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Try BuNo. 38892 VP-111 "Lady Luck", ex USAAF 44-41279 (B-24J-205-CO). Don

Here's the drawing for the "graded" tone. And adding to the Brewster Aeronautical story, from Time Magazine: Production: Not Proved Adequate TIME May 4, 1942 The Navy moved in on Brewster Aeronautical Corp. last week, seized Brewster’s two plants in Long Island City (where it manufactures dive-bomber parts), its big, new, final assembly plant in Johnsville, Pa. (where it is supposed to be zipping out finished planes) and its plant at Newark Airport (where it makes wingtip floats and other gear for Consolidated Catalina Flying Boats). Brewster was the fifth U.S. firm to be seized by the Government since war began in Europe.* The others had all been taken over in the midst of their labor wrangles, but in this case there was no strike. Washington threw no light at all on the seizure. Said the White House: “Dissatisfaction with the management.” Said the Navy, in a controlled tone: “The corporation holds contracts for combat-type aircraft, the orderly and regular delivery of which is essential to the war effort. The existing private control. . . has not proved adequate.” Apparently Navy’s airplane-production staff, headed by onetime General Motors Man James D. Mooney, had made up its mind that Brewster needed a strong hand. From inside the plants came an account of the “inadequacy”: that the FBI had found several dozen saboteurs working for Brewster (in the morning big swastika-shaped holes were sometimes found punched in plane wings); that when the company attempted to fire suspected men, the union intervened; that the Navy stepped in to end sabotage. From the plants also came rumors that confusion, inefficiency and mismanagement had delayed production. From aircraft circles came gossip: Brewster officials had bitten off more than they could chew. From James Work, chairman of the Brewster Board, who has seen his company mushroom from a little subcontractor into a big prime contractor with over $100,000,000 worth of orders, came only silence. But a satisfied smile wreathed the jowls of chunky, brick-solid little Congressman Albert Engel of Muskegon, Mich., a passionate and indefatigable private investigator whose only other hobby is bricklaying. In the smile was a hint of what Engel believed: at least part of the trouble at Brewster was what happens when a few greedy men get their hooks in a company. Not so long ago Congressman Engel arose in the House, piled brick upon brick of accusation against Felix William Zelcer, onetime vice president of Seversky Aircraft Corp., before that proprietor of the White Horse Tavern in Manhattan; and the suave Miranda Bros.—Alfred Joseph Jr., and Ignacio Joseph. Congressman Engel’s story: Mexican-born, merchants for bombs, grenades, guns, other lethal wares of war, the Miranda Bros, were jailed in 1940 for selling munitions destined for Bolivia in violation of an arms embargo in the Gran Chaco War. Never idle, even in jail, the Mirandas arranged to handle sales for the Hayes Manufacturing Co. (airplane parts) of Grand Rapids, Mich. They got Hayes an order for parts from Brewster Aeronautical Corp. Their own commission was 5%. Out of jail, they joined Partner Zelcer in their Manhattan office, and arranged with Brewster to handle the sale abroad of its Buffalo fighters. They operated as the “Brewster Export Corp.,” charged up to 12½% commission, and were in a position to collect on sales of parts to Brewster and sales of Brewster planes abroad. They stood to make hundreds of thousands of dollars before war’s end. They also bought into Hayes and Brewster, acquiring some 10% of the stock of each. Mr. Engel wanted to know what service the Mirandas & Zelcer could render to justify the payment of such commissions, which must ultimately be added to the taxpayers’ bill for the war. Stockholders grew curious, too. One of them sued the directors and officers of Brewster, charging that the Mirandas dominated Brewster and got “excessive commissions.” Congressman Engel asked the Vinson Naval Affairs Committee to investigate. But the Navy, also impatient, moved in first. No one said that the Miranda setup had anything to do with the Navy’s seizure. But chunky Mr. Engel, who loves to lay bricks, knows that bricks that are piled carelessly atop one another will finally collapse. Around Washington this week ran the rumor that Brewster, first plant to be seized for other than labor troubles, might not be the last. The military had a cold eye on other plants where bricks were piled too high.

