CMK02: Thanks! The figures are mostly from Preiser, a German company that does mostly railroad related figures, they have an USAAF and a Luftwaffe set in both 1/48th and 1/72nd.

Link

The truck is from Academy and the Jeep from Heller. I believe the tractor is Academy too but can't remember that clearly. 

CMK, finding good 72nd figures is not easy. The biggest range is German ground crew and pilots, with revell and Airfix sets, plus a few from Preiser and a few resin CMK sets. For USAAF sets, there is only Airfix, one small set from Preiser and a few CMK sets., For RAF, there is Airfix and Revell and a couple of CMK.

I find ground equipment the tricky one. For RAF/USAAF there is a good range from Flightpath.

G, I asked about the little tractor in your other thread. Now you mention Academy, I think I know what it is, I am pretty sure I have one of the sets. I think its the set that come with an Ambulance and a bomb trolley.  

Bish: Yeah it's a little tow tractor and bomb truck. It's either Airfix or Academy, I can't remember now- I looked a two sites but couldn't find it now.

Edit: Ahhh, found it! You're right it's the ambulance and tow tractor set from Academy. 

Link

I love how most Monogram kits in 1/48 come with flight & ground crew figures, and some kits also include an accessory such as a tractor, bomb cart, or other such item.

Good to see you finishing this one up. Externally the Otaki/Arii kits are really nice, but internally they need a little help. But when you consider that they date from the late 70s or so you cant really complain much.

AJD3530: Always happy to see another Razorback P-47 and love those old Otaki kits, looking forward to seeing how she works out.

SP: Yeah Monogram was always quite generous with the accessories weren't they unlike some Japanese companies that will remain unnamed too cheap to even include ordinance!

I didn't add any weight to Aries, so to get it to sit on the nose wheel, I drilled a pin-size hole just aft of the bomb bay, and used a straight pin to prop the plane up.

Finished up the three turrets.  For the nose and tail, I tacked them together at the locator pin, then used diluted white glue to fill any gaps.  Nothing I can do is going to eliminate seams in clear plastic--unless someone here knows the secret?,

Also redid the Martin top turret.  The bottom of the clear turret was unsightly and toylike, leaving it bare plastic, so I disassembled it and painted a narrow band of OD on it.

Added decals to the rudders.  Used the kit decals for the Group "O" and Kits-World for the serial and aircraft designator.

The old kit decals still sloughed off some tiny pieces here and there around the edges.  I think that silvering is because of the angle of the camera flash.  Hopefully it will disappear under the final clear coat.  I applied enough MicroSol to it!

Finally, here's the finished undersides--minus the vertical stabilizers (which I'll add later today; didn't want to knock them off while the plane was inverted).  I used some ground-up black pastel for the engine exhaust staining and sealed it with Floquil's flat--sadly, now discontinued.

Barring any further complications, I should be done with Aries today.

That ol' Liberator is looking nice!

So question for you guys: Do you reckin i could get a more faded OD look if I put a white base coat on the upper facing surfaces, then put the OD on top of it?

That's looking great Check, can't wait to see it done.

ajd, that's an interesting idea. I know to lighten OD you don't use white. But I would be interested to see what those with more knowledge have to say.

Nice work on the Jug. I am looking at putting all the finished builds into a round up thread in the General modelling section, at the end of the month. Do you think you will be done by then.

Check - continues to look good, looking forward to the completed pics

ajd3530 - going by  what I've seen others do (and write) about faded olive drab, Bish has it right - white alone won't give the proper look.  

The only advantage I see of a base white coat is that it will give a more pure look to your main paint colour choice.  Even spraying on light coats of olive drab, there still needs to be addressed the colour shift.  You could add a filter afterwards of yellow ocher or a desert sand, but this might be more work than you had planned for.   I'm sure others (Stik?) will be able to give better description.

regards,

Jack

ajd, I get a faded look by spraying thinned coats of lighter shades of OD over the darker base color in selected areas. You can alter your own preferred shade of OD by adding buff or a light green or light gray, or select another shade faded OD or similar paint to look the part. Model Master and Xrtacolour both make faded OD that I have used for this in the past. Or since many companies shades of OD vary in their basic appearance from one another, you can use one of those. If you are gonna go this route, and build an aircraft with fabric covered control surfaces, dont forget to use a seperate shade on those. The doped OD faded faster and differently than the surrounding painted OD areas.

