Steven Van Dyck
My first attempts at a complete regraving of a kit. I used the Tamiya tool on the wings and tailbooms, but for the detal parts I still need some shaping tools.

Starbase101
Looks great - please indulge my naivety, but why did re-engraving need to be done? Raised panel lines?

Steven Van Dyck
Yes, this is the old monogram version with raised lines, being decently placed. I was dissuaded to build it by a friend, but this way I believe it can be upgraded to modern standards. I now orderded the Tamiya and Voyager engraving shapes for the hatches and also the Trumpeter tool because it would be finer than Tamiya's.

Starbase101
I'd love to see pics of the used tools with the parts photos, since I've got two of these kits and will be eager to learn which tool(s) end up working well for you.

Steven Van Dyck
OK, Starbase, I just uploaded some pics of the tools I ordered at Sockelshop and some of the hatches I will be engraving them with.

Starbase101
Cool, I ordered those items, plus a few other Voyager templates and a slew of Madworks scribers and templates (because I've got a ton of kits and each one will probably take a different scriber size and/or template). I'm looking forward to seeing how your kit turns out.

Steven Van Dyck
Success with your kits, Starbase. I tried to find an engraving needle at a shop yesterday, but there was not anything affordable in store.

Steven Van Dyck
I'm trying to make all those bolt heads look more like the countersunk flat heads they should be, making them a bit overscale in the process. One of both tail booms is now glued and polished.

Steven Van Dyck
I bought an Excel pointed awl and a Voyager template for full circles. A comparison of my 3 engraving tools showns that Trumpeter is finest, Tamiya cleanest and Excel useful for template shapes. I also filled any centerline edges with CA.

Starbase101
Thanks for showing the tool comparison. I've now got a Tamiya scriber ordered.

Steven Van Dyck
You won't be disappointed!

Steven Van Dyck
Scribing is now competed and I can look forward to assembling the fuselage. But first I needed some flying pilots, which are surprisingly hard to find and will still have to be adapted to a fighting position. I found evidence in my booklet that the third crew member was not essentially needed, because he was sometimes omitted. None of the kit figures are useful in this situation.

Steven Van Dyck
I just added lots of stuff to the inventory for the diorama I have in mind for the P-61. this I tried to sketch in Paint. The plane will probably be suspended on its wing to a back plate of the diorama. Like that I can avoid placing a rod under the plane, that would decrease the level of realism. I also had to remove warping from the floor element, by sawing in the center upper side and forcing it straight. The two resin pilots were not so hard to incorporate, but the radar operator needed to lower his arm. The interior should be ready to paint now.

Starbase101
Looking great! What figures did you use? The radar operator looks like a WWII pilot I just got (with arm repositioned as you said) but I don't recognize the other.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks Starbase, and those who have liked the album also! I just added both plane crew figures to the project. They are from PJ Models and from CMK.

Starbase101
Yep, I had just identified the pilot, but thanks for the confirmation. He looks good so I'm getting two of them for adding to my figure collection. (The diorama I've got planned involves four P-61's, two Willys Jeeps, a lot of figures, and perhaps other components when the project is started and suggestions maybe get offered.)

Steven Van Dyck
Success with your project, then Starbase! just started the two half-track kits and I built in quite some PE yet.

Steven Van Dyck
I painted the interior of the P-61 with Vallejo Interion Green. The pilot canopy is a very poor fit, I try to improve this with Evergreen.

Steven Van Dyck
Interior is finished with details, the guns were first scratched but then it appeared there were cannon barrels in my Quickboost set. The decal instructions show Judy without a dorsal turret, but I still added mine, as did some other people on the internet. The gun bay hatch had to be carefully closed down, filled, sanded and regraved.

Steven Van Dyck
The wings have been filled up with the Eduard PE cooling intakes and painted Vallejo Interior Yellow. The fuselage is sanded and filled intensely until all crevices are fixed. This kit was clearly not intended to have the hatches closed down, but I have no choice.

