Still Too Many Props GB - 2013

Bish thanks,yea its really busy up front and theres more to add yet!

I started the tail gunner section and the kit supplied parts are ,well nill really. I used some sheet styrene and scratched the 'seat' if you could call it that.

After the paint dried it went together really quick

Using the Eduard seat belts really made the assembly stand out

the completed unit ready for instal

I used some balsa sheet for the floor planking and 'stained' it with thinned enamels. The ammo boxes and twin 50's are more of the resin goodies and the belts will be added later. I also opened the access door and will need to scratch a replacement .

More .50's will be added next and I will tackle the dreaded pe ammo feed chutes,cheers Trey

Trey, i have a fortress too in the stash, will take some reference from your , excellent detailing work 

I'm a little busy lately, hope to get back soon on the workbench!

As I was waiting for my decals for the Me 262 I am building, I started on my B-24 for the GB last week. I had made a little start on it for the first too many props GB when I thought my B-17 would be a no go. But thanks again to the guys of the forum, I was put onto some correct decals. So I only made a little progress on this before.

This is the kit I am building.

I am building the alternative aircraft, a lead ship of the 445th BG based at Tibenham in Norfolk. 

The colours are orange and black.

So far the pit is complete.

The fuselage is also together with the tail fitted. The kit instructions have you fitting the top turret for both options. I know the aircraft on the box had a top turret. But the colour plates I have seen of the one I am building show it absent. As you can see from the pic of the real thing, the only one I can find, the wing and engines obscure this area. Among the unused parts in the kit is one piece that perfectly fits the hole for the top turret. So I decided to tack the plunge and fit it. The colour plates show the blanked off turret to be flat, but who knows what they are based on, so this is a bit of guess work on my part.

Another possible issue with the kit is the markings.  There is a suggestion that it carried nose art on the left side, missing from the kit decals. Also, the tail and wing F are shown in red in some images, and the photo above seem to support this. Finally, the large F on the fuselage side has lights in it, again missing from the decals.

I found a set of Hussar decals which corrects all these, so have ordered these from Canada. They are pricey, but they also have other Norfolk based B-24 Lead ships which I can add to my collection. Hopefully the decals will be here in time so it doesn't cause a hold up.

Bish that office looks awesome,looking forward to seeing more! I'm sure you'll get the markings sorted!

Working lots of overtime so not much progress to report on the 17,hope to get started on the seat belts and the rest of the guns soon.

Thanks TREY. They have been ordered, so should be here in time. I have the decals for my 262 now, so getting that wrapped up and should be back to the B-24 in a couple of days.

TREYZX10R

Bish that office looks awesome,looking forward to seeing more!

Trey: I hope you get some bench time soon. I'm looking forward to your next update!

Cheers, Clemens

fantastic level of detail Bish!! i presume 48 scale

Thanks guys. bsyamato, no 72nd, as is my scale of choice. Most of it is Eduard PE, the pre coloured set. I do like that stuff.

Bish

..no 72nd,..

omg! outstanding!! i was sure a 48 kit with that level of detail  me too with 72!

Well, I can't take much of the credit, most of it is PE.

The 262 is now done so I can get going with this. The decals arrived last week. Less than a week to come from Canada, I'm impressed. Good old Royal mail must be trying to make things upto me.

So hopefully some pics soon.

Good Job y'all!

Well I'm waiting on a book to get here to continue my certification training, bonus=BENCH TIME! So I am about done with a repaint of a 727, so while waiting for decals to dry, I am able to catch up on progress of the B-26 I'm doing.

Cockpit:

One of the waist guns:

I think I lost the whole OOB idea I was going for, but opening up the ports on the gun pods just looks a whole lot better

And finally, I have the fuselage together. Only bad part is I had to put the top turret in it, which means I have got to be extremely careful not to break the guns off!

This is a re-pop of the kit from the 70s and the age of the mold is showing. Lots of flesh and mold marks, and this thing is going to need a lot of putty!

I like! Looks neat, B-17Pilot!

Hi guys, I was given a 1/72 PBY Cat by a mate with the chalange of "have it ready in 2 weeks for IPMS meeting"......naturally I accepted!

Hope there is space in this thread for it.??  (Academy PBY 5)

Nowhere near to the high level of building of some of the stunning models featured here, just a qiuck fun build.

Theuns

PS , it will be a replacement for my entered 1/144 B-26 that I will never complete since I managed to loose the windshield!

Theuns - Absolutely your Cat is welcome! I've replaced your B-26 with the Cat. Looking forward to it.

Thanx mate, like I said it is an extreme simple build this. Straight out the box, no extras . Trying to get some modeling *** back with quick builds. LOL

B17Pilot the office is looking great!

Theuns looking forward to seeing the Cat build!

