Douglas B-18A - Bolo Defined - Walkaround Pictures Added

[RainierHooker]

bolo [ boh-loh ]

 noun,plural bo·los.

   1. a large, heavy, single-edged knife or machete for hacking, used in the Philippines and by the U.S. Army.

   2. a soldier who does not meet the minimum standards of marksmanship.

   3. a clumsy or incompetent soldier.

   4. bolo tie

 verb (used without object),bo·loed, bo·lo·ing.

   5. to fail to meet the minimum standards of marksmanship.

 

The Douglas B-18 was given the moniker "Bolo" ostensibly because it was big, brutish, and brash like the Philippine knife that was the primary use of the term in the english language. In the heady days just prior to world war two, the B-18 was the primary bomber in use by the US Army Air Corps. It was a brilliant idea; use the tried, tested, and true wings and mechanicals of Douglas' sensational DC-2 passenger liner and couple it with a new fuselage bristling with turrets and crew positions to fulfill any role required of a bomb group. Its low cost and high serviceability ensured that the bulbous twin-engined bomber from Santa Monica beat out Boeing's B-17 in the USAAC's next-bomber competition and was ordered into full production in 1936. Unfortunately for Douglas, and the Air Corps, those that remember the B-18 (very few folks indeed) remember it in the light of the more pejorative definitions of the word "Bolo". By the time the war had broken out, it became quite clear that the B-18 was quite useless as a bomber or reconnaissance aircraft. It was far too slow, far too lightly defended, far too incapable of taking battle damage, and carried far too small a bomb load to be considered anything short of hopeless in a fight. The one thing the B-18 had going for it was range. The USAAC and the RCAF, the only other official users of the type, both came to the same conclusion: just about its only worth in the war was as a transport or as a maritime patrol plane. Indeed, the first U-Boat sunk by an American aircraft was sunk by a B-18A off French Guiana in 1942.

 

Here's my second stab at this group build, using another esoteric aircraft from my odd stash...

 

30EABF37-20C2-42E8-9B8D-AFA22A3426F2 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

At present, my first inkling is to build a B-18A assigned to one of the USAAF Anti-Submarine groups stationed in the Caribbean. Like these ones of the 99th Bomb Squadron in British Guyana:

 

B-18_of_the_99th_Bombardment_Squadron_Caribbean_1942 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

However, I have been toying with building one of the B-18's that were stationed here in my hometown, down the street at McCord Air Force Base. They actually have a B-18A on display, so regardless I'll be making a little field trip in the next few days.

 

Anyway, on to the model. I have Special Hobby's B-18A Bolo "At War" boxing. Upon opening the package, it appears that it comes with enough bits to build either a B-18, B-18A, or a B-18B, although the instructions and decals leave out all but the B-18A:

 

B1992629-E23C-4177-858A-405B0B2D29E9 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Stay tuned to see if I can hack away at this build successfully, or if I bolo it completely...

Edited March 2 by RainierHooker
grammar

[stevehnz]

I'll happily watch this, I've given up wanting one having come to the realization I won't be able to display the big kits I have, let alone another, though I do quite like the slightly more warlike ones in your photo above & even more the ones with the snoz & fat tail. Whatever you choose, I'll try to keep up.

Steve.

[RainierHooker]

Thanks @stevehnz this is one of those models that I bought when I re-entered the hobby some years ago but then buried it in the stash as I judged my skills not up to the task of a short run multimedia kit. I’ve always had an affinity towards this homely bomber ever since I saw the example on display at the local Air Force base, especially the version with the upturned excessively glazed nose. Strange that something viewed as the peak of modernity so quickly changed to looking awkward and thoroughly out of step.

[RainierHooker]

Searching my phone, I found a picture I took a fe years ago of this big, but not really beautiful bomber at McCord Air Force Base's Heritage Hill:

 

60FCFC12-E451-4E93-91CA-2769878B1D0E by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but the next time the sun gives me a chance I plan on giving her another visit. Maybe I can convince myself to do a NMF finished B-18A... but maybe not. Maybe?

[modelling minion]

Brilliant choice and one that I have been thinking of adding to my collection too, I'm drawn to the Brazilian one or maybe one of the RCAF boxings, though some of the USAAF ones in the mostly white anti-submarine colours look good too.

[Wings unlevel]

Ah very nice choice! Progress sure didn’t wait for the B-18!

