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Revell 1:72 Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator


Navy Bird

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Thanks, mates! I'm thinking now about how to reduce the starkness of all that white. I may have a go at some judiciously applied Tamiya Smoke to tone it down a bit. Of course, I'm out of Tamiya Smoke at the moment, so Gunze Clear Grey will have to suffice. That, and some pastels, I think.

 

Regarding the canopy, I agree that it has a much better shape than that on the Academy kit, which I have in my stash so it's easy to compare. It might be a wee bit too tall, but it fits quite well. Won't be too long before that goes on.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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I`d always shied away from the old Revell Liberator as I`d thought that it looked a bit strange in some way,...however you have done a remarkable job on yours so far and I really love the colour scheme! I`ve been watching this one from the start and I`m very impressed, keep up the good work,

Cheers

Tony

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Quick update - I mentioned earlier that the vertical tails were missing some characteristic panel lines that are quite obvious on every B-24. These are the radial lines that run around the round edges of the tail. I thought earlier about scribing them into the plastic but decided against it. I'm a terrible scriber. I have 47 cumulative inches of scars to prove it! (Well, OK, some of those scars are from my nine back surgeries. But I'm sure some of them came from scribing!) Instead, I decided I would use a pencil and just draw them on.

 

Using Tamiya tape as a straight edge, the vertical tail from the Academy kit as a guide (gee, never thought to check if they got it right!), and my trusty Pentel 0.3mm drafting pencil, I had a go at it. You can see a pure, unadulterated vertical tail in the background.

 

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I think it will suffice. As usual, it looks better in person than it does in the photo. Well, that's it for now, time to go do the other three!

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. I'm also cheating by using the pencil to fix some of the "non-contiguous" panel lines. But only because I wanted to use the word non-contiguous in a sentence.   :)

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Hi mates!

 

I spent some time today poking around the 4 x 1, mainly with some weathering and adding some fiddly bits. For the weathering, I used Gunze H95 Smoke Grey to add some additional post shading, and then I got out the pastel box and lightened some panels on top of the wings to simulate paint fading. I tried to go as easy as I could, as I usually overdo it when I weather a model. Plus, the photos show that these birds in Brazil weren't weathered very much.

 

Here are the wings and spine:

 

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I added the radome and tail bumper (the post shading shows up better on the white for some reason   :) )

 

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Underside of the port wing:

 

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Weathering on the fuselage side, plus a look at the finished panel lines on the tails, added with pencil.

 

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I used the main gear doors from the Eduard PE set, but it's devilishly hard to take a picture of them!

 

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Yikes, I hate magnified shots like that! I like shots like this one:

 

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That's better! :)

 

What else did I do today? Oh yeah, I painted the yellow tips on the props, so they're just about ready to go on. But first, I have to mask the canopy, paint it, and get it on the fuselage and blend it in. Then, the turrets have to be finished. I'll add the antenna on the bottom of the catwalk, and that should finish the underside. Then the turrets will go on, and the long antenna wires added. And I think that's it. I think...no doubt something else will come to mind. With this kit, it's important that I finish all the fiddly stuff on the bottom before we switch to the top.

 

Well, off to mask the canopy. Oh, joy! I'd rather do just about anything else! :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. The gun barrels and cooling jackets! I knew I'd think of something.

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wow it looks amazing, realy great. the ammo belts are awesome, the interrior, the undercarriage.. and nice job on the weathering. can i ask you, how are you doing the panels lightening with pastels? like dry grated pastels or mix with water? using proper colours or just white? i m sorry, i m using pastels and pigments only to make black/grey/brown dust/smoke, but dont know how i would do for example the blue :) so if it didnt bother you much to tell it here, shortly ll be ok :) thanks

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On 1/25/2014 at 21:29, martin hale said:

It looks better and better!

Martin

 

Well, I don't know about better, but it's sure getting older! This build is taking forever... :)

 

On 1/26/2014 at 07:02, Winenut said:

She looks just magnificent..

Do you seal her after pastels and dust in any way??? Or is that it .....a touch later it and it's gone??

Winenut

On 1/26/2014 at 09:08, Wolwe82 said:

wow it looks amazing, realy great. the ammo belts are awesome, the interrior, the undercarriage.. and nice job on the weathering. can i ask you, how are you doing the panels lightening with pastels? like dry grated pastels or mix with water? using proper colours or just white? i m sorry, i m using pastels and pigments only to make black/grey/brown dust/smoke, but dont know how i would do for example the blue :) so if it didnt bother you much to tell it here, shortly ll be ok :) thanks

 

Thanks guys. Regarding the pastels - first, the paint must be matte finish. Pastels don't stick to gloss. For this effect I used a light gray (really!) pastel powder. My pastel chalks are solid sticks, so you need to use a razor blade to scrape the sides which gives you a pile of pastel powder. Using a small brush, I place some of the powder on the panel I want to lighten. When you place the powder on the panel, don't rub it in a lot. Just very lightly spread it around and then blow the remaining powder away.

 

At this point, I just take my finger (cheaper than those fancy Tamiya sponges) and gently rub the pastel that remains (and it doesn't have to be much) around the panel, first in the direction of airflow, and then in a circular fashion. The trick to this is simple...PRACTICE (preferably on another model first, one you don't care about)! If you use too much pastel powder you end up with a big spot of grey (or whatever color you're using). Since I rubbed it in, it won't disappear and doesn't need to be sealed as long as you're not handling the model a lot. This is a delicate technique. And I'm sure I'm doing it incorrectly. I know this because I never follow directions, just ask my wife! :)

 

So, one step forward, two steps back. After I had the canopy all masked and sprayed, I realized that Revell had been up to their "fictional framing" game again. Different than the nose, though, which had framing missing, the canopy had framing added. Arghhh. I really should have been paying better attention, but like a dummy I just blindly masked away without looking at my references. I forgot that whole measure twice, cut once thing. :(

 

Long story short, I stripped off the masking, removed all of the paint with mineral spirits, sanded off the frames that shouldn't be there, and set about micro-meshing. Then, at 2:00 AM, I re-masked and it's ready for paint. Live and learn - I won't make that mistake until until my next kit. Experience is what we call learning from our mistakes so we can recognize them when we make them again.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

PS. Aha! I knew I'd remember another thing I've forgotten about! The wing flaps! D'oh!!

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it looks beautiful Bill, I am still amazed at how something so old can be given new life....but there again the skills of the builder makes the difference!

It really is wonderful to watch the progress, plus the memories it brings back!

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Oh, bother. It was one of those days if you know what I mean. I had the canopy all masked and painted for the second time, when I again took a long look at it and said "no, that's just not right." It doesn't say PB4Y-1, or even B-24. :(

 

So I went back to the books (you do know that all the photographs of the canopy framing are either taken from the ground or from directly above - there just aren't any good views) and made a new course of action.

 

So, all the masking tape came off again. A quick swipe or two of the mineral spirits and the paint was removed, followed by a nice bath in Windex to remove all of the Future. Then some more sanding to remove the raised framing in the area where I want to make an adjustment, some frantic Micro-Meshing to polish it back up again, and finally a new Future dip. And that's where we are, letting the Future dry overnight.

 

I hope this is the last time I mask and paint the canopy. Notice the circled area in this picture:

 

windscreen framing

 

You'll see the the frame that runs along the top of the side window is at a different angle than the frame at the top of the windscreen (the effect is exaggerated from this viewpoint). The way the framing was moulded on the kit, these two frames were essentially at the same angle. The result was the the center windscreen wasn't tall enough. I hope you can understand what I mean. A little change like this makes a big difference, in my opinion.

 

We'll see what happens tomorrow! :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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