dmk0210 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Fate smiled on me this week and I ended up with a second Monogram B-29 kit for a ridiculously cheap price. Since I also have an Eduard 1/48 X-1 kit in the stash,the first thing that came to mind is building the B-29 mothership and attaching "Glamorous Glennis" in the bomb bay perhaps using magnets so that I can separate them from each other. Anyway, I need to look over some references, maybe add book or two to my libary and see what kind of scratch building this will involve. The problem is, I'm seeing lots of good info on Yeager's X-1, not so much on the B-29 that carried it. Can anyone here recommend any good books, videos (or websites) that have detailed pictures or drawings of the B-29 mothership and especially the bomb bay? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ol Crew Dog Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Fate smiled on me this week and I ended up with a second Monogram B-29 kit for a ridiculously cheap price. Since I also have an Eduard 1/48 X-1 kit in the stash,the first thing that came to mind is building the B-29 mothership and attaching "Glamorous Glennis" in the bomb bay perhaps using magnets so that I can separate them from each other. Anyway, I need to look over some references, maybe add book or two to my libary and see what kind of scratch building this will involve. The problem is, I'm seeing lots of good info on Yeager's X-1, not so much on the B-29 that carried it. Can anyone here recommend any good books, videos (or websites) that have detailed pictures or drawings of the B-29 mothership and especially the bomb bay? Check out the Aerofax book on the X-1, has some good photo's of the B-29 and Bombbay mods. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Check out the Aerofax book on the X-1, has some good photo's of the B-29 and Bombbay mods. Which one? "Bell X-1 Variants - Aerofax Datagraph 3" by Ben Guenther and Jay Miller, or "The X Planes: X-1 to X-31" by Jay Miller and Chuck yeager? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kentak Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Try this website. It's a NASA-Dryden Gallery and they have a lot of the x-stff. http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/X-1/index.html Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Try this website. It's a NASA-Dryden Gallery and they have a lot of the x-stff.http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/X-1/index.html Ken Yes, I'll definitely be scouring the NASA sites for info. I built a huge Apollo resource library that way. NASA is great at documenting stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ol Crew Dog Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Which one? "Bell X-1 Variants - Aerofax Datagraph 3" by Ben Guenther and Jay Miller, or "The X Planes: X-1 to X-31" by Jay Miller and Chuck yeager? Yes that's the one Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 If you can, try to get the Eagles Talon/Don's Modelworks Bell X-1 resin kit as it includes conversion pieces to turn the B-29 into the drop ship and decals as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 QUOTE (dmk0210 @ Feb 2 2011, 05:54 PM) *Which one? "Bell X-1 Variants - Aerofax Datagraph 3" by Ben Guenther and Jay Miller, or "The X Planes: X-1 to X-31" by Jay Miller and Chuck yeager? Yes that's the one OK, that was an either or question. LOL I'll assume you meant the first one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 If you can, try to get the Eagles Talon/Don's Modelworks Bell X-1 resin kit as it includes conversion pieces to turn the B-29 into the drop ship and decals as well. I'll search around for more info on that. I wonder what the B-29 conversion pieces include? I did order the decals from Don. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dekon70 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I am in the same situation as you(cheap ebay B-29 and what to do with it). Hope this link helps: http://ninfinger.org/models/x_planes/x1b29.html Also, someone has a B-29/X-1 combo in the gallery section. HTH, Richard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 7, 2011 Author Share Posted February 7, 2011 I am in the same situation as you(cheap ebay B-29 and what to do with it).Hope this link helps: http://ninfinger.org/models/x_planes/x1b29.html Also, someone has a B-29/X-1 combo in the gallery section. HTH, Richard Thanks for that link Richard, it is a goldmine. It's funny, I actually, just came back to post that same resource! B) I found it in a search of the Yahoo "Space Modelers" email group as well as other interesting tidbits. http://www.ninfinger.org/models/x_planes/motherships.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dekon70 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 If you can, try to get the Eagles Talon/Don's Modelworks Bell X-1 resin kit as it includes conversion pieces to turn the B-29 into the drop ship and decals as well. I would love to see what the conversion inclueds. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arado234 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I would love to see what the conversion inclueds. Besides the decals there are only two parts for the conversion, one a vac-form piece for X-1 nose cut out, and the other is the rear cockpit bulkhead with a cutout on its bottom. I’ve had the Eagles Talon X-1 kit for years collecting information and photos to do the mother ship and XS-1. There is a lot more to making the mother ship then what comes in the kit, but the decals are beautiful and spot on. After Eduard came out with their version of the XS-1 in 1/48, all I will use from the ET will be the decals and two conversion parts. If you want, I can send you some of the converted bomb bay photos I have. John F Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 If you want, I can send you some of the converted bomb bay photos I have. I would love to see those. Can you post them on Photobucket or something? