Bell XP-77
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/6/0/4/1167604-31412-65-720.jpg)
Off we go!
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/6/0/5/1167605-31412-22-720.jpg)
Did remowe most of the parts from the sprue, the amount of flash is overwhelming.
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/6/1/0/1167610-31412-81-720.jpg)
Note the sink marks and the sprue attachment.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/6/0/7/1167607-31412-25-720.jpg)
Filled all the sink marks on the parts with pattex superglue
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/1/5/0/1168150-31412-30-720.jpg)
Cleaned up the wing today and deepened the first wheel well. Did use pattex sos glue to fill the edges. I can not reccomend this glue enough - it works far better than any filler and is easy to sand. I use it also as glue where possible as it gives a strong join.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/4/8/8/1169488-31412-56-720.jpg)
Deepend the second wheel well and removed the injection stubs. The plastic is very hard to sand but very easy prone to overscraping wit a scalpel blade. This is going to be a greater challenge than the hawk.
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/1/2/0/1180120-31412-11-720.jpg)
Managed to cut of and sand the resin from the castings block, unfortunately breaking the rear cockpit wall in the proces. Glued it and the control stick to the tub with pattex sos glue. Additionaly i managed to prime the resin parts.
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/4/5/5/1184455-31412-50-720.jpg)
Dry fitted the resin inserts - they fit very good to the fuselage halves - no sidewall trimming needed. After that I primed the back portion of the seat and the insides of the fuselage.
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/7/2/7/1186727-31412-32-720.jpg)
First layer on the resin parts and fuselage interior painted. If prefer to brush paint small parts in this scale. The Ranger V770 on 99% of pictures i have seen was pained Neutral Gray, so I went with this suggestion. The instruction states that it was black.
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/2/3/3/1187233-31412-63-720.jpg)
Second layer on. Started some detail painting in the cockpit and did clean up some of the kits parts.
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/1/1/0/1188110-31412-88-720.jpg)
Did some rought preliminary detail painting on the seat and engine - it will be corrected after the second layer. Need to get sone rust and copper colors from my workbench in Germany to finish the engine detail paintig. Did also test fit the exaust ports to the fuselage sides - much trimming was needed for both the ports and fulelage to get a good fit. You can see the difference - lower on the picture is the fuselage side which is allready corrected.
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/8/1/8/1192818-31412-54-720.jpg)
More datail painting and silver drybrushing for the seat and cockpit. Small corrections needed, the camera catches more than my eyes. Next a coat of clear flat and a dark wash awaits.
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/7/3/1/1229731-31412-36-720.jpg)
Managed to glue the cockpit together, working on parts cleanup, which is extremely difficult due to the plastic beeing extremely sanding paper resistant. Reworking the exhaust system to beter match the original.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/3/9/5/1366395-31412-55-720.jpg)
Cleaned up all of the parts and sanded them to 2500 grit, now they are ready for priming. Assembled the propeller and glued the engine front in one of the fuselage sides.
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/2/8/7/1367287-31412-32-720.jpg)
Primed the small parts with the 1st layer of Tamiya spray matt black.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/6/1/5/1370615-31412-78-720.jpg)
Did prime the other side of the small parts with the 1st layer of tamiya black matt. Rescribed one side of the fuselage as the original scribing was almost invisible and added a document pocket to make the cocpit a bit more busy.
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/0/6/9/1374069-31412-83-720.jpg)
Glued the wheel bay and cockpit to the fuselage side today. No issues with fit.
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/9/5/6/1462956-31412-18-720.jpg)
Progress so far. Added weight to the fuselage an closed it. Managed to paint most of the small parts also. Fit was good in regards of joining the fuselage. A long sanding session awaits in order to get a smooth effect before adding black primer. Also rescribed the panel lines as they were too shalow. Also need to rework the exhaust in the closed position as depicted on the reference I got.
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/0/9/5/1532095-31412-45-720.jpg)
Update: scribed the lover wing using photo s and the 1:48 czech model kit as references. Small corrections will be needed but under a few coats of black primer and then silver the effect will be ok.
