Hobby Boss B-24L (26 Feb 2023: tail turret)

[BloorwestSiR]

Nice start on your B-24 Peter. 

 

Thanks for sharing the back story and you impetus for the build. 

 

I'm still working on mine albeit slowly at the moment. 

 

Carl

[brahman104]

Great work so far! I love your efforts on the red..... I could never mask so crisply!  

 

Craig

[easixpedro]

13 hours ago, BloorwestSiR said:

Nice start on your B-24 Peter. 

 

Thanks for sharing the back story and you impetus for the build. 

 

I'm still working on mine albeit slowly at the moment. 

 

Carl

Thanks for pushing me over the edge. Lots of thoughts running through my head about which way to go next. So many things to tweak before I even consider the wings. Am thinking I'll start working the clear bits such as the enclosed waist windows and the bomb/nav bulbus windows before I begin assembling things inside the fuselage.

7 hours ago, brahman104 said:

Great work so far! I love your efforts on the red..... I could never mask so crisply!  

 

Craig

Thanks Craig--I could say the same about the many things you've accomplished. 

 

Also several thoughts as it relates to the masking/markings. Washi tape is your friend. That's what Tamiya tape is. Plain ol' Japanese masking tape, known as Washi Tape. They use rice paper though, so it handles better than most tape sold in the western world. You can find washi tape in most craft stores these days and its super cheap compared to Tamiya tape, but handles the same. My wife has a big jar of random rolls that she uses for crafting, so when I run out I just grab another roll.

 

As for the markings themselves, there's so many variations in these tail markings that it kind of boggles the mind. Then you realize they were going through airframes at a crazy rate, and there was no real standardization--getting the bomber ready for the next mission is what counted. As long as the upper half was red and there was a bar/circle/bow it was good. I have about 100 photos of these bomb groups and I doubt there's a single match as to the height/size of any of the markings. Some have half the stab covered in red, some about a third. The size of the bar/circle/bow seems uniform in size but not location. I don't have a photo of the tail markings of this bird, so with that in mind, it kind of relieved some of the 'stress' of getting it just right. Call it artistic interpretation or an educated guess, but made it easier to just mask and shoot! 

-Peter

[easixpedro]

Hi Maru, 

You can see more information on this page: 764th Squadron (461st.org) click the "nose art" tab or "replacement aircraft"

 

She was B-24L-10-FO, Serial No. 44-49511  According to the replacement aircraft tab, she arrived in February. That sounds about right considering her build date etc. I know my uncle flew another "15" listed, as well as "11"  This is the only one where I've seen the nose-art, and some publications even have the wrong picture.  B-24's are confusing and couple that with wartime records and it's a nightmare!

-Peter

[easixpedro]

Faffed about this evening, and messed around with the various clear bits.

 

Here you can see I enlarged the waist windows.  I cut along the panel lines so the clear bit I drop in will follow that. The windows aren't that big, but you'll never know once I mask it up and paint it. (And BTW, this thing is HUGE! This is me holding it arm's length trying to take a quick pic...!)

 

Here's where I marked out the blown Nav window and extra bomardier's window--that's supposedly a 15th AF mod.

 

To make the windows, I cut some basswood to the approximate size and sanded to shape. Then I soak it in thin super glue, which makes it hard as a rock, plus you can polish it smooth. Did a couple of smash and pulls as a proof of concept. Think it'll work, although I need to trim down the nav window a bit as the buck is rectangular by about a mm.

 

In all honesty,  I did these while I was working on the jamming pod for the Prowler. Will have more serious updates on both once I get some forward momentum.  Spent all last weekend preparing for the holidays etc.

-Peter 

[aircommando130]

More, more...show me more!

 

Cheers...Ron

[blackbetty]

very nice topic, will be watching closely.

more so as my dad, his sister and my grandmother were in Vienna during the time of these missions (my granddad was fighting on the eastern front).....

 

[Out2gtcha]

Most excellent Peter!  Ill be watching this one, as the story that goes with it is grand! 

[stusbke]

Another awesome project... following this for sure

 

love the B-24 over the B-17 don't know why maybe its the high mounted wing don't know its just more cool looking then a b-17. Anyhoo looking forward to more pregress on this one my friend...

