bull-nut

Thanks guys. Dermo245: The oxygen bottles are by Quickboost, Linky.

And after another week long hiatus, we have some more progress, though not much. I've mounted the office and bomb bay roof, then attached the wings so that I could balance the fuselage to prevent it from tail-sitting. I hope it's nose heavy enough now! Bomb bay was given a wash of Citadel Agrax Earthshade. The guns were painted gun metal, had a black wash and then rubbed with ground up HB pencil graphite. I think it's about time to close up the fuselage.

Lovely looking Whitley you have there. I hope you don't mind, I've bookmarked this thread for reference, as I have one in the stash to backdate to a MkIV to honour the wife's great uncle. He was killed in one in 1940 (and oddly, given the colour scheme you are going for, was serving with 51sqn at the time, though they were under BC rather than CC).

Lovely looking IS.

Lovely looking A27 there. I really should dig mine out and get started soon, but it keeps getting pushed down the build pile by more pressing matters. If I may ask, what mix did you use for the SCC15?

Sorry its been a while since my last update guys, real life has a habit of interrupting things Anyway, I managed to get some paint on the inside; Tamiya XF4 washed with citadel athonian camoshade acrylic shade and a light dusting of pigments. The rest is an assortment of acrylic colours from various sources. Used the kit bomb racks, I didn't feel up to building replacements. And the business end; The instrument panel decal came from the kit sheet and was a bit of a pig to get down, it's still not right, but mostly won't be seen anyway. Would it have been so hard to print it to fit over the control columns? For the seatbelts, I took some photocopies of the kit decal sheet and cut them out, glued them with Copydex applied with a cocktail stock. Not worthy of pics, I painted the inner surface of all of the doors while I had the XF4 in the airbrush, weighted the front of the engine nacelles and glued the wings together. Next up is trying to balance the bird before I close up, and I still have to replace that snapped waist pintle mount. Thinking about the display, does anyone have a photo of B24 ferry tanks in situ in the bomb bay?

Thanks S5. I'm going to have to stop adding things soon before I get to the point where the fuselage doesn't close up! I promised more pics later this weekend, and here they are, first up: Flight deck You can just make out the folding crew access ladder that leads from the catwalk to the flight deck. The grey oxygen bottles are from Quickboost, Radar Op panels are, control panel(bottom), Instrument panel repeater gauges(top) & computer(box on top panel). Rear compartment deck, the superglue fogged up, but it'll be inside the fuselage, so its not a big issue. As the picture shows, fixing the radome filler plate from the B17 just under the decking, placed the end in a suitable retracted position. Maybe not completely accurate, but near enough. Bomb bay side wall. bay roof is just sitting there at the moment, the camera didn't like focusing on all that gloss white for a solo shot.. The important bit now, here's Uncle Wilf's station sans bulkheads. The small box on the table is supposed to be a morse key. Cables to be added after painting. And finally, just to be complete. I built a chair for the Radar Op: I know there are some ejector marks visible, I'm hoping they'll be mostly obscured when I add paint and seatbelts. Going to have to get some paint on now, then add the larger O2 bottles after painting them yellow. Also, the bulkhead behind the pilots is looking rather bare isn't it. I got so carried away with the rest of the interior, I forgot all about that bit , and I guess I'd better rustle up a retraction system for the radome at some point. Back to the reference pics. With regards to buttoning her up, should I do so before or after adding the wings, I'm tempted to do the wings first so that I can check for balance issues and add extra weight if needed. I have room over the bomb bay, aft of the nose gear well, and under the flight deck floor, as well as the engine nacelles and maybe inside the wing leading edges.

Sorry to hear about your son Simon, I hope his stay isn't too long and he's back to his usual self quickly.

Nice looking Hurri, I love these new tool Airfix kits, the fit is often right up there with Tamiya. With regards to Humbrol Clear and Decalfix. Humbrols Youtube video guide says to thin Decalfix a little with water when applying over clear, since they are both Ammonia based products.

Well, that was a productive week. Thanks to having grandparents around to help deal with the children, I got the following and more done. Sorry the pic isn't the best, taken in a hurry this afternoon after we got back. Also done: Bomb bay roof, Radar ops station and panels, and some other bits and pieces Pics of the rest later this weekend. Still need to add a few wires and pipes, but I think it's getting there.

'Stix made a comment in my MiBGB thread about builds taking two steps forwards and one back, and that is exactly what has happened with this one. While clearing out my bookmarks yesterday, I came across this thread that I'd forgotten I'd bookmarked, and became suitably inspired. SWMBO has cleared me to take this build on holiday with the family next week, so I am going to rip out most of the work I've done on the side walls, which with hindsight I wasn't terribly happy with anyway, and make an attempt to follow Simons example some of the way. At least as far as will be visible from outside, anyway. Multiple sizes of strip, rod, and tube have been sourced, along with my existing stash of sheet. So hopefully when I get back there will be a nicely ribbed Liberator fuselage to show off. Oxygen bottles are on order, along with a few other bits and pieces I'd forgotten to get, so we'll see what happens in a week.

Little more work done this week, but with a family holiday coming up, time has been short. Not worthy of pics, but I managed to grab a little time yesterday morning to build up the engine, cowling, 250lb bombs and Torpedo with trolley. Will try and get some primer on them in the morning, but any further work on this one will have to wait until we get back, since I need to work on my Liberator internals while I'm away (the deadline for that one precedes the GB finish line).

