With black, I often use a tamiya flat black, then spray rubber black heavily thinned in the centre of panels. If I'm making a "clean" aircraft the natural light tends to catch it, especially with a satin varnish. I will add a dark grey to the rubber black to push highlights a bit too that looks nice under weathering. Took some experimenting to develop a work flow I like
The kit is 75 percent still the old monogram kit with all its 50 year old mold issues. I'm working on it myself and its a kit for an experienced builder. If you can't fab from scratch this kit will be ugly.
I remember reading on some forums a couple years ago for black aircraft, such as the SR-71 you'd wanna mix in some royal blue to your flat black which helps with some tonal affects
David R Lentz, Columbus, Ohio, USA (Tuesday, 2 July, 2024) Truly excellent artistry here! You make me wish I was wealthy enough to hire you for dozens of projects!
Nicely done! I've always loved the P-61 lines. This was a really difficult kit for me though. Lots of fill and fit work. It was a little better than the kit it was based on, but ouch. It was work.
The Black Widow had a special high -reflectivity paint that was extremely shiny. The thought was that searchlights hitting it would reflect and be mistaken for stars. I built one for my brother-in-law in the late 80's and had a high gloss finish on the belly, but used flat varnish on the top for sun-fading. The P-61 was a gorgeous airplane, and there were also Olive Drab paint schemes that were flown in Europe. They look amazing with invasion stripws on them.
Gorgeous P-61! I used a mix of gloss X-18 (middle sections of panels to mimic condensation at night/early morning as depicted plane just back from mission) and flat blacks - Tamiya NATO and Vallejo), plus oil treatment for the bottom of my Beaufighter night fighter. Added in some sand washes and more oil work with tan to show the dusty Libya environment. Fan of the AK Neutral Wash (after watching P-38 build) to get that faded look. New - latest model had my first use of vacuum-formed canopy, and leather gun "fairings" made with Milliput.
Love the p61 black widow fun fact has larger wing area than the f15 I read the book about the ca cabanatwan pow camp in the Philippines most successful rescue mission in US army history
I mixed my P61 black with white to “lighten” a total black. I preferred to airbrush flat and then came in with semi gloss. I used all four Eduard detail sets, metal landing gears, custom Thermaform canopies, Meteor decals and several modifications to convert an earlier P61A to P61B (late) as the B version was not out yet when GWH first produced it. (I “stole” the turret from an unbuilt Revel kit). This was a very tedious kit to build with so many added details and fit issues but in the long run, this most ambitious model was worth it. The kit engines are fantastic and I have one loose so I can take it off and pull the cowl to expose the great detail of the engine. I also cut out a panel out of the cowl and have a replacement panel made from brass to permanently show some of the engine. I built a custom display box with a “concrete” service area and added a few mechanics. This is definitely not an easy build but worth the effort.
Never considered building an airplane and going all black. You inspired me to try it. Thanks for that! The Modelgeeks is a great podcast. I’m fortunate to have them in my model club here in southern Maryland. Terrific guys who are always willing to help me and others.
I have a P61 kit from like 1962. I was curious about the black. The interior is very basic, not much detail. Was gonna use this as a way to learn how to weather black
There are two excellent videos on UA-cam featuring the P-61,flying the P-61 and flying the P-61 black widow series aircraft,both produced by the USAAF in 1944 as a training aid for potential black widow pilots,they are particularly good for accurate cockpit and instrument layouts,I found them invaluable when building my hobbyboss 1/32 P-61.
i like your work and you did a great job on this bird.just a quick mention on the black painting,check out scalemodelaircraft he did a german night fighter in black by using different grays mixed into his black paint to produce the type of black coloring that you are looking for.