Thanks! This was a fun project. The kit arrived in Hawai'i safe and sound. It may be awhile before Mike gets around to finishing the Bravo. He has a Blue Angels F-4 display in 1/32 that is at the top of the heap. Just for grins, he sends pic below showing the size comparison of 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 Phantoms. Glad he's building the 32nd kits! The 32nd model is destined for a Blue Angels paint job. The 1/48 I built will be VF-111 and presented to the pilot who flew the aircraft. Don

My part of this team build is complete. The model was primed in white to ease the application of the top coats. I'll post photos when my teammate Mike gets around to finishing this model. Here's the model before shipping. Don Ready for the canopy. In the box and ready to ship to Hawai'i. With good fortune, the model will survive the trip undamaged.

A little more about the addition of a nose turret to the B-24D. The explanation at the end of this post provides a brief history of the development of the D1. "Ten Knights in a Bar Room" appears to have been modified with a HAD developed kit. This design resulted in a very compact installation for the turret and bombardier's canopy unlike that of the later Consolidated B-24J versions. The already cramped nose compartment must have become very crowded with the navigator, bombardier, their associated equipment and the space occupied by the turret and power pack. B-24D1-170-CO 90BG 321BS SWPA After modification with a nose turret, the B-24D was designated as a B-24D1. The nose turret used on the B-24D1 was a modified A-6 rear turret. The cut from the manual gives us some idea of the number of parts required to adapt the A-6 rear turret for use as a nose turret. Some refer to the nose turret as an A-6A. I'll use this convention. Internally the A-6 and A-6A seem to be about the same with internal ammo storage requiring staggered guns, gunsight, and controls. Both had similar operational features such as fuselage mounted hydraulic power pack, flat panel bullet resistant glass, casing and link ejection overboard, etc. Externally, the appearance was quite different. The nose mounted A-6A (on a later model B-24J) is shown below. In comparison, The A-6 is shown below. Compare these with the A-6B turret. This turret looks Vaderish to me. Fortunately, for us 1/72 B-24 builders, Eduard provided very nice A-6 and A-6A turrets in their 2123 or 2123X B-24 Liberator Riders in the Sky kits. On the downside, both kits are now discontinued and hard to find, especially the 2123X overtrees. In 1/48, I am not aware of any aftermarket A-6A. Don This was posted to Hyperscale many years ago. The author, Phil Marchese, supplied details regarding the development of the nose turreted B-24. Another aspect of the convoluted development of the B-24. "B-24D as D1 series May 27 '08 There were really only two types of D to D1 modifications adapted on a production line depot program basis. One is the HAD design; the other is the Mainland ASC design. HAD developed its design roughly between Sept and Dec 1942 and flew the prototype by mid month and also reported its finding widely. By Feb 1943 the ASC was in progress on its development with the cooperation of several organizations at Wright Field. The Fairfield OH Air Depot was lead (FAD). Its deep chin prototype was then sent to Middletown PA Air Depot (MAD) who was already specializing in antisubmarine radar mods for the AAFAC. Records vary but the concensus is that between 31 and 41 of the sixty-some antisub planes from MAD had the mainland nose mod. June-Sept 1943 is the timeframe. Next, the FAD prototype was sent to OCAD(Ok City,OK) for their production prototyping. Although OCAD had been inducting B-24D airframes for the program since April, the depot did not deliver its first modified D1 until Sept. 1943. It was the last depot to do so. Thus while most "modeling" books credit OCAD with the mod, that depot was actually the last to set up its line. The consensus is that OCAD produced 66 planes between Sept and the remainder of the year. The bombscanning windows on the OCAD version displayed a slight variation in that the windows were more level than on the MAD style. The delays at OCAD apparently lead to cancellation of the planned 100 addition mainland style kits. As the AAFAC disbanded, both MAD and OCAD,were converted a few dozen antisub B-24DAS into LAB/SB-24D with the nose turrets. The CBI and the PAC AFs each got some. The NPA (11AF) got about a dozen FAD produced LAB/Search B-24D1. Meanwhile HAD produced 100 kits for the SWPA and the USN starting in March 1943. The SWPA asembled its first with the aid of HAD tech reps in Mid- March 1943 and flew it in early April. While many a SWPA lore credits Rogers and Connell with the design, the SWPA was actually a HAD kit designed by Unruh. Of the first 35 kits, the USN got 23. The SWPA assembled 12 btw Mar and July 7. The balance of its 77 kits (65) came in batches of 30 and 35 by most accounts and were applied throughout the balance 1943, perhaps well into 1944, the 380th BG mods having been deferred by Kenney. HAD ran a production basis mod line from April thru Sept 1943 and 15/16 more tricked thru from Oct to Jan44. Just under 300 B-24D were processed. In all, nearly 400 HAD style and btw 120-150 mainland style B-24D1 were produced. Thus the estimated total is appoximately 550, including the 23 USN, the AAF LAB/SB versions and the AAFAC antisub versions besides those sent to the three lower Pacific Air Forces as day bombers."

