BACK IN THE SPOTIGHT--THE BOMBER GROUP BUILD (Medium and Heavy bombers from all eras)

Another update:

My glacial pace continues, but I am getting work done. My main focus right now is on painting the engines and nacels. I hope to finish that up in the next couple of days. Then I'll mount the nacells, mask the engines, and paint the lower wing/fuselage assembly and tail. :-D

I have a couple of good shots of a real Libery engine that I took at the Udvar-Hazy Center this past December. The kit engines are a reasonable facsimile, but there are areas where the kit maker chose to simplify the shape. I used Testors MM aluminum for the main engine body and MM steel for the cylinder heads. Both are acrylics applied over an enamel primer.

I "painted" the plumbing along the bottom of the engine body with a very fine point Sharpie marker.

Next up is the manifold and the nacell backs.

Regards,

Work is proceeding well on the MB-2. I got the cabane struts assembled and painted. These are two somewhat complex assemblies that connect the engine nacelles, bottom wing, top wing, and fuselage. Taking a tip from a magazine article on building this kit, I used the fuselage as a jig for assembling the cabane struts. They're primed and ready for painting and rigging.

The radiators each have a nasty ejector pin mark on the back, messing up the mesh pattern molded there. I plan on sanding the pin marks down, and replacing the mesh pattern with tulle fabric (a very fine mesh fabric often used in wedding dresses -- my wife’s idea) that I got at a fabric shop.

The engines and nacelles are going to get my main attention in the next few days, and then I'll paint and decal the fuselage and lower wing. After that, I'll paint and add the tail to the fuselage, decal it, and rig the control wires.

Regards,

Thanks, Chris. I really like priming my models with a matte enamel prior to painting the finish coat with acrylics.

I'm glad you liked the picture of Diamond Lil.

Regards,

Thanks Vintage & Ghettochild !
Ugly planes are beautiful in their own special way. I like 'em.

Drew,
Thanks for the pic. I saw in some reference book on the B-24 - a cartoon where they were making a joke about the fact that someone removed a crate from under the tail skid. The nose was way up in the air and there were "#$%&@*'s coming from inside the waist gunner position. I bet it happened more than once. It's probably why 'Lil has a "fourth leg".

The finish on your MB-2 looks really fine. It'll look great painted.

Chris

Hi all,

Here are three more in-progress photos of my MB-2 bomber:
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Regards,

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bossman Yes it's definitely tail sitting. I don't think I could have put enough lead into it to make it sit tricyle style. I haven't put on the tail skid yet - so he sits even lower now. It will be displayed with a scratch built ammo crate under the tail skid. I've seen pics and I've heard that this was done with the real thing. Chris

Chris,

I saw the B-24, "Diamond Lil" at the WWII Weekend air show in Reading, PA this past summer. This is what she had under her tail:
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I took the picture because so many modelers are worried about having planes sit on their tails. I've read that the Grummer Tigercat also tended to sit on its tail until its fuel tanks were full.

Regards,

very nice b24 chris looks like its coming together nicely
jeeves nice b17 i love that pic of the ball turret

Very nice Liberator, you have done the great bomber proud, And I resent that remark about the B-24 not being able to look pritty, you did a great job doing that

Jay,

Thanks,

Yes it's definitely tail sitting. I don't think I could have put enough lead into it to make it sit tricyle style. I haven't put on the tail skid yet - so he sits even lower now. It will be displayed with a scratch built ammo crate under the tail skid. I've seen pics and I've heard that this was done with the real thing.

Chris

Chris looks good so far. One question though is it tail sitting or just the pic?
Jason

Call me "almost done"

Here's Moby with full face paint. One more decal to apply (that I lost - it's here somewhere !) Can you see which one is missing ?



The differences in darkness of the Olive Drab are due to the fact that I only put future in the aras where decals were to be applied. After I get the lost decal on the upper surface of the port wing (there's your clue) I'll be able to mask him up for a dull coat. I'll also do some weathering - I figure there's no way to make a B-24 pretty - so I'll make it look butt ugly ! How am I doing ?

Chris

Thanks Drew! It took around 10-15 minutes of scribing the one half of the turret until I could detach it. Then, I added a spare gunsight and seat to the inside (none of which really shows up now)...took some small bits of copper wire painted red for the hatch handles, and glued it on.

Jeeves,

The B-17 looks awesome! I especially like the open ball turret hatch. I don't think I've even seen that done before.

Regards,

Thanks guys!

Jason-- appreciate the comments....this was my second attempt at using Doc O'Brien's weathering powders and they have been great to use both times!!

Chris-- It is !! It's also good to know this behemoth won't be taking up half my bench when I do get it to him LOL

Jeeves,

Great job all around - A really nice tribute to your veteran friend. It must have been fun doing a kit like this that you know will have special meaning to someone who will really appreciate it.