Finished.

Thanks, guys, for the affirmations and positive comments.  I appreciate them.

Thanks also, Bish, for hosting the GB--as well as for your patience!  That is also very much appreciated.

It's been another great GB and learning experience, and I've enjoyed being a part of it.  

Beautiful. I do love the look of the B-24, I think its those longs wings, And that's a great example check. Always a pleasure having you in one of my GB's check.

It's been a real pleasure hosting this, and thanks to you all. Not only have we had some great builds, but we have had some great laughs along the way (and we know who to blame for that) and some great sharing of info as well. I am sure HvH would have been proud.

I am going to revive an old tradition by doing a GB round up. Given the variety of builds, I will do this in the general modelling thread, and will add ajd's as soon as he is done.

Thanks, Bish; your comments are always appreciated, and you're a great host.  You've never vanished into thin air.  

I'll be heading over to the 1944 GB and starting in on another 1/700 ship there (BB-55 USS North Carolina).  Also have to finish up some 1/700 Dauntlesses for the carrier GB, and the flight deck of USS Enterprise from the Hollywood GB.

There is something appealing about B-24's, although I've usually been a B-17 fan (12 O'Clock High!).  But I think the nose art shows up really well on those slab-sided Liberators!  And their squat stance makes them look dangerous and ready for action.

Great job on the liberator! Good to see you overcame the decal difficulties

Thanks, Bob; although as usual, there's more to the story.  

I've been very kindly and gently informed that the vertical stabilizers are on upside down!  Yes, incredible as that may seem.

The kit instructions and diagrams show them the way I installed them, but they are in error, and--dummy me--I didn't think to verify with research.

I'm in the process of fixing this faux pas now, and will post photos of the correction.

And thanks, Gary!  I do appreciate it!

How embarrassing!    "Aries" has been a real drama queen.

checkmateking02

Thanks, Bish; your comments are always appreciated, and you're a great host.  You've never vanished into thin air.  

I'll be heading over to the 1944 GB and starting in on another 1/700 ship there (BB-55 USS North Carolina).  Also have to finish up some 1/700 Dauntlesses for the carrier GB, and the flight deck of USS Enterprise from the Hollywood GB.

There is something appealing about B-24's, although I've usually been a B-17 fan (12 O'Clock High!).  But I think the nose art shows up really well on those slab-sided Liberators!  And their squat stance makes them look dangerous and ready for action.

checkmateking02

Thanks, Bish; your comments are always appreciated, and you're a great host.  You've never vanished into thin air.  

I'll be heading over to the 1944 GB and starting in on another 1/700 ship there (BB-55 USS North Carolina).  Also have to finish up some 1/700 Dauntlesses for the carrier GB, and the flight deck of USS Enterprise from the Hollywood GB.

There is something appealing about B-24's, although I've usually been a B-17 fan (12 O'Clock High!).  But I think the nose art shows up really well on those slab-sided Liberators!  And their squat stance makes them look dangerous and ready for action.

Well, I know its not always easy hosting a GB, things in life come along and get in the way. But if people are going to produce some great builds and help make the GB a good one, the host should do there best to be around s much as possible. And now I am a civvy, I don't have any excuses.

I know what you mean about the slab sided 24. Its like the perfect canvas for a nice large piece of art work.

As for the tail, it actually got me checking my B-24's, I had not noticed. I wouldn't actually blame you if you just chalked this one down to experience.

And well spotted Gary.

Excellent finish on the Liberator sir! Looks great from here ;) glad to see this cross the finish line!

checkmateking02

Thanks, Bob; although as usual, there's more to the story.  

I've been very kindly and gently informed that the vertical stabilizers are on upside down!  Yes, incredible as that may seem.

