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Eduard / Hasegawa 1/72 Liberator GR Mk.V Coastal Command


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Hello! My next build is the fantastic looking Eduard "Riders in the Sky" Coastal Command Liberator. There are 13 (!) options for different schemes and I've decided to model the Mk. V, BZ755 as I like its clean lines and the two-tone camouflage on the uppers:

 

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First impression of the kit when you open the box is that there is a lot of plastic! As I'm sure lots of you know, Eduard have re-boxed a Hasegawa kit and added in some extra sprues to build up a GR Mk. III or V. The exterior detail of the kit is lovely with subtle, recessed panel lines and rivets all over. Inside is a bit varied, the bomb-bay detail looks good but cockpit and front gunner / bomb aimer position are pretty bare, there's also no detail in the front wheel bay. 

 

After checking out some previous builds on here and watching some walkarounds on youtube (of US B-24s admittedly) I've come up with an initial plan of action which will address the main areas which I think will make a difference:

 -  Add detail to the cockpit and bomb aimer position, e.g. framework on the walls, some cabling, scratchbuilt bits and bobs basically. I might pose it with the cockpit windows open so a bit more can be seen

 - Do something about the front wheelbay, probably scratch built from plasticard

 - Add Eduard photoetch to the bomb bay, along with new resin bomb bay doors

 - Improve the rear crew compartment with framing on the walls, resin oxygen bottles and scratch made ammo boxes, etc - I'll display it with the hatches open so we can see a bit of what is going on inside

 - Resin wheels, engines and turbochargers 

 

Extra goodies arrived yesterday along with some paints so I can get started on the interior:

 

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I've started with the cockpit, taking off the blocks for the seats to sit on (I'll replace these with something later) and adding some plausible looking detail with aluminium tape. I've also removed a load of plastic from the panel which goes in front of the cockpit as this appears to have a bin a frame rather than a bulkhead. 

 

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Thanks for taking a look, any hints or warnings greatly appreciated, and yep, I know I've got to find somewhere to stash a load of weight so it isn't a tail sitter:  tungsten shot from my father in law's shotgun cartridge usually does the trick! I'm afraid my builds usually take ages so relax and put your feet up if you want to follow along. Cheers, Sam

 

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17 minutes ago, RJ-WobblyHands said:

I will pull up a seat , eat popcorn, drink coffee , beer  and take notes if that is ok :) , I have one of these in the stash and its on the build list 

Thanks RJ! I'll do my best to explain and show what I'm doing along the way. Quick question: any idea what colour these might have been inside?!? This seems to be a can of worms as I have been reading up about B-24s in general but my plan is to go for zinc chromate green in the back, neutral grey in the bomb bay and a dark green up front. 

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This’ll be a fun project to follow. 
 

I’ve done a bit of research on the B-24 over the years and one thing that quickly becomes apparent is it is a minefield pinning down definitive detail as there were so many plants building so many variants. 
 

However, for the D-model you’re most likely looking at bronze green nose and cockpit sections, neutral grey bomb bays and natural metal rear fuselage. 
 

Hope that’s helps?

Tom

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2 hours ago, dogsbody said:

There are some photos of an RCAF Liberator nose posted here: 

 

 

 

Chris

Thanks Chris, I hadn't spotted that post, the photos are fantastic and I'll put half an hour aside one evening to read the discussion properly! Cheers!

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5 hours ago, tomprobert said:

This’ll be a fun project to follow. 
 

I’ve done a bit of research on the B-24 over the years and one thing that quickly becomes apparent is it is a minefield pinning down definitive detail as there were so many plants building so many variants. 
 

However, for the D-model you’re most likely looking at bronze green nose and cockpit sections, neutral grey bomb bays and natural metal rear fuselage. 
 

Hope that’s helps?

Tom

 

Thanks Tom, that's really helpful. The rear fuselage seems to have varied a lot depending on factory, year, etc, etc, but natural metal will look neat if i can get the framing right so happy to go with that, cheers!

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@Jackson Duvalier @mark.au @bigbadbadge @Planebuilder62 thanks for the interest! Be warned things don't happen quickly with my builds, expect I'll finish this in the summer some time (nice to think about locked down with snow falling outside!) Having said that I got a bit more done last night: sanded off proud sink marks on the nose sidewalls and attached the front floor, frame and cockpit to one of them. I then started to add some detail to the side walls starting with thin plasticard for framing:

 

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Hopefully I'll get a bit more done this week, thanks for dropping in, Sam

 

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Dear Sam

 

I followed the instructions when building the nose of mine a few years ago and subsequently had to remove it 3 times. With 20 20 hindsight it is best to glue one transperent nose half to its matching fuselage half. Even that needs to be done in stages as the curvatures do not match. Also the guy who designed the cockit parts you have started on did not check if those bits fit into the nose.