@@TheModelGuy And there are a massive difference between a German plane working in wet Europe and an USAF plane working in dry Asia. What i really like with this model is that the black still are "worn" matt on the flat surfaces on the wings due to wear over time, you hit that look perfectly. And the oil/dust from the engines on the upper wing, again, you ended up with a perfect look from your toying with colors. I am a perfect example of achromatopsia, so you should feel really proud over my positive critique, i do tend the be more annoyed when people with normal color sight mess colors up :D This video of the P-61 better explain what i mean, also with the shiny/matt parts: ua-cam.com/video/HOZWLtNx_SE/v-deo.html
The model reminds me of that movie Fantastic Voyage where they shrunk the sub to molecular size :-) I think you have access to that machine on this kit, really outstanding build. I'm retired and just getting back into modeling, the change in the kits has been overwhelming also materials . Your channel has enhanced getting back into the game. AND your followers have super ideas as well. Your mention a cowling blue, I'm thinking that could be used in the SR 71 mix. Plus regarding the variation in surface areas and exhaust patterns in Pacific base aircraft - salt water spray is the primary cause along with the type of soil, a lot or corral, A new aircraft could look old after a mission or two, with carbon in exhaust, props took a beating too. This problem up till this day is one reason they should never have deployed the F35 on carriers, sea air eats the RAM off. Thanks for sharing you expertise. So many awesome models today, so little time.
So those air intakes in the front edges of the wings that I assume are radiators. Where does that air flow get channeled back out of the plane at? I been trying to figure out this one for the past half hour.
Without seeing some photos of the actual plane the exhaust stains look weird. But the planes had them, although it seems to me less on the top of the tailbooms.
i love working with black - working on a GWH P61 too - basically the same with SMS Laquer and hair spray between the BMF, primer, and black - with the black I used a tyre style (rlm 66-ish) - camo and a chassis black with wet sand between coats - painted the red, but too lazy on the marking, but swapped them for other better ones of the same size that worked well.. In the finishing stage now... What I think is odd, the P61 is bigger than I thought it would be (expected it to be Mosquito sized)- it's the same size as a Ju88!!..
One technique I tried on the Dragon 1/32 Bf110C kit was to use no black paint at all (unless you count Tamiya Smoke as a black paint!). I picked up this tip from Hyperscale a long time ago, like about 2004/5. The model was painted in allover straight bottle Olive drab (Tamiya) then various panels were masked off, and thin coats of a Medium blue and dull red-brown were applied at random. Over this I used Tamiya Clear Green, Clear Red and Clear Blue in light overall coats until the over all tone was approximately even with special emphasis on the topside as the plane I was modelling was a Nighfighter/Intruder photographed in Benghazi, Libya in 1941., so I wanted the topside to be lighter toned than underneath (Desert sunlight). To tie it all together better, I then applied a couple of thin coats of Tamiya Smoke to even out and combine the hues. The result was really quite well done and certainly looks like a varigated black/Black-grey to the eye and to the Camera. (I have some photos!) The key is to use light coats, almost mist coats, apart from the Base Olive Drab. (I suspect using Khaki Drab may work also but have yet to try that.) This is a technique I may try on my 1/32 Hobby Boss Black Widows (I have 2, one to be finished as an A model and the other as a B - I have spent almost as much on the resin bits I'll need as I did on the kits! The HB kit is neither an A or a B model, but an odd mix of the two, with some surprising omissions (Like the Exhausts for the R2800 engines, and a totally wrong Spinner/gearbox fairing, as well as very poor props.) Fortunately there are cures in resin for this! I suspect that it would be possible to do the random blotchings after the clear coats and before the Smoke, but I will have to experiment with that. - It may be that the blotches may need to be applied over the Olive Drab before the clear coats. Or maybe both before and after!
I used a scale 1/72 P-61 by dragon it's fully photo-etched cockpit, and entered it in the Grand national in 2009 IPMS Philippines in Megamall and ended up 3rd place , category was out of box , so you might wanna try compare the 1/72 scale P-61 Dragon kit.
I so wish I had access to one of those stencil makers for the white stripes for my Canada 150 Kinetic Hornet. It's been on the bench sitting as I cannot fathom using the decals and any attempt I've made to cut my own from Tamiya masking sheets just turns into a mess!!! Great build sir!!! Super informative.
