Academy B-29

[Levin]

Good evening from Germany

I`m thinking about buying (and of course building ) the Academy B-29 and got some questions to you:

At first should I buy the eduard etched Stuff; I mean is it worth it`s prize?

And when building one in silver: is it a natural metal finish, so I can highlight some panels, or is it silver painted?

Thank you in advance

Levin

[Caerbannog]

Hi,

I have one in stash to convert to Fertile Myrtle (X-1 Mothership). I am not sure if all were NMF but I would say the vast majority was not painted in aluminum colour. As extras I have the Airwaves etch set, Squadron vac canopies and True detail wheels. Frommy memory it is a nice looking kit (have not opened the box for quite a while) - I can dig it out for you and sent picturesif you want.

Cheers from Germany,

René

[Levin]

Also from Germany? If Guten Abend

at first I am gonna ask what does NMF mean

To the rest i am espacially interested how the canopy is and if its worth with the oob canopy to use photo etch

and to the painting: I am espacially in building the Enola Gay or Bockscar were they special coated for radiation issues?

and (another ) to the pictures: thank you but i don think i need them yet.

EDIT: just got what NMF means

Edited June 29, 2016 by Levin

[Greenshirt]

Good evening from Germany

I`m thinking about buying (and of course building ) the Academy B-29 and got some questions to you:

At first should I buy the eduard etched Stuff; I mean is it worth it`s prize?

And when building one in silver: is it a natural metal finish, so I can highlight some panels, or is it silver painted?

Thank you in advance

Levin

What markings will you be using? Generally speaking, most B-29 used during the war were fully in natural metal on the exterior. Some early examples were in Olive Drab uppers over Neutral Gray lowers, some of the unpainted examples also had black undersides for low level area bombing late in the war. The specific markings you want to do will dictate the scheme, but basically, if it looks "silver" it's unpainted aluminum.

I rarely do photo etch simply because most of it is not visible unless you're dropping flaps, opening bomb bays or putting a crystal clear vac canopy on it. But ultimately its your model and if you enjoy doing PE, go for it.

Tim

[Levin]

Thank you, I think i am gonna build it oob as Enola Gay or Bockscar

Edited June 29, 2016 by Levin

[Jure Miljevic]

Hi, Levin

Natural metal, then. There were no special anti-radiation coatings and differences in colour between various parts or various panels are clearly visible. The most obvious are apparently darker magnesium alloy areas (actually just less shiny than aluminum) like skin, covering the central part of the wings. There is plenty of photos of all Silverplate B-29s in B-29 Superfortress in Detail & Scale (2) - Derivates book. Bombers of 509th Composite Group carried very interesting nose arts, but bear in mind that the only B-29 which actually carried it on missions was Paul Tibbets' Enola Gay. All the rest, including Bock's Car nose art and Pumpkin operational practice missions markings on other bombers had been added post-war. Cheers

Jure

[Levin]

Thank you all for being that helpful

(Actually the case of my Laptop is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy )

[MilneBay]

The only thing I'd add is that although I haven't built the Academy B29 I've built the B50 and the interiors are more less similar so be careful lining up the circular bulkheads as it is easy to misalign them causing a gap between the fuselage halves.

[tempestfan]

Gruess Dich Levin,

I think the A-bomb carriers had a number of mods compared to standard bombers, like different (Curtiss Electric? ) props - not sure if Academy ever did a dedicated A- bomber boxing. EDIT: They did - with new props and Little Boy, in-box review in German. If you want something colourful, have a look at Korean War machines though, as many of them had the most outrageous nose art imaginable (of the nude kind ), many with black undersides, which IMHO looks very attractive. Beware though that some may have been A's, which I think had longer span wings compared to the (no suffix) B-29.

Viel Spaß aus dem Norden :-)

Claus

***Sorry, I made a double mess out of this ***

Edited June 30, 2016 by tempestfan

[Levin]

just searched fir a pic of that sprue:

Here from a review at cybermodeller http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aca/pages/aca_12528_parts4.shtmlseems like everything major Was minded turret covers, props, bombs ;D

Just noticed that the turret covers arent depicted

[Steve N]

The Eduard photo etch set does address what in my view is the Academy kit's biggest shortcoming. For some reason Academy chose to completely omit the very prominent supercharger cooling gills on the engine nacelles. Unfortunately the Eduard set is very expensive, and gives you a lot of tiny details that are really superfluous in 1/72 scale. Most of the interior bits will be invisible once the model is together. It's up to you to decide if the photoetch is worth it. The Academy B-29 is overall still a very good kit, even 25 years after it was first released.

SN

[Levin]

Ok I think I will probably buy it 'cause I enjoy building tge insides and cockpits of planes the most. And how much does it normally cost? I can buy it for about 13 euros which average for two frets or?

At least in my opinion

Edited June 30, 2016 by Levin

[theplasticsurgeon]

Here is my Academy B-29. This was actually the KB-29P tanker kit, but no aftermarket apart from markings.

Airbrushed Humbrol11 with aluminium powder polishing for the lighter bits, and some foil for turret-blanks.
It's a massive tail-sitter so needs a stand or ballast. As Milne says - be very careful aligning the interior.

Silverplates had different props - so you will need either Enola Gay or Bockscar kits.
I wanted either, but just couldn't find them at the time.

