1/48 scale Monogram B-24 J “Tubarao” assembly ship

Started by Louis Gardner · 75 ≡ · ↻ 2 years ago
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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    My entry for this group build is this one.

    The old Monogram kit is a golden oldie and I have a few little upgrades for it like a set of resin engines by Quickboost to replace the kit parts.

    Please stay tuned for updates and as usual comments are encouraged.

    Thanks

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    Jeff Bailey said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    I'm lookin' forward to seeing this one, Buddy! @lgardner My Step-Dad was a nose turret gunner in B-24s during WWII. He LOVED B-24s, but wouldn't set foot in an aircraft during the time I knew him! I know he was on at least one raid to Ploesti. He would NOT speak of any of his experiences except in very general terms.

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    @lgardner, Louis this has to be one of the most spectaculars B-24 ever, and from a modeling point of view it will be a challenge to paint and weather. Thankfully pictures of this plane are abundant, so I’m sure your model will be a stunner. I’ll eageraly follow your WIP my friend. Thank you for joining this GB so enthusiastically

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    David Mills said 5 years, 5 months ago:

    Super choice Louis@lgardner

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    Last night I was painting the engines on the B-25 that is also on the work bench right now. I took a few minutes to add some paint on one of the resin replacement engines for this B-24. Here the flat black paint I used on the firewall is still wet and has not completely dried.


    The original kit supplied engine still remains in aluminum color. You can see a hole / nasty sink mark in it... all of the kit engines were like that on this particular boxing.

    These Quick Boost resin engines are a great upgrade over the kit parts.

    I also sprayed on some "Interior Green" paint on the rear inside section of the fuselage halves. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that. I'll snap a few later tonight and post them up...

    as always,
    Comments are encouraged.

    Thanks !

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    Greg Kittinger said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    I haven't seen you build something this big - at least in a while! Looking forward to seeing it emerge from the Gardner IronWorks.

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    Jeff Bailey said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    That's a great point, Greg. I wonder just HOW MANY big bombers Louis will be building at the same time! Gardner's Iron Works for sure!
    @lgardner

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    Hey fellows ! Greg, @gkittinger

    and Jeff, my fellow DAT brother @mikegolf

    I agree, it has been a while since I have had something comparable in size to these two. The last was the pair of 1/48 scale Heinkel He-111's. I finished the Monogram kit, and the ICM plane is about 70 percent done. It's a wonderful model, and I really need to get it done...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    Meanwhile I did get a little more done on the assembly ship. It was mainly dealing with the interior portions of the fuselage.


    Here's a close up of the bomb bay and the bomb racks. Since this one will be an assembly ship, I will not place any ordnance inside the bay.

    Here you can see the rear side of the rear bulkhead. It's painted using "Interior Green" while the forward face is aluminum to match the internals of the bomb bay.

    This next picture shows the fuselage and bomb bay from a forward viewpoint.

    Here's a close up of the rear bulkhead. The upper portion was painted using a dark version of Olive Drab, since this represents an internal canvas cover.

    Looking up into the bomb bay...

    a close up of the bomb bay details.

    Here I have snapped the fuselage halves together to take this photo.

    The same was done to get these last two pictures. Nothing other than the bulkheads and bomb racks have been glued in place just yet.


    This is going to be a BIG plane !

    As usual,
    Comments are encouraged.

    Thanks for looking.

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    david leigh-smith said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    This is a big beastie, a real monster of a build. Talking of which didn’t a bomber crash into Loch Ness all those years ago, could explain a lot.

    This will look exceptional when complete, given the size and colo(u)r scheme.

    The resin engines make a real difference, a lot more detail and very much sharper. There’s a lot of really nice WiP threads going on just now, we are being spoiled a bit on iModeler. In a selfish way I’m hoping this build takes you a long time. Sadly, 95% of my viewing takes place on a tablet, so I don’t get the benefit of the annotations in the photos.

    The usual professional, informative, and entertaining Gardner log, enjoying every frame.

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    Thanks David !
    It is one big brute of a plane. I have two of them sitting in the display case and they dwarf everything around them.

    I vaguely remember reading something about a WW2 bomber crashing into Lock Ness. It’s supposed to be a very dark and rather big body of water so the chances of finding it are probably pretty slim. Now I’ll have to do a little research on this... you know curiosity and the cat.

    I agree that the engine upgrades were a definite improvement. I’m glad that I went this route.

    Since I have a few other projects currently underway, this one will probably take some time to complete.

    I did manage to spray the inner cowlings red today. I used Model Master “Insignia Red”. It’s a flat or luster less color. FS31136



    After a little clean up at the sprue attachment point, they were sprayed.

    They look decent once the paint dried.

    It’s not much of an update, but I’ll take any progress as positive.

    I have been thinking about respraying the “Bronze Green” using a lighter color. This simply looks too dark to me.

    What I mixed up is a good match for the real color, but it looks like it is too dark on the model.

    If I decide to repaint this color I’ll post it up too.

    Thanks for looking, and as always comments are encouraged.

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    As per usual, you started with a bang Louis!
    I can’t really see what is the efficiency in getting 2 different cockpit colours applied inside an airframe...
    I mean I can understand the aluminium left bare, but why having front and aft indifferent shades of green?
    I gotta concur with David here, this B-24 will look tremendous when you finish it. Hooked!

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    Ferry Dierckxsens said 5 years, 4 months ago:

    Great and big classic kit you've started Louis. Lovely engines from Quick Boost and a great start on the interior. I will keep following your progress.

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    Sorry for the late reply gents. Not much has happened on this build (or any others) recently. Hopefully this will change soon.

    Pedro, @holzhamer

    to answer your questions about the different colors inside the fuselage... My understanding is that the fuselages were assembled in sections. Various manufacturers could have built the sub sections at a different location. They could have been painted in different colors for this reason.

    Another observation is that the US Army Air Force had different directives that specified certain colors to be used in certain areas. This was particularly true of the crew compartments, and any areas that could have been seen from outside the plane. This could also help explain the color usage in various places.

    This is only an educated guess on my part and I have not verified this statement. However, I think that I'm fairly close with this explanation. Especially after reading various articles that were written by persons such as Dana Bell.

    I have had the wonderful opportunity to go inside a few of these restored examples. This is me standing near the waist gunner position. Notice how the door is a different color from the rest of the interior.


    The colors used inside often varied in shade as the sunlight hit it. Bronze Green is one such color...

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 3 months ago:

    Today I built up the cockpit,


    and re-painted the "Bronze Green" again. This time I used a different color. I used FS 34052 US Marine Corps Green. It's supposed to be a decent match for Grumman "Bronze Green" after it has weathered a little. I know this isn't a Grumman, but the color looks close to what I saw inside a real life 1 to 1 scale B-24.

    Here's a few pictures of what was repainted. Unfortunately the color doesn't photograph very well.



    and some additional small parts...

    As usual,
    comments are encouraged.

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