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C-87A Liberator Express


72modeler

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For those who were involved in our earlier discussion on these Liberator conversions, I found this photo collection- there are many I haven't seen before, and I hope you haven't, as well!

Mike

 

http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?356

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Thank you Mike!  That one is very temptating

C-87-42-30524.jpg

I wonder if only leading edge is NMF (and engines) since there is some dark behind the  edge. Bottom of wings (and end of ncelles) look like neutral gray, isn't?

Cheers

J-W

 

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3 hours ago, JWM said:

Thank you Mike!  That one is very temptating

C-87-42-30524.jpg

I wonder if only leading edge is NMF (and engines) since there is some dark behind the  edge. Bottom of wings (and end of ncelles) look like neutral gray, isn't?

Cheers

J-W

 

JW- I think you're right. The  bare metal leading edges on the wings and horizontal stabilizers is due to the deicer boots being removed, I think.

Mike

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Just FYI, several of those photos are LB-30s converted to transport configuration (identifiable by the non-turbosupercharched engines in circular cowls.)  Similar to the C-87, but not the same.  The C-87 was transport variant of the B-24D.

 

SN

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It would be nice to see Maquette try to make one of these, but I don't recall Frog having a B-24 on their list. I'm sure somebody out there will make one of these into a kit eventually though. Until then, I can only dream. Perhaps an SB-24 would be nice too?

 

Thanks for the photos, they will make a great add to the collection I have going. I am hoping by July first next year I will have a massive collection that I can somehow share with BM, while allowing others to add in any that they may have.

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7 hours ago, Steve N said:

(identifiable by the non-turbosupercharched engines in circular cowls.) 

In side shots the good identifier are exhaust pipes just behind the cowling in LB 30 or like in B 24 D with all turbo instalation at the end of engine fairings .

Cheers

J-W

 

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8 hours ago, 72modeler said:

JW- I think you're right. The  bare metal leading edges on the wings and horizontal stabilizers is due to the deicer boots being removed, I think.

Mike

The bare angines and nose suggest that there was idea of reducing drag perheps. 

Cheers

J-W

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9 hours ago, JWM said:

The bare angines and nose suggest that there was idea of reducing drag perheps. 

Cheers

J-W

Or all four engines were changed as a QEC. I found another pair of links to specs and histories that might be useful. If Academy had been thinking, they could have easily engineered their B-24D kit so it could be built as a C-87A. Basically a new set of fuselage halves and transparencies would have done it.

Mike

 

http://www.aerofiles.com/JBconso-c87.html

 

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_bombers/b24_26.html

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42-30524 is not an LB30 serial, nor that of any British Lib.  So for some reason the USAF has removed the turbocharged engines from one of their C-87s and replaced them with these.

 

As I recall, Ernest K.Gann was scathing about the C-87 in his biography Fate Is The Hunter, , claiming that flying it it bore little resemblance to their B-24 cousins.  Perhaps he encountered one of these?

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1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

42-30524 is not an LB30 serial, nor that of any British Lib.  So for some reason the USAF has removed the turbocharged engines from one of their C-87s and replaced them with these.

 

As I recall, Ernest K.Gann was scathing about the C-87 in his biography Fate Is The Hunter, , claiming that flying it it bore little resemblance to their B-24 cousins.  Perhaps he encountered one of these?

Graham- I'm pretty sure the serial on the C-87 in the photo posted is not 42-30524, but I think it's 43-30624, which is listed as a bona fide C-87. It looked like -30524 to me at first, but then I took a closer look at the image enlarged, and -30624 checks as an actual C-87 serial. So according to the data I found, it would have had the turbosupercharged R-1830's fitted from the outset. It would be an impressive and different-appearing model, though! I hope I got this one right!

Mike

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On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 2:00 AM, JWM said:

In side shots the good identifier are exhaust pipes just behind the cowling in LB 30 or like in B 24 D with all turbo instalation at the end of engine fairings .

Cheers

J-W

 

And if the angle of the photo permits, the absence of the half moon-shaped intercooler intakes on ether side of the cowling lip also identifies the non-turbo equipped LB-30's, as they had circular cowl rings with the carburetor intakes just inside.

Mike.

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