I have an Anycubic Photon Mono X and I haven't had a great experience with it. It requires a lot of work to get it dialed in. I hear the Saturn is really nice. I find I have to replace the fep on this quite a bit more than other brands
Was that much discolouration actually caused by the engines and, if it did, would the USAAF not clean it up and repaint before it got that bad: given that they had pride in their aircraft and it degrades the camouflage ?
Oh yeah it was. Cleaning it up would take time and in reality do nothing for the performance of the aircraft. Remember these aircraft were at the end of a long supply line and mechanical repairs were more priority over cleanliness images.app.goo.gl/15ywWc2tVLJbwbhWA
@@TheModelGuy Thanks for the response. I have to disagree there. The USAAF did have pride in their planes and had no shortage of personnel and material for such tasks. Mechanical repairs being obviously more important does not exclude them from also keeping their planes spick and span. I note that only one of the linked images shows a Black Widow that is anywhere near as dirty as yours. Don't get me wrong, I do admire your modelling skill, you do lay on the muck though.
@@Twirlyhead for some reason that's the view a lot of aircraft modelers have. As someone in the Air Force I have to disagree. Even with the maintainers, scheduled cleaning periods and upkeep, the Jets get dirty the minute they're out of the wash bay. And this is one of the Thunderbirds. So of that's during peacetime, imagine a high temp warzone. images.app.goo.gl/xkM2DMW2nyZnYRMy6
@@TheModelGuy Modellers like to show technique and effort in a model, particularly to each other. Weathering, wear and muck take skill demonstrate such. On the other hand making a "clean" model _is_ generally easier, does not clearly demonstrate so much skill and may appear like effort has been spared; even if it is accurate, possibly more accurate in some cases. For me it comes down to judgement.
With black, I often use a tamiya flat black, then spray rubber black heavily thinned in the centre of panels. If I'm making a "clean" aircraft the natural light tends to catch it, especially with a satin varnish. I will add a dark grey to the rubber black to push highlights a bit too that looks nice under weathering. Took some experimenting to develop a work flow I like
The kit is 75 percent still the old monogram kit with all its 50 year old mold issues. I'm working on it myself and its a kit for an experienced builder. If you can't fab from scratch this kit will be ugly.
GWH p61 is not monograms p61. I've built both and monograms is a tough one.
To me the exhaust stains were a bit overdone and I would have toned it down a notch. But that is my opinion I could be wrong.
images.app.goo.gl/15ywWc2tVLJbwbhWA
Just a comment for the algorithm
I remember reading on some forums a couple years ago for black aircraft, such as the SR-71 you'd wanna mix in some royal blue to your flat black which helps with some tonal affects
Start with NATO black. It's a good foundation to add darker and lighter black type colors.
David R Lentz, Columbus, Ohio, USA (Tuesday, 2 July, 2024)
Truly excellent artistry here! You make me wish I was wealthy enough to hire you for dozens of projects!
Thank you David,
I appreciate the compliment:)
Nicely done! I've always loved the P-61 lines. This was a really difficult kit for me though. Lots of fill and fit work. It was a little better than the kit it was based on, but ouch. It was work.
The Black Widow had a special high -reflectivity paint that was extremely shiny. The thought was that searchlights hitting it would reflect and be mistaken for stars. I built one for my brother-in-law in the late 80's and had a high gloss finish on the belly, but used flat varnish on the top for sun-fading. The P-61 was a gorgeous airplane, and there were also Olive Drab paint schemes that were flown in Europe. They look amazing with invasion stripws on them.
The repetition of 'I came in with' instead of 'I used/painted/sprayed' quickly became wearing for me.
Gorgeous P-61! I used a mix of gloss X-18 (middle sections of panels to mimic condensation at night/early morning as depicted plane just back from mission) and flat blacks - Tamiya NATO and Vallejo), plus oil treatment for the bottom of my Beaufighter night fighter. Added in some sand washes and more oil work with tan to show the dusty Libya environment. Fan of the AK Neutral Wash (after watching P-38 build) to get that faded look. New - latest model had my first use of vacuum-formed canopy, and leather gun "fairings" made with Milliput.
