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Bob Torres
67 articles

Revell's 1/72 B-24D Liberator

May 11, 2021 · in Aviation · · 35 · 2.9K

This is the very old B-24D that was first released back in 1964. This boxing was from the 1979 release (kit # 4403). I built this back in the end of 1986 and remember enjoying the build very much. I did a lot of work to bring it up some first removing all of the rivets, this kit does have recess lines so it was a win/win in my eyes. Scratch built the cockpit and bombardier sections. I did added a table for the bombardier with a map. Build up the nose wheel well area, used parts from Hasegawa's B-17 (propellers) and Italeri's B-25 upper turret. Made all of the antennas and aerials from stretched sprue. And had fun painting this with my old favorite, Poly S. Weathering was done by brushing on scraped dry pastels. I finally had a chance to brush off the dust and clean up the clear parts so I can take some shots. After I was done with this build I felt Revell actually made the best before Academy came out with theirs. Decals are a mix from the kit, Microscale and ESCI.

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome

14 additional images. Click to enlarge.


35 responses

  1. This kit was actually released way before 1964 - like maybe 1958. You did good with the old dinosaur.

  2. Really nice work on this "oldie".

  3. Great job on this REAL Oldie. I 'member buying this as a kid, the box art having a PB4-Y hitting a U-Boat.

  4. Looks great! That’s really not a bad model for it’s time. I built the PB4Y-1 boxing of that kit way back when.

  5. Nice work Bob. The old gal looks terrific!

  6. Love it too, Bob! Amazing result on this oldie of a kit!

  7. She looks fantastic Bob (@v1pro). I am currently building a B-24J from Hasegawa. I hope to end up with this kind of result. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Great achievement, Bob.
    You did well on all the extras.

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    Walt said on May 11, 2021

    When I started modeling that was one of the first kits I built. Wow does that bring back memories. Brush painting with the little glass square jars of Testors paint, only having gloss black so I had shiny tires and props and who knew you were supposed to get rid of the seams.

    Well yours shows what experience and skill can do with vintage kit and I love the scheme. You did a great job at making that kit look so good.

    • Walt thank you, I love these old kits. I have seen other modelers used the skills they have today make these kits look pretty nice. In some cases I feel some of these older kits are better than some of the earlier short run kits.

  10. A nice blast from the past, looks great!

  11. She still sits pretty! Nicely done.

  12. Another trip down memory lane! Thanks for sharing great job!

  13. Looks good Bob, nicely done.

  14. I remember building this way back and it didn't look anywhere near as good as yours does.

    • Haslam, thank you. Ten years earlier I tried to build this kit but did not like it, it looked really rough so I threw it away. Later on when I started this build I took my time, 4 months from reading my build log. I think removing all the rivets, blending all of the uneven surfaces, seams and clear parts helped bring out what I was looking for in my head. If I tried this on Revell’s old B-17F, I doubt I would have had the same results. In 1990 when Academy released their new tool B-24D, this Revell kit became a forgotten kit. I am glad Academy came out with their B-24 series.

  15. This is a great looking model , Bob @v1pro . I’ve built it a few times since the 1970s and never had much success. I saw the real airplane at the AF museum in Dayton, Ohio. Yours looks just like it, but smaller.

    • Jay @ssgt, thank you! At first this kit intimidated me but eventually I started the build and 3 to 4 months later I got it done. It turned out to be a fun build. I used photos of the Air Force Museum B-24 to help me with this build. In the summer of 1987 I finally got to see the real one in this museum. The B-17 is a pretty looking airplane but this B-24 looks pretty dam cool!

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