B-24 Liberator B VI - Airfix 1/72

[bbudde]

One for chilling at the end of the day and totally off topic :offtopic: :offtopic: ........liberate,liberate, liberate, libeeraaähhht, dubdudududubbdudduudu... :

Good night!

[CedB]

The Airfix kit provides you with Consolidated A-6 type nose & tail turrets. The nosewheel doors would have retracted inside the fuselage, so you could probably just leave them off and not worry about them. Check photos, though - if the a/c originally was manufactured with the Emerson nose turret, the nosewheel doors would open outward, even if the Emerson turret was replaced (repaired) in the field with a Consolidated turret at a later date.

Thanks Byron and welcome. I'll be building wheels up (as is my wont) so I'll see what the 'working parts' looks like and then, probably, just seal it up.

Oh , hello Ced. For the crew: Not micromesh for the first time. It's Airfix 60th. Grit with 400 to 800! Cut the monster rings for the moveable MG's and putty the marks and the rest. Build the rings again finer. There is so much to come. Paint interieur is FS chromate green or yellow (H 81??? No!) No cockpit panel printed on the instruction again or eventually on the decal sheet? Cheers

P.s.: Now I'm off here for the summernight flew market on the promenade. Going to get some little gems or not!? Till tomorrow.

Edit: These are the guys you have to reproduce: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/RAF_Bungay_-_446th_Bombardment_Group_-_B-24_crew_44-40268.jpg

for that one: http://warbird-central.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/44-40268.jpg

And the interieur colour: H-81 or not: http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle/b-24j_44-44175/

My idea: FS chromate green with H-81 washing, That would suits it fine.

Hi Benedikt. Ooo, that's a lot of work for a kit basher!

You're right about the plastic - Airfix 60th? I guess that means the harder stuff, but it sanded OK with my 150/200 sticks.

Thanks for the links; great stuff.

I've had a look for interior shots and, for you modellers out there, found some detail on Hyperscale. A post on BM here says Chromate can be green or yellow-green and that Tamiya XF-4 is good for yellow green. My ModelPaint42 app says H81 is an equivalent for this, presumably when it was newer. As a compromise I think I'll do the cockpit H81 and dirty it a bit for a change and the rest IG.

Intrigued to see how she turns out as I have this kit in my stash also

Hi Blitz and welcome

Aged about 12 I went on a school trip to Duxford and bought the Airfix B17G A Bit O' Lace. Mr Clifton the English teacher challenged me to build it with all the moving parts actually working. One day I shall have my vengeance...

Hi John - if I were Mr Clifton I'd be worried; a dish best served cold eh?

Good luck with this and don't forget the nose weight!

Thanks Ross. I'll be building wheels up (I hang them on the ceiling) so no weight required - lucky me!

Looks like your getting stuck in Ced, really like the b-24 but don't have one in the stash and have always been afraid of the airfix version due to accuracy issues and my fear or rivets

Nice work and looking forward to what you do with it!

Rob

Thanks Rob

Apart from some research I've not done much except paint the crew's Khaki pants:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

(Stop sniggering you lot).

I've also glued the main cockpit parts ready for the gear tests and found an i/p - sort of.

More tomorrow (thanks for the lullaby Benedikt!)

[Fatboydim]

Hello Ced, I made this kit years ago after I saw a documentary film at school about a B-24 Liberator called The Lady Be Good. Read the book, I'm sure you will enjoy it. Joe.

[AlexN]

Hmm...spartan detail to say the least (60s, I know). Strangely, the rivets don't look so bad closeup - much better than they do on, for example, the (old) Airfix 1/72 DHC-1 Chipmunk.

Memories of the old Monogram Dauntless (May '71) with dropping bomb and movable dive flaps here, too!

Thanks for the live INXS, Benedikt!

[The Spadgent]

Nice start Ced. I actually managed to get a seat almost at the start this time,

I'm in.

John.

[CedB]

Thanks Joe, I'll try to get hold of a copy but I found this on YouTube:

Thanks Alex - I don't think the 'working parts' are going to survive (see below).

Hi Jon and welcome.

The 'find a photo, scale it and print it out' looks OK, especially with the scale columns (not), now silvered a bit:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

You can't see the pixels in real life, honest. As mentioned above the opening nose wheel doors are not going to survive, they're awful:

I'm going to sand the hinges off, fit the doors, fill the gaps and stick my fingers in my ears and go 'la la la la' when people point out they're 'not scale'. With all the major bits done and the nose wheel discarded I did a dry fit on the fuselage:

There's lots of twisting and turning to be done but a decent join is possible. The boys are ready too:

Don't laugh - they're all going to be practically invisible after join up (I hope). I'm not convinced this is 'going to fly' as one pilot has a missing hand and the other is elephantine as we know. Ho hum.