Starbase101
Looking good! It's amazing you guys don't get sanding dust inside the cockpit while working on the fuselage seams. This kit has a history of poor fit.

Steven Van Dyck
It surely has, Starbase, so today I have a few hardcore sanding and remodelling pictures for the wheelbays. A lot of my PE will return in the spares, closing this down. But I think it will pay off to see an airborne P61 for changes. When this was done and polished up, I assembled the tail booms.

Steven Van Dyck
And an extra update today about the half-track crews. One is adapted to a lying position on the hull. I also built the Hauler front visors.

Steven Van Dyck
Again a lot of sanding after the cowlings have been assembled. The left one is really hard to get as smooth as the right one. Also the seams along the tail booms and the wings are hard to reach, I mainly used CA glue to fill them.

Steven Van Dyck
Great efforts are made to fit the clearparts to the fuselage. The figures are finished with a Vallejo Polyurethane varnish and placed in the cockpit. I scratched the rear cone frame out of some metal sheet. The clearparts that needed Evergreen inserts are painted on the inside, to make these changes invisible.

Steven Van Dyck
Some experimenting was needed to make all canopy parts fit snugly in the fuselage. The HGW seatbelts are great if somewhat difficult to make the smallest paper parts fit. I had to remove the small strips from the paper carrier to be able to insert them in the tiny PE clips. A grey wash was necessary to blend it in with the front seatbelts. One part of the fuselage had to be sanded heavily even after adding the clearparts.

Mathieu
Awesome build! Catching up late on your progress, but I intend on enjoying your next pictures. Cheers

Steven Van Dyck
Welcome Mathieu, also thanks to the likers. I just applied masking on the canopy with the use of a swivel knife.

Steven Van Dyck
I did a lot of detailing on the inside of the half-tracks and then I used parts of a gardening bag for a diorama stand. I think this way I can camouflage at least part of the springs under some undergrowth.

Starbase101
Just because hardly anybody is commenting doesn't mean nobody is watching/following. The build is coming along nicely, and if mine turns out half this good then I won't have much to complain about. Personally, I'm more interested in the P-61 than the half-tracks, but still a good day whenever new photos are uploaded. 🙂

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks to make the difference, Starbase. Sadly, today no update on the P-61, but a lot on how the base will look like. I made a road with the excellent Green Stuff Cobblestone Rolling Pin. Then I finished the tracklink construction for the half-tracks. A lot of putty filling on the inside seemed the safest way to avoid pinmark traces.

Gary Kitchen
Wow Steven, what a well documented build, including the scribing tool pics is useful for novices. I've yet to undertake a full rescribing but this is a fab tutorial. The build looks great, and the dio concept excellent. Love the guy diving out of the half track.

Steven Van Dyck
Gary, I'm pleased about all the people telling they found some use in the scribing tutorial. Now I scatched some antenna parts I lost and then I painted the white and black parts after a masking session. The white stripes will not work from the first masking session, I saw that the paint lacked adhesion when I removed parts of the masking. I painted the cabins of the half-tracks white and then primered the rest with a dark brown, so they will be painted dark yellow from the outside when closed down.

Steven Van Dyck
A glossy varnish changes the depth of the black paint layer. The D-Day stripes went better than expected, only a few repairs needed. The decals are waiting now!

Gary Kitchen
Looking good. 👍

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Gary, and also to the likers! Today some important additions are made to the diorama. I found a great Noch tree set with 8 trees in different heights 10-14 centimeters, and a Tamiya Schwimmwagen. But I also detected a fatal flaw in the Printscale decal set for Jukin' Judy's fuselage nametag. It's only featured once, while different pictures show both sides painted identical. I'll try to paint this first, with the corrected colors. The half-tracks are masked and painted internally and can be closed down now.

