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m2000-5
Maciej Bellos (m2000-5)
GR

XP-56/I Black Bullet

Comments

12 18 September 2019, 12:02
Maciej Bellos
Most inner parts ready, so now comes the fun part of wiring.
18 September 2019, 12:23
Łukasz Gliński
What a cool project!
19 September 2019, 09:44
Dave Flitton
Watching
19 September 2019, 12:49
Ricardo Reis
Following...
19 September 2019, 14:45
Bart Goesaert
looks good so far. nice subject.
19 September 2019, 15:03
Erik Leijdens
Interesting subject. Does not look easy though
19 September 2019, 15:51
Maciej Bellos
Welcome Łukasz, Dave, Ricardo, Bart and Erik! I got beer in the fridge! LOL

Łukasz, I have quite a few cool projects in my stash, this was waiting for a long time.

Yes Erik, it's not an easy kit. There aren't any locating pins, there was a lot of dryfiting just for the cockpit wall, the cockpit is bare, I have no idea how the front wheel well will fit. I am even worried how will all the small bits fit in the thankfully rather spacious cockpit.

Work to follow in the weekend.
19 September 2019, 19:40
Maciej Bellos
Started filling the cockpit.
28 September 2019, 20:24
Maciej Bellos
The floor is ready. Next: belts on the seat
1 October 2019, 02:59
Maciej Bellos
Small steps from now on. Seat in place.
6 October 2019, 21:18
Alec K
A proper egg plane indeed. Nice progress 👍
6 October 2019, 22:44
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Alec!
7 October 2019, 03:19
Maciej Bellos
Welcome Hans. Yes, it's a bit challenging, mostly due to the missing locating pins and secondly, having a bare cockpit. So I had to fill it up with lots of small plastic bits.
7 October 2019, 12:07
Maciej Bellos
Left side of the cockpit is almost ready. One last thing to add.
11 October 2019, 22:07
Stefan Schacht
nice start, count me in 🙂
11 October 2019, 22:56
Maciej Bellos
Welcome Stefan! Thanks!
12 October 2019, 07:12
Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Maciej 👍
12 October 2019, 07:17
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Stephan!
12 October 2019, 09:21
Spanjaard
nice cockpit
12 October 2019, 09:33
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Spanjaard!
12 October 2019, 10:39
Maciej Bellos
Using stretched q-tips I emulated the presence of exhausts.
30 October 2019, 20:58
Maciej Bellos
The fuselage has been glued and as you can see from the last photo, the left half is slightly larger than the right half. Both in lenght and height, so there is some work to be done there. The make or break of this kit will be to achieve the correct placement of the wings, since there are no locating pins...
4 November 2019, 20:08
Łukasz Gliński
Ugh, that difference between the fuselage halves is the thing I hate the most. Fingers crossed Maciej! 👍
4 November 2019, 20:51
Dave Flitton
That's why it's called "Limited Run"
4 November 2019, 21:18
Maciej Bellos
It's a bummer yes. But we 've encountered worse things.

At least those limited run kits cover some interesting topics. We can't have it all!

Thanks mates!
5 November 2019, 19:15
Maciej Bellos
Added formation lights from clear plastic. The red is from a LEGO block, which is quite soft while the green is from a plastic stick. The red was placed as is, while the green, which was kind of fluorescent has it's back painted with a darker clear green and will also be painted with the same green later on.

I am done with sanding of the fuselage and ready for the big step of gluing the wings correctly.
29 November 2019, 21:09
Alec K
Good luck with the wings 👍
30 November 2019, 14:13
Maciej Bellos
The crude locating tabs are in place. I will probably put on the wings tomorrow.
1 December 2019, 19:09
Maciej Bellos
Almost two months later which where spent with putty and sanding multiple times, I think it's ready for paint. Or at least masking the canopy and putting it in place.
30 January 2020, 08:36
Bart Goesaert
Nice and tedious. Some serious plugs to fit the wings. But a lot better then just a flat surface
30 January 2020, 13:25
Łukasz Gliński
Looks like the Komet now 😄
30 January 2020, 13:47
Maciej Bellos
Thanks Bart! The fit wasn't bad, way better than the TS-11, but it still needed some work. I think it's my second decent WW2 wing-fuselage join. Fingers crossed for the paint.

