B-10B, Williams Brothers, 1/72

[opus999]

B-10B | Williams Brothers | 1/72

 

 

 

I completed this kit October 5th, 2017 and felt I should post it because I mention it in a post about Alclad and Decal incompatibilities. It was a gift from my Dad, who knew I had a fascination with this aircraft. He got it from a vintage kit dealer and it is from the early '70's, although they still sell it today.

 

Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue) -- couldn't really sand them because of the corrugated aluminum texture on the body.

Paints: (applied from base coat to surface):  Mr. Surfacer 1500 spray black > Testors French Blue (body) > Testors Model Master Deep Yellow (wings)  > Alclad Aqua Gloss > Decals > Alclad Aqua Gloss > weathering (oil washes) > Alclad Aqua Gloss

Detail paints:  Testors MM Zinc Chromate and black in cockpit, Testors MM Zinc Chromate in wheel wells, Alclad polished aluminum and Tamiya Nato Black for landing gears/wheels, Alclad Polished aluminum sealed with Testors Metallizer sealer on propellors, Alclad steel washed with a black oil wash for engines.

Decals:  The kit decals were so old, they disintegrated when the hit the water, however Williams Bros. lets you order replacement sheets from their website.

 

I didn't have a WIP, so I have some building notes at the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building Notes:

• This is a difficult model to build, there are few alignment pegs/slots/grooves. Although, I didn't find it as difficult as many of the reviews online made it out to be
• The canopy materials are extremely brittle, and when I cut the first one with sprue cutters, it put a big crack in the canopy. Also the fit of the canopies is terrible and I was scared to cut or sand them because they were so brittle.
• The decals were too old and disintegrated in water.  The replacements from Williams, Bros. were very nice microscale decals with a variety of countries (Netherlands, Thailand, China, and several U.S. versions)
• I have a very hard time with getting a good finish with Testors gloss paints.  I did a marble coat first, which gives very nice, subtle tonal variation in the wings (too subtle for pictures ), but the body came out sandpapery, even though I thinned the blue paint with Mr Color leveling thinner! I'm not very happy with the finish on the body.
• One of the things I didn't like about this kit was that the landing gears are molded so that they can be installed retracted. In order to install them extended, you have to cut the landing gear in half and insert a spacer that they provide.  I did a lot of reading about different types of glue so I could pick one that would support the weight of the model.  In the end I chose 5 minute epoxy.
• The kit didn't come with a gun.  The best I could do was a 1/72 AK-47 from a Mi-24 kit from a long time ago.  It's roughly the size of the gun in the front turret in the historical photos I've seen.

 

In the end I was proud of how it turned out (in spite of the roughness of the blue color). Hope you enjoy. Comments, constructive criticism, questions and tips always welcome!

 

Edited September 29, 2018 by opus999

[Vinnie]

Well done overcoming the build difficulties and presenting such a nice model. I must confess I had to google the aircraft as I don't remember seeing one before.

[Eric Mc]

Nicely done. Williams Bros kits are not straightforward but they have done interesting subjects over the years.

[PlaStix]

Well, despite the issues you have produced an excellent looking aircraft! Very well done. 

Kind regards,

Stix

[Toryu]

A very nice model despite its shortcomings. I wish it were available in 1/48. You have done a fabulous job with the colors. I think interiors of this period however were unpainted, i.e. natural aluminum, until 1938 and (cockpits only) bronze green thereafter. But that's a negligible point on your great model.

[roginoz]

 

Very nicely done !!

 

This kit is rising to the top of my stash, so I'll bookmark your build for guidance. It's gratifying to know that Williams Bros decals are still available, wish I'd known that when I recently built their kit of the Pitcairn Autogyro. The decals for that fought me all the way, despite two coats of Microscale Decal Film.

 

Their kits are definitely a challenge, shake 'n' bake they are NOT !! Nevertheless, they build up into good looking models, ignored by the major players, of interesting and unusual subjects.

 

Thanks for sharing this one with us.

 

Rog

[billn53]

Love it! I built this kit in the 70's when it was new, and remember that it gave me all kinds of fits.  Seeing your's, I'm tempted to try again!

[russ c]

Great job on that old kit

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Sorry to hear about the Troubles, However your B-10 looks quite good to me. 

[opus999]

9 hours ago, Vinnie said:

I don't remember seeing one before.

I had never seen it before until I purchased a book about bombers about 10 years ago.  I was really taken by it because of its unusual look... to me it seems to have a real 30's art deco feel.  Kind of like the illustrations of what they thought vehicles in the future would look like back in the 30's.

 

It had a number of "firsts", including the first bomber to use the Norden bomb sight and the first aircraft to have enclosed crew compartments. It also was the fastest warplane in the world at its debut (faster than fighters of the day). The shame of it is, despite being so advanced for its day, it's not famous and only known to some aviation historians, like me. And now you!

 

I always thought that if WWII started 10 years earlier, this plane could be as well-known as the B-17.

 

Thanks for looking!

[opus999]

5 hours ago, Toryu said:

I think interiors of this period however were unpainted

You've hit on something that really used a lot of my time on this build! I researched the interior colors quite a bit and really came up empty. I don't recall what the instructions said.

 

I found some great shots from the period that were inside the A/C, but they were black and white as you'd imagine.  There are a lot of walk-arounds of the B-10 at the USAF museum, but I don't like relying on museum aircraft because you don't know how faithful they were to the original when restoring. The shots of the USAF museum aircraft had Zinc Chromate in the bombadier's compartment, the wheel wells and inside the engine cowls. I went with that just because I didn't have much else to go on.

 

Being a WWII+ modeler, I don't have a gut feel for 20's and 30's A/C colors.

 

Thanks for the feedback though, I truly appreciate it!

 

 

[invidia]

Great looking model, built this many years ago. It's not a easy kit. Fantastic job.

[Dazey]

Fantastic model!

 

Regards,

David

[Toryu]

21 hours ago, opus999 said:

but I don't like relying on museum aircraft because you don't know how faithful they were to the original when restoring.

 

 

I agree whole-heartedly. It's a shame how little research goes into museum exhibits regarding exterior and interior color restoration.

The best reference for interwar USAAC colors is 'The Official Monogram US Army Air Service & Air Corps Aircraft Color Guide' by Robert D. Archer. Still available but a bit on the expensive side. It isn't easy to use because it summarizes the many changes of the era by topic, not by period, and you need to do lot of page flipping.

Interiors of USAAC planes were pretty much left in natural metal (with or without a protective coat) up until 1938 when it became a little more complicated. A different matter are interior dopes for fabric surfaces but those are normally on parts of the fuselage that are not visible from the outside.

Happy modeling!

[Roger Holden]

6 hours ago, Toryu said:

 

Interiors of USAAC planes were pretty much left in natural metal (with or without a protective coat) up until 1938 when it became a little more complicated. 

They were never 'natural metal', but were always treated for corrosion resistance. In the case of the Martin B-10, the painting schedule calls up Red Iron Oxide primer, with top coat of aluminum lacquer. Aircraft like the P-26 were similar.  The first 'green'

interiors were found on planes like the Curtiss P-36 and Northrop A-17A, which were a bi-product of the chromated primers which came into use from around 1936 onwards.

 

The B-10 in the USAF Museum is an ex-Argentine aircraft built around 1938 so would have been finished to later standards than a genuine Air Corps B-10.