Love the p61 black widow fun fact has larger wing area than the f15 I read the book about the ca cabanatwan pow camp in the Philippines most successful rescue mission in US army history
I mixed my P61 black with white to “lighten” a total black. I preferred to airbrush flat and then came in with semi gloss. I used all four Eduard detail sets, metal landing gears, custom Thermaform canopies, Meteor decals and several modifications to convert an earlier P61A to P61B (late) as the B version was not out yet when GWH first produced it. (I “stole” the turret from an unbuilt Revel kit). This was a very tedious kit to build with so many added details and fit issues but in the long run, this most ambitious model was worth it. The kit engines are fantastic and I have one loose so I can take it off and pull the cowl to expose the great detail of the engine. I also cut out a panel out of the cowl and have a replacement panel made from brass to permanently show some of the engine. I built a custom display box with a “concrete” service area and added a few mechanics.
This is definitely not an easy build but worth the effort.
Never considered building an airplane and going all black. You inspired me to try it. Thanks for that! The Modelgeeks is a great podcast. I’m fortunate to have them in my model club here in southern Maryland. Terrific guys who are always willing to help me and others.
I have a P61 kit from like 1962. I was curious about the black. The interior is very basic, not much detail. Was gonna use this as a way to learn how to weather black
That’s awesome, I hope this helps!
There are two excellent videos on UA-cam featuring the P-61,flying the P-61 and flying the P-61 black widow series aircraft,both produced by the USAAF in 1944 as a training aid for potential black widow pilots,they are particularly good for accurate cockpit and instrument layouts,I found them invaluable when building my hobbyboss 1/32 P-61.
nice work man! I hated my p-61, but thats probably because it was the Revell kit, ugghh. Great work! 👍
Its almost the same kit. HB didn't even bother to move the position post. Lame update.
hello model guy nice looking aircraft plane nice work on model plane. interesting aircraft p 61 widow.
Tamiya Rubber Black is my go to, as I'm repainting a lot of locos to war time black, Nice depth of colour👍👍👍
interesting information on plane
i like your work and you did a great job on this bird.just a quick mention on the black painting,check out scalemodelaircraft he did a german night fighter in black by using different grays mixed into his black paint to produce the type of black coloring that you are looking for.
I'm sure there are a lot of ways to do it. This was my first time so it was quite a bit of experimenting.
I agree, from all the methods i have seen, his was the best IMO, best end result.
@@TheModelGuy And there are a massive difference between a German plane working in wet Europe and an USAF plane working in dry Asia. What i really like with this model is that the black still are "worn" matt on the flat surfaces on the wings due to wear over time, you hit that look perfectly. And the oil/dust from the engines on the upper wing, again, you ended up with a perfect look from your toying with colors. I am a perfect example of achromatopsia, so you should feel really proud over my positive critique, i do tend the be more annoyed when people with normal color sight mess colors up :D
This video of the P-61 better explain what i mean, also with the shiny/matt parts: ua-cam.com/video/HOZWLtNx_SE/v-deo.html
@@TheModelGuy i understand and you did a great job on it
First
Yeah boi!
@@TheModelGuy thanks this is my first first
steel guitar strings..great tip.
I got here early, another great model and video
Hey, were those air rifle pelets .177 caliber?
Hi. Great build as usual on a plane that look mean as anything. Could I please ask what chisel you’re using at the beginning of the video?
like for the blue and yellow flag at the end of the video
I’m still supporting them now
Great to get the background history! Nice build love the details too. Well done 👍 🍻
Thanks Greybeard. I wanted to get back to my channel roots with this one.
5:06 :))) what was it??
Sanding stick from infinity
@@TheModelGuy I meant the audio ;)
@@pa_alia hahaha whoops that made it into the video lol
That oil work was tight ! ( well the whole build was awesome) great work man 😀
Thanks bud!