 

A bit surprise for a Hasegawa kit.

 

regards Toby

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1 hour ago, Planebuilder62 said:

Dear Sam

 

I followed the instructions when building the nose of mine a few years ago and subsequently had to remove it 3 times. With 20 20 hindsight it is best to glue one transperent nose half to its matching fuselage half. Even that needs to be done in stages as the curvatures do not match. Also the guy who designed the cockit parts you have started on did not check if those bits fit into the nose.

 

A bit surprise for a Hasegawa kit.

 

regards Toby

 Thanks for the heads up Toby. I stuck the various bits and pieces together with tape and the good news is everything seems to fit ok, maybe you got a dud one? Cheers,  Sam

 

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Evening all, only a little progress this week but thought I'd show you what I've been up to:

 

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One side of the nose section framing complete! More detail will be added similar to the cockpit sidewall and then cabling as well to busy things up. I've also been looking at what to do with the radio operator room behind the cockpit and the wheel bay below and have found these two fantastic builds to help:

 

And this amazing website for further reference: http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/cockpits/WWII_tour/WWII-1.html 

 

Hopefully these will be useful to someone else in the future. Cheers, Sam

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Great choice! I’ve recently finished one of these but as a B-24J and really enjoyed it. Nice work getting all that detail added.

 

I have to say I found the nose section to be alright, little bit of jiggling around and it lined up fine. However the upper nose section and cockpit transparency needed re setting and a slight trim. This was probably down to my poor craftsmanship though, as everything else slotted together delightfully.

 

Rob

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Thanks Rob @rob85! Bit more progress over the weekend: framed up the other side of the nose (taking care to make sure there's no interference when assembled) and added nose weight to the roof of the wheel bay. This is tungsten shot which is glued in with two part epoxy:

 

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My next task is to detail the wheel bay so i started by adding a "false" roof to hide the shot.

 

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I'll let this dry well and then keep going with the frames - not too far off getting a first coat of paint down! 

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Evening all, fairly minimal progress this week with just some detail in the wheel bay to show off. I've found a few photos of this area and there are a couple of useful YouTube walkarounds but mostly have had to make it up... there's lots of cables down here as well but will had these after a coat of paint. More to show next week hopefully!

 

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Managed to get the half front section glued to the fuselage this morning:

 

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No issues with fit so far and I've checked that the other fuselage and nose section will come together ok as well. I've done this now for two reasons: first I can finish off the wheel bay back wall; this back wall doesn't seem to exist in the real aircraft but not sure I can remove it without fatally weakening the nose gear - anyway, still pondering this. Second the photos and walkthroughs I've seen don't have a solid bulkhead between the cockpit and radio operator's room (?) behind. My plan here is to remove lots of plastic from the kit part (laid flat in the photo) to form a frame and then scratch some detail in the room behind which can hopefully be seen a bit through the canopy.  Lots of effort for probably not much reward but I really enjoy scratch building these detailed bits so I'm going to keep on going! Cheers, Sam

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Looking good! I ran into the same issue with the bulkhead when I built my B-24H. It looks like Hasegawa cheated a little there. I used the kit's bulkhead and cut out sort of a T-shape. You are right that nothing can be seen in that compartment though, so if you do need to add some more weight other than that tungsten you're using it's a great spot for it. There's a photo my "solution" in the first post here:

 

 

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33 minutes ago, elger said:

Looking good! I ran into the same issue with the bulkhead when I built my B-24H. It looks like Hasegawa cheated a little there. I used the kit's bulkhead and cut out sort of a T-shape. You are right that nothing can be seen in that compartment though, so if you do need to add some more weight other than that tungsten you're using it's a great spot for it. There's a photo my "solution" in the first post here:

 

 

 

Thanks mate, that's a lovely build which I followed along at the time and has provided lots of inspiration -  the b&w pictures at the end of the RFI look real! I'm pretty sure I'll end up doing something similar to your "T" cut and plan to put a desk, chair and some radio gubbins back there. I think the next place I'll stash some weight will be in the hole behind the wheel bay, not so good from a lever arm point of view but decent amount of space so can get plenty of mass in there - I'm hoping that will be enough but will soon have to tape everything together and test it out.

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3 hours ago, SaminCam said:

Ps @elger i think there's a spare transparent nose section in the eduard boxing if you'd like it to go with the noseless aircraft you've got the rest of?

 

Thanks but I am liberated out for now myself :)

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