Finally got some bench time and added the seat belts and got the 50's ready to mount up

Hope to get the ammo belts and guns in place this week,getting close to closing up the Fuselage! cheers Trey

Nice work guys!

I have to wait untill early August to get my B-25 stated (I have to get me all the PE stuff for the interior first...)

Looking good everyone! I saw my Visible B-17 kit, Trey, while I was moving my entire stash to the storage unit...., Been busy cleaning out the 2nd floor to get ready to demo the house. We have a set of plans for our modular but have to make a few changes before signing off on them. Don`t think we will be home in time for Christmas but there is a chance it could happen, if all goes smooth....lol.

Len

Awesome work TREY as always.

Finally time for an update. I first painted the orange just over a week ago, but I wasn't happy for two reasons. Firstly, I wasn't to keen on the orange mix I had got. I am going off the colour plate image, and while I know these can't be 100% relied upon, it is the best I have. The mx I had made was to light. But the main problem was the fit of the forward nose section. On my previous Hase B-24, the nose section had been wider than the rest of the fuselage, but on that occasion I simply left it be.  I had the same problem again this time, but decided to try and fix it. So the nose was removed and stripped. The problem seems to be one of the Eduard PE parts. So I adjusted that and put things back together. I know when I do my next B-24 to thin the plastic on the inside of the nose.

It's still not 100%, and I still have some filling and sanding to do, but I have decided to do as best I can without doing to much damage to the rivet detail. After all that, I got the orange repainted and then the black on yesterday.

As you can see, I have decided to paint this one before fitting the wings, pretty easy to do with this scheme and the way the wings are fitted. I have to redo the underside of the tail. I had painted that grey along with the wings. But I forgot to mask it and painted in orange.

Hopefully I can get the sanding done tonight and can touch that up with a brush. Tomorrow I hope to mask and redo the tail, and the decals should be on by the end of the week, finger's crossed. 

Bish, your B-24 looks excellent! I'm digging that orange/black color scheme!

I know, different isn't it. And this is one of the simpler of the Assembly ship schemes.

Len I know its hard going through all the storm repairs and my thoughts are with you, it took us over 3 years to get things sorted after the Hurricanes here. Hope you get things sorted smoothly and as quickly as possible. I thought about doing the clear side on this kit .

Bish Really liking the scheme on your Liberator,lots of careful masking the lines look super clean! Nice fix on the Fuse as well.

Bench time again at last and while waiting on my PE bend tool to arrive decided to work on tires & props. First the Eduard resin wheels

Typical quality Eduard castings requiring very little effort to clean up

Nice that it comes with pre-cut masks

The kit props are decent enough so went with them,after cleaning and sanding they will do nicely

applied grey to the tips to make the yellow easier to cover

Wheels ready to roll

The PE bender arrived today and although I've not had a chance to try it out yet it looks and feels well up to the job. Picked it up on Evil Bay for $55 shipped. Came with the hard plastic benders and has springs in between the base and Mandril,more to come on this later. Cheers Trey

Those Eduard wheels look really good. I ordered me some for the big B-17 on my shopping list. I have a similar bending tool myself (same company, but one size smaller) and I really like it.

Been wondering about those Eduard wheels. Looks like I'm going to have to definitely pick some up, lets see how many Forts do I have in the stash?

Thanks TREY, it did take a while to get the masking right, especially ion the fuselage.

I have been looking at some of those Eduard wheels in 72nd. But they seem a bit expensive compared to Aires and True Details. And I notice they are not flattened either, though I am not always sure aircraft wheels should be. Could be the right choice for an un loaded aircraft.

The tires are not flattened? That's strange... The Eduard Wheels I bought for the B-25 and B-17 (both 1/32) are flattened a lot.

Time for another update(finally). Decided to tackle the ammo chutes and after a miserable attempt with the pe ones decided to use the old tried and true zip ties instead.

After a lot of heating, bending,twisting and test fitting I finally came out with a useable set for each gun station

While the paint dries on the chutes I dealt with the waist gun windows

Next the final fitting of the chutes. This was a process and tested my patience to no end. The hardest was the port nose gun position as the chute ca'nt be attached until the fuse halves go together. It has to lign up just right and it did'nt want to cooperate. I finally cut it in 2 sections and attached a small portion to the reciever and left the other to be glued in place as the fuse halves join up.

Waist guns were'nt as bad

Finally the Tail gun position

The radio op gun and chute will go in as one assembly with the top window later

That's some stunning detail work there TREY. If its ok with you, I would love to save those pics for future reference. It can be awkward when using the books to see exactly what goes where in side an aircraft.

Trey good save with the zip ties! I've used those PE belts, and can't remember if I struggled with them or not. I do remember I had to bend the port nose belt just right before buttoning up the fuselage too