WIP: Part 3, UPDATE 11-26-17 (Almost finished!!!) Building the Revell 1/48 scale B-29 in Bare Metal Foil

Yes one of the more epic builds lately!Public service aspect is in evidence for  those contemplating tackling this beast of a kit!

fotofrank

What a massive undertaking! I certainly admire your patience and determination.

What was that patience liquid you occasionally use?

 

Woodford Reserve

Amazing stuff.  I have this one in my stash. Looks like I'd better stock up on putty

After the paint dried, out came a few sheets of Bare Metal Foil. The foiling of the wings took waaay longer than I expected. The top of the wings wasn't too bad because part of the wing was painted. The underside of the wing took a long time because, except for a very small painted area, all foil. Again, I used two colors, Aluminum Plate and Improved Chrome for variety. Each panel was individually applied. Patience is the key, but I could only do so much foiling in one day before my eyes got tired.

This is a Main wing from the Anola Gay. The really polished the aluminum because I am sure that it never looked like this when in service. Anyway, this is the appearance that I am trying to achieve.

A comparison of the rivets on the Enola Gay wing and my model's wing. You will probably need to click on the photos for a larger view.

Greatmaker

Amazing stuff.  I have this one in my stash. Looks like I'd better stock up on putty

 

I'd recommend stocking up on sanding pads instead of putty.

ENGINE EXHAUST

This is a photo of FIFI's engine exhaust. The larger pipe is the engine's main exhaust and the smaller pipe is the turbocharger's exhaust.

This is what Monogram provides. A single pipe that does not fit properly in a recess in the nacelle. Why Monogram thought that this is a good soultiion is beyound me.

I decided that I might be able to do better, so I bought some aluminum tubing of two diffetent sizes. First I cut the tubing then painted it with Testores flat black and Testors rust. I varied the amount of rust that I used.

Next I pulled out my Milwaukee drill and prepared to drill some holes. I took a deep breath and drilled the holes at an angle to match the angle of FIFI's exhaust.

Next, I used putty to fill-in the recess that surrounds the holes.

I inserted the tubing into the holes and glued them in place by using a blob of epoxy inserted through the front of the nacelle. I completed the foiling and added rivets.

JohnnyK

 

 

Greatmaker

Amazing stuff.  I have this one in my stash. Looks like I'd better stock up on putty

 

 

 

 

I'd recommend stocking up on sanding pads instead of putty.

 

g9717-37f43fe66b0eb2f985731877d526a1d7 by Robert Pederson, on Flickr

That should work just fine! Make sure that you wear eye protection:

Excellent progress, and nice job handling the "soft" details, shall we say, like those exhausts!

Fantastic meticulous work, excellent just excellent!

Your friend, Toshi

Toshi,

Thanks for the kind words. Some people would say that I am obsessive I always enjoy following your work. 

John

This kit has a number of engineering problems that make it difficult to build. It is definitely not a kit for a begineer modeler. IMHO, the way the engines/cowlings are attached to the nacelles is the biggest problem.

Monogram did not provide any locating pins or lugs to help locate the engines onto the nacelles. Plus, there is not enough surface area to glue the engines to the nacelles. Somehow the cowlings are to be butt glued to the edges of the nacelles. As I recall, the engines on Revelle's B-17 and B-24 are engineered in the same manner. The problem with the B-29 is that the engines/cowlings are big and heavy and need to be securly glued to the nacelles. 

This is my solution. Yes, it is a crazy soultion, but it works. I took a sheet of styrene and cut it into strips. I then glued the stips into blocks which were glued to the nacelles. This provided a nice flat surface for glueing the rear of the engines to.

The thickness of the blocks of styrene also provided a small gap between the cowlings and the nacelles. This provides for a closer visual match to the 1:1 plane.

One last thing. It is important that the panel lines on the nacelles align with the spaces between the cowling vents. This is not mentioned in the instructions. If this isn't done, the engines will appear crooked when the airplane is viewed headon. This is why it would have been nice if alignment pins were provides. 

Really nice jpb on the exhaustsWow Monogram really punted on those!

Thanks!  Yep, the kit exhaust are nasty 

The kit is getting close to the end (I hope). Time to apply the main wing decals.

I wanted to make sure that the carrier film that is between the letters does not show up on the wings, so I individually cutout each letter. Monogram decals are pretty thick and they tend to not tear.

The decals came out nice, no carrier film.  Please note that the foil on the wings is not as shiny as it appears in these photos.

Here is what remains to be done:

1. Install bomb bay doors
2. Glue wings to fuselage
3. Install cockpit glazing
4. Install landing gear and guns

I'll be glad when this is done. 

Looks good - you're on the home stretch.  Better start thinking about a place to display that big bird!

I'm thinking that I may need to hand it on a wall. I just need to figure out how to do that.

It looks fantastic. Nice work.

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments.

Super impressive work!

Salivating like a Pavlov dog waiting for the final pictures!

It's time to glue the main wings to the fuselage. The wings are long and heavy and the wings have to be in a vertical position as  the glue cures. The question of the day is, "how do I support the fuselage in a manner that keeps the wing vertical"? I know that this may seem nuts, but I stacked some outdoor furniture cushions together and wedged the fuselage between the cushions. It's an oddball soultion, but it worked just great.

The right wing is between the cushions and the left wing is upright.

Great Idea with the cushions Johnny, I wonder if that's how they did it at the factory? lol

Amost finished. The only thing remaining are the cockpit greenhouse, guns and landing gear.

I need the advice from anyone that has built this model. The cockpit does not fit propertly. I need advice as to a proceedure for gluing the greenhouse in place. Thanks in advance.

This is an impressive undertaking!  I even showed Mrs. Toshi and she literally freaked out and couldn’t believe how beautiful it looked.  We’re both looking forward to your completed master piece!

Your friend, Toshi

Hi Toshi,,

Thanks for the kind comments. To be honest, I'm kind of freaked out regarding how this project is turning out. The round shape of the fuselage really highlights the foil. It is turning out better than I expected.

I do think that any modeler could make this model in foil. Foiling is not that difficult to master. However, a modeler's mindset really needs to change before making a model like this. Before starting a build like this a modeler needs to set their mind to that fact that this model will take months, not weeks, to build, and that there is no way to speed up the process. The foiling process just takes a lot of time and there is just so much foiling that can be done in one sitting before your eyes and back get tired.

Monogram's engineering issues made this kit more difficult to build than necessary.

I am looking forward to getting this thing finished.

Curious, how come no red stripe in the national insignia with USAF?

Awesome work!When I make planes with large wings and they need to be mounted verticlally I crack the bench vise and pad the face to mount them up.The cushions worked well for you though.

jmcquate

Curious, how come no red stripe in the national insignia with USAF?