SimonCornes

Just seen a very good thread on LSP about a chap who restores turrets. Well worth watching! This B-24 is a kit that screams 'Start me' because its all there but then I cant because I want metal inserts for the gear, resin wheels, better guns and maybe a Zoom instrument panel. Still not sure if I can live with the engines but, to be honest, you could just build it and have a very big B-24! If you do it properly you could even build it with the kit turrets and make it possible to lift them out and replace with the aftermarket versions - which will hopefully arrive! So mine will sit in its box until I can get the extras I want. But hopefully someone will start a build thread?

That is great Jim - thanks for finding it! Oh dear, the HB Emmerson B-24 turret is looking very basic and clunky!!

This is all very intriguing and I will be interested to see how Ian goes on with his wing correction. Regarding turrets, no one has compared the HB units with the WNW Lancaster. I know we are talking a different cost philosophy and I'm very glad that HB have produced this 'starting point' but, clearly, it is possible to produce very accurate, thin glazed turrets in this scale. It strikes me that the likes of Aries/Quickboost would/could do a beautiful job in resin - comparable to their resin cockpits if the demand was great enough. In fact I'm slightly surprised that an after market company haven't already started doing turrets for the B-25 and B-17 although the B-24 has 'more' different turrets than either the 25 or 17. The glazing is the big issue. In the UK Alleycat have done some very nice clear replacement resin canopies although I believe casting in clear resin is far more demanding than the cream opaque stuff. We don't need guns, we already have various choices on the market, it's fine detail turrets and glazing that we need. How much should a nose/tail or top turret cost? £20 apiece? Actually thats still cheap compared to the cost of the kit! Simon

Thanks Kevin - just looked - there lies madness , have closed it quickly!! Thierry, thank you, that could be very useful. Only 2 sets I see, will RB have a stock at Telford I wonder? I'm not going to put money on it!!

Oops, not available though Hannants - will have to buy them directly from Eduard - also at Telford in a fortnight !

Thanks for that Petrov, I have found the item now. Very different to other forces straps and a pity HGW don't do a set! Something to add to my Telford purchases list with Hannants I think! Thanks also for the opinion re Dr.I straps, I will go with your suggestion

Hi Thierry I just had a look on the Hannants site and the only thing I can find is the Eduard set for the Roden SPAD VII. A pity they don't do the straps alone but, to be honest, I would prefer HGW fabric belts but I accept that I could use the image of the Eduard straps as a pattern for some out of lead foil. I'm surprised that HGW don't do a set though. I am also looking for straps for a Roden Fokker Dr.I but again, nothing listed. I suppose they could be somewhere between an Eindecker and a D.VII ? !!!

Can anyone suggest a good source of straps for these WWI machine please? HGW don't do anything specific. I could make something out of lead foil but Roden kits all need some strappery so I wondered what the solution was? Thank you

I really thought that it was a ruse by WNW but if its true, well, I don't think I want to afford the $600 odd price that it would likely cost, based on how much the Felixstowe costs and how much there is in that box. I will buy an KHM kit but it occurs to me that WNW might be useful for 'extras'. What do I mean? Well we know that the HKM kit is an early Lanc - fuselage windows, small bomb aimers bubble, small astrodome but both needle and paddle blade props. I only intend to buy one Lanc kit so I'm not bothered about a Special. I'm not sure about how good HKM are at supplying spares but I know that WNW are very good. I'm sure that if both companies have put in the amount of effort required to produce an accurate Lanc then I might just use WNW as a source for a glazing sprue - which might have the later glazing and typically - going by the existing WNW kits - costs $10. I may also consider WNW gun turrets if they are better than the HKM bits but it could be a case of buying the cheaper HKM option and then using WNW as an aftermarket supplier? I wonder how WNW would stack ups against Eduard and Aries/Quickboost?

I agree, the USAF box scheme will be my default if nothing else comes up but I'm surprised that there aren't at least a couple of sheets of USAF aircraft out by now. As with the A and C models, there were some very colourful squadron markings.

Brian Is it worth looking at the Hasegawa sheet for their JASDF F-104? The Victory sheet is quite expensive and not available from Hannants and relies heavily on the kit stencils if the stencils supplied are anything to go by. Ideally Microscale should do a bespoke set! Cheers Simon

Hi Don It seems a bit strange that there is no decal sheet for this kit yet, especially from the USA, which would be logical. Maybe there are several in preparation?

I recently picked up one of these kits and fancy the USAF markings, although I know that this aircraft was used to train non-USAF pilots who were going to fly the 'G' model. I was wondering what the options are for producing a genuine USAF jet? I assume we're talking a 'D' ? I further assume it would have C2 ejection seats? Maybe needing a jet pipe for a 'C'. Then what about markings? Maybe this has all been covered off before but I am not aware so please forgive me if it has!! Any thoughts/opinions would be appreciated, Thank you

Thanks Kevin - PM sent