Another video worth watching is "Wing and A Prayer: The Saga of the Utah Man" on YouTube here. In this video, Walter Stewart recounts his experience of the second Ploesti Mission. After delivery, most aircraft were sent to depots for modifications to suit the requirements of the project and theater of operations. Aircraft destined for the MTO were sometimes repainted with Sand paint directly over the delivery Dark Olive Drab. Makes you wonder how the dark original paint coating affected the final appearance of the Sand topcoat. The Life Magazine image below shows an early model of the B-24D being repainted in the open. Note the painters lack of PPE. This B-24D also had narrow chord props. Another example of over-painting is the B-24D, "Lady be Good". After decades of exposure to desert conditions, the Sand and OD paint was still visible on the airframe. When Robert Pence's wife saw his B-25C prior to departure for Africa, she stated that it looked like a pink petunia. Capt. Pence flew two B-25's in Africa both named "Pink Petunia". Don

@tomprobertTom, If you have not already visited this site, here for more Kingman B-32, there is a brief discussion about aircraft "536" cowl band color. "536" was a sister ship to your subject and also assigned to the AAF Tactical Center, if I am not mistaken. The evaluation of the color tips me towards a blue. Don

A better image: Harding and Long's book "Dominator: The Story of the Consolidated B-32 Bomber" states that 42-108537 was assigned to the AAF Tactical Center. Hopefully you will get good info on the color of the engine cowling bands. Based on the mountains in the background and vegetation in the image above, the aircraft appears to be awaiting its fate at the Kingman, Arizona RFC depot after the end of the war. Don

Hi Jerry, The outer hatch was clear with an internal "X" shaped mount for the tunnel gun. Here's the gunner in action, taken looking forward: and a cut from the parts manual: a poor image of an early B-24D from the Consolidated Aircraft General manual: Finally, the interior of the Lady Be Good. Zoom in on the lower left and you will see the hatch secured against the right side of the fuselage: Don

