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PB4 Privateer


Stressy

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Or perhaps enhancing the Matchbox kit with parts from the Academy.  Personally (not having experience of the kit) I'd approach it more that way, rather than all the chopping and grafting that would be required if you started with a B-24 airframe.

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As above,...... the Matchbox kit is the better start point due to the lengthened fuselage and the engine nacelles with the cowlings twisted to have the intakes above and below and no superchargers either,..... not to mention the fin and the waist positions. The Academy kit foesn`t really add much above the Marchbox when it comes to more detailed parts,...... I would probably buy some vacuformed Martin turret cupola`s and a new Bendix nose turret and then busy up the interior around the waist guns yourself.

Cheers

          Tony

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There was a 1/72 resin 'Detail Set' for the Matchbox Privateer produced by Cobra Resin ref CC72019.  Very good it is too, and awaits its call to duty.

A web search suggests they are part of Lone Star Models who are off line till the end of January.  Much of the search turned up their 1/48 Privateer and nothing in 1/72: sorry I can't be more specific.

The said 1/72 set doesn't contain any control surfaces and I have my doubts about the elevators which seem, as I recall, to be different top and bottom.  Also the rather curious kit representation of the rudder shown as fabric one side and metal the other!  Examination of photos of wreckage suggests that it was entirely metal covered.

Reliable drawings are hard to find and besides the above particularly confirm or otherwise of the position of the tailplane in relation to the fuselage: again examination of photos (including those of B-24 which must surely be the same) suggest the kit is OK.

I have a folorn hope that Airfix may tool it one day, but I would rank it below the Lincoln and a retooled Halifax.

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High Planes Models has a very nice set of corrected cowlings for the Matchbox Privateer kit that have beautifully detailed engines, cowl flaps, and the correct small upper carburetor  intake and larger lower oil cooler intake; I think they are still available- stock number is: HPA072010.

 

As mentioned above the PB4Y-2 had the turbosuperchargers deleted, so the recess into which they were fitted needs to be filled in. If you can lay your hands on the Cobra conversion set, it is well worth getting, as it is very comprehensive and has everything needed to make the Matchbox kit into an accurate model, True Details also made a set of vacform transparencies for the PB4Y-2 that I think are also still available- they are really necessary to replace the ones in the Matchbox kit.

 

Maybe, if they ever branch out to doing a large multi-engined kit, Valom will do one in 1/72, as I don't see anybody else making one, as it is limited to two basic color schemes and use by mainly  the USN and Aeronavale.

 

I would also recommend the Ginter PB4Y-2 Privateer monograph, as it has everything you could possibly want or need  in order to build an accurate model.

Mike

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Interesting  infos on aftermarket parts. I have to seriously consider buying them... So far I was thinking on scratch correction, especially on engines which really looks not good...

Regards

J-W

 

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1 hour ago, 72modeler said:

High Planes Models has a very nice set of corrected cowlings for the Matchbox Privateer kit that have beautifully detailed engines, cowl flaps, and the correct small upper carburetor  intake and larger lower oil cooler intake; I think they are still available- stock number is: HPA072010.

Unfortunately these are one-piece with a rather unreal cylindrical depression (don't know how else to describe it) between the cowling front and the engine.

The purist may wish to remove the engines entirely and 'clean out' the cowling.  Replacement engines (white metal or resin) aren't hard to come by and should improve the appearance.  The Cobra 'Detail Set' I referred to above, has separate engines and cowlings.

I like the thought of Valom tooling it.  There are actually more colour (or should it be color) schemes than you suggest.  Firetruck red for target aircraft, and 3 tone or overall dark blue for French and Chinese Nationalist users.

Edited by Denford
Note re colours
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Yep- when I got the Cobra set, I sold off my Airwaves and High Planes Privateer cowlings- the Airwaves cowlings weren't much better than the original kit cowlings- it looked like they just used one of the kit cowlings as a master and filled in one of the intakes so it was smaller- BIG disappointment! 😞

Mike

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I built the Matchbox kit ten years ago, or actually used it as a basis for a scratch build of all the bits it missed. There are many problems with the kit, not the least of which is the totally erroneous depiction of the side blister guns, and all the turrets' interiors for that matter. Which is important because these interiors are clearly visible unlike the cockpit area which required far less work. Probably the hardest part were the side blisters which required the complete fabrication of the interiors so that externally they didn't look like some chap just stood there and hosed at enemy aircraft as he would in a B17. I admit to giving up when I got to the engines.

 

7XPwS6y.jpg

Edited by MilneBay
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I am surprised at the rough ride the Matchbox kit appears to be getting here. When it first came out it was more than passable , not least the very subject was more than acceptable. It is a very good base for what ever standard one wishes to produce . It's called modelling.

 

Keith

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When it came out there was no internet, and most published comments came from either adverts or magazine columns that never gave any significant criticism to anything.  And it was four decades back.  But there were those of us who were greatly disappointed then, and that is why conversions to correct problem areas have proliferated down these decades.  But they have come mainly from the US,  were difficult to get hold of and unavoidably involving large prices for many bits.

