1/72 B-24H-Minicraft kit

[jonwinn]

I need a 1/72 B-24 to go with my 1/72 Revell B-17F, I did the ancient Revell kit from the 60s and added a few things to make it look presentable. I am hoping the B-24 comes out as good, not looking for museum quality just  close enough and a fairly decent shape. I have some left over decals from Iliad for planes flown by the stars so I will use the Jimmy Stewart decals for his first flight in WWII in a plane named by it's previous crew "Nine Yanks and a Jerk". Here is my start, I have the nose sections glued to the fuselage halves and started painting the cockpit Vallejo bronze green.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by jonwinn

[jonwinn]

Here are the decals and the B-17 it will be shown with, old Revell 60s mold.

 

 

[southwestforests]

Be interesting to see the B-24 come together.

That Revell B-17 brings to mind that when I was a kid my Dad had one of it which lived on an end table in the living room for years and years.

Mom had built stick and tissue planes and well knew how to dust it without damage.

I don't recall him doing the disruptive paint like yours has.

[jonwinn]

I did this same kit when I was in Jr High School about 1968, basic OD over light blue? Not sure why light blue, was Memphis Belle decals. I haven't built one since then! My older brother flew stick and tissue planes he built with Cox 049 engines, then ended up in Air Force after ROTC in 1970.

[jonwinn]

I did a test of the 2 fuselage halves with their front nose pieces and matched them up and taped them. It looks like a very good fit. The only problem I can see is with the guns, they are very thin and fragile, maybe 1/2 the diameter of the old Revell kit. I already almost broke one off the sprue by accident.

 

[jonwinn]

I started some work on the insides. I did a lot of reading, looking at pictures on the web and watched a few videos. I am going with a dark green for the nose to the radio room, withthe nose wheel well chromate green. The bombay can be gray or aluminum so I will go with aluminum. The waist gunners area was usually aluminum except the early camouflaged bombers which were chromate green. Seeing as though the one I chose is camouflaged I will go with chromate green, then the tail gun turret was dark green similar to the nose gun turret. There are other variations but this seemed logical to me for the early type I am building.

 

 

[jonwinn]

I put all the small glass in the fuselage halves. I am waiting for the sub assemblies I painted to dry so I can assemble the interior. The fuselage halves are taped for a test fit and to let the glass dry.

 

[jonwinn]

I started assembling the interior parts.

 

[jonwinn]

More work, I have the ball turret painted and am at a halt. I just noticed part 77 is missing off the clear parts, the pilot's window for the canopy. I think I have seen sprues for sale for Minicraft kits on E Bay.

 

[jonwinn]

The fuselage has had 27 grams of weight in the nose, all closed up and the ball turret installed.

 

[jonwinn]

I decided to add a couple bombs, I will pose the bomb bay open. Also built the engines.

 

[jonwinn]

The wings are on, no gaps at all. They went on with absolutely no problems.

 

[jonwinn]

The tail, cockpit glass, nose turret, tail turret and tail skid are on. I am not sure what to do with the nose turret as there is a seam right in the middle where they broke the turret glass vertically in two halves. I can sand and polish the top easy enough but the sides are what bothers me. After that I can mask and paint.

 

[Dutch]

Moving right on down the line. The production line, that is!  Nice one, Jon.

[jonwinn]

After looking at all the masking I would have to do for the glass and bombs I decided I would spend more time masking than building other models. Rather than bog myself down I decided to get this finished ASAP so I closed up the bomb bay to speed things up. I have a much more interesting Lancaster on the way and need to clear my table for it in a week or so.