2 kits. That doesn't stop people from buying them, though. The kit is what it is. HB isn't going to fix anything in this boxing, so pointing out the errors provides modelers information to correct the kit if they want. At best, maybe HB can use the info to correct a future boxing of the kit.

[eoyguy]

One thing about the P-61 kit specifically, they may have done us a favor, purely by chance, by releasing it as they did. While not correct OOB for any particular version, it seems fairly simple to correct it to make either version. Had they got it 100 percent right for either,making the other might not have been so doable. Probably not their plan, but to me, a happy bit of serendipity. Or it may just be getting late and I need to sleep...

[Fred Jack]

The point about people having more disposable income isn't absolutely true. Some may have, those still working. As far as this not being the sixties, and the hobby is shrinking, both are true, but the shrinking hobby doesn't have to happen. How do you think I got into modeling? I could afford models from my paper route. Why not make inexpensive models for teens? I guess there are those who want to make the modeling business unapproachable for only the rich, because if it weren't for Revell, Hase etc... It would be now. If I were to have to spend more than $150 on a kit it better be OOB without after market corrections. I don't understand why other modelers don't think that. Would you buy a car that needed after market parts before it could be driven. If companies don't keep trying to make a quick profit and run, because they really could care less that the hobby lasts or not. It's up to them to do what the companies did in the 60s.