bootneck Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 I have wanted to do a conversion of an aircraft kit for a while, but not had the confidence to start one; or sure of which one to do. I have eventually overcome the doubts of my abilities and decided to convert a Minicraft 1:144 B-24J Liberator into a wartime PB4Y-2 Privateer. This will be trial and error; however, if I am successful then I intend get the Minicraft B-24D version and do another as a postwar Firebomber. For now though, I only have a drawing for a wartime version so will start with that. The donor kit will be this one: The drawing that I shall be using for reference will be this one: To help identify where to cut and the relocation of parts, I will re-draw the salient sections to 1:144 scale and print them off like this profile view: I will be happy if, at the end of this build, it at least looks like a Privateer! Mike 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Wishing you luck and 🤞 fingers. I always liked the Privateers so I’ll take a seat if i may in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 That's a pretty big conversion! Just about everything apart from the wings and undercarriage is just a leetle bit different from the Liberator, apart from all the things that are very different! I finished the Revell re-box of the Matchbox Privateer as a Coast Guard plane last year, and I came to rather like the type (from a cold-ish start) researching and building it, so I will be following your build with interest. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 20, 2018 Author Share Posted January 20, 2018 Thanks Adrian, do you have any details, drawings or images that might be of help with my build? I have some googled images but nothing of a detailed nature. There is a Naval Aviation series book out there but it is going for silly money; if anyone had a copy then I could do with a few scans from it. My intention is to make all my mistakes on the PB4Y-2 conversion and then to do another, but this time as a Firebomber similar to the one below: As can be seen here, it has a nose shape more in similar with the B-24D Liberator. cheers Mike 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 It's time to make the cut and I think I have the right position marked out. The original article, Airfix July 1967 p.409, recommends that the gap is filled with a piece of Obechi wood and filed to shape but, I will be using plastic strip for this purpose. The cut has been made and small tabs have been glued to the inside edges of each fuselage piece. The gap to be filled measures 17.5mm which is the size of the strip being used here The plastic strip is only 0.5mm thick, as it is intended to leave a slight depression between the kit pieces. This will be filled with Milliput. So far, so good. The next stage will be to mix some Milliput and start filling, filing and shaping. Mike 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmm Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Big (tiny), bold and beautiful modelling. I love it. Will watch this unfold with pleasure Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 Time for a bit of filling. I was advised to keep the Milliput wet and warm whilst applying! That looks a bit better, although I can see it dip along the spine. A coat of magic primer shows up the uneven surfaces! A little more Milliput and some sanding with wet and dry and it looks much better. That's the fuselage extension completed, the next thing to do is plan where to add the side sponsons; tail fin and wings. I have done some more work on the drawing and the fin and wings should now be ready for cutting plastic I will probably start on the tail fin tonight and try some dry fitting. cheers Mike 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massimo Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Very interesting project and good start!!! I'll be watching!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
825 Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Impressive work so far on a challenging project. Good luck with it. Mind you to date it's skill that's winning and luck isn't needed yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 Thanks again for the support guys, let's hope I win through with this one. Following on from the drawing that was updated with the tail sections, I have cut out the fin and tailplanes. Working with white plastic doesn't show up well though, so.... I've given them a wash with dark grey and then cleaned them back. The panel lines show up much clearer now. The fins are for left and right faces and will be glued together. The tailplanes are for upper and lower and will also be glued together. I have made the rudders and ailerons as separate pieces and these can be attached as angled and drooped if desired. The next task will be to sand the joined pieces, to clean up the joins, and then to fine tune them for fitting on the model. More later. Mike 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmm Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Just a thought - possibly erroneous - but could you re-use the side blisters from that Catalina you converted to a fire Bomber? I’m not sure if they are compatible but the drawings look Catalina-ish to me and it was all Consolidated engineering so feasible it’s the same basic unit... just a thought. Great progress. I’m enjoying this and learning a lot. Awesome stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 Yes, I've measured the side blisters and they are virtually the same length, height and depth. They just need the lower half plating over and a lateral gun port cutting into each one. I shall have a look whether I need to make some internal decking when I cut open those areas. You're learning a lot? That's good 'cos I'm making this up as I go along. Mike 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 You're doing very nicely Mike I love to redo those old Airfix Mag builds in plastic as the favoured medium, or in this case Small not Medium You got the front/back interface done beautifully, mind if I hitch a ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 20 minutes ago, perdu said: ........mind if I hitch a ride? Of course, I could do with your input when it comes to all things scratchbuilding 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 You've helped me lots, hope I can help in any way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 14 hours ago, bootneck said: I shall have a look whether I need to make some internal decking when I cut open those areas If you scroll down on this page a bit you can see that the blister is actually a whole egg shape which rotated to give up and down movement, a bit like the ball turrets under a B-17. Sadly I don't have any useful reference material; I made the decision early on in my build not to correct anything but just to fix the bits that were different on the Coast Guard version, so I did most of my work from about six photos found on Google! The fuselage and tail surfaces turned out very nicely. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 That is an interesting photo Adrian, thank you. I could probably make a mould of one of the glazings and cast two resin pieces from it; these could then be glued to the back of each glazing to represent the back wall. Then cut an opening and populate it with some bits. Obviously being 1:144 scale I wouldn't need to worry too much about that sort of detailing. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 Following on from AdrianMF's breaking news, about the blister being egg shaped, I have made a small mould of the blister and done a resin cast from it. Placing the glazing and resin piece together, the fit isn't bad but the two parts will need some re-shaping to get a good join. The cast will need to be hollowed out though, or just painted black for the background. Mike 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 A bit more work has been done on the fin and the tailplane. The outer pieces have been laminated together, with blank pieces sandwiched between them, to get the required thickness. They haven't been tidied up, or the leading/trailing edged trimmed down to shape yet. The pieces have been lightly tacked on to the model for a dry fit. This will show me where to build up and fill when they are glued into position. It all looks good to me so I will spend some time tomorrow chamfering the edges down to shape before attaching them permanently adn filling the gaps. Mike 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Looks like a lot of fun Mike. I'll be sending those parts at the weekend Mike. Hope they will help with this project?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 A little bit more work done on this today. The tailplane has been glued into place and filler added to shape. The fin has been placed loosely onto the model, to check line-up etc., before glueing. Another spray with the magic primer to check and it would appear that a little more padding out is needed, where the extra piece was inserted behind the cockpit. I'll tackle that next, then a bit more fettling on the fin and glue into place. Next phase after that should be the blister pods to shape and fit. cheers Mike 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 A little more progress on this, the internal area of the blister pods have been inserted: Then the whole thing has been re-primed, goodness knows how much primer I go through; thankfully I work to 1:144 scale! The gun blister pods, I'm sure there is a more techy name for them, have been added: The pods need sealing around the joins before I get to painting the frames on the glazing etc. Next will be to fashion some of the lumps and bumps that fit under the nose section of the fuselage. After that, I should be able to start on the wing units. Mike 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmm Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Love it. Looking good so far Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Hello Mike. Any updates to this conversion? Also, can I ask were you sources your 1/144 plans? Take Care. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 15, 2019 Author Share Posted January 15, 2019 Hello Don, Thank you for this alert, I cannot believe that it is almost a year since I did anything on this. I wanted to get more information, by trying to obtain an affordable copy of the Naval Fighter series #93 PB4Y-2 Privateer, and so I set this aside until I had that. I didn't manage to find a copy and the build stayed on the shelf. Thanks for this reminder, I must dust it off and try to do more with the data I do have. All the best Mike 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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