B-24 H Academy 1:72

Started by capt. R · 266 · 12 months ago
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    This is a great reinforcement, my friend @lis! Will bond nicely with the Tamiya extra thin. The looks of the area are perfect!

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    capt. R said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    And second styrene plate.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    The bomb bay looks nice out of the box, Bernard @lis
    Reinforcement looks more than sufficient to support the nose wheel.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    This is a great build, Bernard (@lis). I love the way you always include crew figures in your planes. It makes them much more personal. I love B-24s and I have a couple working their way up the queue.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Today I want to finish work with fuselage. I masked Windows. Unfortunetly some masks not fit good and I have to cut it to better shape. Oval windows in nose I masked by Tamiya tape and Mr. Masking Sol. Also I checked lead that I had in my stash. I need 3oz of lead to avoid tail sitting. I found that in manual in another Liberator from PBY Navy version from Minicraft. It is strange that manufacturer don’t suggest load of lead in all liberator version. I hope I will able to fit all lead in fuselage safetly. Unfortunetly I found that one bomb has signs from glue. What Can I do with that? I could try to remove this bomb and made another one. It was second time, because one bomb I have to removed because of the same reason (but glue markings was much more visible).

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Walt said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Looking good, and good luck with the lead weights. I filled the area between the gear and bomb bay with lead shot on my 1/48th model and it sat on its tail and made the landing gear too heavy for the resin gear. Its nice that they tell you how much to add, I can promise you I had a lot more than 3 oz of lead shot in mine.
    Looks like it won't be long till we have a completed fuselage waiting for wings.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    @johnb Thank You! I hope it works.

    @gblair Thank You! I have very good time paiting figures.

    @luftwaffe-birdman What happened to resin gear? did they break? It was some aftermarket wheel and chassis kit, right? My manual doesn't mention anything about weight to load ratio. As I wrote, I found it on the scalemates portal, searching all manuals from B-24 Academy and Minicraft. One said it was 3 oz in weight. Your experience puts me off a bit if the landing gear is at risk of being loaded.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    You are progressing nicely, Bernard @lis
    May I ask you what brand of masking fluid you are using for the windows.
    It looks like a nice way to mask if no pre-cut masks are available.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    @johnb This is Mr. Masking Sol. I use it on oval Windows to hide imperfections of my own cut mask on edge. It don’t smells bad so I like it.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Turned out great, my friend @lis!

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Hi, Bernard (@lis): Oval windows can be tough to mask, and masking fluid is a great way to protect the clear plastic. I always tend to leave it on too long and it gets tough to remove. Sometimes it is hard to find enough room for the nose weights in a plane like this. There are several manufacturers who don't mention nose weights, so it is a good practice not to rely on the instructions for this. I had one kit last year that mentioned adding nose weight in the instructions, but it was after the fuselage was already closed up. Fixing your glue drip might be difficult. I often have the reverse problem by leaving fingerprints in the wet glue. If the bombs are painted, the glue will sometimes just peel off. If the glue is bonded to the bare plastic, you could try to get some sandpaper in there to sand it off. You could also carefully use the edge of a knife blade to try to scrape it off. Good luck.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    @lis, thank you for sharing, Bernard. Especially rounded windows are hard to mask. This liquid, or similar, will simplify the masking process. Going to search for it.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    @fiveten @johnb @gblair Repainting bomb is very difficult because everything is already fixed in the plane. The easiest thing would be to unstick the bomb, but this time it doesn't want to be unsticked. I wonder if I should leave it like that...

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Hi Bernard: I think I would try to sand it down a little with a sanding stick, repaint it, and then ignore it. I think it would be very hard to see when you are done.

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    Walt said 1 year, 1 month ago:

    Lis, @lis, when i built "The Squaw" in 1/48th scale, I used the Vector Resin Landing Gear and Wells Conversion. It is a beautiful set of resin, but with all the added weight when I put the plane down the axle bent enought that the strut rested on top of the wheel. I ended up having to put a piece of wire in the strut to hold the wheel away. It is barely visible when you look at the kit. Also even with an aluminum tube reinforement when standing on its gear if the table is bumped the plane jiggles like a bowl of Jello. I will not be adding any weight to "The Blue Streak" and will just use my printed box under the tail stand as was common practice for the real plane.