B-24D "The Blue Streak", Bond Tour Veteran, Monogram 1/48th

Started by Walt · 221 · 2 months ago · 376th Bomb Group, 41-11613, B-24, Florine JuJu, Halpro, Halverson Project, Monogram, Ploesti, Teggie Ann, The Blue Streak
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    Walt said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Well I have finished until the wing is glued together the riveting on the upper wing of the port side. It's not perfect, and I had to repair a few mistakes along the way but all in all it looks pretty good to my eye. The riveting took longer then the panel lines, but I think it makes a huge difference. I am also pleased with my progress, in that I am getting more done faster then usual for my normal pace of building.

    6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Riveting came out wonderful, my friend @luftwaffe-birdman, as had the overall progress.
    Looking forward to this superlative build!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    The riveting looks amazing, Walt @luftwaffe-birdman

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    Walt said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Its been a fairly productive weekend. I finished my XP-55, and also the riveting on the top of the wings of the B-24. To avoid mistakes I drew them out on the starboard wing before putting in the rivets. The Halpro B-24's did not have the port side nose gunners window, so I had to fill it in. They also moved the pitot tubes back down to the lower position of early B-24 designs, so I filled the hole for the high mount pitot tube.

    5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Coming together beautifully, my friend @luftwaffe-birdman!
    Nice dealing with the small yet important differences found on the specific bird!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Nice result on all the extras and modifications, Walt @luftwaffe-birdman

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    Walt said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Jumping ahead, only because I was interested in trying it. I didn't like the pitot tube on Monograms B-24 kit. In the pictures of the plane you can clearly see that the pitot tube has a different shape then the kit.

    When I was rebuilding a Grumman/McKinnon Goose, one of the upgrades was dual pitot tubes. I found the correct one on eBay, new still in the original box from the manufacturer. Then made a duplicate to the mount for the other wing.

    Looking at the pitot tube I drew one in a simple CAD program and then printed them out.

    I think they are pretty close to right size, and will definitely be an improvement. I will just snip off the tip and glue on mine.

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    capt. R said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Liberator has two types of pitot’s tube. Bigger similar as on photo of model and smaller in lower part of fuselage.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Nice improved pitots, my friend @luftwaffe-birdman!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Excellent rebuild of that pitot mount, Walt @luftwaffe-birdman
    The same is true for the printed tubes, at least you have sufficient parts to try out.

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    Walt said 1 year, 8 months ago:

    Lis, @lis, thanks, this particular B-24 was sent through a depot where the pitot tubes were moved from the high mount like on my earlier build to the early production location on the sides of the nose. You can also see in the two cropped pictures that the pitot tube tip, was of the same style as the one I printed. I think it will look better than the bulky rather undefined shape molded into the kit.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Walt said 1 year, 7 months ago:

    Started working on the fuselage. Starting with the port side fuselage half I scribed the panel lines using molded panel lines as guides. When I checked my reference scale drawing it turns out that some of what Monogram did was creative, other was just omission. In the front area of the fuselage there are a number of panel lines that were not molded in and some that Monogram did are not completely accurate. I am doing a hybrid, and will let the rivet counters tell me I am wrong. I will say this it sure does add a lot of interest to the side of the fuselage.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 7 months ago:

    Splendid job there, my friend @luftwaffe-birdman!
    Rivet-counting-wise or not, it is just splendid.
    Looking forward to your progress!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 7 months ago:

    Excellent craftsmanship, Walt @luftwaffe-birdman
    Those huge amount of rivets added already do improve the looks a lot. Very impressive.

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    Walt said 1 year, 7 months ago:

    I ordered resin replacement wheels from Lone Star Models which I had used on my last build. When they arrived they had voids, and weren't round. After reaching out about this issue another set was sent immediately. This set while it did not have the voids, still wasn't round. I made the decision to purchase the Armory B-24 wheels. I purchased them on eBay from a vendor in Kiev. A tracking number was created almost immediately but it never showed being taken to the the post office. I contacted the vendor a couple of times and he assured me that the wheels were on their way. Well the tracking never changed and I looked around and purchased another set from Hannants along with some other stuff. Well today, two months after of my order magically my Armory Wheels showed up in my mailbox.

    I have to say this is some of the nicest resin I have seen. The molding is crisp clear and extremely detailed including the brand logo on the side wall. Photo-etch for the wheel covers, printed fender for the nose gear and masks are included in the package. It is advertised as being made for the Monogram/Revell line of B-24's which is why I did not buy it in the first place because of the way the gear struts are molded. In order to use these with the struts in the kit, the struts will have to be modified. Not that what I say matters, but these are really some beautifully cast resin wheels. I am not espousing any politics, but Ukraine has turned out to be a source of some incredible companies, both small and large that produce high quality products for modeling. I have no problem trying to support them simply on the basis as I want to keep these companies in business for the future.

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.