Spotted Ass Ape B-24

[Nigels modelling bench]

Hi all,

 

Looking for a little advice from someone with knowledge on the subject of Assembly ships from WW2.

 

I have the DN Models masks for spotted ass ape and am aware that the guns were removed from these aircraft, BUT... would the whole belly turret be removed? Were the whole guns removed or just the barrels? I assume the bomb bay would be empty?

I read that on one mission she stayed with her group all the way to the bomb site, surely she would have had guns on that mission?

 

Thanks

 

Nige

[MikeC]

It's difficult to generalise about assembly ships, each one was a one-off and almost unique in its configuration.  All guns and often complete turrets would be removed, although some turrets were left as look-out stations.  I think you would be correct in removing the entire belly turret.  The bomb bay was probably left empty, to save weight, but that I can't say with certainty.  What I can say is that they didn't carry a bomb load. 

 

The aircraft that stayed with its group all the way to the target was not, I believe, the 458th's "Ape", but "Wham Bam" (41-21738) of the 453rd BG.  This was often flown by the Group exec, one Major James Stewart - yes, that James Stewart.  It was Stewart who was flying it while the group formed up on a mission to Bordeax, and who kept with the group all the way to the target and back.  By my reading it was spontaneous decision that even the crew knew nothing about until the French coast appeared.  On return he apparently swore the crew to secrecy, even though the Group Commander wanted to know where they'd been the last 6 hours.  So no, they would not have carried guns on that raid.   (Assembly Ships of the 2nd Air Division, Robert Gray, Scale Aircraft Modelling, 1999)

[Kagemusha]

Hi Nige,

 

I have this book, and Spotted Ass Ape features, profiles, photographs, some in the air, a couple on the ground in colour, pm me you email and I'll photograph the relevant pages for you.

 

Andy

[Plm]

Hello,

 

You have good pictures of this assembly ship on this website.

 

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/477/Polka-Dot-Warriors.aspx

 

Philippe

 

[aircommando130]

I'm pretty sure that I read all guns and equipment removed to make it lighter....they were "war weary" tails!

They might of had a bomb bay fuel tank for mission assembly when it was a "big mission" and the weather 

wasn't so great to have more time in the air. 

On another note...I wish somebody would make "Lady Be Good" decals in 48th/32nd to be able to build 

her before her fateful flight into history.

 

Cheers....Ron

[Nigels modelling bench]

Thanks for all your great replies guys. It seems clear that there are no bombs, no guns and no belly turret?

 

I guess the only benefit here is the lessening risk of building a tail sitter?? I have brass barrels and CWS resin turrets so am thinking maybe the assembly ship is not the way to go?? However, I saw this model at Telford and chatted at length to the builder and boy oh boy doesn't she look awesome in 1/32 scale!!

 

Maybe keep my turrets and barrels for another project?? I guess those turrets are gonna look pretty bland with no guns in them, so the big advantage of the crystal clear turrets will reveal.. nothing??

 

Nige

[aircommando130]

Just the wild paint job alone will give it the "wow" factor! 

I have the 32nd "D" model and want to build it as a black

carpetbagger aircraft or "Lady Be Good" if somebody made decals/masks!!

 

Cheers....Ron

[Smokey]

Ron,

I found these by Model Car World Decals.  They give you the tail number in black, yellow and white.  They give you the #64 in white.  I thought I read somewhere that there was discussion on weather Lady Be Good was in White or Yellow.  

 

[MikeC]

11 hours ago, Nigels modelling bench said:

maybe the assembly ship is not the way to go?

Go on, you know you want to

What better (and more colourful) way to represent a whole bomb group?

[Nigels modelling bench]

10 hours ago, MikeC said:

Go on, you know you want to

What better (and more colourful) way to represent a whole bomb group?

 

I know I know.. The one piece of info I cannot find is how they blanked off the hole left by the belly turret removal?

 

Nige

 

 

[aircommando130]

19 hours ago, Smokey said:

Ron,

I found these by Model Car World Decals.  They give you the tail number in black, yellow and white.  They give you the #64 in white.  I thought I read somewhere that there was discussion on weather Lady Be Good was in White or Yellow.  

 

 

Thanks!!     Ron

[aircommando130]

You can use a circle template and cut some plastic to cover the hole for the ball turret.

Ans some straight pieces for the gun barrel wells.

 

Cheers...Ron

[Nigels modelling bench]

7 hours ago, aircommando130 said:

You can use a circle template and cut some plastic to cover the hole for the ball turret.

Ans some straight pieces for the gun barrel wells.

 

Cheers...Ron

Thanks Ron, you've described an easy way of filling the hole.. but I was wondering how they did it on the real thing?

 

Complete panel replacement, meaning it would be smooth with no witness of a turret ever being there or did they just patch it up with a circle of aluminium sheet casually rivetted to block the hole up, then added a couple of strips to cover the gun slots?

 

Thanks

 

Nige

Edited November 30, 2021 by Nigels modelling bench

[MikeC]

The 458th was based at Horsham St Faith, near Norwich.  As this was a permanent station, there would have been facilities to do a proper job, so I'd suggest not going for the "casually rivetted" job.

[RLWP]

1 hour ago, MikeC said:

The 458th was based at Horsham St Faith, near Norwich.  As this was a permanent station, there would have been facilities to do a proper job, so I'd suggest not going for the "casually rivetted" job.

 

It depends what you mean by 'casual' I guess. On the one hand it was unlikely to be an approved modification, on the other it was going to be professional enough to not endanger the aircraft. 

 

Richard