Steve N

The Minicraft Liberators are pretty good, and well worth building. Not without their faults, but vastly better than the ancient Airfix and Revell B-24s. The Hasegawa B-24s are better than Minicraft, being some 20 years newer, but also ridiculously expensive. As for the problems with the Minicraft B-24s, others have mentioned the fact that the nose and tail turrets are split into front and rear halves, leaving an impossible-to-elimnate seam (I've seen some paint an imaginary frame line to hide it) The top turret dome also features engraved framework, which is completely fictitious. The upper turrets on B-24s had no actual framework, just a few clear reinforcing strips glued to the inside. The aft fuselage is also a little too skinny. But to me, the biggest problem with the Minicraft Liberators is the engine cowlings, which are noticeably undersized, and completely fail to capture the surprisingly complex shape of the cowl nose ring. I've always wondered why someone like Quickboost hasn't made a corrected replacement set (I understand there was a set made by a small outfit base on modified Airfix B-24 engines, but they're long out of production.) For some reason, Minicraft rendered the dragon artwork on the decal sheet in gray, while every reference I've ever seen shows it as green. Don't let my rivet counting put you off though, the kit still builds up into a nice replica of a B-24. SN

I've got the Kora cockpit set, which is resin and PE. Admittedly I haven't built it, but it looks quite nice in the package. The Hasegawa kit definitely needs a bit of help in the cockpit, especially since that big clear canopy provides a good view. SN

The ends of the nacelles are indeed open. The outboard nacelles have some sort of filter installed, but not the inboard ones. Here are some closeups I took of the B-24D at the USAF Museum. SN

Same here. my login quit working a few years ago, I've requested a new one several times, but the only response I get is "approval pending." I can't even view the forums as a guest. Sad, since j-aircraft was the first web forum I ever joined when I first go online in 1997. SN

Don't forget, in addition to the large rectangular intakes (for the turbosuperchargers) there are also small square intakes between the engines for the oil coolers. You'll also need to sand off the little blob on the underside of the outboard nacelles just behind the engines. This is supposed to represent the external oil cooler intake only seen on the B/C/D models. SN

I get a "403 Forbidden" error when I click that link. SN

I think every available DC-3/C-47 kit has the more common twin-row P&W R-1830 engines. The B-18 used single-row Wright R-1820s. This made for a shorter, fatter cowl. The DC-2's wings were also shorter, but you could likely just clip the tips of a DC-3/C-47 and it would look OK.

Of course it comes with an option for an arrestor hook equipped SNJ-5 used for carrier qualifications on the USS Wolverine, after I did the mods from scratch and printed my own decals back in 2005! And of course I'll be picking one up. I recently grabbed two of the Harvard sets at the IPMS USA Nationals in Omaha. SN

From this side of The Pond, here are a few detail shots I've taken over the years of the only other surviving, complete Stuka in the world, the Ju 87R-2 Trop at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. You can see that the rivets aft of the forward spar are mostly raised, As mentioned above, flush riveting in those days was generally only used in areas where it produced the most aerodynamic benefit. Forgive the image size..I figured they'd be most useful at maximum resolution. Cheers! Steve

Just remember, the decking under the canopy behind the pilot was NOT the cockpit color. It was considered an exterior surface and was painted olive drab. SN

I built a couple of Academy AT-6s for a museum display some years ago. I just used the kit props, but I added some bolts and balance weights made from bits of styrene rod. SN

I recall when the Academy/Minicraft Ventura was initially released around 1988, there was a magazine article featuring side-by-side comparisons with Frog kit. The parts breakdown and even the shapes were very different, showing the two were completely unrelated. That said, the Ventura was one of Academy's first releases, and is indeed quite basic by today's standards. To me, the biggest shortcomings were the thick, ill-fitting cockpit canopy and the engine nacelles. The cowls are a fairly straight taper, rather than the curved profile of the real ones. Also, the carburetor intakes on top of the cowls are much too tall (a fairly easy fix) and the oil cooler intakes below are very crude and shaped nothing like the real ones. When I built it back around 1991, I made my own vac-form canopy, and did my best to fix the intake issues. I couldn't really do much about the shape of the engine cowls though.

Although difficult to make out in these photos, they are definitely there on the PBM-5A at the Pima Air and Space Museum (the sole surviving Mariner.) I took the first photo in 2018 and the second in 2004, when she was still outside. SN

39 bucks? I remember when we were kids and the Monogram B-29 was first released, a buddy of mine bought one. I was stunned..that kit cost almost TWENTY DOLLARS! That was a fortune in late 1970s paper route money! It was just a few years ago (within the last decade certainly) that I noticed in a hobby shop that the latest boxing of the Monogram 1/48 Superfort was actually cheaper than the current version of the Academy 1/72 kit, which was going for almost 50. Three years ago I was looking for a train set to get the grandkids for Christmas, and was stunned by the prices. The most bare-bones HO set, with a simple oval, loco, two cars and a caboose was over a hundred bucks! We ended up gettting a super cheap battery-powered all plastic set, since we knew the boys (about six and ten) would destroy it within weeks. SN

I used Gunze Aqueous RLM 02 on mine. At the time (2004) it was regarded as pretty close. SN