[RainierHooker]

After going round and round, I've decided to build this Bolo as one of the local boys of the 17th Bomb Group in the Natural Metal scheme in use immediately prior to the US's entry into WWII. I found this picture of a 17th BG B-18A:

 

B-18A_17BG_Felts_Field_1940 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

So far this is the only photo I've found of a Bolo assigned to McCord Air Force Base's 17th BG. Oddly, this photo is captioned as being taken at Felts Field, a small airstrip outside of Spokane Washington, almost 300 miles away and home to a National Guard observation squadron. The Bolo is clearly marked "BQ" which was the code numbers of the 17th BG until the code number system was revised in May 1940. The 17th's code changed to 17B thereafter, but it's likely that it took a little while to repaint all that alphabet soup throughout the group. I've ordered a copy of William Wolf's monograph on the B-18, maybe I can find better references in there, but for now I think I have a good idea on the direction of the build. The 17th's aircraft were fairly plainly adorned, I'll just have to pick a squadron and aircraft number and that'll determine the markings and colors of trimmings.

 

If I completely booger up the NMF (I can't claim to be good at them) there's always the option to slather on a later OD anti-sub scheme.

[RainierHooker]

Enough beating around the bush... it's time to get going on the kit. The first order of business was washing the sprues, apparently Special Hobby had gotten a good deal on release agent just prior to molding my kit. Every plastic part was covered in a shiny slippery film. A few minutes with water and dish soap, and then the Bolo was set out to dry:

 

81464E1E-B17A-4819-8AEE-5C516570CFCE by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Then just to get an idea of how much shelf space this ungainly thing is going to take up, I taped together the fuselage and wings. It's utterly massive for a twin engined thing. Here it is compared to my most recent build, the Kyushu Q1W1 also for this group build:

 

D7892473-81C8-4693-8371-6195B8BEE7A7 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

[RainierHooker]

Before starting into the cockpit and interiors, I went down a rabbit hole trying to reconcile Special Hobby's color callouts and pictures of the restored B-18A in the National Museum of the US Air Force. I found a stunningly good series of Kodachrome color photos taken by Life Magazine for their July 1941 issue. Turns out neither Special Hobby or the US Air Force restoration crew got it exactly right. These are a few of the photos from the Life series showing the interiors of the Bolo:

 

b18barksdale004 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale006 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale008 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale011 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale012 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale014 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

b18barksdale009 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Rather than mostly silver (Special Hobby's ref) or a combination of a Silver and Kelly Green (USAF museum) most of the interiors are a distinctive pale greenish yellow. I'm guessing that rather than a paint, it's likely a fresh Alodyne or similar anodizing. Ive got my work cut out for me.

 

[vppelt68]

Those pics are absolutely priceless for a reference, nice finds! V-P

[dogsbody]

I'll be watching this build!

 

I have a Digby kit in my stash so I'll be looking for any rough spots you may find.

 

 

 

Chris

[marvinneko]

This is the plane the Americans (before entering the war) landed next to the Canadian border (they weren't allowed to take weapons into a country at war). We had farmers drag them across the border into Canada using horses. Then our guys jumped in and flew them away. I'm attracted to them based on the story and historical photos but they're pretty pricey kits once they get here.

[RainierHooker]

Time to start slinging paint, plastic, and glue...

 

I started by mixing up a 50:50 mixture of AK "Aluminum" and "Yellow Zinc Chromate" which I found to be a decent match to the pale greenish yellow apparent on the wartime Bolo's interior. I sprayed this on the majority of the interior components except for the cockpit floor which I painted dark brown to match the example in the above Life magazine photos and a few other components such as doors and the chart table in strait aluminum color. After the major parts had dried, I started sticking pieces together:

 

60A18D50-58CB-4D71-870D-EE61A7F40CB1 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

While I waited for all that glue to dry, I started sub assembly construction starting with the DC-2's, ahem B-18's, wings and horizontal stabilizers:

 

A4496F64-9C54-45DB-A2DD-C7C1CC8A2C5B by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

This provided me with the first real indications as to the fit of the kit. To put it bluntly, this is definitely a short run kit. Flash is rampant and the sprue attachment points are large. The wings had decent fit, but I will have to use some putty or gap-filling CA on the leading and trailing edges even after making sure everything was in alignment. There are no alignment pins/sockets. There is nothing in the landing gear bays, so once I get some good references, these will be a place to put in some effort to fill the caverns.

[RainierHooker]

Moving back to the cockpit, I wrestled with the first of the PE in the kit. The instrument panel is a multi layer affair with PE and printed acetate for the gauge faces. Not my favorite medium, and this would be a great subject for the likes of Yahu to create a pre-printed panel. Secondly the main engine control console is a resin piece to which a number of PE parts affix: a trim wheel, throttle and mixture levers, and the lower face of the console...

 

0250A211-55D3-4B7F-B3CB-126475A299C9 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

I persevered and painted the aforementioned assemblies as well as a few other details still on the PE fret:

 

ECE5353C-B009-470C-ACD3-566D0A5A569D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

That's about all my eyes and shaky paintbrushes could handle for one night. Back to busying up the cockpit on the next bench session...