Hahahah, yeah, kind of. So we started with an inverted MiG-21 and now it looks like a Komet. Let's see what's next!
30 January 2020, 18:44
Juergen Klinglhuber
watching too,....be strong on the Short Runs! 🙂
31 January 2020, 17:04
Maciej Bellos
Thanks Juergen and welcome! It's going better than expected! Long live the short runs. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have some pretty interesting topics like this one.
31 January 2020, 17:51
Maciej Bellos
Let's start a big discussion here about RAF colours!

In the book "Northrop Flying Wings" it is revealed that the first XP-56 sported a three tone camouflage, using the same colours as the RAF Vengeances, built under licence from Vultee. Those colours were DuPont 71-009, 71-013 and 71-021, which are Dark earth, dark green and sky. For this kind of camo airfix uses Hu 29, Hu 30 and Hu 90. Am I correct to use them? There is a pretty good photo of the side the aircraft where we can see that the colours have little contast between them. This would imply a more drab-ish green or a more green-ish dark earth, with the former being more correct for me.

What you the RAF enthousiasts say?

13 February 2020, 22:05
Ricardo Reis
Why use Humbrol???
14 February 2020, 07:43
Łukasz Gliński
Why not?😉 If you have a good ventilation 🙂
14 February 2020, 08:08
Maciej Bellos
Ricardo, Humbrol is the vast majority of my paints. Quite a few of them being 20-25 year old tins still going strong. I started buying some Gunze Acrylics, mostly for my jets, so no greens and browns in the stash. There is a long way to go in replacing my Humbrol stock. I know that Gunze are a breeze in cleaning the airbrush up, but they seem to be less value for money considering coverage.

Ventilation is no problem, I spay at the balcony, whether it's 5 degrees or 40 degrees 🙂

So what do you think about the colours? Should I go for it?
14 February 2020, 13:33
Alec K
Hi Maciej - If you are asking whether Humbrol Hu 29, Hu 30 and Hu 90 is a good match for DuPont 71-009, 71-013 and 71-021, I don't know. My hunch is that it will take some digging to figure that out. Sounds like you like your Humbrol paints, so ignore the following if that's what you are going to use regardless.

I am not sure how accurately the Humbrol paints were formulated to match the original wartime colors. A lot of new work has been done in last 20 years on understanding wartime paints colors, and on model paints consequently. I am currently reading Real Colors of WWII from AK Interactive, so this topic caught my eye. I am pretty excited about their new Real Colors range and the amount of work that went into their formulations. I have not yet tried them, but definitely on my list. There of course are other, newer options as well (Mission Models, Life Color etc.). Just food for though...

This is going to be a great build 👍
14 February 2020, 15:40
Maciej Bellos
Thank you for the info Alec!

It's a bit difficult to get the AK line where I live, but I will check it out!
14 February 2020, 17:37
Łukasz Gliński
Found this
cs.finescale.com/fsm..ts/f/2/t/135413.aspx
and this
jpr-guide.tripod.com/dupont.html
Not sure how accurate these are, hope it helps a bit though.
14 February 2020, 20:32
Maciej Bellos
Thanks Lukasz!

Got it painted. Molak 129 for the brown and Hu149 for the green. Lower surfaces also painted with Hu90.

Gloss is up next.
8 March 2020, 12:20
Bart Goesaert
Nice touch with the not olive drab version. Can we expect british markings?
9 March 2020, 15:17
Maciej Bellos
Glad you like it Bart! Unfortunately, under the british guise, she is American all the way.
9 March 2020, 22:20
Łukasz Gliński
The colours turned out great, keep it up! 👍
10 March 2020, 08:16
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Łukasz! I sprayed some W&N gloss and will put on the decals. After that I will tackle the contrarotating propellers that don't have any locating pins (it would be an anomaly for this kit if there were any).
18 March 2020, 18:13
Maciej Bellos
I sprayed W&N acrylic gloss varnish diluted with Mr Levelling thinner. I applied the numerous decals (4) 😄

Ready for the wash. I was thinking of using olive drab as a panel line wash.

