Speckled Jim Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 (edited) For my next trick I am going to build the B-29 'Enola Gay' The aircraft that dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. As you can see its the 1:72 Academy offering, I have started her already and so far the quite detailed cockpit is coming along nicely, James Edited September 16, 2011 by RAF Colonel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I'll be interested in this one, I've never seen Academy's B-29 built up so it makes a nice change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F111Fan Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 Wow, this should be good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 I guess it wouldn't really be a Bomber GB without the Enola Gay - glad that you're bringing her to the party James! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 Well cliff someones got to bring in the fat lady to sign.... and to be frank I have a Choir of Fat Ladies!..... well the memphis belle is the exception as she's quite slim.... And for those wanting to see Bockscar and fat man done wait till the Pacific GB, when the two will "Fly" In formation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Curse you, Sir. For every time I view you thread I spend the next 6 hours in a 1980's time warp singing the OMD song! lol! That cockpit looks detailed for 72, very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted July 10, 2011 Author Share Posted July 10, 2011 Cockpits finished, The Crew Tunnel is drying and the crew bunks and rest area are all getting painted and should be finished tonight! Then we just need to get Col Tibbets and his Cpt Lewis into there seats and I can seal them inside the monster! later I'll try and add the Bombardier... the cockpit wouldn't look the same without him sitting up front! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Great start Colonel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 The cockpit looking aft, Crew rest area.... I'll admit I wasn't as careful here as I was in the cockpit as this will all only be viewable through a pinhead sized window! Ohhhh Shinnnnnnnnnnnney! The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed the variation of greens used on the interior, thats because when I started this kit well over a year ago I didn't care for accuracy and just did the cockpit in Humbrol 78 however since the Bombay, bulkheads and crew tunnel are going to be visible though the open bomb bay doors Ive changed them to the proper color of army green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Great to see how much internal detailing comes with the kit (I love the crew tunnel). Does the fuselage come looking shiney like that or have you developed a radical new approach to NMF, involving pre-assembly painting? It's looking really good. Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 I wouldn't fancy crawling along THAT tunnel at 30,000 feet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 I couldn't Imagine trying to spray paint the beast when she was complete... as I am doing it with Humbrol No. 11 spraypaint.... however part of me tells me Ive wasted my time and money as even where I have carefully filed down the the sprue connection it still looks rough.... and there is not quick fix unfortunately, just going to have to live with it! Really need to invest in an airbrush I think! And pedrovski, if I remember rightly the bombardier on the Enola Gay had to manually arm little boy during the flight, imagine that standing in a really cold bomb-bay 30,000 feet over enemy territory with a highly volatile nuclear bomb at your fingertips and you've to arm it! wouldnt trade places with him for the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basosz Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 And pedrovski, if I remember rightly the bombardier on the Enola Gay had to manually arm little boy during the flight, imagine that standing in a really cold bomb-bay 30,000 feet over enemy territory with a highly volatile nuclear bomb at your fingertips and you've to arm it! wouldnt trade places with him for the world! "They never told me about this big red button... what would that do??" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 ... a radical new approach to NMF, involving pre-assembly painting? Cliff I couldn't Imagine trying to spray paint the beast when she was complete... as I am doing it with Humbrol No. 11 spraypaint.... however part of me tells me Ive wasted my time and money as even where I have carefully filed down the the sprue connection it still looks rough.... and there is not quick fix unfortunately, just going to have to live with it! We have stumbled on the same idea of pre assembly painting, albeit for different reasons. Is it messing with your head doing things in the 'wrong' order? It seems very odd to my ossified mind! Your interior is very nice. Is your fuselage all glued together now? Please let us know how you solve the problem of repainting the join. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigVern1966 Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 (edited) And pedrovski, if I remember rightly the bombardier on the Enola Gay had to manually arm little boy during the flight, imagine that standing in a really cold bomb-bay 30,000 feet over enemy territory with a highly volatile nuclear bomb at your fingertips and you've to arm it! wouldnt trade places with him for the world! Major Thomas Ferebee, the bombardier on the mission did none of the above. The 4 cordite charges used to shoot the Uranium bullet down the gun within the weapon were loaded by Captain William 'Deke' Parsons USN (the senior Military officer on board and head of the ordnance department at Los Alamos which developed the gun type atomic bomb) and his assistant, 2nd Lt Morris Jeppson (also from the weapon development team) who started the procedure about 8 minutes after take off with the aircraft at low level. Final arming of the bomb's electrical firing system was done by Jeppson fitting 3 arming plugs on the outside of the bomb, at 07:30 just before the aircraft climbed from its cruising altitude of 9000 ft to the bombing altitude of 30,000 ft (about 200 miles from Japan). None of the crew bar Tibbets and the Los Alamos personnel on board really knew what they were carrying, but for the fact that it was a very powerful bomb and what its effects would be (during the briefing before the raid, the crew should have seen a film of the Trinity test, but the projector broke, so Parsons had described it on a blackboard). However, Tibbets did inform the crew of what the weapon was, after visiting the rear compartment to talk the crew in there on the outbound leg. While there the rear compartment crew quizzed Tibbets on what they were carrying, after guesses of 'A chemists nightmare' and 'a physicists nightmare' got a shake of his head, it was while he was starting his way down the tunnel that one of the crew ( Tech Sgt Bob Carson, the rear gunner, if memory serves) asked "Colonel, are we splitting atoms today???" at which point, Tibbets looked back, nodded, and replied "Yep, that's about the size of it". He then crawled down the tunnel back to the cockpit and informed the whole crew that they were carrying an atomic bomb. Your right about one thing however, the Mark 1 'Little Boy' Atomic bomb was a very volatile design which could cause a nuclear event (from release of large amounts of radiation to full yield detonation) due to any number of accidental reasons, hence the reason almost every nuclear weapon design since uses the "Fat Man" implosion method of getting a critical mass together (every detonator in the explosive around the fissile material has to fire at exactly the same time, or you will not get full yield on an implosion weapon, plus implosion is around 10 times more efficient converting the fissile material into energy than the gun method). Little Boy is reckoned to have used around over 80Kg of Enriched Uranium, of around 1.3% of which actually fissioned, giving a yield of 12.5 Kilotonnes, Fat Man on the other had used around 15Kg of Plutonium of which 13% fissioned, resulting in a yield of over 20 Kilotonnes. Nice work on the model by the way. Edited August 6, 2011 by bigVern1966 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 (edited) This build is looking really fine so far. (Edited for my idiocy. I had you mixed up with someone else entirely. I am sorry for any confusion I may have caused.) Edited August 15, 2011 by per ardua ad ostentationem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 Is mama proud of little boy today? Bombay and interior has also been stuck in, Theres a small ammount of glazing to be added then she's going to be sealed and her silver spray paint coat is going to be stripped and reapplied when she is complete... as I am having major issues with sanding and sealing other parts and it looks patchy and rather ugly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Nice to see how things are coming on - that bomb looks really sinister somehow... Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 14, 2011 Author Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks cliff, It looks even more sinister when you see it looking up the bomb bay doors. James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 Fuse is sealed, Wing is also together as well as engine 4, Also the 3 man crew, are coming along nicely.... I do have high hopes that I may just get this kit done in time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 Finished.... However if its okay with the mods pics will go up in the morning? james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Systems are not normal and the Gay has gone down in the Pacific sea.... The Crew, I went to take some better pictures this morning and see how she was doing and I noticed (How I didnt last night is beyond me) that the canopy had frosted over where I had used acetone free nail polish remover to remover some over sprayed paint. So I dont really know what to do now.... obviously I need to fix or replace the canopy, however I dont think I'll submit her... who ever heard of an unmarked B-29.... James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Hi James Sorry to hear about the frosting. Before you do anything too rash, have you tried a coat of Klear over the canopy? It can be really good at repairing even quite scarey surface damage to transparencies. Worth a try! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speckled Jim Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Unfortunately I dont have any Klear, However I will look into getting some or some of that floor polish stuff.. Ive never repaired transparencies.... Thanks Cliff, James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It'sAllGoneHorriblyWrong Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 (edited) Hi James Before trying the Kleer, you might want to have a go with silver polish - I use (new recipe) Silvo. This is a low solvent, low odour, very fine grade polish that is easy to apply with a cotton bud. Just polish away in a circular motion until you achieve the desired result. This may take some time! Any residue may be washed away with water. Obviously, if the fogging has gone quite deep you may need to consider starting off with Micro Mesh or a very fine grade wet'n'dry paper (used wet). Hope this helps Andy Edited September 19, 2011 by It'sAllGoneHorriblyWrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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