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/5/8/5/1623585-31412-27-720.jpg)
The fight continues. Rescribed the right side and reworked the exhaust according to photos and the czech model kit. Painted all the small bits. Looks maybe a bit rough on the picture but pretty much ok for the normal eye - it will be refined before priming.
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/8/8/7/1649887-31412-76-720.jpg)
The fight continues. Did attach the wings to the fuselage, the fit was very poor. I filled the gaps with pattex sos glue which I use as filler with very good results. Sanded one side with 800 grit sanding paper and got a flush join.
![Album image #22 Album image #22](/albums/img/5/8/4/1652584-31412-89-720.jpg)
Done also with the other side with rescribing, reshaping of the exhhaust system anf filling and sanding gaps between the wing and the fuselage. The underside awaits.
![Album image #23 Album image #23](/albums/img/9/2/9/1702929-31412-38-720.jpg)
Work continues. Rescribed and scribed all the missing detail as seen on period photos. Got over the hardest part which was canopy attachment. Dipped it with a german equivalent of future clear first, then fitted it to the fuselage and carefully worked around it with super glue to good effect. Need to do this a few times in order to blend the canopy into the fuselage. There were some gaps between the canopy and fuselage but they were filled succesfully with super glue.
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/3/8/1/1712381-31412-25-720.jpg)
Completed the sanding around the canopy. I am very satisfied with the result. It is maybe not visible on the picture but I managed to get a flush connection of the canopy to the fuselage.
![Album image #25 Album image #25](/albums/img/6/1/0/1733610-31412-62-720.jpg)
Attached the horizontal stabilisers with pattex gel glue to have time to tweak their position as they do not have any attachment points. Had to sand both to get a similar look as one was bigger as the other. It is ready for painting, now on to test the eduard panel decals and to see how they stick to the plastic and react to tamiya spray paints.
![Album image #26 Album image #26](/albums/img/1/4/0/1736140-31412-21-720.jpg)
Propeller done.
Komentarzy
36 10 February 2022, 20:20
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
As I travel often between Germany and Poland and did move my workshop to DEU I decided to duplicate it in Poland as to not loose time without my hobby. This is my first pararel project in the workbench in Poland. Another short run.
10 February 2022, 20:31
![](/profiles/img/27826-126-s.jpg)
Unusual model... Following!
Lucky to have duplicated your workshop 🙂 👍
10 February 2022, 20:46
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Cleaned up the wing today and deepened the first wheel well. Did use pattex sos glue to fill the edges. I can not reccomend this glue enough - it works far better than any filler and is easy to sand. I use it also as glue where possible as it gives a strong join.
11 February 2022, 19:53
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
@Cuajete and Guy: welcome! I bought jut the tools needed to do simple kits so I do not waste my time on not modeling 🙂
11 February 2022, 19:59
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Deepend the second wheel well and removed the injection stubs. The plastic is very hard to sand but very easy prone to overscraping wit a scalpel blade. This is going to be a greater challenge than the hawk.
13 February 2022, 18:54
![](/profiles/img/32137-155-s.jpg)
This little gem will need a lot of TLC. I looking forward to following your progress.
14 February 2022, 01:35
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
Watching with interest for sure! (just a word of warning here, Patryk - I remeber from one review of this kit that the vacu canopy is too small - have you checked it already?)
22 February 2022, 20:44
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thank you for joining Robert and Daniel! @Robert: I did a search for builds of this kit - there is a problem with canopy fit but nothing not to overcome. I did actualy stumble on an open canopy picture of the XP-77 during the search - the canopy didn't slide back but went rotating downwards flush into the fuselage so only the front frame is visible after opening. If I will have to much problems with fit I might replicate it in the open position.
23 February 2022, 12:55
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
Open canopy surely would add more interest to this fascinating plane, Patryk 😉
23 February 2022, 13:38
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Managed to cut of and sand the resin from the castings block, unfortunately breaking the rear cockpit wall in the proces. Glued it and the control stick to the tub with pattex sos glue. Additionaly i managed to prime the resin parts.
Thank you for joining and the comments Mates!
6 March 2022, 16:41
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Dry fitted the resin inserts - they fit very good to the fuselage halves - no sidewall trimming needed. After that I primed the back portion of the seat and the insides of the fuselage.
