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Aftermarket conversion set for Silverplate B-29s?


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Hi guys,

 

Does anyone know if there's an aftermarket resin conversion set for to build a Silverplate B-29 in 1/48 scale?  I thought I saw that Cutting Edge had one but I can't find it anywhere now.  I want to do the Enola Gay for my daughter who is a big history buff.  I suppose I could do some scratch building to remove the turrets but I was curious to see if an aftermarket conversion set would be worthwhile or not.

 

Thanks!

 

Eric

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Cutting Edge did one, but IMHO it made the job more difficult.  The CE set involved carefully removing large sections of the kit fuselage to fit resin pieces in.  They didn't just "fill the holes".

http://acc.kitreview.com/cec48478reviewpb_1.htm

 

Some felt this process was somehow "easier" than using templates or a compass to cut round plugs, fill the holes and then sand and polish smooth.  I am not one of those people.  I have always found it a lot easier to get a plastic patch  blended into a plastic fuselage than to blend a resin patch to plastic.  And, on the B-29, there is exactly ONE panel line that runs close to where you need to plug, so with a modicum of care in that one area a self-made conversion is going to be a few orders of magnitude easier than cutting, test-fitting the CE set, adjusting, test-fitting and then gluing and trying to smooth it all back out.

 

Not to mention the joys of trying to sand out the seam where that thin resin edge attaches to a thin plastic edge, held by superglue.  It WILL flex and crack, guaranteed.

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Thank you for the info, Lance!  

 

The way I see it, for $30, I can buy another model kit for that price.  With that being the case, I think I'll just go the scratchbuilding route.  I've read a few articles where people explained how they did their own patch job on the B-29 and I think I'm just going to do the same thing.  Like you said, I think taking a modicum of care will yield the desired results.

 

Eric

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14 hours ago, WymanV said:

 You may also be hard pressed to find that set for a mere $30...

 

My thoughts exactly!  It's going to be far less expensive to just scratchbuild my own blank plating.

 

Eric

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9 hours ago, echolmberg said:

 

My thoughts exactly!  It's going to be far less expensive to just scratchbuild my own blank plating.

 

Eric

Upon further thought, I wonder if it would not be possible to trim down the blanking plates provided in the kit to at least provide a base that could be puttied up and smoothed out.  The blanking plates for the sighting windows, at least, are curved to match the fuselage curve, they are just too big around to fit flush inside the window openings.  But that excess could be trimmed and sanded.

 

As I recall, they even have the hole for the small vision port left in the real item, which would be a handy place to run a chuck through to put those into a router to spin them while sanding them smaller...

 

The turret plates may be flat, as I believe the instruction had you leave the turret mount rings standing proud of the fuselage and just capped them with the plates?

 

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As I remember, the kit instructions give two options for dealing with turret removal; one is to leave the turret rings and just cap them with flat plastic pieces and two; remove the turret rings and install shaped circular discs over the holes left by the turret ring removal.  Neither of these is a good option to a passable Silverplate B-29.

Edited by timc
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On 7/6/2019 at 3:25 PM, Hubbie Marsten said:

There's also the conversion set from Attic, which bring the whole forward and aft fuselage sections to convert to Silverplate bombers.

Attic Aerospace 1/48 B-29 Turretless Conversion Set

 

Run!  Runaway fast!  I had the Attic P2V kit and have their HH-3 conversion.  I threw the P2V in the trash.  By far the worst resin I’ve ever seen.  I’d rather scratch build a P2V than use that crap.

 

Be forewarned!

 

 Corey

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11 hours ago, Corey said:

Run!  Runaway fast! 

Be forewarned!

 

Is it that bad, Corey? The set is temporarily out of stock, and I haven't been able to find any WIPs online which showed or spoke about the quality of the set. You, having had it in person, I've got no choice but to take your word for it.

Could you please elaborate on the issues on the resin?

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1 hour ago, Hubbie Marsten said:

 

Is it that bad, Corey? The set is temporarily out of stock, and I haven't been able to find any WIPs online which showed or spoke about the quality of the set. You, having had it in person, I've got no choice but to take your word for it.

Could you please elaborate on the issues on the resin?

 

Um, yeah, the quality of the two kits I have were extremely bad.  Like, carved out of soap bad.  I’m not sure what he used for masters for the P2V, but it very well could have been a clone of the ID models vac P2V (I also have that kit, and am more inclined to build that then the Attic kit.). The molds were not created under any kind of vacuum or pressure.  There were bubbles and pin holes through out, with areas of huge voids.  The mold material must have been extremely cheap and the molds itself were probably worn as the detail was vague and mushy.  Parts of the mold material were stuck in the parts.  He must have pulled then resin parts from the molds too soon, as many of the parts were distorted and warped.  The resin in self was not properly cured, as it was “sweating” and greasy.  The icing on the cake were panel lines that looked like they had been “scribed” with a hack saw.  Like I said earlier, it was so bad I threw it in the trash.  I don’t have photos of the P2V, but i do have photos of the HH-3, which I will post.

 

i know it sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not.  I’m not squeamish when it comes to modeling.  The quality of these two kits I had were terrible.

 

If you still don’t believe me, here’s a thread on hyperscale:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?t=195337

 

Another

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/viewtopic.php?t=194303

 

from here on arc: 

 

And another: 

 

And another:

 

Edited by Corey
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1 hour ago, Corey said:

 

Geez.  That's just a little shy of being criminal.  That's almost as bad as a Unicraft kit.

 

Eric

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3 hours ago, Corey said:

If you still don’t believe me, here’s a thread on hyperscale:

 

 

Corey,

Of course I believe you. I never had first-hand proof of the quality on the Attic sets; you did. It's months since we've been in discussion with a vendor on eBay who's telling me to wait until September for the casting of new sets of the Attic 1/48 B-29 Turretless conversion sets. He even told me that the resin sets correct the misalignment issue with the windshield on the Monogram kit and stuff (think he's grooming me).

I don't even want to imagine the huge mess it would be that awful quality of resin on those four large sub-assemblies which comprise the forward and aft fuselage sections on the conversion set. Leaving quality aside, the warpage on the parts might be just insurmontable! *shudders*

Had rather take your advice and run, run away fast! 

Thanks.

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No problem!  I was so pissed when I received that mess of a P2V kit after plunking down a decent chunk of money.  If I can help someone else avoid that disappointment, then I’m glad to do so!

🙂

corey

 

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