Adding a little to this discussion, here are images of the "late" B-24 cockpit from my copy of the Pilot's and Flight Engineer's Notes, dated October, 1944. The images show the snap-in fabric insulation in the cockpit, frequently ignored by us model builders. The insulation was dyed to match Dull Dark Green. However, from those that have seen remnants of this fabric, they state that the match was not very close. The original fabric likely faded quickly. Remnants today appear like an olive drab color in exposed areas, darker green in protected areas. Time takes its toll. The radio room behind the cockpit and forward compartments were also insulated. Exposed metal areas were painted Dull Dark Green, including instrument panels, control housings such as throttle controls, etc. Small components, received from sub-contractors may have been finished in Dull Dark Green or other color or no finish. It appears that whatever was received was used as received. No time wasted refinishing small parts. The pilot's armor plates and seats were also painted Dull Dark Green. I have photos of unrestored seats that I can post, if interested. The seats had seat and thigh cushions with lap belts. The forward compartments were separated by canvas snap-in screens just forward and aft of the nose wheel well. I believe that these screens were likely olive drab. I've no idea how long these screens may have lasted in service. As an aside, another feature is shown in the following image. This image is from Karl Hauffe's collection of images of the unrestored B-24D "Strawberry B****h". The bulkhead at the front of the flight deck was not solid. It was open and note the Dull Dark Green finish. And this applies to all B-24's as far as I know. The navigator could reach up and touch the pilot's feet. The rudder pedals are visible in the image. So, for us model builders, light shines down from the cockpit when viewing the bombardier's canopy, making the detail inside more visible. Yeah! Granted more so for a B-24D and in 1/48 or larger. The interior of gun turrets were also finished in Dull Dark Green. Here's some examples of front and rear turrets. Rear turret Front turret The rear fuselage as described by Dana Bell: The armor plates just aft of the open waist gunner's positions were painted a dark color, likely Dull Dark Green. Some images indicate that the frames around the waist gun positions were also painted i a dark color. Perhaps this was done by the gunners to reduce reflected glare. Interior of the Lady Be Good, for example: I make a match for Dull Dark Green from the old Humbrol 88 and a bit of black. Sorry, that is not much help for those seeking modern hobby paint color matches. And I don't fret much about color matching Dark Olive Drab and Neutral Gray. These colors had such a wide variation in color as originally supplied by the original paint makers and then subsequent application and weathering. I am totally ignorant of current paints. I will never paint my way through my supply of Floquil paint. But just for grins, my usual go to for Dark Olive Drab is Floquil Railroad Tie Brown or Floquil Rail Brown. Reefer Gray lightened with white is my usual choice for Neutral Gray. I'm rambling now. Don

@SafetyDad That's a good find in Streetly's book. For me, finding a clear picture of a Gee or LORAN fixed antenna is very rare. I hope that someone can find an image of the external fixed LORAN antenna used on Carpetbagger aircraft. Don

Steve, Here's some images that may be of interest. These show the triangular opening covered by the circular patch and the use of the hoist sling. Don If you zoom in on the joint line between nose and fuselage, you will see the triangular opening for the hoist sling adapter. It must have been a nail biter of a fire. Here's the sling attached to nose in preparation for hoisting the entire aircraft. The patch covering the triangular hoist point has been pierced and the sling attached. Note the sling spreader bar laying across the upper nose. You probably have this image. It shows the outline of the triangular opening under the patch. I don't envy you with the Italeri kit. After opening the box and test fitting some parts. I promptly returned it to my storage shelf. A far into the future project for me.

I would look for a whip antenna somewhere close to where the LORAN receiver would have been installed, either on the upper mid-fuselage above the command deck or on the nose above the navigator's compartment in the nose. Or, perhaps the aircraft's mission allowed for the use of a trailing antenna, if so there would be no external difference between the Gee or APN-4 installation. Here's an image of a B-24H that has an antenna above the navigator's compartment that looks suspiciously like a LORAN antenna. Don

According to the 1944 "Dash 2" for the A-26B and A-26C, those are the forward fuselage hoist sockets. These hoist points were also approved as jack points when fitted with field improvised jack pads. The joint between the fuselage and the nose compartment was to be sealed with cotton fabric sealing tape and clear nitrate dope. The later T.O. does not mention a sealing plate. Perhaps the sealing plates were an improvisation by the maintenance folks. As I recall, the Itaeri kit has the domed plates in the wrong location, too far aft. Don WWII Korean War

The previous posts show the whip and trailing antenna used with LORAN. The MIT 1948 tome on Long Range Navigation states, "All airborne Loran equipment now in service has been designed with expectation that it is to be used with a trailing antenna." The length of 120 feet or about one quarter wavelength is suggested. Although satisfactory results could be obtained with considerably shorter lengths. Many downsides for the use of a trailing antenna, imagine the hazards of formation flying or evasive action while trailing a long weighted wire. With a suitable tuneable coupling unit, a fixed antenna was found to be satisfactactory. Later in the war, whip antenna for LORAN appeared on Allied bomber aircraft and some smaller aircraft such as the Mosquito. The US AN/APN-4 was designed such that this equipment was completely interchangeable with Gee. Reportedly, the Gee units could be exchanged for the APN-4 with a few minutes of work. Don

Nicely done! And the addition of pilot figures in the cockpits, a hint that you are preparing to display the models on a flight deck? Don