Then I found a cheap KB-29 at a show. A look in the box showed me everything I wanted for any other turretless bomber.

I'm happy with that

Edited July 7, 2016 by theplasticsurgeon

[Levin]

Looks good

Thank you for all the help and the tips

[Sky Pilot]

Thank you all for being that helpful

(Actually the case of my Laptop is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy )

Go on ! You're trying to tell me it's a flying Laptop.

[woody37]

I used the eduard set on mine and do recommend it, build here as a Wahington...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978934-academy-172-boeing-b-29-washington/

Most notable improvements are on the engine nacelles which are a little vague without

Cheers

[Work In Progress]

That Washington may have fought you back a bit, Woody, but is was a fabulous thing when you finished. I'd forgotten about it so that was a welcome reminder.

[bobgpw]

Oh 509th nose art and stuff...

Jack Bivans flew in "Straight Flush" and he states that the nose art was present on Victor 85 before the Hiroshima mission on 6th August. I suppose the memory can play tricks and it seems odd that only one aircraft would have "proper" nose art prior to the mission, whereas "Enola Gay" received very basic nose art on the afternoon of 5th August.

The initial secrecy surrounding the 509th has caused a lot of confusion over the years. There are numerous YouTube clips showing Fat Man being loaded into Victor 77, "Bock's Car", but when you look carefully you can see that some of these films show Victor 72 "Top Secret" with "Large A" tail markings. It even shows the B-29 making full use of the reverse pitch props whilst the ground crew manipulate the nose wheel. The film then cuts and we see Victor 77 being reversed over the bomb pit.

Okay I've gone waaaaayyy off topic. I've got two of the Academy kits and they look lovely! I will start building them once I stop buying B-29 books.

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello, Bob

Well, Levin did indicate that he wanted to build either Enola Gay or Bock's Car, so taking controversial opinions about the markings of those planes in account, we are actually spot-on topic ...

All those clips could actually be either ground crew practice loading or actual loading for another Pumpkin mission. As I understand, there were no Little boy shaped operational training bombs, so selection is fortunately somewhat narrowed. About reverse pitch propellers: most of the sources state only the second series of Silverplate B-29s got them, but from tidbits collected here and there (like the clip you mentioned) there is possibility that at least some of the first series conversions also included Curtiss electric propellers.

It is common knowledge, that nose art had not been applied until the war ended. However, why Detail & Scale mentions that Jabbitt III had not been named until VJ and that Big Stink had been renamed after that? Perhaps the planes had been named, but nose art had not been applied? Another question are tail markings: it is stated that they had been applied for Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions only and there is well known photo of the Bock's car's tail with N in triangle and with Enola Gay with circled arrow in the background. However, what about weather and data collecting planes, also flying those missions? And why bothering with spurious markings, if bombers had already accomplished more than thirty Pumpkin missions over Japan with arrow in circle on their tail? Sounds like regular military SNAFU.

Now I have veered some three or four topics away from Levin's original question. Cheers

Jure

[bobgpw]

Evening Jure,

There were four test drops of "Little Boy" weapons casings prior to the 6th August mission.

From what I understand of the very confusing nature of the Silverplate B-29's, the initial order from Martin was for 24 aircraft, (later increased to 46). Looking at the 15 B-29's that deployed to Tinian, all were delivered to the USAAF after March 1945, so my best guess is that they would all have embodied the very latest design changes and have been fitted with the Curtiss cuffed reversible propellers.

There were 9 "Block 36" aircraft on Tinian, the rest were Block 40, 45 and 50. Martin clearly felt that the "Block 36" designation was necessary to distinguish aircraft from other Block 35 aircraft. However the last 6 Silverplate aircraft are just "buried" within normal production blocks.

"Laggin Dragon" definitely had the Curtiss props as these are cited as being crucial in stopping the aircraft when it made an emergency overweight landing at Mather AFB. In the forward bomb bay was the "Fat Man" casing that would be dropped on Nagasaki.

Thanks,

Bob

[Stein Meum]

A minor point regarding the B-29 kit: It has the in-flight refueling doors of the B-50 engraved on top of the fuselage, ahead of the top turret.

Stein

[Levin]

Thanks for all your help

Edited July 3, 2016 by Levin

[Levin]

So the kit just arrived and I only wait for the etched stuff now, so Idug into the reference material a bit more and I discovered that the silverplates had one big bomb bay instead of to and little boy was loaded in the former rear bay and fat man in front bay, but the instructiond state the both are carried in the front bay and it still has two bomb bays.

So what should I do?

[Jure Miljevic]

Hi, Levin

Enola Gay certainly had two bomb bays as she had been equipped with radar, located between them and clearly visible on photos. Straight Flush had radar, too, as the infamous Emperor palace pumpkin bombing run had been made using one due to overcast. Same thing happened with Bockscar during Nagasaki bombing. Also, before the take-off for that mission, fuel transfer system for additional tank in aft bomb bay had been found inoperative, hence the diversion to Okinawa. I am almost certain that all Silverplate bombers had two bomb bays. Cheers

Jure

[Levin]

Thanks a lot Jure,

Yeah, It is probably just a missunderstanding by me or my source

Levin

Edited July 7, 2016 by Levin