13 March 2022, 17:40
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
First layer on the resin parts and fuselage interior painted. I prefer to brush paint small parts in this scale, saves a lot of time of paintbrush cleaning and after a clear coat and wash you don't actually see any difference. The Ranger V770 engine on 99% of pictures I have seen was pained Neutral Gray, so I went with this suggestion. The instruction states that it was black.
18 March 2022, 14:59
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Second layer on. Started some detail painting in the cockpit and did clean up some of the kits parts. Thank you for joining Villiers!
19 March 2022, 17:44
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Did some rought preliminary detail painting on the seat and engine - it will be corrected after the second layer. Need to get sone rust and copper colors from my workbench in Germany to finish the engine detail paintig. Did also test fit the exaust ports to the fuselage sides - much trimming was needed for both the ports and fulelage to get a good fit. You can see the difference - lower on the picture is the fuselage side which is allready corrected.
20 March 2022, 18:24
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
More datail painting and silver drybrushing for the seat and cockpit. Small corrections needed, the camera catches more than my eyes. Next a coat of clear flat and a dark wash awaits.
28 March 2022, 10:37
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Managed to glue the cockpit together, working on parts cleanup, which is extremely difficult due to the plastic beeing extremely sanding paper resistant. Reworking the exhaust system to beter match the original.
22 May 2022, 16:30
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Cleaned up all of the parts and sanded them to 2500 grit, now they are ready for priming. Assembled the propeller and glued the engine front in one of the fuselage sides.
25 December 2022, 16:44
![](/profiles/img/104032-478-s.jpg)
Fingers crossed 🙂
One of special features of this plane was, that the canopy was not opening by sliding, but rotating backwards into the back fuselage. 🙂
Youtube Video
![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/vsgahU5LUrI/maxresdefault.jpg)
25 December 2022, 23:23
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thank You for this valuable reference Robert! It helped to solve some questions that I had, might reeork the exhaust system after seeing this.
26 December 2022, 08:28
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Primed the small parts with the 1st layer of Tamiya spray matt black.
26 December 2022, 18:08
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Did prime the other side of the small parts with the 1st layer of tamiya black matt. Rescribed one side of the fuselage as the original scribing was almost invisible and added a document pocket to make the cocpit a bit more busy. Did also put the first layer of Interrior green to the front wheel bay.
30 December 2022, 18:32
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Glued the wheel bay and cockpit to the fuselage side today. No issues with fit.
3 January 2023, 20:39
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thanks Mates, dry fitted the fuselage halves together and no issues besides some putty will be needed in the lower part of the front fuselage. The wing will need some shimming of material where it meets the front wheel bay but nothing significant. Having more fun with this one than the P-36 or the mainstream U-2A.
3 January 2023, 21:39
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Some advice needed dear Mates: what glue is best to use by vacuform canopies? This is my first attempt, do not want to mess it up.
3 January 2023, 21:41
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
In such cases I first glue some pieces of stretched sprue (made square-ish in section first with a knife) around the edge of the opening (in distance from the outer edge equal-ish to the canopy thickness) and then I use drops of thin cyanoacrylate glue one-by-one letting each flow under the edge of the canopy and dry for few seconds before applying the next one... But it is quite time and nerve consuming...
3 January 2023, 21:49
![](/profiles/img/13641-502-s.jpg)
Well, I guess there are as many ideas as the mates who use the vacu canopies. I'm afraid of putting together transparent parts and CA glue, so I either stick to some sort of PVA/Kristal Klear (forget the sanding afterwards) or UV glue (usually Bondic, can be sanded after drying very well in UV light).
4 January 2023, 11:12
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thank You for the advice Łukasz, maybe the ye olde card modeling technique wil be also a feasible solution - butapren glue 😜
4 January 2023, 17:14
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
Bondic is a good idea, much less risky than CA glue - the UV setting glue was available in Germany under Revell brand too (I bought such a set few years ago while visiting Erfurt)
4 January 2023, 17:59
![](/profiles/img/13641-502-s.jpg)
Ahhh, butapren, never forget 😁How did it go?
- Granma, have you seen my butapren?
- Nope, but have you seen that dragon in the kitchen?
