AMT 1/48 Douglas P-70 Night Fighter

Started by Spiros Pendedekas · 140 · 1 year ago · 1/48, A-20, AMT, Douglas, Night Fighters, P-70
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    The pics are from Primeportal.net (an amazing site that contains many useful walkaround pics, among, possibly, others), @stephen-w-towle. Yep, the Havoc is a tad off! Its crucial engine details were clear, though!

    Anyways, I attached the nose, performed an initial excess plastic shaving and coarse sanding allover the model, to make it more "homogeneous". I was aggresive at the nose, as it contains windows framing, which is wrong for the P-70. The cowlings received a first "shave" and liquefied styrene application (they will require a few more, before final filling and sanding). Good thing that the plastic is very workable and easilly sandable, simplyfing the tedious sanding process due to the "less than perfect fit" experienced. Here are the results:

    Thanks for stopping by!

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    Jeffrey Kolln said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    You P-70 is coming along nicely. Your heading down that final stretch! Good work!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Thanks Jeffrey @421stwidow!

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    Doug Humphrey said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Looking forward to the end result, Spiros! Great save on the cowlings. One question, though - noticed that the interior hasn't been painted yet, did you assemble to the sections with clear tape?

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Thanks my friend @eydugstr!
    The plane is normally glued. I will carefully paint the interior at later stages. That's why I have not attached the seat and some other "detail" bits.

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    Walt said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    I keep seeing the A-20/P-70 kits being built and think I really want to build one. You are doing some great work on this beauty, @fiveten. I am curious, you did not paint your cockpit. Are you going to paint over the canopy, or do you paint all this after assembly? Just curious, love the looks of that plane, it really does have a pleasing shape.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Thanks my friend @luftwaffe-birdman! I usually hand paint my canopies, such will be the case here!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    The cockpit is beforehand painted and detailed. Works at most cases @luftwaffe-birdman!

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Spiros, @fiveten
    I have read this journal of yours, and I want to say "thank you" for mentioning my name with fitting the horizontal stabilizer. I have built one of the AMT A-20 kits, and I ended up purchasing an aftermarket set of wheels for it. The resin wheels also came with a folded up life raft. This is how it looks now.


    Like you, on mine I had to sand away the exhaust protrusions, because I was back dating it to an earlier "pre War" version, with a bare metal finish. I also sanded away some of the engine opening to make it a little larger. Then I made a hole for the single exhaust opening on the side of the nacelles.

    I kept pulling up some of the red and white painted on rudder stripes on mine. Finally I was able to get the rudder painted...only to pull up the aluminum color on the fabric stabilizer and ailerons next... but the final straw was when the foil covering started bubbling... I put mine away after it suffered a problem with the bare metal foil bubbling. It was most likely due to being exposed to the heat and the Florida sun. The back of the display case has a mirror finish. I am lucky the model didn't melt.

    During construction, I only had a few minor areas that didn't fit too well, with the most prominent one being a small "step" that was located just ahead of the pilot's wind screen where the clear bombardiers panel met the regular solid plastic.

    This is a model I have that should be finished.

    I agree with you, these kit supplied engines look very good, and the look even better with some detail painting and washes. It would be nice if someone obtained the molds and started popping out more of these kits.

    I have two of these AMT P-70's in the stash, and several other versions of the AMT A-20 kits as well, like the A-20 B/C and an A-20G. You're tempting me to drag some of them out... But first I must finish what I have started.

    I like how your P-70 looks my friend. My friend, you are a model building machine. I am looking forward to your next installment.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Thanks my friend @lgardner!
    Yep, I also try to restrain myself as much as I can, not starting yet another build...
    But, again, so many great GBs, so many nice people are here...
    Really difficult to hold on...

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Here's a pic of Dusty, I found at the Net, scanned seemingly from a magazine...

    You may notice that the nose is indeed plexiglass painted, so, I hope, I did not sand the nose too aggressively.

    Moreover, are those under the port cowling the exhaust mini fairings?

    If so, the kit offerings were correct an I shouldn't have removed them, meaning I will have to re-scratchbuild them! Still, the two bulges that are to be flattened do not seem to be there. Boxart is, then, misleading, as it shows a solid nose and "clean" cowlings...

    Any clues are most welcome...

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    Eric Berg said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    I'm losing track of how many builds you currently have going Spiros. How do you do it?

    Glad to see this on your production line. I think this the A-20/P-70 series was one of AMT/ERTL's better kits and I sure enjoyed building it. I have another on the stash shelf so I will be following your build very closely for your great tips and solutions.

    Keep on crankin'!

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Well, I wasn’t even aware there was a Nightfighter GB going, let alone an almost build up P-70! Good work taming those seams and injector holes Spiros @fiveten

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    Andrew H said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Great progress Spiros! I just recently picked up and AMT A-20G at the LHS, after seeing Bryan's @plasticslave build recently. They also had the P-70 boxing, but chose only the one, and found some Aeroscale decals too. Some other things on order for it too, and its not deep in the queue... What are the odds...?

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    Colin Gomez said 3 years, 7 months ago:

    Hi Spiros. You are moving along at a fantastic pace on this kit. Great work on the corrections and filling tasks. Like Walt, I am wondering about the cockpit. Am I correct in assuming that the fuselage halves are not glued together yet? I think they would stay together via the wing spar without gluing. Since the seat, instrument panel, consoles etc look light grey still in your pics, I guess you plan to open up the fuselage to do the interior soon? If so, it is interesting that you are joining pieces on and sanding parts of the exterior like the nose before gluing.