Outstanding job ! Love it ! Keep up the good work and videos !
Love u.s naval aviation. Any recommendations on Vietnam era navel jet kits? Maybe you could build one? Love the vids.
Maybe a f8 or a f4. Love those planes.
The new Tamiya 1/48th F-4 is arguably one of the, if not the best Phantom kit on the market right now
Sooo I do have an A-7 Corsair II in the stash that I plan on loading right out. That's probably two months away and is scheduled to start April 1st.
@@jacobs_models995 I've been hearing that. I'm not a real F-4 fan but I hear build wise it's unbeatable.
The Hasegawa A-4 is a simple and nice kit. If you can find an A-4E/F
Second
You did a very nice job on the model.
But, the owner of Northrop Aviation is 'Jack' Northrop.
With 2 Rs.
Thank you.
*Very nice result at the end, like you i've an open mind full of curiosity for the new products and technics. Excellent!*
The model reminds me of that movie Fantastic Voyage where they shrunk the sub to molecular size :-) I think you have access to that machine on this kit, really outstanding build. I'm retired and just getting back into modeling, the change in the kits has been overwhelming also materials . Your channel has enhanced getting back into the game. AND your followers have super ideas as well. Your mention a cowling blue, I'm thinking that could be used in the SR 71 mix. Plus regarding the variation in surface areas and exhaust patterns in Pacific base aircraft - salt water spray is the primary cause along with the type of soil, a lot or corral, A new aircraft could look old after a mission or two, with carbon in exhaust, props took a beating too. This problem up till this day is one reason they should never have deployed the F35 on carriers, sea air eats the RAM off. Thanks for sharing you expertise. So many awesome models today, so little time.
I always liked the P-61, MPC released their Profile Series I had fun with that 1/72 scale kit as a kid. Good job!
So those air intakes in the front edges of the wings that I assume are radiators. Where does that air flow get channeled back out of the plane at? I been trying to figure out this one for the past half hour.
I've been using guitar strings for a while now. The wrapped strings really do make nice air hoses!
Stunning…
Great work! Have you tried film free waterslide decals?
Outstanding video mate!
I'VE USED OIL PAINTS FOR YEARS, YOU CAN SAY IT'S THE BEST!
Well done!
It turned out great 👍
Without seeing some photos of the actual plane the exhaust stains look weird. But the planes had them, although it seems to me less on the top of the tailbooms.
i think he saw some photos of an aircraft flown on rich mixture to extend range in long range missions
Wasn't there a Renwal or Lindberg kit of this plane in the '60s?
Regards,
Kev
Monogram had an boxing of it in the 80s with raised panel lines.
Fantastic job!
i love working with black - working on a GWH P61 too - basically the same with SMS Laquer and hair spray between the BMF, primer, and black - with the black I used a tyre style (rlm 66-ish) - camo and a chassis black with wet sand between coats - painted the red, but too lazy on the marking, but swapped them for other better ones of the same size that worked well.. In the finishing stage now... What I think is odd, the P61 is bigger than I thought it would be (expected it to be Mosquito sized)- it's the same size as a Ju88!!..
In the late 1980s, this was my favorite kits from REVELL.
This has been built about 6x as this has been my personal favorite "Night-time Bomber".
One technique I tried on the Dragon 1/32 Bf110C kit was to use no black paint at all (unless you count Tamiya Smoke as a black paint!). I picked up this tip from Hyperscale a long time ago, like about 2004/5.
The model was painted in allover straight bottle Olive drab (Tamiya) then various panels were masked off, and thin coats of a Medium blue and dull red-brown were applied at random. Over this I used Tamiya Clear Green, Clear Red and Clear Blue in light overall coats until the over all tone was approximately even with special emphasis on the topside as the plane I was modelling was a Nighfighter/Intruder photographed in Benghazi, Libya in 1941., so I wanted the topside to be lighter toned than underneath (Desert sunlight).