For the non-Polish readers: this glue used to contain trichloroethylene when we were young 😄
4 January 2023, 18:42
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Welcome Thomas!
@Łukasz: Thats a good one😂. I remeber in my town the nice lady that worked in the shop that had then in the 90's would sell me only one tube at a time because she was concerned about my health.😜 I was a card modeler for many years, converted to plastic only a few years ago.
4 January 2023, 21:06
![](/profiles/img/27826-126-s.jpg)
In injected plastic, it usually works to protect the cockpit from the ciano by immersing it in Future (or similar) and letting it dry before gluing with ciano. In vacu I don't know, but I guess it will work too. However, I wouldn't risk it if you only have one copy of the vacu.
5 January 2023, 20:00
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
@Cuajete: thank you, this is an interresting method indeed. Thinking about making an opened canopy which will reduce the effort and show more detail in the cockpit.
6 January 2023, 20:17
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Progress so far. Added weight to the fuselage an closed it. Managed to paint most of the small parts also. Fit was good in regards of joining the fuselage. A long sanding session awaits in order to get a smooth effect before adding black primer. Also rescribed the panel lines as they were too shalow. Also need to rework the exhaust in the closed position as depicted on the reference I got.
1 May 2023, 15:30
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
I will Robert! It will be done, currently working on 5 projects divided between homes in Poland and Germany, so it might take some time. Thanks for still beeing here!
1 May 2023, 15:42
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Update: scribed the lover wing using photo s and the 1:48 czech model kit as references. Small corrections will be needed but under a few coats of black primer and then silver the effect will be ok. The kit had almost no detail on the underside of the wing.
19 August 2023, 19:06
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
The fight continues. Rescribed the right side and reworked the exhaust according to photos and the czech model kit. Painted all the small bits. Looks maybe a bit rough on the picture but pretty much ok for the normal eye - it will be refined before priming
22 December 2023, 19:15
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
The fight continues. Did attach the wings to the fuselage, the fit was very poor. I filled the gaps with pattex sos glue which I use as filler with very good results. Sanded one side with 800 grit sanding paper and got a flush join.
27 January, 17:58
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Done also with the other side with rescribing, reshaping of the exhhaust system anf filling and sanding gaps between the wing and the fuselage. The underside awaits.
31 January, 12:06
![](/profiles/img/user-s.jpg)
The old Special Hobby kits are not for the faint of heart.
Keep going. Looks good what you achieved so far.
I like the Pattex super glue too.
31 January, 19:47
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thank you for you kind comment Michael! I am satisfied with the progress so far as it is a very challenging kit to get right.
31 January, 20:04
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Work continues. Rescribed and scribed all the missing detail as seen on period photos. Got over the hardest part which was canopy attachment. Dipped it with a german equivalent of future clear first, then fitted it to the fuselage and carefully worked around it with super glue to good effect. Need to do this a few times in order to blend the canopy into the fuselage. There were some gaps between the canopy and fuselage but they were filled succesfully with super glue.
8 April, 17:36
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
Great job with the canopy, Patryk! The finish line is on a horizon now 😉
8 April, 18:37
![](/profiles/img/27826-126-s.jpg)
Patryk, you did well to immerse the transparent part in Future to protect it from the gases produced by the cyano.
You are doing a fantastic job with this kit 👍
8 April, 18:50
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Thank you for your kind comment. The build will still take some time as I want to experiment with the new eduard 3d panels and see if they can withstand spray can painting. I will try to coat them with this german Future gloss equvalent as I already tested it on decals and several spray can paints and sealers and this stuff withstands everything I was able to test it on to this time.
9 April, 10:37
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Completed the sanding around the canopy. I am very satisfied with the result. It is maybe not visible on the picture but I managed to get a flush connection of the canopy to the fuselage.
21 April, 18:21
![](/profiles/img/31412-245-s.jpg)
Attached the horizontal stabilisers with pattex gel glue to have time to tweak their position as they do not have any attachment points. Had to sand both to get a similar look as one was bigger as the other. It is ready for painting, now on to test the eduard panel decals and to see how they stick to the plastic and react to tamiya spray paints.
22 May, 18:32