Monogram 1/48 B-24 Liberator

[RAF Liberators]

Part 1

It's a really old kit but with a bit of TLC it should stand the test of time against it's modern counterparts.
It's going to be KH248 when it was with No. 178 Squadron R.A.F. at Amendola in Italy (before it transferred to 31 Squadron SAAF where they tried to land it in a building).
I've actually got two of these old girls so there will a bit of part swapping. I already started one of these kits about 5 years ago but never got very far. I'm going to be using some of these bits and canablising them by pulling off parts that are already made and scratch building new parts on to them so effectively I'll still get two kites but one will have more detail.



What's in the box






As I said before this kit was started about 5 years ago, I didn't get very far and I don't like what I did so it's time to pull some bits apart and add some new stuff.
Here we have a photo of a stock cockpit section.


Not a lot going for it as you can see, there used to be a PE set for the B-24 but being stuck out in the middle of nowhere on an island these things aren't so easy to come by. That and it kind of takes away the fun in scratch building stuff
So I take some plasticard cut 9 semi-circles


I then glue them all together with alternate ones lower down and sand off the bottom until they are all level this gives the recessed look of throttle mounts.


Once this is done I then added some thin strips of plasticard to make up the throttle handles. This was trimmed to a rough length and melted down to create the throttle knobs on the top.


While not as clean and crisp as a PE throttle section it does the job and it's all my own work


I got hacked off with the center console and decided to ditch it and built a new one rearward of the throttles I'd created. So I promptly sawed off the kit formed one and built a new one from plasticard and scraps.


All done, it's a fair representation of a B-24 J console now


I also didn't like the preformed seats that come with it and find the PE seats are too thin which makes them look out of scale. So I started to scratch build some new seats based on the modified seats fitted to RAF Liberators.
I thought I'd add a photo of one pre-assembled they are only made from plasticard but the one on the right looks pretty good once it's filled and sanded.


Still plodding through scratch building the interior as I go, I think I'll probably build the entire interior (competition time permitting) and turn it in to a cutaway if I like it enough.








Had to add a bulkhead between the cockpit and the navigator's compartment as Monogram seemed to of omitted that. Everything you see in the cockpit and the Nav area has been scratchbuilt from bits and pieces of plastic
I still have some work to do on the cockpit section, pedals and "dashboard" etc. I had to call an old air force buddy up and ask about whether there would of been some kind of hazard sign on the floor to identify the hole in the ground between the Navigator section and the bomb bays. I couldn't find anything, no pictures or anything. Unlike the USAAF the RAF where very secretive and no unsanctioned photos of operational aircraft were permitted. This is why there are far fewer photos available of operational RAF aircraft in comparison.
Anyway he seems to remember there being the yellow and black lines around the hatch. Another ad-lib was the fire extinguisher, colour period photos of interiors are few and far between so had to use what I had, so I hope it's right.

I started getting the ball turret parts ready for assembly, to my horror and I found that one of the barrels had been sheared off. Nothing major they looked crap anyway. So I chopped off the remaining barrel drilled out the holes for the new barrels I was now going to make
Grabbed a bit of 1.2mm rod I had in my stash from an old stretched sprue, drilled out the end of the barrels and made the vent holes along the length and hey presto new barrels.
Remember these barrels are just a smidge under 1.2mm and it's all done with a naked eye.


The Fuselage is ready for the spray shop.


The 3 stages of the engines.
[IMG]http://worldwartwozone.com/forums/attachments/group-builds/6319d1232942844-group-build-6-month-picture-301.jpg[/IMG
* Bare plastic
* A bit of painting and a bit of shading.
* Additional hoses added. Rubbed off the silver coating from the wire so it's back to nice copper. Cut to length and then bent to form the hosing.

The wing parts have been fixed together and the engines mounted, it's minus the engine cowlings at this point. The existing cowl flaps are shut and are quite thick and ugly. This picture also shows all of the raised detail that is currently on the wing and enjine nacelles.


Close up of a nacelle before meeting Mr Dremel and Mrs Glasspaper



I've removed the old cowl flaps and rescribed the panel lines on the wings (not the nacelles yet).


New Cowl Flaps added and all the detail waiting to be added.


Here's a close up of the detailing on the wings


I didn't like the bomb bays so I made some new ones, here they are bolted on to the side of the bird.

[RAF Liberators]

Part 2
Base coat is down over the top of the silver.


Well she's getting there, this is the biggest thing I've built in years.



Still plodding along. The decaling is done, the noseart is a custom one I did in photoshop to represent my grandfather's kite (cinders was my grandmother's nickname). The decaling is a right pain in the arse to use, unless you are using the Oki Alps printers then you have to work out how you want your images to print. The Oki printers are apparantly the only ones that have a white ink. If you think about it anything you print uses the colour of the paper (white in most cases) to mix with the other colours to produce the effect. I had to make the love heart black so that I could print it on a white background, so I had to mask off a love heart spray it white and then apply the "decal".


All it needs now is some weathering.




All the bits and pieces have now been slapped on and I've started the weathering process.
Here's a picture of the undercarriage with the steel hoses that go to the brakes. If you look hard enough you can see where I spent hours carving the damn treads on the tyres lol


Close up of the nose this now that I've flattened down with a Matt acrylic varnish.


Basic highlights a wash and some chipping on the leading edges.








Almost done now.



OK thanks for sticking with this, hope you like the end result.

[lesofprimus]

Looks phenominal....

[Maglar]

A beaut she is!

[RAF Liberators]

Thanks guys, I was very happy with it as it was my first completed build after a very long break. Things just seemed to go right (except the guns which all snapped and had to be replaced and the first Cowl Flaps that broke off during handling). I would of used resins and PE but nothing is available for these old girls now

[syscom3]

Nice job.

We dont see many RAF B24's from the MTO.

[RAF Liberators]

Thanks, if you want to see more Libs from 205 Group see my website RAF Liberator Squadrons
It's a shame I built it then found your MTO Group build, I built it for another site's group build. Still I've got another 1/48 Lib J and 2 x more 1/48 Lib D's in the stash awaiting biulds
Gary

[Geedee]

Speechless !

That looks a cracking build mate well done. Only observation I have is the map on the Navs table is out of date !

[Wildcat]

Very impressive! I love the scheme, well done mate.

[RAF Liberators]

Not only is it out of date but the Nav got it off an Australian, so it's upside down
Thanks for the comments, hope no one minds the large number of photos.

[Wurger]

Although ww2 bombers aren't my favourite I'm very impressed.Well done M8.

[Micdrow]

Awsome Job!!!

[badbear]

That a nice job raf you must have put a ton of weight in the nose to get it to sit on the nose wheel mine sits on the flippin tail skid and thats after weighting it with half inch ball bearings.BB

[Wayne Little]

Great job Gary looks real good mate!

[RAF Liberators]

I'll let you in to a little secret, that ladder they gave you, it's to stop it being a tail sitter, shhh don't tell anyone