Profile Photo
Mark P Hartig
39 articles

1/72 Academy B-29A

April 11, 2024 · in Aviation · · 25 · 0.7K

I got this kit as a practice run for 's B-50D with the idea if I was going to bungle something it would be something that was easy to replace. No one glaring problem presented itself thru the build; if I was to whine about something it would be the instructions are a little vauge in places. Fit was good throuought and for a nineties molding I was pretty impressed.

The cooling flaps on the engine cowls were way thick so I cut the inside of the parts to scale thickness only to find that I'd cut away most of the mounting surfaces. This problem was solved by drilling .125" holes in the cowling and underlying tab then pinning them together with some 1/8" Evergreen rod. The panel lines were shallow and weak I thought so I rescribed the model. Not trusting the instructions which call for 60 G of nose weight I put in 100 G of #4 birdshot from a few defunct shotshells I had laying around, now the tail stays up nicely.

Finished in Mission Models WW II USAAF OD and Tammy Dark Sea Grey. I still dislike MM paint but I have alot of it to use up, perhaps I'll get better at using it. After some semi gloss clear acrylic I washed the model with Flory's black which did not show up well in the pictures due to the darker OD then sealed the works with more semi gloss clear.

Fun model, this.

Reader reactions:
20  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


25 responses

  1. She’s a bute Mark! A bute!

  2. Nice work! It’s good to see one in camo.

  3. Very cool build. The OD painted B-29’s are rarely modeled.

  4. Great looking build. That baby is big in 1/72. Agree with anthers, a OD version is a nice departure from NMF.

  5. Very nice result, Mark @markh
    That's quite some weight you added, Luckily the landing is strong on a B29.

  6. Nicely done Mark and a bit different, -------
    a pic' of mine, not NMF but flat aluminum.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  7. Excellent job, Mark! Always nice to see a B-29 in camo!

  8. Like it,and like it a LOT!Congrats!

  9. Looks great - the Superfort looks odd in OD scheme!

  10. Looks great, what is the problem with MM paint? Just curious.

    • Thanks. I find this paint dries blotchy; it took five coats of the OD to get to an even finish as opposed to the Tamiya Dark Sea Grey which took one. It's also very fragile once dry and requires immediate sealing...if you don't you'll mess up your paint just by picking the model up, kind of like pastel chalks we used in the old days.

  11. Great! How much lead did You use in nose?

  12. Thanks the instructions called for sixty grams; I put in a hundred to be sure

  13. Very cool, looks good in OD!

  14. Impressive and beautiful.

  15. Thank you gents

Leave a Reply