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dekon70 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Besides the decals there are only two parts for the conversion, one a vac-form piece for X-1 nose cut out, and the other is the rear cockpit bulkhead with a cutout on its bottom.I’ve had the Eagles Talon X-1 kit for years collecting information and photos to do the mother ship and XS-1. There is a lot more to making the mother ship then what comes in the kit, but the decals are beautiful and spot on. After Eduard came out with their version of the XS-1 in 1/48, all I will use from the ET will be the decals and two conversion parts. If you want, I can send you some of the converted bomb bay photos I have. John F Hello John, By all means please do. Richard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arado234 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 (edited) Hello John,By all means please do. Richard Here are two photos of the resin and vacform parts to help in the conversion. There is a lot more to the conversion besides these. Here is the link to my photobucket album I just added some shots to. http://s409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/j...01/Bell%20XS-1/ Edited February 15, 2011 by arado234 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archybean Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 In checking pictures of the B-29, I have a question.... Did it start its life as a Silverplate, or did it just have similar mods done to remove the turrets? Thanks David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 In checking pictures of the B-29, I have a question....Did it start its life as a Silverplate, or did it just have similar mods done to remove the turrets? Thanks David The Silverplane planes to my knowledge continued life as strategic nuclear bombers in the post war world. Turret removal was nothing new or unique to them as other B-29s had their turrets taken out as well. As such, the drop ship just happened to make use of similar turret hole plugs. The same is true of the B-29 (Navy designation P-2B) that Douglas got to use as the drop ship for the D-558-2 Skyrocket. Douglas picked up a B-29 from an air force depot and flew it back to their facility where they modified it for use as a drop ship (including removal of the turret mounts). As for what is needed for a conversion, a lot of it will also depend on if you are modeling the B-29 with the X-1 installed or if they will just be parked side by side (or in flight in mid drop). Some items you can hide if they aren't going to be seen if the X-1 is going to remain in the bay as it will cover things up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks for all those pics John! I may try to fabricate those bulkheads. I ordered the X-1 decals from Don's Model Works and they were nice enough to throw in a set of X-1E decals because one of the B-29 decals was out of register on the X-1 sheet. In checking pictures of the B-29, I have a question....Did it start its life as a Silverplate, or did it just have similar mods done to remove the turrets? Some of the B-29s used over Japan had all the turrets removed as well, to reduce weight and allow for a bigger bomb load. These aircraft also had their bellies painted black. Perhaps 45-21800 was originally intended for this purpose. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
archybean Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Some of the B-29s used over Japan had all the turrets removed as well, to reduce weight and allow for a bigger bomb load. These aircraft also had their bellies painted black. Perhaps 45-21800 was originally intended for this purpose. hmm, that would make sense. I also noticed on the pics on the ninfinger site it has cuffed propellers like the Silverplates. Did others get those as well? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arado234 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 You may have seen these videos, but if not, they have a wealth of information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKB4jApe4ME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn1l_UNsr-s John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 hmm, that would make sense. I also noticed on the pics on the ninfinger site it has cuffed propellers like the Silverplates. Did others get those as well? I can't find any pics of non-Silverplate WWII Superforts with the cuffed props, however, Osprey's "B-29 Superfortress Units of the Korean War" does have a few pics that do look like they have cuffed props and all the turrets. If you think about it, the major mods made on the Silverplate B-29s do make sense for this aircraft as well, considering the heavy load it would need to carry and high altitudes it needed to attain. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmk0210 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 You may have seen these videos, but if not, they have a wealth of information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKB4jApe4ME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn1l_UNsr-s John Thanks for the links! Those are cool vids. I never thought about searching Youtube. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 bump. and i would like to build one as well i got a b-29 for this very reson Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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