B-29 Superfortress Peachy
Peachy was assigned to the 482nd Bomb Squadron of the 505th Bomb Group, 20th AF. They were stationed on Tinian in the Mariana Islands.
The usual crew that flew Peachy was commanded by Robert T. Haver.
He was a native of Pueblo, Colorado. He named his aircraft after his younger sister's nickname. Peachy was shot down over Tokyo with no survivors on 25 May 1945, on its 35th trip over Japan. At the time of its loss, it was being flown by a replacement crew. Captain Haver and his crew flew 10 more missions for a total of 35 missions then returned home to the United States.
The Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum's B-29 was one of several operated by the U.S. Navy. By 1960 the Navy had parked all of its B-29s at the target range at NAS China Lake.
In 1975 the museum's B-29 and others were saved and sent to various museums. The Pueblo museum's B-29's nose art was marked as Peachy, to honor Captain Haver and his crew .
I grew up in Colorado and had visited the museum several times over the years. When I first saw Peachy, I wanted to build a model of it, but in the 1970's it would have been a difficult to reproduce the nose art in 1/48 or 1/72. On a recent visit this year to the Pueblo Museum, I saw a postcard in the gift shop with Peachy's nose art. I realized this could possibly be used to create the decal for the nose art.
My friend Morne @mornem kindly offered to help create the decal for me. He has a friend that has the software & skills to make decals.
From South Africa, Morne mailed me the decals and a custom coffee cup with Peachy nose art on one side, and a photograph of the crew on the other side. It only took a few days to arrive at my home in Oklahoma.
Thank you again, Morne.
I've had this B-29 build in the back of my mind for about 45 years, and this year everything came together to make it possible. I just needed a little help from a friend.
The Academy B-29 kit I had was for the two atomic bombers, Bock's Car & Enola Gay. It had all the parts to build the standard B-29, but had no 500 lb bombs to put in the bomb bay. Some areas had fit issues , such as the tail section being slightly tweaked to the left. I tried to make everything look square, as much as possible. I had that same problem once with a 1/48 Fujimi BF-110, so I had some experience dealing with that before. Over all it is a nice kit with lots of interior detail , most of which can't be seen and only adds weight to help it sit on its tail. I left a lot of it out of the tail section to help off set it's weight & balance problem, but still ended up adding about 2 oz of lead weights to the nose area to get it to sit on the nose wheel.
With the approaching 78th anniversary of VJ Day, I thought this would be a good time to post this B-29, and in a small way honor and remember those crewmen that flew over Japan.
Spectacular result, Jay! And kudos to Morne for his help!
Congratulations!
Fantastic, Jay, you must be so pleased with the finished model.
Thank you @chinesegeorge and @fiveten ! I’m happy being able to finally see this built after so many years of being on the back burner, so to speak.
Well done Jay, nice tribute build as well.
Thanks @tom-bebout !
Great job Jay @ssgt! Excellent read on the crew and aircraft history. Nice to see a long awaited project get done, and happy to see help from a fellow modeler, this is a great hobby. And your B-29 looks amazing!
Thank you Bob @v1pro ! I’m glad to have this one on the display shelf finally.
Jay this is a special tribute to the crew and the aircraft that made VJ day a reality. It was a great pleasure to help procure the decals that made Peachy a reality. Your B-29 is a great addition to your collection. You did an AMAZING job on this iconic B-29. Well done my friend!
Thank you, Morné @mornem ! I sure appreciate your help on this project.it was an international project
Excellent build and memorial.
Thank Dan @dbdlee ! It was enjoyable researching online for photos & info.
Thanks for posting this @mornem ! I didn’t want to work for me when I tried it..
What an amazing build and story behind it, Jay @ssgt
A superb tribute to the crew members and its engineers.
Well done.
Thank you , John @johnb ! Researching has become the most interesting and enjoyable part of the hobby for me.
Well done on the write up and especially the build. Great tribute!
Thank you Gary @gwskat !
Well done - that's just PEACHY!
Thanks Chas @chasbunch ! I think it is peachy too !
Very nice Jay! Looks great!
Thank you, Greg @gkittinger !
Nicely done, well presented Jay, why are some of the pic's so small ?
I didn’t know they seemed small …. On my electronic device it looks the same as other postings on imodeler. Usually the ones posted at the very bottom are smaller and if you click on them they get bigger. Or maybe , once again , I’ve screwed something up !
Overall fantastic build! I'm really impressed! I have this kit in stash for future build. How much lad did You use to avoid tail sitting? Did You enjoy Academy kit?
@lis , I used about 2 onces of lead in the compartment that is under the top forward gun turret. I didn’t really enjoy this kit, due to being so large it has a lot of seams to contend with. However, I didn’t really hate it either…. I think it’s the best B-29 kit available.
Great. Thank You for Your answer!
Super work Jay and a wonderful story. These builds are really fun to see. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the compliments and comments, Matt @coondog. I appreciated them.