Voir et Savoir 1/144 - B-24J Liberator

[strobez]

As the eagle-eyed among you may have spotted in the background of my Voir et Savoir J2M2 project, I've also got two other ones on the go a Me262 and this baby... the B-24J Liberator.

I've got an eye on both a B-17 and a B-29... so I wanted to do a warm-up and see if I really could get four engines spinning together at the same time... we shall see.

The project calls for a B-24J, but the easiest boxing to find was the Minicraft B-24D.  Given that the difference is largely just the glass nose, it's supposed to have all the parts for a B-24J. I've been burned before by assuming things, so I checked the instructions online before I bought it.



Moment of truth, and yes indeed... we're good to go. To build the "D", Minicraft provides an extra clear sprue... which I won't use.



A quick dry fit to get an idea what we're dealing with.  Man those are loooooong wings.  Not even Kit would dare extend those babies.... would he?



The nice thing about big wings though is you can hide lots of stuff in them...



I don't trust the tolerance level for the motors, so let's drill out the holes for the props.  Just adding a bit of wiggle/wobble room.



I used a bit of plastic tubing from a drinking straw to help the CA glue stick... and keep it out of the areas where I don't want it to go.



Wings wired and closed up. Motors all glued in place... now to match them up.



Everything attached.  The drinking straw tubing came in handy and even made it easier to replace one whiny motor on the fly. Now for the moment of truth...



Success! Four motors. Four Props going 'round... what a breeze!

[PR19_Kit]

  Man those are loooooong wings.  Not even Kit would dare extend those babies.... would he?

You wanna' bet? 

Magnificent work there Greg, B-24s are the BUSINESS, and even better with motors. 

[Captain Canada]

That is so cool ! Always wanted to try this. Great stuff !

[Old Wombat]

After the Lancaster, the B-24 Liberator is my favourite 4-engined bomber!

But you is still crazy, man!

[Dizzyfugu]

This is cool. 

Now's the question: will it actually run in circles if you hang it with a string under the ceiling and "let it go"? 

[zenrat]

After the Lancaster, the B-24 Liberator is my favourite 4-engined bomber!

But you is still crazy, man!

Mines the Pe8.  Gotta love engine nacelles with gunners in the rear.

Looking good strobez.

[McColm]

Wow great work 

[strobez]

Wings attached and I scratched up a bit of a cockpit and painted everything "cockpit green". Not sure how much will be visible as this is my first time building a B-24J (or any WWII bomber!). But better to be safe than sorry, I say.

[NARSES2]

Mines the Pe8.  Gotta love engine nacelles with gunners in the rear.

Yup  Although was it seen as an alternative to the Gulag in the Pe's case ? 

[zenrat]

Mines the Pe8.  Gotta love engine nacelles with gunners in the rear.

Yup  Although was it seen as an alternative to the Gulag in the Pe's case ? 

At least they would be warm.  I have a Zvezda 1'72 which has figures for all the crew including the engine gunners.

[NARSES2]

Mines the Pe8.  Gotta love engine nacelles with gunners in the rear.

Yup  Although was it seen as an alternative to the Gulag in the Pe's case ? 

At least they would be warm.  I have a Zvezda 1'72 which has figures for all the crew including the engine gunners.

I've got that kit in the stash, but never noticed the gunners, but then I don't use crew figures. If I ever get around to the kit then I might make an exception in this case 

[zenrat]

Mines the Pe8.  Gotta love engine nacelles with gunners in the rear.

Yup  Although was it seen as an alternative to the Gulag in the Pe's case ? 

At least they would be warm.  I have a Zvezda 1'72 which has figures for all the crew including the engine gunners.

I've got that kit in the stash, but never noticed the gunners, but then I don't use crew figures. If I ever get around to the kit then I might make an exception in this case 

Either Zvezda have used variable scale or the nacelle gunners (on the right) were recruited from Hobbitograd...


http://www.olddogsplanes.com/pe8.html

I may have to get a second version of this kit as I have just discovered there is a release with transfers for Stalin's personal transport including a figure of Uncle Joe himself.

OK.  Enough of the hijacking.  Back to you Strobez.

[strobez]

Thanks for the hand back. The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy here, so progress has been impacted a bit, but it's back on track now and moving along.

I got the main fuselage glued together, but some pretty substantial putty and sanding were required.



I didn't have the full crew, but you can't fly without the pilots.



After a few more rounds of putty and sanding to get rid of the stubborn shadow along the glue line... we've got some undershading.



I managed to scuff it up a bit while masking off the bottom, so it'll need a few touch ups, but I'm pleased so far.  I also scratched up some pilot tubes and radio antennas, as the kit didn't bother providing such things.



Propellors and wheels getting some paint too.  You'd think I'd have remembered the red tail while I was painting the propellers, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.  I guess that's another step in the process.

[McColm]

Wow!

[zenrat]

1/144 figures?  Uhhhhh, no thanks.

How you going over there mate?