Davek 72: Thanks 'Stix: Quite, but it's looking better now. Got some paint on this weekend, Tamiya Sky on the lower surfaces, and masked up the fuselage demarcation: May paint the lower main uppers (if that makes sense) but the bulk of the camo will wait until I paint the Liberator as they will be the same colour. Next job here; engine and stores.

Bit of progress today. I started by gluing together the two halves of the Stb'd fuselage half so that I could play around with the office, and this is the result: I may add some structural ribbing later. Additions made with plastruct sheet, bits from the spares box, and sprue offcuts. I don't know what equipment they all represent, I found a pic of a 48th scale Lib online that had similar detail, and I think they look the part. Still need to add the radio rack aft of Wilf's W/Op station, and I'd better clutter up the Port side at some point. I thought I had a spare Revell Halifax crew seat in the spares box, but couldn't find it, so had to scratch build it. It looks crooked in the picture, but it's really straight. I'll round off the edges of the backrest when the glue has dried properly. Next question, should I add the lateral struts forward of the instrument panel, It looks like Navs used it to hang a box on, and it would block the rather plain rear of the panel, but I'm not sure if it would be seen. Edit: Actually, forget I asked. If I've put that much extra behind the flight crew, it would be silly not to put the struts in over the nav's position wouldn't it.

Thanks for the comments guys. Its still an old kit, but the moulding isn't that bad. There is some flash in places, and some of the sprue gates are rather big, especially on some of the more delicate pieces. I've already snapped one of the waist gun mounts trying to remove it from the sprue, so I'll have to see about fabricating a replacement, of course I may just close up the waist position and leave it at that. I'll see how it goes. I also remember struggling with the old Airfix kit. I do wonder why Airfix Lidar scanned a B17 when there are 2 late model B24's in Britain they could have done instead, but I guess as long as the existing kit is selling, there is less need to replace it.

On 20th March 1945, 6 aircraft of 203 sqn RAF SEAC took off from Kankesandurai airbase on an anti shipping patrol over the Japanese held port of Oelehleh, northern Sumatra, on the squadrons first operational sortie in Liberators. After dropping their load of bombs from low level, one of these aircraft, Liberator GR VI KG986-F suffered hits or near misses from ground based AA cannon fire. The aircraft was seen to be flying very low on exiting the target area, failed to make a turn to pass between two local islands, and was observed to crash into the sea. Some reports say that 3 crew members were washed up on a nearby beach the following morning, one was already deceased and was buried at the scene, while the other two crewmembers were apparently handed over to local Japanese forces. Whatever happened after that, none of the crew were seen again. Why is all of this relevant to me? One of F-Freddy's aircrew on that mission was my great uncle. Ft/Sg W.A. Collins RAFVR. With the anniversary of the mission closing in, and having only recently discovered any information about him or the flight, I am building his aircraft, with the hope of getting it finished before March 20th. If time permits, I may attempt a scenic base for the aircraft as well, but that will be decided at a later date. The discussion around the aircraft's markings and details can be found Here, and I would like to again extend my thanks to the BM community for their invaluable help in this matter. To begin with, here's the kit I'll be using: Some of the AM parts I'll be adding, as well as an Airfix liberator decal sheet, thanks to the spares dept: not shown is the Blackbird H2X radome intended for B17 kits that I hope to make fit into the ventral turret position. Next up, the obligatory sprue shot: And the cockpit built up OOB: Here goes! Edit: wrong pic linked.

pics show up fine for me.

Speaking of display ideas, you can find mine for the Mk3 Here

Good start. They do slot together nicely don't they?

Not sure cobbles would set off an Antitank mine, anti-personnel, sure, but I'm pretty sure the pressure of a cobble set would be too low to set off, for example, a German Tellermine. Not sure I'd want to tread on a telermine laid under a cobble mind you! Laying the mine under a low pile of hay/dung/rubbish/rubble on the other hand would be just as effective. Too many projects? Absolutely!

Sorry this has been quiet for a bit, real life has a habit of rearing up and biting when you want to get things done. Anyway, I managed to get the wing assemblies build and the whole lot primed up ready for paint. I decided to go with just the underwing stores, and I think I'll build up the Torp trolley as a little side piece. No stores un the racks yet though, they'll be added after painting. Not shown the upper surfaces, since there's not much going on there. I did drill a bunch of holes in the wings for rigging, It will be my first time trying EZ-line, so fingers crossed I don't make a pigs ear out of it. Unfortunately, I couldn't resist dry-fitting it all together to see how it looked, and ended up snapping the outboard inter-plane struts on the Stb'd wing! Glued them back together and they seem to be ok, but now they need sanding and re-priming Try and get some paint on her this weekend, even if its only the Sky lowers. One other thing did crop up, the locating tabs for the upper main-planes seem a bit over sized. The join at the centre section trailing edge separated when I fitted the wing, even after 24 hrs drying time, next time, I'll sand the tab somewhat before I fit it.

Are the tips low profile enough to use coloured lego transparencies for the nav lights?

Not an expert, but I would think, given the time frame, that the reference to "common" indicates that the vehicle had not received any life extension upgrades, of course I am more than happy to be proved wrong. Assuming the above to be the case, and seeing as it's your first armour build, I would suggest the Tamiya kit no 35156, representing an M1A1 tank. Be careful because Tamiya make at least 4 M1 Abrams kits in 1/35. Having not built it, I can't vouch for accuracy, or paint options, though I've never built a Tamiya kit that didn't almost build itself.

Looks like a good start. Enjoy the build, I have the very same kit half done on the shelf. Be careful and go slowly, I found when building mine that some of the locations can be a little vague. I really should get back to mine at some point.