Black Widow with Zotz Decals
Up until the P-61 appeared, night fighters were converted fighter or light
bomber aircraft. The Northrop P-61 was the first airplane designed from
the start to be a night fighter. Powered by 2 Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp
engines, the twin boomed fighter could top 400 mph in the hands of a good pilot.
There were 3 main versions of the Widow and overall over 700 were produced.
The Widow's 45.5 ft (14 m) length, 66 ft (20 m) wingspan and projected
22,600 lb (10,251 kg) full-load weight made it larger than some medium bombers.
Nonetheless, it was a fighter through and through with a decent record
against both German and Japanese airplanes by the end of the war.
The primary
armament for all Widow versions consisted of 4 20 mm cannons mounted in
the belly of the fuselage. The top turret located on the early P-61A
version housed 4 50 caliber machine guns, had a 360 degree turning radius and
could be locked into a forward firing configuration. The turret was removed on
later A versions until the kinks could be worked out. It was reintroduced with
the P-61 B-15 variant, the largest production run for all Widows. The P-61 B
version had its nose elongated by 8 inches from the A version. The Widow was
crewed by a pilot, gunner and radar operator (located at the rear of the
fuselage).
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For
the longest time, a scale modeler was pretty much limited to the Revell-Monogram
kit in 1/48 scale. These are still being cranked out and can be found at many
hobby stores, as well as in your closet, probably on the floor at the bottom of
a stack of other kits you intend to build. New toolings for the Widow in
1/48 scale have been produced by Hobby Boss and Great Wall Hobby. There are some
great decals out there, a lot with cool nose art. So, I selected the P-61 B from
Hobby Boss as my first effort at building a Widow.
There
are really no problems with the kit overall. The parts fit together without the
need for much, if any, putty. Not only is the final product huge, but the Widow
had a tri-cycle landing gear...a notorious tail sitter. Fortunately the Hobby
Boss kit is designed so that weights are provided that fit neatly above the
plastic interior front wheel well. The two engines are supplied as metal
plug-ins and fit perfectly. The result is a big airplane that sits properly on
the ground. I made this one a while ago, and honestly can't remember if I added
extra weight but I don't think I did.
The
cockpit has a lot of glass which means some time should be spent on the forward
cockpit as well as the rear R/Os location. I used a masking set from Montex and
it worked nicely. I didn't add any aftermarket items in the cockpit, but
there is plenty of stuff out there if that is your preference.
The kit decals
provided in the kit are for "Swing Shift Skipper" and "Sleepy
Time Gal II". There are many cool aftermarket decal sheets available for
the Widow with great nose art. The long front nose of the Widow allowed for the
local base artist to have a field day with copying Vargas Girls for nose
art with lots of puns for the name of the individual airplane. I went
with "First Nighter" from the Zotz Venomous Widows at War, Part
II.
In July of 1944
Northrop held a contest for 2 Widows that were purchased by Northrop employees
as part of a War Bond drive. The winner of the contest chose the name First
Nighter because that was the name of his favorite radio show. The pinup was a
variation of a Vargas Girl called Sleepy Time Gal (also the name of at least 1
Widow). First Nighter was assigned to the 414th NFS in England where
it was flown by Capt. Joe Jenkins.
The Widow was also
used as a light bomber in the ETO as German night bombers became scarce. It
could carry three 1,000 pound bombs. A color photo in the book "The
Northrop P-61 Black Widow" by Garry R. Pape with John M. and Donna
Campbell, shows First Nighter with bombs in white below the cockpit indicating
bombing missions flown. Capt. Jenkins was not credited with any air-to-air kills
but his bombing scoreboard is quite impressive.
Widow crews were
somewhat fluid, and a pilot wouldn't always have the same gunner or radar
operator. So, one R/O was able to become an "ace" even though the pilots
he flew with hadn't reached the magic 5 kill mark. Some lists include V-1s
destroyed, some don't. Anyway, there are 5 pilots who attained ace status flying
the Widow. There are also 5 R/Os listed in Pape's book with at least 5 kills, 4
of whom flew with one pilot for all of their kills (making both the pilot and
R/O aces) and one R/O who flew with one pilot for 4 of his kills and
another pilot for the R/O's fifth kill.
The kit when
finished is huge. The color scheme of overall glossy black certainly stands out.
The Army tested different shades of black from flat to glossy and the Widows
came factory fresh either glossy black or OD over Neutral Gray. I
undercoated/primed my model with Testors metallic silver from a spray can. After
letting it set for a few days, I applied the top coat of gloss black with an
airbrush. This was an enjoyable build and I still have the Great Wall Hobby
Widow to make as well as 2 Hobby Boss P-61As...oh yeah, and 1 Revell-Monogram Widow
somewhere in my closet.
Mike
Muth
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