@brewerjerry Hi Jerry, I made an error stating that the rear turret was the A-6. After looking more closely at the photos in your first post, the turret is clearly an A-6B with the side fairings removed exposing the guns. The give aways are the small concave plexiglass windows above the guns and the curved bullet resistant glass in front of the gunner. This glass was flat on the A-6. The Eduard 2123 kit contains a monograph titled, "Riders in the Sky 1945: Liberator GR Mk. VI and GR Mk. VIII in Service RAF Coastal Command" by Pavel Turk and Pavel Vancata. I re-read this monograph to confirm the installation of the A-6B as a replacement for the BP Type E rear turret. Carl Vincent's "Canada's Wings 2: The Liberator and Fortress" has a photo on page 91, taken from about the 4 o'clock position, showing more of the rear fuselage. The A-6B turret with the side fairings removed is clearly visible. I have revised my previous posts to correct my error. As you have purchased Tree A from the 2123X set, you have the clear parts to make the A-6B with the side fairings removed. See below. Perhaps you can use kit parts, Q9 (turret base ring), Q16 (gun spacer) and N3 X 2 (guns) as a start for the exposed interior and guns. My apologies for the error. I should not have made a such a quick look at the photo of the rear turret and been so hasty to trust what I facetiously call my memory. Don

@brewerjerry Hi Jerry, Looks like you made a good purchase. I do not have this release of the Hasegawa B-24J. I've looked at "what's in the box" trees and appears that all the parts for a ball turret are in the box. You will need the following kit parts to make the ball turret: A4, D5, F1, F19, F20, Q13 X 2, Q14 X 2, Q21 X 2, R29, R30 The kit instruction sheet may not show you how to assemble the ball turret. The new parts in your kit appear to be the belly radome. Save it for another project. Download a copy of the instruction sheet for the Hasegawa B-24J from the web. If I am mistaken and the parts are not in the box, the early release of the Hasegawa B-24D kit provides all of the parts above, but uses only A4 and Q13 X 2. All the other parts are extra. The B-24D kit provides a blanking plate to cover the belly turret opening. The A-6B rear turret with exposed guns can be obtained from the Eduard 2123 kit or the Overtrees 2123X. Perhaps you can swap, buy or receive the required parts from someone who built the Eduard kit and doesn't need the A-6B turret parts. Here's what you will need: Post your progress. I am very interested in seeing your construction of this model. Don

@brewerjerry You are fortunate to have a good photo of your subject aircraft. The photo shows many features of a Consolidated Fort Worth (CF) manufactured B-24J, a B-24J-50-CF as Graham stated. This is an interesting subject. Nose turret - A-15 Ball turret Top turret - A-3C likely Rear turret - A6B (appears that side fairings removed to expose guns) edit - not A-6 turret Waist guns - open Pitot - G-2 on lower left nose (mast-type on nose deleted) Nose gear doors - open inward Fuel vents - post-type on top of wing Wing tip lights - single unit at tip (upper and lower wing tip on each wing deleted) Rudder trim tabs - extended length No left aileron trim tab Rear fuselage scanning windows No additional bombardier windows Small rectangular navigator window I've likely overlooked a few other external features of the -50-CF. One photo above, of the rear fuselage, shows the oval shaped bomb release lights fairing replaced with a single, tear-drop shaped, white (?) light. Academy/ Minicraft With this list of features, I believe that your least expensive option, OOB, is the Academy B-24H kit. This kit, despite its title as a B-24H, is actually a Consolidated manufactured (no Ford "S" shaped nose) B-24J. I don't recall if the Academy/Minicraft B-24J kit has the A-15 front turret. If it does, then this kit could also be used. If you are willing to accept having the wrong rear turret, seams in the turret clear parts and a few other boo-boo's, then it is Academy all the way. Airfix The ancient Airfix B-24J could be used. The new Airfix B-24H is not a good match OOB for your subject having the wrong nose and wrong tail turret. But, with some filling, filing and using the kit supplied rear turret, this kit could be used. I haven't seen this kit yet. So I don't how much work to remove the Ford nose. Cost is increasing. Hasegawa The Hasegawa B-24 kits are the current gold standard for 1/72 B-24 kits in opinion. The Hasegawa B-24J kit is good match OOB. However, you will have settle for the wrong tail turret. The clear turrets parts in the Hasegawa kit are molded seamless. Cost is increasing. Eduard The Eduard "Riders in the Sky 1945" kit, 2123, has everything you need OOB, including the correct rear turret. And many more extras that you not find in any other kit. The Hasegawa B-24J kit is in the box. Now, the cost has really increased. If you can find it, the Eduard white box of trees, 2123X, has the correct rear turret and many extras very useful for B-24 builders. Inexpensive when released by Eduard, now OOP. With some creative cross-kitting, swapping or buying parts from other builders, you can get better turrets for the Academy kit. Same getting the correct rear turret from the Eduard kit. How much of an effort are you willing to expend in making and detailing your model once you pick a kit? Don