More convinced now that this is going to be brushed by hand, NMF with weathering (to hide the errors, both mine and the kits).

[AdrianMF]

This looks fab! I always loved (but could never afford on my pocket money) the larger Airfix kits which had seats'n'floors'n'everything! I would be tempted to build as close to OOB as you can bear and ignore the crowds with pitchforks and torches outside the gate...

And thirteen days to go. No pressure!

Regards (and good luck!)

Adrian

[Brandy]

That pic of the crew brings back memories of these old kits. Pilots who look as though they're dancing some kind of jig in long kilts, and gunners who have just done a sack race...

Ian

[TheBaron]

Needs something 'straightforward' to build. Picks a 4-engined bomber...

Very liberating

Good luck Ced!

[CedB]

Thanks Adrian - me too. I can't remember the largest I had when a lad but I'm sure it wasn't expensive... despite the paper round (remember those?)

Thanks Ian

Thanks Tony - saw what you did there

It may be four engines but they're a single part with the cowlings - easy!

A bit of therapeutic brush painting this afternoon; IG on internals and the first coat of yellow H24:

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

Another bit of praise for Tamiya HG brushes... I'm not sure that yellow will need another coat and no brush marks!

[Fatboydim]

That's the Lady Ced. It's years since I read the book. If I remember correctly, the rear gunner died after his parachute fallen to open and one of the crew members body was never found. It was a team from BP looking for oil that made the discoveries. Its over 20 years since I read the book and over 44 years since I saw the film at school so I might be wrong. There is a model of her in How to Build Dioramas by Shep Paine. See you on the 7th hopefully. Joe

[rob85]

Looks like an interesting read of a harrowing experience.

I will have to have a look for tamiya paint brushes, I have just bought myself a set of new brushes that are good quality but that yellow does look very smooth!

Rob

[CedB]

Thanks Joe - looking forward to the show. In the meantime I found the documentary on YouTube, part one (of four) here:

Hi Rob. Yep, the brushes are worth the money IMHO - shop around, I got mine from Wonderland. They're very fine hairs and need careful cleaning but, with care, should last for ages.

[Fatboydim]

Thanks Ced, I think that might have been the documentary I saw at school. Not sure about the interviews with the relatives. Those could have been added at a later date. Joe

[philp]

Looking good Ced.

[keefr22]

Oops, late again, but there's still a seat left at the back!

I must have been luckier with my pocket money than I remember though, as I built this, the B-17, B-29, Stirling, Lanc & Halibag back in the days time forgot. Well, when I say built, I broke the pieces of the sprues (sorry, runners!), squirted some tube glue all over them, then splashed some paint over some bits - & all finished by tea time after they were bought from Woolies in the morning...!!

Good work on making that alien crew resemble humans Ced!

Keith

[TonyTiger66]

It's all coming together quickly! I really like the rivets on this, they look 'right'. In all pictures I've seen of B-24's (and 25's) in metal finish, in service, the rivets are really visible. One technique from the old days Ced, was to paint the model in a darker colour first, then spray on the silver/aluminium, then polish over the top until the rivets show the darker colour through.

I think a wash will be better these days; we didn't have such things then, just a tin of 'Silver Fox' (G8?) and a cheap paintbrush

Cracking toast Grommit!

TT

[AlexN]

Coming along like a house on fire, Ced! What happens if you finish this bird in, say, a week? What then, eh? <snigger>.

Memory lane just flipped up the old Airfix Lanc - the biggest 1/72 model that I ever built. I had a 1/72 Trumpeter Tupolev 'Bear' in the recent collection, but sadly flogged it <snivel>.

[Navy Bird]

You're a brave man, Ced. I was crazy enough to tackle a similar project a few years ago - only mine was the *even worse* ancient 1:72 Revell B-24D Libby (dressed up as a PB4Y-1). Have a look (Part One & Part Two), maybe it will give you some good ideas of what not to do!

Cheers,

Bill

PS. I think mine needed 83 grams up front to avoid tail sitting. Yikes.

[DennisTheBear]

Got the same kit except it is a 1975 boxing, so watching with interest!

[CedB]

Thanks Ced, I think that might have been the documentary I saw at school. Not sure about the interviews with the relatives. Those could have been added at a later date. Joe

Thanks Joe. A tragic tale... the problems of navigating at night to an un-lit strip in the desert doesn't bare thinking about - horrid.