Chris

Jeeves that looks great love the exhaust stains. Jason

OK...here we go:

It's done- and I am happy to be able to add another notch to my model belt. May I present "Idiot's Delight" from the 94th BG based in Bury St Edmund. I started this one back in the summer and got sidetracked by a gazillion things. This was built for a veteran in town who manned the ball turret of this bomber...and despite some hardships with printing the yellow in the nose art, we have a finished product :)

First up we will start with some shots of the markings- including the excellent decal work of Pete at Sparetime Hobbies in Winnipeg:



Very nice!!

Now for some weathering on the engines using pastels and Tamiya Smoke:


And lastly some detail pics:

Added wiring to the Cyclone engine:


Cut open the turret hatch and added a seat and a gunsight inside:


This was a rough build- between the decal printing problems and the fact that it is a Monogram kit...but I am pretty happy with the results. Luckily I got my pic of Rita inside and added a whole bunch of other extras that you can't see [:( ] Hope he likes it. I apologize for the rough setting of the pics, but this thing is big! I can't wait to get it out of here LOL

No-- I mean I am featuring 2 models in this Bomber GB-- a PBY Black Cat I finished earlier this year...and a B-17 which will be done tonight...

Jeeves,

I read more about your B-17 build on one of the other threads - sounds like a ton of work that you're putting into it. When you said "this build" - did you mean Drew's MB-2 ?

If you did - He had a link to another site with photo's a few pages back in this thread.

Chris

that goes 4 me also...
hard 2 believe anyone could take so long building a 1/144
kit w/ only 16 parts.... LOL !
so i guess we few stragglers will b keeping this thread alive 4 awhile yet....
hope the bogeyman don't get us while we're limping home.

frosty

I am in the same place as you guys... while I did get my Black Cat posted a ways back, I am just finishing the second build in this GB-- my B-17F...wasn't there a website elsewhere that was featuring pics of this build??

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bossman Drew, Nice job man ! The topsides of those wings look really sharp. Did they need as much work as the underside that is shown in the lower pic?

Thanks, Chris! The topsides didn't need very much work, except for the removal of some odd protuberances on the ailerons. If you look closely at the photos you can probably see where I took them off.

What you don't see is all the putty and sanding on the undersides; that work was covered by the primer coat. The white stuff is actually White-Out!

QUOTE: Like the floor decals too - she's looking like a real beauty - thanks for the pics.

No problem. I've gotten a lot of work done since then. I'm going to try to get more photos taken this weekend. I either have to go to my parents' house and borrow their digital camera, or I take regular film, get it developed, and scan the photos I want to use.

QUOTE: What's the wingspan ? about 1 foot ?

Yeah. The plane is kind of odd with the wingspan a bit longer than the fuselage.

Regards,

Drew,

Nice job man ! The topsides of those wings look really sharp. Did they need as much work as the underside that is shown in the lower pic ?

Like the floor decals too - she's lookin like a real beauty - thanks for the pics.

What's the wingspan ? about 1 foot ?

Chris

I'll do my best to get some additional pictures posted soon, but here are some that I took a few months ago:

These show all the work I put into the wings, and also the wood decal I used on the cockpit floor:
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Regards,

Drew, I certainly wouldn't mind. I'd be disappointed if you didn't !

I'm just one vote, but I think it would be great if us slowbies were granted the freedom to continue to post our finished work here.

Of course It is possible that the world could spin uncontrollably off its axis as a result... but I'm willing to take a chance. You with me ?

I seem to remember some sanding maniac that promised some buildup pictures a few pages ago. Don't wait till it's all done !

Chris

Hi all,

If nobody minds, I'd like to keep this thread going by continuing to post my progress on the Martin MB-2.

The work on the engines has gone well. I will prime them tonight and start painting in a day or so. I'm also planning on priming the parts for the rather complicated cabane struts.

I got some filler putty on the gaps where the lower wing meets the fuselage and I'm very pleased with the results.

Regards,

Finally received the decals of the nose art for my B-17 yesterday....I have an hour or two left of work to do on this one and then I am done

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bossman Nice job Frosty. It should build into a really interesting dio with that red-tail mustang. Thanks for the progress pics - I love watching everyones stuff as it's being built. Chris

thanx, Chris !

i did some work on the waist gunners position, adding strip styrene
2 make the window framing... i'll keep at it...
will try 2 post updated pix asap ...

frosty

QUOTE: Originally posted by trck69drvr ... But what is with the red x thing? Derwin

welcome 2 the forum, Derwin !
the red x indicates a picture which was either improperly linked,
blocked or deleted from the host site...

frosty

Well, I wish I had checked all the forums right after I joined. I have an SM-79 and a B-29 that would have qualified, but I just found out about the Bomber Group Build. Oh well. Looks lioke there is some pretty nice kits out there. But what is with the red x thing?

Derwin