Another page from the CAC manual, something to think about. Perhaps this explains the B-24 flying with its tail up. Here’s some interesting comments from William Carigan’s book, AD LIB: Flying the B-24 Liberator in World War II. Assigned to the 15th AF, Carigan flew 50 missions in the B-24. After returning to the ZI, he was, for a short time, a B-24 instructor pilot and then a B-17 instructor pilot. He retired from the USAF as a Lt. Colonel in 1965. Sadly, he passed in 1988. “Don’t fly contact: the pilot’s manual quips: the only reason they put windows in the aircraft is so you can see other aircraft and mountains and tell whether or not the sun is shining. Fly this instrument airplane by instruments; day or night; fair weather or foul. But keep a sharp lookout. Nose hunt: what the publicitiy (sic) troops fail to mention is that the nose of the B-24 hunts, within limits, in all directions, when cruising. Work as you will to trim out all nose hunt, you’ll never succeed. It hunts in slow arcs, up and down, side to side. When the mighty Liberator is well trimmed, it holds course, altitude and attitude, on average. It climbs twenty feet, descends twenty feet. It turns a couple of degrees left, turns three degrees back right. It combines these moves and arcs, sometimes limiting the deviations to a degree or to ten feet. It just hunts. But don’t let it get you; irritating as it may be at first, learn to accept it or spend the rest of your life trimming back and forth. Mention nose hunt to an old B-24 pilot and he’ll likely have forgotten about it. He simply learned to accept it. I perhaps remember it because I tried for perfection too long before I accepted the condition.”

The CAC "Service and Instruction Manual, Airplane General, B-24D Airplane" shows a 2 1/2 degree angle of incidence for the horizontal stabilizer. Don

Your Phantom is an amazing model. I especially appreciate your effort and determination to finish an abandoned project. Congratulations!

ZOOM............ A bit more progress on this model. Minus the wheels and tires, the landing gear is now complete. The crew painted and ready to install in the cockpit. The seats and crew installed in the cockpit. The interior parts of the canopy assembled and ready for exterior primer coat. Test fit of canopy to the fuselage shows the parts mate up very well. The canopy does have a noticeable mold ridge running down the center, right along the top. I'll leave the decision to sand it out up to Mike. I've a few more parts, tires and wheels, belly tank and exhaust nozzles to finish and paint. Then, on to putty, sanding and priming. My part of this project is almost complete. With lessons learned from this project, I've been inspired to finish my Christmas present of a Tamiya 1/48 Phantom as a QF-4B in flight. With wheels up, no pylons, no ordnance, no crew or seats, few modifications and Caracal decals, it should be a quick build. Don

Ha, ha. Nope, not water in Texas. Concocted in Hawaii, finished on the mainland. Must have been the result of living on a remote, some say most remote, archipelago on earth.

@AlxBNE I'll check with Doug and see if he can provide a photo showing what he did with model. And it is a big model. I usually work in 1/72. Handling that model required some care on my part. Fortunately for me, filling and sanding involved large surfaces with no concern for preserving surface detail. I did use the better part of a tube of Tamiya white putty, a fair amount of Apoxy Sculpt as well as CA mixed with that pink dental repair resin. Don