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1/72 Minicraft B-24J as a Liberator VI


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The fuselage is pretty much there, so on to the wings. First thing to do is prep them for the resin engines. As I've mentioned before, I'm using HPM ones. As you can see they're somewhat of an improvement over the kit items!

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So, off with the kit's engine mounting rings:

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I added some internal bulkheads in the engine nacelles, and glue the wings together. The fit of the wings themselves is fine, but I found the nacelles needed a bit of persuasion to line up:

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The nacelles still needed some sanding and filler to clean the joins up though. The internal bulkhead allowed me to add some extra weight using fishing weights held in place with Blu Tack:

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With a bit of luck that should (might...) prevent it being a tail-sitter, together with the weights added over the front of the bomb bay. Hope the undercarriage will be up to it... :whistle:

Next up will be adding the engines, then the wings can be primed to check if anything needs cleaning up.

Cheers

Simon

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Hi Simon,

I've just caught up with this build, fantastic work, well done!

A "Plan D", if it still ends up a tail sitter, could be to mount it on a base, with a pin into the nosewheel, holding it down.

Just a thought.... Keep up the great work!

Ian

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Odd you should say that Ian - that looks like it may end up being Plan A...

Anyway, another quick update:

The wings have had the resin engines attached and primed:

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The troublesome engine nacelle joins have now been filled, sanded and re-primed. The panel lines look much more severe in the photo than they actually are, but the wings still need some minor rescribing to replace some the detail lost on the nacelles' sides.

I've invested in a set of Radial Engines and Wings' B-24 wheels, which have the correct diamond tread pattern for KH408:

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As you can see they're an improvement over the kit's wheels, which have a radial tread. I've also started on the nose wheel leg. It's a pretty complex mechanism, and I'll use the actual wheel fork from the kit's nose wheel.

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More soon...

Cheers

Simon

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Just a quick update - this morning the decals arrived from Drawdecal in the US. This is how the nose art printed:

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The photo doesn't really do her justice, she looks great - she's just over 18mm high.

Regards

Simon

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Today's update - more progress on the nose gear. Nose wheel painted and given a black wash:

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And the nose wheel struts are now painted and in place:

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I did cheat a bit, as the main undercarriage leg wasn't very well supported, and I wasn't sure it would bear the weight I've added to try and prevent it being a tail sitter. So I drilled a hole in the top of the main leg, inserted a small section of plastic rod, and drilled another hole in the roof of the bay for it to rest in:

lib-105b

 

It's now pretty sturdy (so he says - time will tell... :pray: )

I've also made a start on the main wheel legs, removing the inner wheel hub that Minicraft have moulded integrally with the leg. Before, and after:

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More soon...

Cheers

Simon

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  • 1 month later...

Blimey, it's a month since my last update - doesn't time fly when you have clients who spend weeks making up their minds what they want, and when the do, they tell you they can't afford it...ho hum :weep:

Anyway, four weeks of messing around is now over, so I'm back at the workbench and back to the Lib. I've been working on finishing the bomb sight. It's a Mk. XIV sight, and here it is with the sight computer and computer's mounting frame:

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Once that's done, I can button up the fuselage...

Cheers

Simon

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I did cheat a bit, as the main undercarriage leg wasn't very well supported, and I wasn't sure it would bear the weight I've added to try and prevent it being a tail sitter. So I drilled a hole in the top of the main leg, inserted a small section of plastic rod, and drilled another hole in the roof of the bay for it to rest in:

It's now pretty sturdy (so he says - time will tell... :pray: )

I did the exact same thing with my PB4Y (which had 83 grams of weight up front). She's still holding up nicely!

Cheers,

Bill

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I've got my fingers crossed Bill - time will tell!

A little progress to report. I've decided I can go ahead and start to paint and finish the wings, then attach them to the finished fuselage. The fit is pretty good, so hopefully there won't be much filling and fettling to do when the go together. Here's one wing with the underside pre-shaded, and the other one with a coat of Neutral Grey:

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and both of them painted:

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I'm a pretty recent convert to pre-shading, and I'm not 100% convinced with the finish - maybe the need another thin coat of grey...?

I can also get on with the vertical tails. They both have ejector pin marks that need filling:

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Once they're dried and sanded, I can prime them, pre-shade them and give them and the wings their coats of Olive Drab, then add the de-icer boots.

More soon.

Cheers

Simon

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  • 2 weeks later...

At last, some news to update - sorry!

Taking a very deep breath, i've finally closed up the fuselage. Here's what's inside - now you see it:

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...and now you don't. All primed, joins filled and sanded then re-primed:

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Next up will be re-scribing the panel lines that have disappeared due to the cleaning up of the joins - something I'm really, really not looking forward to... :pray:

Meanwhile, the wings are painted, and the weathering started:

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More soon..

Cheers

Simon

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That looks stunning.

Don't be tempted to tone down the pre-shade as by the time you've added further coats of gloss and matt the contrast will reduce considerably.

Karl

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More progress to report...

Wings now weathered, and the superchargers painted, weathered and installed:

lib-118

 

I've bitten the bullet and started re-scribing the missing fuselage panels. I think whoever did the panel lines on the orignal kit did the starboard side in the morning, nipped down the pub for a pint or two at lunchtime, and did the port side in the afternoon. They don't actually match in a couple of places:

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So, fill 'em and re-do 'em:

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It's not perfect, but it'll hopefully be okay under some pre-shading and a coat of paint. The lines for the lift raft hatches will be replaced with panels of 5 thou plastic card to depict the hatches, as it's easier than rescribing curved corners! :blush:

More soon.

Cheers

Simon

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A quick update, and a query:

I've been painting the Radial Engines and Wheels resin mainwheels, and suddenly realised they're quite a lot smaller than the kit ones. I've also got a set of True Details B-24 wheels, and they're in between, size-wise.

Left to right are R.E.W., Minicraft and True Details:

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So, which one is right...?

Cheers

Simon

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