georgeusa Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 My entry into this group build is an old 1/48 Revell B-24 D kit that has been in the stash for a while. I originally bought it to build for a book club meeting when we discussed the book “Unbroken” in 2010. I was going to go all out for the build and bought several Eduard sets, the cockpit interior, the front interior, the middle interior, the bombay, the exterior and surface panels. I had started with the tractor and then life got in the way. When life let up, the book club meeting was only a week away and there was no way I could finish this build in a week so the kit got set aside until now. Since the only thing that was built out of the kit was the tractor, I think this qualifies as less than 25% built. The kit’s interior isn’t bad as is, especially given its age. With all of the Eduard sets, most of this interior detail will have to be sanded off. I started off with the cockpit interior set and began building. And I got a bit carried away and forgot to take pictures of the process. So, here are the end results of the cockpit interior for the instrument panel, the center panel, the cockpit floor, seats and windshield panel. Now the complicated part becomes apparent, I got multiple detail sets, plus the original kit parts which means I have 7 sets of instructions that need to be integrated to make sure everything gets put in its place before the fuselage halves are put together. The name of the game is to test fit and make sure everything is in place and will fit together. Once the Eduard panels are placed on the cockpit floor, test fitting begins. The one thing I like about Revell kits is they are usually designed for a positive fit of parts. There are all sorts of pegs that lock this cockpit floor in place. Unfortunately, most of these pegs will be cut out when the different Eduard panels are put in place. I traced the outline of the floor onto the fuselage half to make sure I get it aligned after I get rid of the placement pegs. Now it is time to start hacking up this kit and start putting the various Eduard sets in place. Most of the sets just require grinding off the kit detail, but the bombay set requires removal of parts. Since this will be the most intrusive action on the fuselage halves, this is done first. The center section of the bombay is removed to enhance its detail. The PE parts are folded into place And then the kit plastic is added to the PE and it is placed aside to dry. After the parts dry, the center seam created by the plastic parts will have to be cleaned up while retaining the navigation light detail. Next up the different panels and additions to the right side fuselage are tackled. I start with the middle bulkhead and the parts to go onto it. The PE is then bent into shape. And it is attached to the bulkhead. Part of the PE is the doors for the hatch opening in the bulkhead. I did not attach them as I am unsure if I want to put the doors on closed or open. And, to be honest, I have no idea what they would look like in the open position; so some research is necessary. After the parts dry, some paint will be applied. Next up the right side fuselage interior will get the cockpit upgrade, the front interior upgrade, the middle interior upgrade and the bombay upgrade. Various areas of the fuselage interior are sanded smooth to accept the Eduard panels along with the removal of some injection marks. Then the panels are put in place at the front of the fuselage Before the furthest panel can be placed, the side window had to be installed and taped over so the interior color can be applied prior to the various boxes being put in place. The first set of boxes and knick knacks are attached to the cockpit portion. The parts for the front panel are folded and painted. And then put in place. The same goes for a bulkhead that fits in front of the instrument panel. And these are then put in place The nose section is folded into place The different parts for the nose section are gathered for assembly And then they are folded into their respective shapes The boxes are prepped for assembly with paint While the paint dries on the boxes, another one of the interior sections is prepped with the base interior paint. There are 3 machine guns that go in the nose section. The kit gun is first modified by cutting off the barrel and attached a piece of PE that has been rolled into a cylinder. I don’t know about others, but rolling a cylinder is not as easy as it is portrayed in the Eduard instructions. Anyway, all the parts that are to be added to the kit guns is assembled. Then they are folded, rolled and conformed prior to assembly. Once assembled, the enhanced Eduard piece is compared to the kit piece after painting and some weathering. Given the pain it is to modify the kit guns and frankly the degree of improvement over the stock kit gun, it just does not seem worth the effort. The bang for the buck is not there. Am I wrong or is this just my warped opinion gone haywire? It is now late, the paint is drying on some parts so I am stopping here. There is still way more PE to be put in place as the bombay has just been started and the middle interior has not even been touched. As always, all comments are welcome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Hi Georgeusa, Welcome to the GB. I like all the PE you have been using. The only comment I have is that the green you used for the interior seems to be a little bit bright to my eyes. For the rest keep the updates comming. Cheers, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Nice start to your build, love your work on the office .As for the green yes it is a bit bright but after a wash and a matt coat that will take it down a bit Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Hi Georgeusa, Welcome to the GB. I like all the PE you have been using. The only comment I have is that the green you used for the interior seems to be a little bit bright to my eyes. For the rest keep the updates comming. Cheers, SomWellsy Nice start to your build, love your work on the office .As for the green yes it is a bit bright but after a wash and a matt coat that will take it down a bit Les The zinc chromate I am using as the base is quite "green". It will get toned down considerably after the weathering process to more of a cross between zinc chromate and olive drab. The last picture above shows the base color without any weathering of dull coate finish. The shots above have a basic grunge wash that will be finished when everything is installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 Arniec and Wellzy What do you think about the guns? Press forward and do the rest in PE or just use the kit's? Right now I just don't see an enhancement worth the effort. Do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 SomWellsy The zinc chromate I am using as the base is quite "green". It will get toned down considerably after the weathering process to more of a cross between zinc chromate and olive drab. The last picture above shows the base color without any weathering of dull coate finish. The shots above have a basic grunge wash that will be finished when everything is installed. Should be interior green as all the books l have read say, yr green dose not looklike zinc chromate its too green the colour of you cockpit PE is a better match Cheers Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Arniec and Wellzy What do you think about the guns? Press forward and do the rest in PE or just use the kit's? Right now I just don't see an enhancement worth the effort. Do you? I Have never been a PE fan. The standard guns look to be OK to me. I would have swapped only the gun barrels. Cheers, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 Mildly amusing update. Some more work was done on the interior of the B-24 with more additions of the Eduard sets. From the front interior, the front nose section was painted and the initial weathering was done. The chair that fits in the front section receives a PE chair back Next up are the ammo cases stored in the front section. They are supposed to look like this. The PE version isn’t bad as it turns out like this Two more are made up and then placed in the ammo section in the front deck area. Some clean-up of the cases and the insertion of the handles are still needed. Continuing on with work on the front section, the spent cartridge pouches are attached to the machine guns. I don’t believe the cartridge pouches were metal, but either leather or fabric. I have no real basis for this and a quick check on the interwebby thingy isn’t real revealing. So, using a bit of artistic license, I will paint these a leather color. If someone on here that actually knows what color this should be will let me know, it shouldn’t be too hard to change the color. Some work on the mid-fuselage gun section is continued. The PE pieces for the instruments for the waist gunners are painted, folded in place and a bit weathered. The waist section is also painted and weathered. I guess the lump in the middle of the section is supposed to be a parachute. I am not sure, so I will wait a bit to paint it and try to figure out what it might be. The starboard side of the waist gun section receives the PE instruments for the waist gunners. Then the port side PE instruments are installed. There are much more PE parts that need to be folded, painted and installed into the kit fuselage halves before they can be put together. Next up, I will tackle the PE versions of the .50 cal. Ammo belts. This is what they should look like. I am not sure how well the 2 dimensional PE belts will approximate these belts. All I know is that some fun and tedious bending is up. For now, as always, all comments are welcome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arniec Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Great progress. Keep it going. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellzy Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Great work and the guns look very Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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