B24H Liberator "Taylor Maid" Finished

[neil5208]

I know I've just finished the Fw190 but I've been itching to start this one since I picked it up from ebay during the first lock down. Like many people stuck at home I spent far to long looking for the next project and ended up in bidding wars for several B24's before I finally one this one. The Academy/Minicraft kit is a 1991 rebox of the 1990 release by the same with new parts to change from a D model to H. As usual for a 90's kit the interior detail is lacking but I'll see what I can do about that. I picked up the Printscale decals for the Consolidated Liberator, Aviaeology Consolidated B-24/PBY-4-1 Liberators airframe stencil data and the Quickboost Consolidated B-24 Liberator turbo-supercharger cover resin replacements. The kit intructions are basic and all the interior colours are wrong but that's not a problem, I've had advice from Tom Probert. I was planning to build this as an M model

I was planning to build this as an M model "Stripped for Action" but the M and H nose is different so I will go for "Taylor Maid" as the kit has the rear turret for the J model.

Edited December 16, 2021 by neil5208

[rob85]

Great build choice, I’m looking forward to you starting it as I’ve got a few of the minicraft D’s (one started which was a J and has stalled due to missing bits and two boxed D’s) so will be good to see how you tackle the kit.

 

Rob

[corsaircorp]

Hello Neil !!

Well, another very interesting build !!

Can I take a seat at the bar ??

Just looking over your shoulder with magnifier on account of social distancing...

Sincerely.

CC

[tomprobert]

Looking forward to this, Neil - I’ve been making some good progress on my 1/32 one recently so it must be B-24 season. 
 

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

A word to the wise: use as many of the kit decals as possible. Print Scale have a bit of a reputation for misbehaving.

Dip them in water and remove them almost immediately, and let them sit until you can slide them. Position them and use a wet brush to slide them off the backing.

Don't let them soak in water or they will detatch and roll up. Been there, done that.

[Jackson Duvalier]

I've made some progress on a Minicraft Liberator; now and then I'll pull it out and poke at it a bit before the numerous shortcomings make me sigh and put it away again.  My personal misgivings aside, they can be built up to a high standard with some grit and determination, and I look forward to following your WIP.

 

I've a couple of the Aviaeology stencil sets squirreled away in the stash, so I'm quite eager to see how you get on with them. 

[neil5208]

7 hours ago, tomprobert said:

Looking forward to this, Neil - I’ve been making some good progress on my 1/32 one recently so it must be B-24 season. 
 

 

Look forward to seeing it when we finally have a club meeting next year.

5 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

A word to the wise: use as many of the kit decals as possible. Print Scale have a bit of a reputation for misbehaving.

Dip them in water and remove them almost immediately, and let them sit until you can slide them. Position them and use a wet brush to slide them off the backing.

Don't let them soak in water or they will detatch and roll up. Been there, done that.

Thanks, used Print Scale stuff before and have experienced the issued before so I know what to expect. The kit decals are already in the bin, colour was far to dark to be used.

 

3 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

I've made some progress on a Minicraft Liberator; now and then I'll pull it out and poke at it a bit before the numerous shortcomings make me sigh and put it away again.  My personal misgivings aside, they can be built up to a high standard with some grit and determination, and I look forward to following your WIP.

 

I've a couple of the Aviaeology stencil sets squirreled away in the stash, so I'm quite eager to see how you get on with them. 

I made a list of things I aim to do to improve the kit last night otherwise it will be an on/off project. Already filled 12 sink marks and as many ejector pin holes on the fuselage and expect many more to follow. The Aviaeology stencil sets are good, used them before on a Typhoon with no problems. You will need a magnifying glass to read some of them.

[Jackson Duvalier]

2 hours ago, neil5208 said:

I made a list of things I aim to do to improve the kit last night otherwise it will be an on/off project.

 

Always a good plan.  Written objectives prevent dithering and detail creep, both of which kill momentum.

 

2 hours ago, neil5208 said:

Already filled 12 sink marks and as many ejector pin holes on the fuselage and expect many more to follow.

 

The Smart Boy in me wants to offer lots of suggestions, but I don't want to come across as too much of an aspie or as telling you how to build your model.  I will mention that there are (how do I say this politely?) some improbabilities in the aft fuselage panel lines, which may or may not bother you.

 

2 hours ago, neil5208 said:

The Aviaeology stencil sets are good, used them before on a Typhoon with no problems. You will need a magnifying glass to read some of them.

 

That's good to hear.  (If I can't be bothered to apply a full complement of legible stencils on a 1/72 scale airplane, what business do I even have building models?  🤔)

[neil5208]

1 hour ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

The Smart Boy in me wants to offer lots of suggestions, but I don't want to come across as too much of an aspie or as telling you how to build your model.  I will mention that there are (how do I say this politely?) some improbabilities in the aft fuselage panel lines, which may or may not bother you.

 

I did a test fit of the two halves and notice most of the panel lines don't match up, so that will be addressed. I haven't checked the panel lines for accuracy yet, is it bad?