Lake Michigan has been a treasure trove of WWII USN aircraft. There have been two or three dozen recovered over the years, mostly SBD Dauntlesses and F4F/FM-2 Wildcats. A museum near me has restored two SBDs recovered from the lake, and is currently working on a third, as well as an FM-2. The US Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola has several restored Lake Michigan aircraft on display, including an F6F-3 Hellcat and the world's only surviving SB2U Vindicator. They're also restoring an early-model F4U Corsair with a "birdcage" style canopy. They also have a nice display of an F4F and SBD in "as found" condition in a diorama setting as if on the lake bottom. Unfortunately, time is running out to recover aircraft viable for restoration. Partly due to natural deterioration, and partly due to Zebra Mussels, an invasive species that came to the Great Lakes in the 1990s in the ballast water of European freighters. The mussels completely encrust everything on the lake bottom, and the secretions they use to attach themselves can badly damage aircraft wrecks. About 15 years ago I was privileged to play a small part in the creation of a 1/72 model of USS Wolverine for the Kalamazoo Air Zoo museum (they have a restored SBD on display that ended up in the lake after a failed landing attempt on the Wolverine.) The ship was created by master scratchbuilder the late Bill Waldorf, but he asked us in the local IPMS chapter to build aircraft for the flight deck and figures of the crew. I built two SNJ trainers and an SBD Dauntless (in the markings the Air Zoo's Dauntless carried at the time. Cheers! Steve

I've always liked the old Squadron/Signal "In Action" series for good, basic references, I don't know if the one on the A6M is currently in print, but it should be fairly easy to find second-hand. Steve

Not to mention the fact that this is only a few hundred yards from the salty Gulf of Mexico. And I'm sure by now the inside is full of bird nests, behives, and all kinds of critters. SN

Here's a photo I took of the National Museum of Naval Aviation's PB4Y-2 Privateer in the restoration shop in Pensacola in the summer of 2010. I was excited to see the work they were doing to return her to military configuration. And here are some photos I took in the spring of 2016. The plane was parked outside with no protection from the weather. It looks like the work was abruptly abandoned shortly after I took the first photo. Forgive the crazy angles, I was shooting from the moving sightseeing tram. The latest image on Google Earth shows the Privateer still on the ramp with the wings and tail removed, and now very weathered paint. SN

The Privateer at the Naval Aviation Museum still retains its B-25 engines, although it was being restored with turrets, bomb bay doors, and an original "greenhouse" canopy. I saw "was," because while I saw it being worked on in the shop at Pensacola back in 2010, for some reason the work was halted and it was parked outside on the storage ramp with the wings and vertical tail removed, where it still sits to this day. As for flying Privateers, there's one one right now. And you're correct, it's a former Coast Guard aircraft. It was modified for firefighting by Hawkins and Powers Aviation as a "Super Privateer" with the B-25 engines and "blown" canopy. H&P retired their last four Privateers from firefighting after one broke up in flight in 2002. One is currently flying, one is at the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California (not to be confused with the Yankee Air Museum in Michigan) and the last two are at the Museum of Aerial Firefighting at Hawkins & Powers former base at Greybull, Wyoming. I'm sure the last three could be made airworthy, but they've all been parked for nearly two decades now so it would require a lot of money and effort. As an aside, the Privateer at the Yankee Air Museum in Michigan is also a former Hawkins & Powers aircraft, but it was written off and abandoned after a landing accident in Canada in the 1970s, and eventually found its way to the museum (which from what I've heard is quite a story in itself.) SN

The Privateer at Pima is currently the only one restored with the original engines and cowls (I took a bunch of closeup pics when I was there in 2018) although I understand there are plans to do the same with the one under restoration at the Yankee Air Museum. Like all surviving PB4Y-2s, the one at Pima was a firefighting tanker that had been stripped of military equipment and refitted with B-25 engines and cowls. It was being restored to flying condition at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston, Texas, but the storm surge from a hurricane immersed it in salt water in 2008. It was deemed that there was too much possible corrosion damage to make restoration to airworthy status economically viable, so it was sold to Pima and restored as a static display. SN

This photo gives a nice clear view of the engine cowls, which contrary to common belief are not simply "B-24 cowls rotated 90 degrees." The Privateer cowls are very different from the Liberator. The intakes are different sizes, and the cowl flap arrangement it different as well. SN

Exactly. If the framework was raised, sanding it off and painting corrected frames would be a breeze. But sanding the part down enough to eliminate the engraved framework would leave the part significantly undersized. SB

...And it looks like the answer to the question is "no." As mentioned above, hiding the "kink" on the right side apis do-able, but that leaves the problem of the frames, which can't really be fixed since they're engraved. https://www.kfs-miniatures.com/1-72-angel-of-mercy-b-25j-mitchell-eduard/

Here are some photos I took of the Hasegawa parts when the kit first came out. Not only did they mold the escape hatch on both sides, when it should only be on the left, the also molded it incorrectly. And since the framwork is engraved, it can't simply be sanded off. First, here's the left side. Hasegawa basically just added a double frame around the area where the hatch is supposed to be. And here's the real thing. Considerably different. And to make matters worse, Hasegawa also molded the inaccurate hatch on the right side of the nose. Not only that, but they replicated the "kink" in the lower edge, which should be straight. Here's Hasegawa's rendition. And a photo of a real B-25. As you can see, the lower edge is a straight line, and there is no escape hatch. Falcon includes a semi-corrected version in one of their vacuform sets, but while it rectifies the issue with the escape hatch, it retains the "kink" at the base of the right side of the glass. As for Eduard correcting the issue, I haven't heard. When the released their special edition of Hasegawa's Liberator a couple of years ago they included a set of all-new sprues supplying the correct tail turret for the earlier B-24s as well as all the extra bits for the Coastal Command versions. It would be nice if they did the same with the B-25. Cheers! Steve