1/32nd scale Boeing B-29 from the ID Models Vacform - FINISHED

[woody37]

Stunning Tom

[vickershaft]

Beautiful work sir

[Kallisti]

Wow, just caught up on this, truly astonishing, I admire your artistry and skill!

[Radleigh]

Hi Radleigh,

Yes you are right - no props provided but I have a very cunning plan. All will be revealed when I get to that stage incase I fall flat on my face!

Tom

Nice one, will look forward to that! Love the work you've posted up too!

[bzn20]

this build is something else.one of the advantages of building in this scale is the amount of detail you can get in.it must be hard to work out how deep to go into it or what to leave out.i'm glued to this thread, its excellent,well done!

Edited September 4, 2012 by bzn20

[Max Headroom]

Words fail me. This is dedication indeed.

Racing ahead but will you make the wings detachable so that you don't need to park it in the garage?

Trevor the deeply impressed

[tomprobert]

Words fail me. This is dedication indeed.

Racing ahead but will you make the wings detachable so that you don't need to park it in the garage?

Trevor the deeply impressed

Hi Trevor,

Nope, the wings will be firmly attached as the joints will be very visible otherwise.

As to where it'll live... erm....erm...

Tom

[tomprobert]

I've nearly finished the flightdeck now, with the engineer, radio operator and navigator positions being scratch built.

The first job was the console for the engineer. This was simply made from plasticard, with the dials and gagues being drilled plastic sheet. The throttle and propeller pitch levers were made from some modified left over resin parts I had. The pound coin gives a sense of scale to this piece:

After that it was on to the rest of the rear of the flightdeck. All tables, crew chairs and the like were made from plasticard and Milliput. The large dome on the floor is the pressurisation covering for the lower turret. Again this was fashioned from Milliput. The various other resin items such as radios etc. were spares left over from my previous 1/32nd scale B-17 and B-24 builds. I also added some framing detail and the door to the bomb-bay to the pressure bulkhead.

I haven't gone too mad on the detailing in these areas as very little will be seen when the fuselage in closed up. Some light will come in from the open door in the floor and through the navigator's and engineer's windows, but on the whole it'll be pretty dark back there.

Once it's all under a coat of paint and various details are picked out I think it'll look ok. Again, it won't be the most accurate representation of a B-29 flightdeck out there, but it'll look fine behind all that glass!

I now need to make some control columns abd then I'll start on the rear crew area directly behind the rear bomb-bay.

Thanks for stopping by

Tom

[woody37]

Looks incredible Tom

[HammerUK9]

Beautiful work Tom!!

Tim

[kev67]

Very nice job you have done, one question though has every thing been glued down in the cockpit area as I was just wondering how easy it's going to be painting everything

[keefr22]

Excellent work!!

Keef

[tomprobert]

Very nice job you have done, one question though has every thing been glued down in the cockpit area as I was just wondering how easy it's going to be painting everything

Hi Kev,

No the majority is just sitting on place for photogaph purposes - it'll all come apart for painting and further detailing.

Tom

[HL-10]

Absolutely fantastic!

I really love seeing scratch built items like this!

Keep up the excellent work

Edited September 13, 2012 by HL-10

[kev67]

Just seen photos of your liberator on the net, this should be a cracker, I don't know how you build them so fast, my vacforms are allot smaller than your builds but it takes me a snails pace to do anything

[richdlc]

cool! I'm liking what you're doing here

[Vulcanicity]

This is jaw-dropping work. I'll be following!

[gunpowder17]

One word.....Beautiful.

[Radleigh]

Superb work Tom, painted up it'll look stunning.

Question though, sorry if I've missed it already. But the big round thing at the back end between the two seats, what is it, and what is it made of?

Looks like marzipan... lol

[Scratcher]

Superb work - watching this with great interest.

[tomprobert]

Superb work Tom, painted up it'll look stunning.

Question though, sorry if I've missed it already. But the big round thing at the back end between the two seats, what is it, and what is it made of?

Looks like marzipan... lol

Hi Radleigh,

Thank you for your kind comments.

You are referring to the covering that goes over the lower forward gun turret. The B-29 was pressurised, and 'normal' manned gun turrets would have compromised this. Therefore the turrets themselves were computer sighted and controlled, and because of the moving parts were situated outside of the pressurised areas of the aircraft. The tail turret was manned, but once at altitude he was shut off inside his own pressure compartment. If the tail gunner was wounded or killed however, the tail guns could be taken over by another crew member through the computerised fire control system - pretty advanced for its day!

The turrets protruded into the aircraft a considerable distance, but as the flightdeck floor is raised due to the nose wheel bay, only a small area of the turret's mechanism needed to be faired over - hence the dome that protruded into the floor.

The top turret however is a different story, and this came about half the cabin height into the forward compartment, and must have been a real b*****r to get around. I haven't build this fairing yet, but it will hang almost above where the lover turret dome is situated.

If you click on ths link you can see the 'ghost outline' of the upper turre'ts fairing, as well as others around the plane. http://www.pbs.org/w.../tourindex.html

I made mine from Milliput, which is easily molded into any shape you want, and can be sanded, filed, drilled... whatever you fancy! It takes a good 24hrs to dry though. The dome needs a bit of fine sanding before painting.

Oh and by the way... have you finished the Sea Wolf yet?

Tom

[Plasticbutcher]

This build of yours will be the death of me, I hope you know that. Stunning so far.

[Radleigh]

Hi Radleigh,

I made mine from Milliput, which is easily molded into any shape you want, and can be sanded, filed, drilled... whatever you fancy! It takes a good 24hrs to dry though. The dome needs a bit of fine sanding before painting.

Oh and by the way... have you finished the Sea Wolf yet?

Tom

Thanks for the reply Tom,

I thought it might be Milliput! I need to invest in some I think...

As for the Sea Wolf, everything is packed away. I move in two weeks into a much larger house! So it'll be back out and on the bench in no time hopefully!

Seeing all this scratch building is really making me to get it all out!

[tomprobert]

Thanks for the reply Tom,

I thought it might be Milliput! I need to invest in some I think...

As for the Sea Wolf, everything is packed away. I move in two weeks into a much larger house! So it'll be back out and on the bench in no time hopefully!

Seeing all this scratch building is really making me to get it all out!

I'm looking forward to seeing it completed... and then it's about time you got yourself another vac project... I'm desperate you convert you to the darkside

[MadScientist]

Amazing start so far, my grandfarther flew as a radio man in one of these, needless to say i`ll be following this build closely. Keep the great work up.

-Dustin