Hobby Boss 1/32 B-24J - Initial Observations

[mgunns]

These are the Monogram "J" turrets.  Note that they are clear

 

This is the nose turret from the Hobby Boss kit.  It is frosted.  As mentioned with some fine grit sand paper, Brasso, or Cigarette/cigar ashes work great to polish the plastic.  At least it will be clear, seam not withstanding.

 

[mgunns]

 

Here is the comparison between the Monogram on the left, and the HObby boss on the right for comparison.

[Out2gtcha]

Size diff is amazing

[mgunns]

It's pretty dramatic when you see the comparison.  1/32nd is quite a bit larger.  I don't know how I am going to build this or where I am going to put it.

 

[Pup7309]

4 hours ago, John1 said:

Can’t be bashin’!!    

 

As far as the turret problem, it shouldn’t be that hard.   Sand with various grades of ultra fine sandpaper, then go with a liquid scratch remover and finish with a plastic polish. Should then be nice and clear.  Next you’ll need to restore all lost surface detail and apply Archer rivets if nesssary.   I’ve done similar to repair heavily scratched canopies.   Figure 4-5 hours and maybe $30 tops for supplies.   Of course this won’t address any seams.   

 

Or hope the aftermarket comes through, though the only outfit I’ve ever seen offer decent transparent bits was Hypersonic.   

 

Or wait for HB to offer up with corrected parts.  

4-5 hours of polishing? No thanks. 

I was really looking forward to getting this kit. At this stage unless AM comes along, I’m out. 

[PhilB]

5 hours ago, mgunns said:

These are the Monogram "J" turrets.  Note that they are clear

 

This is the nose turret from the Hobby Boss kit.  It is frosted.  As mentioned with some fine grit sand paper, Brasso, or Cigarette/cigar ashes work great to polish the plastic.  At least it will be clear, seam not withstanding.

 

Exactly and looking at the reflection of the light on it the "frosting" isn't particularly deep.

I don't know why there appears to be this fear or perception that clear plastic is going to take hours and cost a lot of money to fix.

Polishing clear plastic is very straightforward and not too hard.

A good sponge sander set costing a few quid or even cheaper, one of those four sided nail polishing sticks will sort this in about 10 minutes and shouldn't take off enough plastic to need rescribing or rivets replaced.

We used to do this sort of thing all the time with canopy seams and nobody was moaning and asking for aftermarket canopies then.

It's called modelling.

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by PhilB

[PhilB]

Just for a further bit of info regarding cleaning up clear plastic/seams etc, here's a topic I did on the subject previously.

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/30048-removing-canopy-seams/

[AlexM]

7 hours ago, mgunns said:

This is the nose turret from the Hobby Boss kit.  It is frosted.  As mentioned with some fine grit sand paper, Brasso, or Cigarette/cigar ashes work great to polish the plastic.  At least it will be clear, seam not withstanding.

 

 

I wasn't aware that cigarette ash is used for polishing, but this sounds like a good reason to start smoking as a New Year's resolution 

 

Cheers

Alex

Edited December 24, 2018 by AlexM

[nmayhew]

2 hours ago, PhilB said:

Just for a further bit of info regarding cleaning up clear plastic/seams etc, here's a topic I did on the subject previously.

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/30048-removing-canopy-seams/

 

thank you Phil for this link

 

I had a read and it's good to see it done, rather than just say it can be done

 

However, I still think this is just not going to work for the turrets simply because we are not dealing with a plain area with a scratch; adding back the ribbing detail is beyond my ability and outside of what I can be bothered to do I am afraid.

 

Some might call it 'modelling' I grant you.

 

For me it's just 'not fun'.

 

But to each his own and thank you again for resurrecting the tutorial - I will surely use that on other builds when I goof up! 

[reconspit]

...well, i studied every In-box review of that B-24..., except the turrets, it looks like a B-24 to me and for 118€ i don’t need to think twice...

Merry Christmas to all and lots of plastic beneath the trees for you guys....

[Dave Roof]

Local Hobbytown had three on the shelf a few days ago. Stopped in yesterday to kill some time and all three were gone. Fortunately for me, I fall in the "TLAR (that looks about right)" category when it comes to the B-24. Would love to do a PB4Y-1 of either VMD-154 or VMD-254. It won't be perfect or 100% accurate, but it will look cool as s#!t when it's done!

[PhilB]

1 hour ago, nmayhew said:

However, I still think this is just not going to work for the turrets simply because we are not dealing with a plain area with a scratch; adding back the ribbing detail is beyond my ability and outside of what I can be bothered to do I am afraid.

If you are talking about the horizontal ribs on the bulged panels either side of the guns then on every picture I've seen that is metal and painted so no need to worry about those.

[Iain]

OK - have a 22% Davis airfoil, as applicable to the B-24, that I'm reasonably happy with - and that appears to match photos of the real aeroplane.

 

Have done a quick overlay in Photoshop and have a plan - will start a build thread later today and illustrate what I'm thinking.

 

Also going to glue the two halves of that infamous turret together and polish - ready to copy a pattern for vacuum forming.

 

Will also do a full review of the kit, with observations so far, for this site over the Christmas period.

 

Laters...

 

Iain

[npb748r]

just had the postie deliver mine, it's big and beautiful - my biggest issue is that I keep changing my mind about colour scheme, think it will be RAF coastal command but I need to put more effort into this. 

[Dennis7423]

18 hours ago, nmayhew said:

Bomb bay doors: are the instructions only giving the option for everything to be zipped up?

 

In looking at the instructions, it looks like they have you install all the bomb bay doors, both open and closed at the same time  :-P

 

The kit comes with both, so you can absolutely display them open.

 

- Dennis S.

  Thornton, CO USA