Revell B-29 (Humpin Honey)

Hello!

I don't know if YOUR B-29 needs this weight, but I can tell you how to find out - to do this you need to take all the bigger (and heavier) parts and try to put them together somehow, for example put the horizontal stabs in their slots, dry fit the wings. If something doesn't want to fit dry, you need to tape it to the model at it's approximate location. Then you need to support the model to simulate the main gear, it can be as easy as putting a pencil under the fuselage where the main wheels would be. If then your "tape bomb" then decidely wants to tilt forward, then you're good to go. If not, then you have to keep adding weight to your mock up until it doeas want to tilt forward surely. You can then move the support point (the pencil) forward to see how much "margin" you have - and you want some.

Hope this helps - good luck with your "Fortress" and have a nice day

Paweł

It certainly will.  Do as Pawel suggests!

The B-29 most certainly needs nose weight.  When I built mine back in the day, I used some dead D-cell batteries in the crew compartment behind the cockpit.  As Pawel recommended, you will need to tape the major components of your model and perform a balance test.  Locate where the main gear legs attach, then using something like a ruler shown in the attached picture, place the model a bit BEHIND the balance point for a bit of insurance.

The more forward you can get the weight, the less you'll have to add.  And don't worry about the main gear holding up - mine was plenty strong.

And don't use dead batteries!

Pawel,

Thanks, your advise worked perfectly. My B-29 needed just a slight weight incress foward. I used an old fishing lore on the foward bomb rack.

Glad I could help, good luck with your build.

I would love to see the pics, how it turned out if you figure out how to post them here.

Have a nice day

Paweł

If you're talking about the 1/48 scale kit, yes, it's a tail-sitter.

An alternative to adding nose weight is to mount the model on a base, and use a small bolt to secure the model to the base.  You can make a notch in the nose wheel halves and trap the bolt head between them.  Drill a hole in the base and feed the bolt through it.

In the original Monogram issue, that's what Shep Paine did in his B-29 diorama.  He used the same technique with his P-61, too.

I built this model a number of years ago. It is fabulous when finished. Really big.

Go here to see my finished model. There is a link to my WIP of the model. The model has a lot of issues. The WIP solves those problems. https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/177401.aspx

I finished my model in Bare Metal Foil (8 sheets).

Regarding the tail sitting, the model needs a lot of weight up front. First I glued lead weights under the cockpit floor.

Next, I filled a plastic bag with lead balls and filled the bag with white glue to prevent the lead balls from moving.

I wired the bag to the area behind the pilot/copilot area. This area is not visible once the fuselage is assembled.

The result is that the model sits on it's nose gear as it should.