Gary Kitchen
Could you scan it in and print your own decal? Assuming you have the equipment- just an idea 👍 I've blundered my way through that a couple of times now but certainly looks better than I could paint it.

Steven Van Dyck
I know that that is a possibility, but as long as it's only letters in 2 colors, I can manage it. The Judy part will be tedious however, and there are two fragile antennas nearby.

Gary Kitchen
Good luck. Eager to see how this dio turns out.

Steven Van Dyck
OK, Gary, I just uploaded some new shots of the plastering session I did today. I also made a Wall with the Green Stuff Dutch Bricks 15mm seal. Works very good on clay. The trees I still kept apart from the base to be able to paint the road.

Steven Van Dyck
The lettering on Judy is done. It was indeed tedious to cut but I think it turned out well. I also received the Schwimmwagen extras today and immediately started the build with some Aber interior parts.

Steven Van Dyck
Some dry-fitting of the Blackdog parts and a lot of tiny Aber PE particles later...

Steven Van Dyck
The tools are provided with PE clamps and the road is painted IJN Kure grey. This will be altered for some of the stones.

Steven Van Dyck
The three German vehicles are painted Dark Yellow after the seats have been masked and the PE for the windbreak was added. Some of the leftover yellow was used on the dio. The vehicles were also modulated before a 3-tone camo will be added.

Rui
This is really interesting ?

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks, Rui. I have applied some pigment on the road and the earthworks and I also painted the roadwheel rubber. The P-61 props had their decals, I hope to remove the grainy varnish effect.

Steven Van Dyck
The grass, flowers and trees are now fixed with PVA glue.

Steven Van Dyck
Some changes to the flowers are made and the vehicles have now got the complete camo. One truck got a bit psychedelic, but I wasn't building a known unit, so who knows? Now I'm struggling with the tracks, it seemed easier before I painted them.

Steven Van Dyck
For the Blackdog cargo to sit correctly you have to remove half of the Schwimmwagen floor. For the decals I was unable to make the vehicles match the intended ones, but that was not the purpose either.

Steven Van Dyck
I sent the crew packing. When all accessories are added, a matt coat will remove the shine.

Steven Van Dyck
I painted the frame in German camo green and finished the weathering and the figures. Now it's ready to fix them.

Steven Van Dyck
The crew is now mostly installed on the fixed vehicles.

Steven Van Dyck
I finished the dio today, by painting the chips and the exhaust marks and then unmasking the P-61. Some corrections to the dio were needed before I could take these pictures: I even had to saw through part of a figure to adapt it to the ground. This was fun but the next project will return to 1/35.

Spanjaard
Beautiful dio

Starbase101
Turned out nice, but looks a little weird having the P-61 in the air with the propellers motionless. (Coming in for a crash landing maybe?) Motors in the engines, or there's an effect you can do with clear plastic that has the props look like they're spinning.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks! I recently bought two small solar panels that would make it possible to move props, but then the P-61 was alteady painted. The interior of both nacelles is also completely different, one engine space is more shallow. Maybe they did get it with all those MG42's...

Spanjaard
the picture was taken with such a speed camera, that props seem stationary 😉

Mathieu
Love that last dramatic shot (373) awesome work Steven. Congrats

Spanjaard
if the props are not glued, a simple hair dryer blowing some air would make nice pictures 😉

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Wow, that's great!
A very nice diorama idea. Beautiful pictures. 👍

Andrew Horton
Great work, Steven!

Gary Kitchen
Great work Steven. It's been a joy to follow along.

D P
Wow! Looks awesome!
How did you fit clear parts to the fuselage without damaging/fogging them? Is it a white putty?
Also, how did you detail instrument panel?

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks! The crevices near the clearparts were filled up with Evergreen, glued with Tamiya and then masked. Sanding carefully I made this Evergreen flush with the fuselage, also adapting the corners to the windscreen. The dashboard is just painted black and detailed with Vallejo metallic grey.