The kit instructions and diagrams show them the way I installed them, but they are in error, and--dummy me--I didn't think to verify with research.

I'm in the process of fixing this faux pas now, and will post photos of the correction.

And thanks, Gary!  I do appreciate it!

How embarrassing!    "Aries" has been a real drama queen.

Yes, mea culpa!  I looked at the photos and said, "Something doesn't seem quite right."  And I had to verify it with photos and ask someone else to look before I said anything.  I would never have mentioned it publicly.

The vertical stabilizers don't appear to be upside down so much as apparently by design attached in the wrong place.  Not your fault about that!

And I agree with Stik.  If you want to leave it as is, there's nothing wrong with that.  It's a beautiful model in any case.

Thanks for not shooting!

Gary

PS> And you get one free "You're Doing It Wrong" call on me. 

One thing I've noticed about modeling is that you need a good sense of humor.

Ok, so the tails are not just me... The other Academy Liberator build posted on here had me looking at B-24 photos. But I did not want to say that the Emporer was naked without being absolutely sure...

CMK02: Beautiful work on Aries! Love the nose-art and fantastic job all around!

Gee, the fins do appear upside down- and those on my Virgo are the same... I never thought to check to see if the instructions were right!?! !

Thanks for the comments, guys.  One of the advantages of posting here is this kind of feedback.  It would be a disservice to the Liberator to leave the stabilizers the way they are.  

I have a new pair under paint and hanging out to dry.

Mea magna culpa is mine, Gary, for not doing enough research.  I need to remember:  "Trust, but verify."  I have double and triple checked the instructions.  They are majorly in error.  Even the construction drawing shows them installed upside down.

Checkmate - very nice build, and like your choice of nose art.   Nice crisp work overall, particularly the problematic decals. 

I never noticed the error on the tail either, mind you the last time I paid close attention to a B-24 was a build I did over 30 years ago. 

regards,

Jack

CMK02: Cool, being able to fix the problem there! I assume you've been able to root up some extra decals for the tail codes.

BTW: I've been on the USS NC about a half dozen times now and have a bunch of photos. Probably not terribly useful for you but I can always send you some if they would be useful.

Thanks, Jack.  I appreciate it.  Can't take credit for the choice of nose art; it came boxed up for "Aries," but the Kits-World decals are quite lovely and much better detailed.  Academy also released the B-24H for three other planes of the Zodiac squadron (Aquaria, Leo and Gemini, I think).  It was probably back in the 1990's sometime.

I hadn't done any Liberators for years, either.  Given the drama I've had with this one, I'm not likely to build any of the others anytime soon!

Gamera:  yes, I went through my decal stash and found MicroScale's ancient sheet for Liberators (the one with Strawberry B*** and The Witch on it; probably had it for 20 years); and I can cobble the serial number from the codes, plus using the aircraft letter from the kit.  Hopefully MicroScale's decal-preservation/restoration potion will work again--and better even.  These are my last usable decals, and I don't have any margin for either error or disaster.

It seems the shattering still happens at the outer edges, so I'm considering using two coats around the perimeter of the image area, and maybe that will work.  Unfortunately, the more potion you put on, the thicker it makes the decal.  Guess at this stage I won't worry about that.

As for BB-55, is she still in her Measure 32/18d camouflage?  Apparently she carried two different versions of this:  one in the early half of 1944 and a different one after a refit in September of '44..  The Trumpeter kit comes tricked out for her after the September '44 refit.  Sometime in 1945, she was repainted in Measure 22.

My wife and I lived in NC in the '80's (in Hickory), and at that time I never knew BB-55 was in the state.

Rudder revision, part two--not very obvious in the photo, but the faded OD on the rudder is MM straight from the bottle; main part of the stabilizer is in WEM's OD 41.

CMK02: Looks good, glad you had the spare decals on hand there. The MicroScale/SuperScale decals seem to last for years, I've used sets over twenty years old without problems.

I'll post some photos of the NC when I get some time, as I remember she's currently in just plain grey. And half of her hull is buried in mud so I'm not sure how you'd even paint much of the area under the waterline.