The Evolution to a P-61 Black Widow

[hayn]

This is the actual kit purchased at Hobby Lobby

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Cost $38.00


The Dollar bill was added to give forum members an idea of what a 1/48th Scale Model would look like.


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[hayn]

To my fellow forum members,

As promised, I have posted for my enjoyment as well as yours, the build of a 1/48th scale P-61 Black Widow. I've made this exact scale model three times during my youth. That's how much I enjoyed building this particular kit. Every build was a stock build, with no after market parts. That was 40 years ago! This very scale model is now a famous legendary kit distributed by Revell. It was a Monogram product until these two companies merged like most industries these days.

Currently, from what I have read and researched, this is the third incarnation of this very model kit. It is now not in production, due to its popularity, I'm not surprised that Revell would re-release this aircraft kit to be built by my grandson. To think that 40 years ago this was an introductory product release, not something that would be this popular. They're several aircraft models that I fondley remember building that are not in production, in order to build these kits that are now not in Revells inventory. All one needs to do is go where? EBAY!!!! Just like my most beloved football cards, you can find everything on eBay! This includes scale models that are not in production anymore.

There are several other companies producing Black Widow models but, there are all in the 1/32nd scale. These come from Great Wall, Eduardo, and a few more that slipped my memory. These are high end kits built with extremely well details. If you want a 1/48th scale Black widow, your only choice will be Revell. I thought that this kit was going to be inexpensive. Ya Right! In the 1970's, I fondly remember saving my chore monies and purchasing this kit with the help of my father at $10.00. It now goes for $38.00. The 1/32nd scale kits that I mentioned above go for around $50.00 up to $120.00. What? $120.00 for a f#%^ing plastic model kit?

This time around, I was going to follow what the Pro-model builders do, utilizing after-market parts for extra fine detail. With this in mind, I also needed tools and supplies to build this aircraft. It's like any hobby, you can't collect nor build something without the proper tools for the proper task at hand. I need not remind sports card collectors the paraphenilia needed to collect sports cards and the cost that's attached to our beloved cardboard. Like my football cards that I just started collecting in 2012, I needed to start from the very beginning. The cost has gone way past my budget and I still need more supplies.

All of this cost will be offset by my next model build as I will already have the appropriate tools needed. In this thread, I will go into detail on every single aspect of this build from start to finish, just like my complete sets, as a good example, this would be in my thread in regards to the 2012 Panini Elite Hard Hats Complete Set. Please browse and comment or ask questions on this particular project. Just a FYI, the average pro-modeler that builds detail P-61's from Revell take up to 6 months and can go past the one year mark. I've never done anything like this in my life and I'm a bit scared but I'll do my best in it's completion. Thank you for your support in this thread.

As always, humbly yours,
Toshi