Looking good Ced.

Thanks Phil

Oops, late again, but there's still a seat left at the back!

I must have been luckier with my pocket money than I remember though, as I built this, the B-17, B-29, Stirling, Lanc & Halibag back in the days time forgot. Well, when I say built, I broke the pieces of the sprues (sorry, runners!), squirted some tube glue all over them, then splashed some paint over some bits - & all finished by tea time after they were bought from Woolies in the morning...!!

Good work on making that alien crew resemble humans Ced!

Keith

Hi Keith. I do (now) remember building a Sterling and making those bomb trolleys and tractor. Must have had a 'good week', birthday or something...

It's all coming together quickly! I really like the rivets on this, they look 'right'. In all pictures I've seen of B-24's (and 25's) in metal finish, in service, the rivets are really visible. One technique from the old days Ced, was to paint the model in a darker colour first, then spray on the silver/aluminium, then polish over the top until the rivets show the darker colour through.

I think a wash will be better these days; we didn't have such things then, just a tin of 'Silver Fox' (G8?) and a cheap paintbrush

Cracking toast Grommit!

TT

Thanks Tony. I had planned to just brush this with AK True Metal (the paste stuff)... given time constraints I think I'll save the rivet technique for another day.

Coming along like a house on fire, Ced! What happens if you finish this bird in, say, a week? What then, eh? <snigger>.

Memory lane just flipped up the old Airfix Lanc - the biggest 1/72 model that I ever built. I had a 1/72 Trumpeter Tupolev 'Bear' in the recent collection, but sadly flogged it <snivel>.

Thanks Alex - finish early? Hmmm. Perhaps I'll have to start something and have a break... The Bear would be enormous eh?

You're a brave man, Ced. I was crazy enough to tackle a similar project a few years ago - only mine was the *even worse* ancient 1:72 Revell B-24D Libby (dressed up as a PB4Y-1). Have a look (Part One & Part Two), maybe it will give you some good ideas of what not to do!

Cheers,

Bill

PS. I think mine needed 83 grams up front to avoid tail sitting. Yikes.

Thanks Bill. I've just spent some time doing a 'comic read' (just looked at the pictures) on your build and, as usual, wow. Lovely, as always and I look forward to the day when I can get (even) close to your standards...

It has encouraged me to try the 'strips of Bare Metal' for the canopy though. It looks pretty straightforward? We shall see...

Got the same kit except it is a 1975 boxing, so watching with interest!

Hi Dennis and welcome.

More later.

[Biggles87]

Just found this, my you are a busy boy! The gunners holding giant Polo mints takes me back to my youf.

I'll be watching from Spain.

John

[Stew Dapple]

Nice progress Ced

I think you might actually get this done in two weeks

I ordered some of the pointed Tamiya HG brushes, did you get those, or the flats? (Either way, it doesn't count as stash!)

Cheers,

Stew

[keefr22]

Maybe Tony's rivet trick would still work for you Ced, if there's enough contrast between the kit's plastic colour & your AK stuff? I was going to say to try it on an inconspicuous area under a wing, then I remembered that wouldn't be inconspicuous for you. So maybe try an inconspicuous area on top of a wing...!!

I've just remembered I built the Airfix Sunderland too. I'm thinking now they must have been Christmas & birthday presents because I can still remember wanting to get the Hampden, but being told I'd have to save my pocket money for it - & always failing miserably as every time we went into Woolies there was something new, shiny & cheaper that I just had to have and there went the savings!! And I still haven't built a Hampden!

Keith

[bbudde]

It's all coming together quickly! I really like the rivets on this, they look 'right'. In all pictures I've seen of B-24's (and 25's) in metal finish, in service, the rivets are really visible. One technique from the old days Ced, was to paint the model in a darker colour first, then spray on the silver/aluminium, then polish over the top until the rivets show the darker colour through.

I think a wash will be better these days; we didn't have such things then, just a tin of 'Silver Fox' (G8?) and a cheap paintbrush

Cracking toast Grommit!

TT

Hello, Yes G8 is correct. Some of of them are still in action after 45 years and still working fine : http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/bbudde1/media/DSCN2662_zpsm3gwnzp3.jpg.html

Cheers.

Ps: The poor looking MG 1100 came from the flew market on Friday and will be restored by time and chance. Probably in Revell 86 (sorry 98) or Testors british racing green met.. Perhaps with some diamond thread rhinestones for the front lights like the old sikus. People may wonder, why I have to visit a nail care saloon from time to time.

Edited July 17, 2016 by bbudde