[elger]

Same experience here with Printscale decals and the ones from Aviaeology - Printscale very tricky indeed, but Aviaeology worked just fine. I liked the Minicraft kit, which I used parts of for building an H last summer, and would choose it over the Hasegawa kit for building a type D or J if pressed. Not as good, but butter value for money. Pointless observation: some of Minicraft's B-24 series did have some wonderful box art - including this one.

[Jackson Duvalier]

8 hours ago, neil5208 said:

I haven't checked the panel lines for accuracy yet, is it bad?

 

Honestly I never checked the overall accuracy of the scribing as I was overwhelmed with all the other quirks, but there are two lines under the horizontal stabilisers that actually cross each other in a X, where they ought to run more or less parallel.  It's small potatoes compared to some of the kit's other muck-ups, but a bit of a puzzler how that particular mistake was made.

 

The assembly instructions in the 1998 boxing would have the modeller install the fins (parts 11 and 12) upside down on the wrong sides; you may wish to not do this.  I'm not sure if the issue was corrected in more recent boxings, but Minicrap being what it is I expect not.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Jackson Duvalier
clarity

[neil5208]

18 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

Honestly I never checked the overall accuracy of the scribing as I was overwhelmed with all the other quirks, but there are two lines under the horizontal stabilisers that actually cross each other in a X, where they ought to run more or less parallel.  It's small potatoes compared to some of the kit's other muck-ups, but a bit of a puzzler how that particular mistake was made.

 

The assembly instructions in the 1998 boxing would have the modeller install the fins (parts 11 and 12) upside down on the wrong sides; you may wish to not do this.  I'm not sure if the issue was corrected in more recent boxings, but Minicrap being what it is I expect not.

So  I checked the panel lines last night and as Jackson had indicated the panel line on the tail do cross over.

Some other panel line issues.

And instructions that miss steps, the nose is not in step 3 but appears in step 6

[neil5208]

The more I look at this kit the more I find that bugs me. I decided to join the nose to the fuselage on the port side before anything else but the Minicraft-ness showed immediately in that there is no alignment tabs and the nose must have warped as it didn't line up at all. So I cut 3 small V notches in the nose mating surface to stop the Tamiya extra thin cement from spreading and started at the bottom as this was the most flexible bit of the nose. I have left this to set fully and will continue to manipulate it into place later.

On the starboard side work started on detailing the interior, 2mm wide plastic strip to begin with, will try to get hold of some evergreen strip when the LMS reopens.

Under the window will be boxed in as pictures show a plywood sheet down to the floor, I can only surmise that control cable are routed there.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by neil5208

[neil5208]

One of the things I noticed looking at the pictures of B24's on line is the the ball turret has a raising/lower system and a proper walk way around that system, unlike the parts supplied in the kit (see below)

So I made a plastic card piece that will become the walk way around the raise/lower mech.

This looks like a good starting point but also highlighted the fact he door in the bomb bay bulkhead is to low, looks like it should be for a B24 with a ring mounted .50cal instead of the ball turret, so next up is modifying the bulkhead and walkway futher.

 

 

[Jackson Duvalier]

For me the hardest part of mating the forward and after fuselage parts was the distinct discrepancy in thickness between the parts.  I think I used tape (it's been a few years) to get the exterior flush, and then built up the thinner areas on the inside until I could glue in plentiful scrap plasticard.

 

I've never built a vacuform kit but vac techniques for interior bracing and making bulkheads were quite handy in such progress as I've made on this beastie.

[neil5208]

1 hour ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

For me the hardest part of mating the forward and after fuselage parts was the distinct discrepancy in thickness between the parts.  I think I used tape (it's been a few years) to get the exterior flush, and then built up the thinner areas on the inside until I could glue in plentiful scrap plasticard.

 

I've never built a vacuform kit but vac techniques for interior bracing and making bulkheads were quite handy in such progress as I've made on this beastie.

Agreed, the forward section is thicker at the cockpit sill than the bottom, I will scrape until level.

Modified the bulkhead by cutting out and raising the door 11mm, I used the section removed as a filler plate at the bottom.

Here is it test fit as viewed from the bomb bay.

Also added the cowl that the bomb bay canvas draft sheet will fix to later.

Progressed the ball turret walk way and the small bulkhead that supports it and the framing in the rear compartment.

The cut out at the base of the bulkhead are for the barrel slot in the underside when the ball turret is raised. The moulded shelf below the window has been shortened to the width of the window as it was to wide, looking back I should have removed at the start and built from scratch. I was worried that all this framing would be difficult to do but so far its been well within my skills and very pleasing to see it come together.

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by neil5208

[neil5208]

After a few days away from the bench waiting for some bits from Hannants, they have finally arrived. First up is Eduards painted etch set, this is for the Hasegawa kit but should fit, second is CMK's resin air bottles x 16.

Quick test fit of the air bottles, there are more in the bomb bay roof and small ones in the cockpit.

Mirrored the framing in the port side and marked the cockpit area to be framed.

Still not decide if the bomb bays will be open yet, depend how the cockpit work ends.

[neil5208]

Framed the cockpit starboard side today I'm getting quicker with the evergreen strip so it only took an hour.