To tie it all together better, I then applied a couple of thin coats of Tamiya Smoke to even out and combine the hues. The result was really quite well done and certainly looks like a varigated black/Black-grey to the eye and to the Camera. (I have some photos!) The key is to use light coats, almost mist coats, apart from the Base Olive Drab. (I suspect using Khaki Drab may work also but have yet to try that.) This is a technique I may try on my 1/32 Hobby Boss Black Widows (I have 2, one to be finished as an A model and the other as a B - I have spent almost as much on the resin bits I'll need as I did on the kits! The HB kit is neither an A or a B model, but an odd mix of the two, with some surprising omissions (Like the Exhausts for the R2800 engines, and a totally wrong Spinner/gearbox fairing, as well as very poor props.) Fortunately there are cures in resin for this!
I suspect that it would be possible to do the random blotchings after the clear coats and before the Smoke, but I will have to experiment with that. - It may be that the blotches may need to be applied over the Olive Drab before the clear coats. Or maybe both before and after!
I used a scale 1/72 P-61 by dragon it's fully photo-etched cockpit, and entered it in the Grand national in 2009 IPMS Philippines in Megamall and ended up 3rd place , category was out of box , so you might wanna try compare the 1/72 scale P-61 Dragon kit.
I so wish I had access to one of those stencil makers for the white stripes for my Canada 150 Kinetic Hornet. It's been on the bench sitting as I cannot fathom using the decals and any attempt I've made to cut my own from Tamiya masking sheets just turns into a mess!!! Great build sir!!! Super informative.
Do you have a link on how to do the decals?
Just for you :)
ua-cam.com/video/d2z45-4b7k8/v-deo.html
Well done as usual. However I find the color of the engines smoke stain quite strange 🤨
Interesting methods in this video. Appreciate you taking your time and time stamping it.
Nice f'n build
Your hornet is up after the current Stearman
@@TheModelGuy it will be epic
I got one of these to do but my problem is spraying silver
What brand and colour are you using for silver? I find Mr Color 8 Silver is a great forgiving one. Very durable
Thanks I'll try some of those I have one in my stash
Can you do a video of your 3D rpinter experiences? What kind of printer do you use? What would you recommend?
I have an Anycubic Photon Mono X and I haven't had a great experience with it. It requires a lot of work to get it dialed in.
I hear the Saturn is really nice. I find I have to replace the fep on this quite a bit more than other brands
Was that much discolouration actually caused by the engines and, if it did, would the USAAF not clean it up and repaint before it got that bad: given that they had pride in their aircraft and it degrades the camouflage ?
Oh yeah it was. Cleaning it up would take time and in reality do nothing for the performance of the aircraft. Remember these aircraft were at the end of a long supply line and mechanical repairs were more priority over cleanliness
images.app.goo.gl/15ywWc2tVLJbwbhWA
@@TheModelGuy Thanks for the response. I have to disagree there. The USAAF did have pride in their planes and had no shortage of personnel and material for such tasks. Mechanical repairs being obviously more important does not exclude them from also keeping their planes spick and span. I note that only one of the linked images shows a Black Widow that is anywhere near as dirty as yours. Don't get me wrong, I do admire your modelling skill, you do lay on the muck though.
@@Twirlyhead for some reason that's the view a lot of aircraft modelers have. As someone in the Air Force I have to disagree. Even with the maintainers, scheduled cleaning periods and upkeep, the Jets get dirty the minute they're out of the wash bay. And this is one of the Thunderbirds.
So of that's during peacetime, imagine a high temp warzone.
images.app.goo.gl/xkM2DMW2nyZnYRMy6
@@TheModelGuy Modellers like to show technique and effort in a model, particularly to each other. Weathering, wear and muck take skill demonstrate such. On the other hand making a "clean" model _is_ generally easier, does not clearly demonstrate so much skill and may appear like effort has been spared; even if it is accurate, possibly more accurate in some cases. For me it comes down to judgement.
@@Twirlyhead But that's a completely different argument than saying Aircraft were thoroughly cleaned every hour of the day because of pride.