The last chore on this kit is to trill the proper holes on the propeller cone, in order to fit the blades correctly, securely and more importantly, easily.
23 March 2020, 20:57
Bart Goesaert
interesting choise for only the stars without the bars
24 March 2020, 09:56
Maciej Bellos
Yes Bart, it looks interesting and all the pictures of the camouflaged Black Bullet show just the stars.
24 March 2020, 18:19
Maciej Bellos
Wash applied. Looks ok to me.
11 April 2020, 12:09
Łukasz Gliński
It does indeed 👍
11 April 2020, 12:59
Alec K
Nice progress Maciej 👍
11 April 2020, 13:11
Maciej Bellos
Thank you guys!
11 April 2020, 13:35
Juergen Klinglhuber
👍
11 April 2020, 14:19
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Juergen!
11 April 2020, 14:20
Maciej Bellos
Just before the finish line: landing gear, propeller blades and canopy.
29 April 2020, 09:56
Łukasz Gliński
Looking better and better 👍
29 April 2020, 10:35
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Łukasz!
29 April 2020, 10:37
Maciej Bellos
Landing gear on and she is on her feet. Almost there.
8 May 2020, 21:25
Alec K
Final stretch! Looks great 👍
9 May 2020, 12:13
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Alec!
9 May 2020, 19:35
Andy Ball
super, I like your eclectic choice of subject .... hints of Horten?
11 May 2020, 18:36
Maciej Bellos
Haha, I think Mr Northrop and Herr Horten might have had a beer or two somewhere!
11 May 2020, 18:37
Łukasz Gliński
Can't stand waiting to see it finished 🙂
11 May 2020, 20:09
Maciej Bellos
Just the canopy left, so there was no use in posting photos without it. I just have to make a rig to glue it. So just a tad of patience.
11 May 2020, 20:59
Maciej Bellos
Finally got it done! More photos to follow under the sun, with a proper camera.

Thank you all for tagging along this rather difficult but exciting (at least for me) build!
13 May 2020, 15:01
Ben M
looks great!
13 May 2020, 15:18
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Ben!
13 May 2020, 15:30
Alec K
Turned out great Maciej 👍
14 May 2020, 12:24
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Alec!
14 May 2020, 13:35
Maciej Bellos
Final pictures added! It has been a nice build, trying out new things and expanding my skills. I am happy with the result, I think it's my best build so far.
15 May 2020, 15:53
Nikolaos Kouzinis
Nice job Maciej
15 May 2020, 17:23
Maciej Bellos
Thanks Niko!
15 May 2020, 17:40
Łukasz Gliński
Awesome job, cool subject and nice details on top of it all (I like the exhausts and lamps) 👍
15 May 2020, 18:26
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Łukasz for your kind words! The lights are cool, but I think the exhausts are cooler (and were a bit more difficult to do). There is also an antenna made from really thin naylon thread (pic 59).
15 May 2020, 20:01
Łukasz Gliński
You are absolutely right, the antenna is impressive, for me in particular. It's so thin I couldn't spot it😉
15 May 2020, 20:24
Maciej Bellos
The antenna went on quite easily. In fact, if it wasn't for my clumsiness while cutting the excess thread that ripped it off, I would have succeeded on the first attempt.
16 May 2020, 14:34
Bart Goesaert
Very nice result. Splendid..
16 May 2020, 14:50
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Bart!
16 May 2020, 14:51
Patryk S.
Great build! Congratulations!
16 May 2020, 20:39
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Patryk!
17 May 2020, 19:07
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Joshua!
18 November 2020, 17:08
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Marc!
18 November 2020, 21:06
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Dave!
20 November 2020, 19:57
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Roland!
20 November 2020, 20:31
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Daniel!
20 November 2020, 21:17
Skyhiker
Cool plane. What did you use to do the navigation lights?
21 November 2020, 05:08
Lochsa River
An egg plane!! very cool for sure...here is another one...

Miles M-35 Libellula | Album by Lochsa_River (1:48)
21 November 2020, 05:40
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Skywalker!

The red light came from a piece of LEGO, while the green one from a fluorecent cocktail stick which was paintd with transparent green.
21 November 2020, 05:44
Skyhiker
Interesting idea. I never thought of using Legos or cocktail sticks.
21 November 2020, 06:08
Maciej Bellos
I try to find solutions for various things. Some work, others don't. Transparent coloured plastic is suited for older aircraft. The newer use clear formation lights and coloured leds. The latest editions of the F-16 come to mind.
21 November 2020, 07:21
Maciej Bellos
Welcome Gary!
26 January 2021, 17:41
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Cuajete!
27 January 2021, 19:47
Maciej Bellos
Thank you WhiteGlint!

Nice build Lochsa and another eggplane indeed!
27 January 2021, 20:36
Maciej Bellos
Glad you like it Ilya!
10 February 2021, 19:19
Maciej Bellos
Thank you Neil!
29 March 2021, 18:45

Album info

The first of two Black Bullet prototypes. A friend noted that this is a proper egg plane!

63 images
1:72
Completed
1:72 XP-56 Black Bullet (MPM Production 72098)

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