The cockpit detail from Academy/Minicraft is a bit sparse to say the least, but the Eduard etch looks like it will fit without to much of a fight and I'll make up some small control boxes to go on the side walls. And some nice ejector pin marks in the seats to fill.

Finally some paint, XF16 Aluminium for the rear compartment, I masked and painted the walk way around the ball turret before spraying the XF16

And the cockpit received some NATO Green to match the etch.

Next on the list is painting the air bottles, making ammo boxes for the waist guns, a floor for the gunners to stand on, plywood shield under the windows and decide if I'm framing the navigators compartment.

[tomprobert]

Looking good, Neil. 
 

For info, those mismatched panel lines you showed on the upper fuselage are actually correct - according to some Granger plans I have. They are slightly offset forward/aft as depicted in the kit. 
 

It’s interesting that NATO green matches the Eduard etch set - for some reason their colours are often off which is a shame as otherwise they produce some lovely stuff. The cockpit should be dark dull green in reality - the same as the B-17 (which is another error on Eduard’s etch as they always seem to use interior green for the B-17!)

Edited December 13, 2020 by tomprobert
Typos

[neil5208]

3 minutes ago, tomprobert said:

Looking good, Neil. 
 

For info, those mismatched panel lines you showed on the upper fuselage are actually correct - according to some Granger plans I have. They are slightly offset forward/aft as depicted in the kit. 
 

It’s interesting that NATO green matches the Eduard etch set - for some reason their colours are often off which is a shame as otherwise they produce some lovely stuff. The cockpit should be dark dull green in reality - the same as the B-17 (which is another error on Eduard’s etch as they always seem to use interior green for the B-17!)

Hi Tom, I'd be interested to see those plans. Eduards etch for the 1/48 B24 ball turret has the ammo boxes above as per B17 but on the B24's are inside the ball turret so Eduard are not infalable

content://com.android.chrome.FileProvider/images/screenshot/16078890171041535751480.jpg

 

[dogsbody]

51 minutes ago, neil5208 said:

Hi Tom, I'd be interested to see those plans. Eduards etch for the 1/48 B24 ball turret has the ammo boxes above as per B17 but on the B24's are inside the ball turret so Eduard are not infalable

content://com.android.chrome.FileProvider/images/screenshot/16078890171041535751480.jpg

 

 

 

I've got this:

 

 

 

It's a Granger from Aerodata International No. 11.

 

 

 

Chris

[tomprobert]

It’s interesting re. the ammo for the ball turret. The B-17 never had the external ammo boxes and all ammunition was held inside the turret. 
 

The B-24 was much the same - the turret itself was more or less identical to the B-17. As far as I can ascertain the external ammunition boxes only came about for the B-32 Dominator but some very late B-24s may have had them as well. I’ve never seen a WWII era photo of them fitted to the B-17 and only one of them on the B-24 - it was an M-model if memory serves me correctly. 
 

If I remember I’ll bring the Granger plans along to the next club meet - Chris above has given a preview but looking at your picture of the model some describing may be needed. 

[neil5208]

Picked up some AK True Metal paste to try on this one

Etch is going into the cockpit. And it fits inside the fuselage with no butchery required.

Air bottles sprayed yellow, may try using a fine permanent pen on the clamps rather than painting.

I wanted to check the wing fit to see if I could paint them separately so I taped the wing together and found that the wing edges are fine but each of the engines has a gap that will need filling

The fit of the wings into the fuselage is good enough though

And finally both wings fitted.

This highlights the nose issue, a bit warped.

[neil5208]

Framing is finished, almost sad as I found it quite relaxing. Installed the air bottles, now this is best approximation based off cut away diagrams and various pictures as there seems to be numerous combination of air bottle fit. Some have lots others have none, this maybe theatre or role dependant. Also added the wooden board underneath the window, again some aircraft had these and others didn't.

Finished the cockpit framing on both sides and sprayed to match the IP and floor.

Made up the 2 boxes that will become the .50 cal ammo boxes, this size and shape appears to be fairly common in B24's.Paint is deliberately streaky to appear like wood grain

I was hoping to do more etch work this evening but my super glue had a different plan and decided to weld itself to the bench.

Did a test of the AK True Metal paste as well. I sprayed 2 plastic cards, the first gloss black the second matt black and once dry sprayed a thin layer of the AK paste on. 30mins later I tried polishing. This is second card, 1/2 polished

And this is the first card

The gloss black base layer is definitely shinier when buffed, I also sprayed the AK paste directly onto unprimed plastic and buffed those parts. The bomb bay door on the right had the mix applied by brush instead of spraying and has an interesting result when buffed

Some further testing required I think.

Edited December 16, 2020 by neil5208

[neil5208]

Been back at work on the Liberator today, not much but the waist gun ammo boxes are in place and the hatches fitted in the open position.

Etch belt have been fitted to the pilots seats and new arm rest made from plastic card as the etch parts supplied by Eduard where to small.

Next on the job list are waist MG mounts and floor, ball turret mount, detail for the rear of the cockpit.