Minicraft Consolidated B-24 1/144

[Eric Mc]

This is a bit of an odd one. As my Wellington is on the home run (hopefully), I thought I'd continue with the World War 2 bomber theme although with a bit of a twist. 

The kit is by Minicraft although over the decades it has appeared in a number of manufacturers' boxes. It was originally released by Japanese company Crown in 1975. It's actually quite a nicely moulded little model and the parts look like they will fit together OK.

The twist is that I want to complete it as an airliner variant. BOAC operated a small number of these during World War 2 and for a few years post war. They were technically Consolidated LB-30 Liberators which were the original production variant of the B-24. The LB-30s had been intended for the French AIr Force but France fell before they were delivered. Instead the small number built were transferred to the RAF who decided not to use them as bombers but as transports. These were eventually transferred to BOAC. The B-24 had excellent range and BOAC used these to ferry aircrew backwards and forwards across the Atlantic.  

 

 

 

 

[neil5208]

interesting and unusual mark to make, will follow 

[Eric Mc]

It will require some modification. Obviously, the gun turrets will be replaced with fairings and the engines need to be rounded off. The LB-30 was not fitted with the oval shaped cowlings as they assumed that shape  on later B-24 variants to make room for the turbo-supercharger intakes. The LB-30 was not fitted with turbo-superchargers.

 

The corrugated bomb bay doors will be filled in as the LB-30 as used by BOAC obviously did away with the bomb bay. The passenger cabin windows will be replicated with decals - as is acceptable (to me anyway) on 1/144 airliners.

 

Being 1/144 scale, it doesn't take a huge amount of fettling to make these changes.

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

The LB-30 also used the early greenhouse nose not the turreted nose. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Eric Mc]

Mine will be a faired over nose as the greenhouse was removed in the BOAC examples and replaced with a metal fairing.

[bootneck]

That's going to be a very interesting build to follow Eric.  I have a liking for the Liberator in various guises, I'm currently converting one to a Privateer, but I'd not heard of the BOAC version.

 

Watching and learning.

 

Mike

[Eric Mc]

2 hours ago, bootneck said:

That's going to be a very interesting build to follow Eric.  I have a liking for the Liberator in various guises, I'm currently converting one to a Privateer, but I'd not heard of the BOAC version.

 

Watching and learning.

 

Mike

I've always preferred the look of the Privateer over the Liberator. Matchbox did a quite nice 1/72 Privateer which has in more recent years been reboxed by Revell.

[f111guru]

I too believe this to be an enterprising adventure with a substantial amount of modification. I have somewhere in my stash the crown kit I bought while stationed at RAF Lakenheath. I also have the Matchbox Privateer and a couple of A-1E Skyraider's. So if you don't mind I'll grab a seat some popcorn and drink and watch the build.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Eric Mc]

At my build rate you might need at least a month's supply of popcorn.

[bootneck]

A month, that's considered a blitz-build for me!

[Eric Mc]

As this was a transport aircraft, the gun positions were removed and faired over. I've made a start on amending this on the kit. I'm doing it by building up the space left by the omitted glazing using a "sandwich" of plasticard inserts. These will be sanded roughly to match the contours of the nose and tail using photographs for reference and then smoothed out using filler.

 

 

[Eric Mc]

Some progress on the Liberator. The nose and tail turret spaces have now been filled and smoothed to represent the faired-in nature of the real thing. Wings and tailplane have also been attached. Some filler was required around the wing roots and the tailplane but not much. Quite a neat little kit considering it dates from 1975.

 

 

[Eric Mc]

I've given the airframe a coat of Gloss Black paint ahead of the application of the aluminium. I will probably use my Vallejo acrylic aluminium and then do some panels in various other metallic shades. 

I've masked off the de-icing booth areas as these will remain black, although it will be matted down eventually. I'll also mask off the anti-glare panel area on the nose.

 

 

[Eric Mc]

Aluminium coat added with some darker metallic shades - as well as the engines, tail fins and canopy.

 

 

[Eric Mc]

Model is now completed and pictures posted in the Ready for Inspection forum