Turbine_Man Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Amazing build.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 24, 2014 Author Share Posted May 24, 2014 (edited) Ah, Bank Holiday weekends, don't you just love them? Sitting in the garden, reading a good book with a cold beer at hand, with the buzz of bees and the melodic sound of birdsong, just the hum of a distant lawn mower to intrude slightly in the background...oh, hang on a minute, this is the UK in May, so of course it's piddling it down. Oh well, best crack on with the Liberator then... First up for this update, the ball turret mounting has been installed, with it's ammo bins and oxygen tank attached: Next up, the cockpit has been finished off, with the rear of the instrument panel added: And so on to the front wheel well section and the space under the radio room. Like the cockpit, I'm intending to build it as a complete section to drop-in. The two bulkheads slant backwards, and follow the same angle as the panel line on the exterior where the cockpit joins the main fuselage. These form the front and rear of the front wheel aperture: There's a wall on the starboard side of the wheel aperture, behind which is the walkway (crawl-way might be a better description) from the front of the bomb bay to the bombardier's station. I assume this is to prevent accidentally falling out of the wheel well! I've boxed in the side of the wheel well too: More soon... Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 This looks better every time I drop in to see how it is coming along! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 (edited) Onwards and upwards, as they say. Firstly, I'd like to thank fellow BMer Byron Boyd, who has sent over this little package from the US: These are the Emerson nose turret and the tail turret from the Hasegawa B-24J, plus a photocopy of Eduard's etch for the turret interior frames. Byron, you're a Gentleman! So, on with the update. Firstly, I've done a bit of refining in the bomb bay. The pipework looked a bit clunky, so out with the Plastruct 0.15mm rod: Starboard, showing the old one at the bottom, and with the pipework for the nose wheel bay sidewall too: Port bomb bay pipework, again showing the difference from the older one at the top: And finally on to the forward fuselage bombardier and turret areas. I'm on my third pack of Evergreen 100 strip now! This is the roof section for the front wheel area under the radio room and cockpit: My references show that the lower front windows were either deleted or painted over, so I've glued the Minicraft transparencies in place: The fit isn't exactly what you'd call snug - it would have been awfully draughty in real life, so out with the filler. I'm not sure why the photos show a texture on the plastic in this photo - it's not noticeable in real life. More soon... Cheers Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Great progress Simon, an inspiration for all the B-24 fans out there, me included Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Really enjoying watching this come togeather Fantastic attention to detail looking forward to more of the same Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 (edited) So, how do the Hasegawa nose and tail turrets compare to the Minicraft ones? Apart from being much better in shape, they're different in size, which is a bit of a pain on the proverbials... Nose turret - kit version on the left, Hasegawa on the right (apologies for the red lines - no, I'm NOT Gaston... ) The kit one is a good .75mm shorter, so something's going to have to give somewhere. I'd guess the easiest option would be to take a sliver off the fuselage? There's a panel line just under the turret mount, so if I take that much off, it might just be fine: The tail turret is wider, again by about 0.75mm, which may prove a bit more difficult to get round: I'll have a think about this, and see if I can work out a way around it...Byron has suggested widening the rear fuselage, so maybe that's the best option. Cheers Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Boyd Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 So, how do the Hasegawa nose and tail turrets compare to the Minicraft ones? Apart from being much better in shape, they're different in size, which is a bit of a pain on the proverbials... Nose turret - kit version on the left, Hasegawa on the right (apologies for the red lines - no, I'm NOT Gaston... ) The kit one is a good .75mm shorter, so something's going to have to give somewhere. I'd guess the easiest option would be to take a sliver off the fuselage? There's a panel line just under the turret mount, so if I take that much off, it might just be fine: Measure twice, cut once, that's what Dad always used to say. It looks almost as if you may be comparing the Hasegawa Emerson with the Minicraft Consolidated - the Minicraft Emerson looks more like a rounded and smoothed 50 gallon drum... For the nose turret, I would suggest a test mount and a comparison with photos of real a/c - you may well find that the height has been auto-corrected, along with the shape. I'm thinking that your main work on the nose is going to be vis-a-vis the turret fairings. As far as I've ever been able to discover, only Airfix has ever kitted a truly proper-looking nose turret fairing for an Emerson turret, which is somewhat quixotic since they went ahead and produced the kit with Consolidated turrets nose and rear.... All those decades ago.... I was afraid about the rear diameters being a tad off, but at least you haven't glued the fuselage together yet - more test-fitting sounds like the ticket; it may not turn out to be so bad in the end after all. Good luck! Byron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 29, 2014 Author Share Posted May 29, 2014 Thanks Byron, I'll double-check the Minicraft turrets in the morning... Regards Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) Okay, Byron was of course correct. I was comparing the Hasegawa Emerson turret with the Minicraft Consolidated - So, out with the Minicraft Emerson turret, and the size comparison is as noticeable. Not only is it taller, it's also wider. Minicraft on the left, Hasegawa on the right: I can make it fit width-wise by adding a shim between the front parts of the fuselage. I'll have to take a look at photos of the real thing, and see if it really is too tall, or if I can get away with it. At first glance the Minicraft turret is maybe a bit too low, and the Hasegawa one a bit too high... This photo seems to show it does sit quite high: http://www.air-and-space.com/20050510%20Santa%20Maria/DSC_0398%20B-24J%20N224J%20Witchcraft%20right%20side%20nose%20turret%20l.jpg On to the rear turret, and the fuselage needs to be widened by about 40 thou. Excuse the Heath Robinson construction methods, but it shows the difference in the width: That on the face of it is an easy fix - join the fuselage up to the lower entrance hatch, then insert a section of 40 thou plastic strip under the turret and fill the gap. Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) To badly mis-quote Sir Walter Scott (yes it was he, not Shakespeare, as I'd thought), "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to scratch-build..." Putting the turrets issue aside for the time being, I've been working on the under-floor areas beneath the radio room and cockpit. Sidewall details for the port side, including compressor and rectifier (is that the right word? It's the globe thingy), plus some additional cabling for the bomb bay area: And the starboard side: More soon... Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Definitely Scott. I think Shakespeare was more of a kitbasher. This is looking superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 (edited) I think Shakespeare was more of a kitbasher.Yes, I was very impressed by his Tempest...Taxi! Edited June 3, 2014 by Simon 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwaterous Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Ummm... K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 Okay, fair enough! Ummm... K Okay, fair enough. I was going to make a joke about Shakespeare kitbashing a Sea King and a Lear Jet, but thought better of it... I'll get me now... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) I was in the middle of posting this when BM went belly-up on Saturday evening, but luckily I managed to copy and paste it into a Word file... Here's another update to show the progress since the last one. The roof of the front nose wheel area is now in place, together with the middle bulkhead: I've added some extra cabling to the starboard side, as well as to the roof itself. There's loads more gubbins up there in the real aircraft, but I think it gives the impression okay: Now I've got the Hasegawa turrets to play with, I've decided to finish off the rear fuselage now that I know what needs to be done fettling-wise (or should that be bodging-wise...?). I've added some detail to the extreme tail's interior: and I've added a plastic card shim to open the rear turret aperture up a bit so the Hasegawa turret will fit: It's not perfect, but a bit of filler will clean it up once the fuselage is joined together. More soon... Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Boyd Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 (edited) Hi Simon, Really looking nice!!!! From the pics I've seen of the inside area around the nose turret, it looks like there might be enough material for you to thin the inside enough to allow a drop-in fit for that Has turret without using a shim. I'm afraid you are kinda stuck with the rear, though. Just saying.... Byron Edited June 9, 2014 by Byron Boyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 (edited) Thanks Byron. A quick test fit of the Hasegawa nose turret seems to show that it's a bit too wide, but I'm busy finishing off the rear fuselage section for the moment, so I'll cross that bridge when i come to it (in other words, I'll worry about it later...). So on with today's update, and the starboard rear fuselage has been kitted out: I've redone the ammunition feed rails into something a bit more to scale, and added in another couple of bulkheads, some walkways and steps. The bulkheads aren't quite correct in their positioning, but it's the best I can managed with the references to hand. Port side: I've made a start on the Hasegawa rear turret, preparing the internal bits and bobs ready to put together: And the resin engines have arrived from HPM in Singapore - after five weeks I was getting a bit worried. Apparently there was a temporary glitch in their order system when I placed the order, but after a quick e-mail to enquire they offered to send me an additional set free of charge, which I thought was extremely considerate. Both sets arrived about four days later, and they're a bit of an improvement on the kit items: More soon... Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Your attention to detail takes this up a least another 6 levels!!!!! Looking forward to more of the same Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Just read this thread and wow, keep it going mate. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 (edited) Been a while since my last update - combination of work, world cup and gardening getting in the way - sorry! Anyway, more progress on the rear turret - all the bits are more or less done, it just needs putting together now: And some more progress on the nose interior too: table and lamp installed, along with the flooring for the bombardier and the walkway beside the nose wheel aperture: I've been asking on a couple of other forums about the bomb sight used on RAF Liberators in the Far East, and it seems that the Mk. XIV is the favourite at the moment. Which is useful, because I made one for my Halifax II before I found it was the wrong one for that particular period. Bomb sight, computer and computer frame: I might take a look at the Sperry one too, as that has been suggested as a possibility as well. More soon, hopefully! Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanja #66 Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Magnificent, Simon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 This build just gets better and better! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Please tell me you are going to cut away most of the whole damn aircraft so we can see all this magnificent build in the final product!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 (edited) Forgive me, BritModellers, for I have sinned - it has been yonks since my last update...sorry! There is some progress to report, though... The work on the front fuselage is progressing nicely: Does anyone know what the grey thing is in the second image above? I've highlighted it here: And the tail turret is now done and painted: I've started work on the Emerson nose turret, so I'll post some photos when I'm a bit further on. Simon Edited July 5, 2017 by Simon relinking images from Photobucket to Flickr 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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