 

Cheers

Frederick Jacobs

 

[easixpedro]

6 hours ago, blackbetty said:

very nice topic, will be watching closely.

more so as my dad, his sister and my grandmother were in Vienna during the time of these missions (my granddad was fighting on the eastern front).....

 

I was wondering when you'd pop up! Hopefully we all learn something from each other. 

 

Hoping to be able to post a write up soon, as I was digging into one mission he flew where they 'threaded the needle' between Vienna and Bratislava, trying to avoid all the known flak locations on their way to bomb a refinery. Found a mission flimsy with the Navigators route and the timing points etc. Pretty cool, but it was a pretty ugly mission. More about that soon enough. Was also reading a blurb last night that talked about Vienna being as heavily defended as Berlin. Of the 8 flak towers that were built, 3 were in Berlin, 3 in Vienna and 2 in Hamburg. Don't remember how many guns, but it was a lot.  But again, more on that as I sit down to write out my thoughts, cause I want to give the resources and show a bit about the early electronic warfare stuff. Pretty fascinating (to me at least) to see all the relationships and how it all ties together.

 

-Peter   

[blackbetty]

those flak towers still exist

3 gun towers with (then) a dual 12.7cm gun plus four 20mm quads each

3 measuring towers

its not financially possible to take them down, partly because they are in the middle of the city (no explosives here). 

some are in use, one is the chancellors bunker in case of a crisis, one is a giant aquarium and zoo, some are just unused shells.

i have been on top of one, all are in sight and only differ in absolute height by centimeters

 

[John1]

Totally OT but as a kid living overseas, while traveling back to the US, we stopped and spent a few days with a family friend who was a USAF pilot at Ramstein AFB in West Germany.  Out in the woods behind his house was the torn off main landing gear from a B-24 with what was left of the tire still attached.   Still remember that, it seemed very poignant.   

 

Really like the research you are putting into this build, brings the entire project to life. 

[easixpedro]

18 hours ago, blackbetty said:

those flak towers still exist

3 gun towers with (then) a dual 12.7cm gun plus four 20mm quads each

3 measuring towers

its not financially possible to take them down, partly because they are in the middle of the city (no explosives here). 

some are in use, one is the chancellors bunker in case of a crisis, one is a giant aquarium and zoo, some are just unused shells.

i have been on top of one, all are in sight and only differ in absolute height by centimeters

 

 

2 hours ago, John1 said:

Totally OT but as a kid living overseas, while traveling back to the US, we stopped and spent a few days with a family friend who was a USAF pilot at Ramstein AFB in West Germany.  Out in the woods behind his house was the torn off main landing gear from a B-24 with what was left of the tire still attached.   Still remember that, it seemed very poignant.   

 

Really like the research you are putting into this build, brings the entire project to life. 

I guess that's what really intrigues me. World War 2 was such a cataclysmic event, and here we are 80 years later with relics still out there and I bet folks don't even realize what these things are or what the purpose was.  I've been to almost all the major Pacific battlefields. Iwo spooked the hell out of me. There's still bunkers and gun emplacements with cannons in 'em. When you realize how many humans lost their life on what was a really small island, it starts to sink in. I vividly recall standing on the beach and finding a gigantic chunk of shrapnel that was exposed by the waves--as big as my foot, and all mangled.  Sobering really, and a grim reminder of what 'humanity' is capable of.  

 

But enough of that--have the next few days off and really looking forward to getting after this build and the Prowler!

-Peter

[blackbetty]

i have been to Guadalcanal and the impressions were similar.....

[easixpedro]

Got sick of making little buildings for my ongoing SB2C build and broke this one out last night. 

 

Have realized that the interior is largely fantasy. Was trolling through a website from a B-24 being restored in Australia, and they have some great pics of the interior--to the point that you can do a 360 Deg view. Super helpful, but made me realize just how NKR the inside is.

 

While I wont be going hog wild, the extra windows means that some details will be seen.  I figure basic shapes etc to give a good representation.  As I move forward with modifying it, what's everyone's favorite dark green for the cockpit?  Am hoping to get the forward section mostly built up so I can then give it a good layering of Tamiya AS-12 before adding color--then I can weather the snot out of it.

 

Pictures soon.

-Peter