[vppelt68]

For me, that's some pretty scary stuff you're dealing with. Excellent work! V-P

[Wings unlevel]

1 hour ago, RainierHooker said:

The instrument panel is a multi layer affair with PE and printed acetate for the gauge faces. Not my favorite medium, and this would be a great subject for the likes of Yahu to create a pre-printed panel. Secondly the main engine control console is a resin piece to which a number of PE parts affix: a trim wheel, throttle and mixture levers, and the lower face of the console...

Fortune favours the brave! Lovely work on these.

[modelling minion]

Off to a good start. Sounds like Special Hobby kits are very similar as I am dealing with very much the same things on my Caproni, not insurmountable but a bit of a pain at times, especially the sometimes very small PE parts.

[81-er]

You're off to a great start on this one, and with some superb reference photos to boot! The Bolo seems to me to be a fine example of the rapidly changing views on aircraft in the 30's, with a large number of oddball and (now) antiquated looking aircraft as manufacturers and governments tried to predict the future of aircraft design and gain an advantage over potential rivals

 

James

[dogsbody]

An RCAF Digby. Credited with sinking a U-boat. For a number of years, the pilot's son and I worked together.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[RainierHooker]

Still chugging along with this one, but still haven't gotten out of the cockpit...

 

D33E593A-7421-4648-9E4D-D85CA7A64F95 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

As you can see I've added all the normal requisite parts and details, particularly seatbelts. I also added a few "panels" to the sidewalls, made from thin styrene, to emulate the soundproofing blankets along the cockpit sides and to hide the unsightly hole left by the negative of the wing root.

 

A45C35D4-A400-46FE-AA42-228BC440347A by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Then we started into the first problems with the kit's fit. In order for the cockpit section to go in, I had to whittle down several very large injection points scattered throughout the fuselage. Then I had to almost completely remove this boss that locates the front latitudinal wall of the cockpit, it was far to large and overly thick:

 

52EF682B-BC0B-41AA-925E-C3E53B76C88E by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Once I'd cleared all the obstacles in the interior's way, it all went together looking fairly spot-on...

 

55E6FDAF-F120-48EC-931E-FA276EF80AE6 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Thankfully, before committing to glue, I checked the fit of the transparencies: 

 

5D5A122B-326E-4AE1-9394-1AEFC7A4CF1D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

The cockpit glazing as furnished by special hobby is about 2mm narrower than the fuselage, the nose transparency about 1.5mm too skinny. So I took it all back apart and started narrowing both fuselage halves at the center seam and the whole of the interior parts. I think I have it just about right, some careful narrowing and fairing of the outside fuselage, aft of the canopy, as well as some creative glueing will need to be done but I think it's almost ready. Before then, I have a few ideas to add some busyness to the cockpit interior before final close-up.

 

47252703-A5AA-40F9-97A8-6A5A26671A6D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

Edited March 2 by RainierHooker

[Zephyr91]

Good spot and fix regarding the glazing.  That would have been very frustrating to find out after the fuselage halves were joined.

 

Enjoying this build.

 

Rob

[Col.]

Smart work Evan. Although it seems that Special Hobby are making you work for this one more than is reasonable.

[81-er]

That's a very lucky spot on the different widths of the glazing, you seem to be on top of it now though. I like the added sound deadening panels, very effective and an inventive way of hiding the wing root

 

James

[RainierHooker]

Thanks guys, the remedial work is definitely a hit to the modeling mojo, especially after my recent spate of building really nice Eduard, Tamiya, and FineMolds kits. Hopefully the biggest speed bump had been surmounted (I'm not counting on that) and my desire to have a Bolo on the display shelf push this one through to completion.

 

Tomorrow finally has a forecast without rain in it (not counting on that either) so maybe a visit to McCord's restored Bolo in the morning can restore motivation. Failing that, I might need to slap together an Airfix Spitfire or some such to regain momentum...

[RainierHooker]

As I was running out to the local hobby shop to collects some thinner and paints, I noticed a glimmer of blue sky braking through the clouds. So I changed tack and drove to McCord Field (now part of Joint Base Lewis McCord) and "Herritage Hill" the small outdoor museum overlooking the departure end of the field. Among other examples of aircraft that formerly called the base home, is this awkward beauty:

 

3817B7B1-7528-4A0A-87F9-5A2144C53F3D by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Many overall and detail shots were taken, including these:

 

9DE9B333-9B81-490B-B417-D3177A8C63C0 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

267C056E-71A8-4868-92D1-640C1C97F0F2 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

38F81FEC-2E8D-499D-BE62-D04E472807C6 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

E66CD745-3D8E-410E-9C17-23018A89D4DB by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

33E3FF5E-8A98-4C6A-8CB4-1D469EB5E3B7 by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

Others are available to whomever would like them, they can be accessed on my Flickr photostream by clicking the link under the pics. Ive also sent a message to @Julien should he like to add a walkaround to that section of this site.