 

Yes, it's all modelling.   So is starting from a lump of balsa.  But it shouldn't be surprising to find modellers in modern times feeling that a kit which was a fairly poor attempt for the 1980s just doesn't cut the mustard today.

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On Scalemets you can look at all (?) aftermarket elements available for Privater

https://www.scalemates.com/pl/kits/revell-04292-pb4y-2-privateer--102252

Namelly examples of cowling/engines

 

by Final Touch

1034276-17841-83-pristine.jpg

 

by High Planet Models

657662-11185-91-pristine.jpg

 

by Cobra Company

150105-12155-pristine.jpg

 

And a true thing (at Pima Museum)

PB4Y-2-Privateer-Pima-03-23-17-9674.jpg-

 

Cheers

J-W

 

 

 

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J-W,

 

Looks like  High Planes, Cobra, and  Final Touch noticed that the magnetos on the PB4Y-2's R-1830-94 engines were located at the front of the engine, not the rear, as shown in the excellent photo you posted. I'm guessing Pima fitted a  different version from that fitted to wartime airplanes. IIRC, the Lone Star PB still had the QEC R-2600 B-25 radials and props it got when it was a fire bomber when I saw it before the hurricane and subsequent sale to Pima.

Mike

Mike

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2 hours ago, Stressy said:

Now what to do with the Academy B24J

Don't let @tonyot find out you've got a spare! (I think he's only halfway through the RAAF/Coastal Command Liberator inventory at this point!) 😜 Seriously, I don't  think you'll have much trouble selling or trading it, as none of the Academy B-24's have been re-released as of yet, or have been re-boxed by anybody else.

Mike

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16 hours ago, MilneBay said:

I built the Matchbox kit ten years ago...

7XPwS6y.jpg

What a superb build.

I remember (about 30 years ago!) this to be an absolute pig of a kit to build but was drawn in by the fabulous Huxley boxart and finishing it in a French Indo -China scheme.

Apart from other things I seem to remember the turret, or alternative plain, side panels to be badly fitting and being very hard to fill and correct.

 

Absolute respect to Matchbox for producing it though, and still the only game in town.

 

You have worked magic there!

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3 hours ago, Stressy said:

Thanks for all this info. It changes my plans completely!  Now what to do with the Academy B24J given I've  just got a Hasegawa B24D and I've just not enough room for all three!

A conversion to:

1. LB30?

2. Liberator I

3. C87

4. C109

It is of course besides selling it...

I am going to do 5 Liberators: Two RAF CC (Mk I and Mk V with rockets) , B 24 M, C 87 and Priveteer. The room is other question...

Regards

J-W

 

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49 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Don't let @tonyot find out you've got a spare! (I think he's only halfway through the RAAF/Coastal Command Liberator inventory at this point!) 😜 Seriously, I don't  think you'll have much trouble selling or trading it, as none of the Academy B-24's have been re-released as of yet, or have been re-boxed by anybody else.

Mike

LOL,.... you forgot the RCAF too Mike,.... and I have at least one SAAF one planned too!! 

DSCF2798.jpg

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4 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Looks like  High Planes, Cobra, and  Final Touch noticed that the magnetos on the PB4Y-2's R-1830-94 engines were located at the front of the engine, not the rear, as shown in the excellent photo you posted. I'm guessing Pima fitted a  different version from that fitted to wartime airplanes. IIRC, the Lone Star PB still had the QEC R-2600 B-25 radials and props it got when it was a fire bomber when I saw it before the hurricane and subsequent sale to Pima.

Mike

Of course a museum machine is not a reference in all details. The Privateers as firebombers has often completly modified engines:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTNW2bDIXsXv5SwlgPj_uh

Cheers

J-W

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10 minutes ago, tonyot said:

LOL,.... you forgot the RCAF too Mike,.... and I have at least one SAAF one planned too!! 

Very nice Liberator.  I have question os about the code letter - is it sky? The darkness of it looks similar to "T" on Sea Otter JM 772 (SEAC, Ceylon)  which I am just finishing. Do you think it can be also sky?

J-W

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48 minutes ago, JWM said:

Very nice Liberator.  I have question os about the code letter - is it sky? The darkness of it looks similar to "T" on Sea Otter JM 772 (SEAC, Ceylon)  which I am just finishing. Do you think it can be also sky?

J-W

A far as I can remember the codes were Medium Sea Grey mate. Glad you like it. I would go for MSG on your Otter,..... although it is hard to judge without a photo,...... it may also be white?

57 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Ooh- that's a bit of awr right, guv'nor!

Mike

LOL,.... thanks Mike!

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On 1/27/2020 at 1:33 PM, 72modeler said:

Maybe, if they ever branch out to doing a large multi-engined kit, Valom will do one in 1/72, as I don't see anybody else making one, as it is limited to two basic color schemes and use by mainly  the USN and Aeronavale.

 

The US Coast Guard also flew them, from 1945 to 1958....

 

https://cgaviationhistory.org/aircraft_/consolidated-p4y-2g-privateer/

 

-Bill

 

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