Keith
Sr Member
This is a 1/48 scale B-29 i'm building. Its going to be a replica of a B-29 wreck i often visit.
This is the model so far:
I like to build my models as robust as possible. Often, there is no need for a model to be delicate if a little more thought is put into the assembly. I try and make some parts of the model removable, as it helps while painting, cleaning and can help if the model needs to be repaired at a alater date. I also like the paint job to be as tough as possible, so the model can be washed when it gets dusty.
With a model this size, its not a good idea to try and glue the fuselage halves together in one go, as the glue would dry before it was fitted together. I glued it a bit at a time, which aslo helps you get the fit right with no gaps or steps. There is no filler on the fuselage join line at all, just sanding and polishing:
Here is an important mod to the model. The front upper turret had a fairing around it, but only the very early B-29 with only two guns in the front upper turret had the fairing. I had to file and sand this away so it looked like this:
Before the front upper turret was identical to this upper rear turret:
Then the turret needed work to make it accurate. You can see here the added detail that i cast in resin:
I didn't want to glue the turret in place, so i glued a magnet under the cockpit floor which can be seen here:
I fitted a bolt to the bottom of the turret, so when the turret is put in the hole, the metal bolt sticks to the floor where the magnet is glued below:
The height of the turret is adjustable by turning the bolt.
I want to paint the engines separately and glueing them on is very awkward on this kit with a risk of getting glue all over the place, so i fitted two bolts to each engine nacelle and two magnets to the back of each engine:
This as about as close as you can hold the engine to the nacelle before it jumps out of your hand and lands perfectly in place:
I wanted the wings to be really strong and well attached, so i added these threaded rods, and after gluing the wing on, i poured polyurethane resin into a funnel which passed through the inboard engine, so the resin fills the inner wing section where the threaded rods are:
Here you can see where the resin fills up to:
I wanted the model to have the bomb doors closed and the landing gear up, as the treads on the models tyres is a different pattern to the tread on a tyre that i've seen at the wreck. Also, the main landing gear wells were inaccurate. I decided to make the bomb doors and nose gear doors removable , so i fitted magnets to those also. Again, the bolts are adjustable, so the doors can either be a flush fitting, sunk in a bit or sticking out a bit:
I lost detail at the sides of the engine nacelle when sanding the join line of the wing halves, so i scribed in the engine access panels:
The tail gunners escape hatch had raised panel detail, so i scribed that in and also the engineers escape hatch:
I didn't take any photos of the interior before i glued the fuselage together, but it is very detailed and i added a few things like the levers on the engineers panel, throttles and parking brake levers in the front of the cockpit:
I glued a small part of the real aircraft from the wreck inside the back of the model:
I will post some more photos when its finished.
Keith.
This is the model so far:
I like to build my models as robust as possible. Often, there is no need for a model to be delicate if a little more thought is put into the assembly. I try and make some parts of the model removable, as it helps while painting, cleaning and can help if the model needs to be repaired at a alater date. I also like the paint job to be as tough as possible, so the model can be washed when it gets dusty.
With a model this size, its not a good idea to try and glue the fuselage halves together in one go, as the glue would dry before it was fitted together. I glued it a bit at a time, which aslo helps you get the fit right with no gaps or steps. There is no filler on the fuselage join line at all, just sanding and polishing:
Here is an important mod to the model. The front upper turret had a fairing around it, but only the very early B-29 with only two guns in the front upper turret had the fairing. I had to file and sand this away so it looked like this:
Before the front upper turret was identical to this upper rear turret:
Then the turret needed work to make it accurate. You can see here the added detail that i cast in resin:
I didn't want to glue the turret in place, so i glued a magnet under the cockpit floor which can be seen here:
I fitted a bolt to the bottom of the turret, so when the turret is put in the hole, the metal bolt sticks to the floor where the magnet is glued below:
The height of the turret is adjustable by turning the bolt.
I want to paint the engines separately and glueing them on is very awkward on this kit with a risk of getting glue all over the place, so i fitted two bolts to each engine nacelle and two magnets to the back of each engine:
This as about as close as you can hold the engine to the nacelle before it jumps out of your hand and lands perfectly in place:
I wanted the wings to be really strong and well attached, so i added these threaded rods, and after gluing the wing on, i poured polyurethane resin into a funnel which passed through the inboard engine, so the resin fills the inner wing section where the threaded rods are:
Here you can see where the resin fills up to:
I wanted the model to have the bomb doors closed and the landing gear up, as the treads on the models tyres is a different pattern to the tread on a tyre that i've seen at the wreck. Also, the main landing gear wells were inaccurate. I decided to make the bomb doors and nose gear doors removable , so i fitted magnets to those also. Again, the bolts are adjustable, so the doors can either be a flush fitting, sunk in a bit or sticking out a bit:
I lost detail at the sides of the engine nacelle when sanding the join line of the wing halves, so i scribed in the engine access panels:
The tail gunners escape hatch had raised panel detail, so i scribed that in and also the engineers escape hatch:
I didn't take any photos of the interior before i glued the fuselage together, but it is very detailed and i added a few things like the levers on the engineers panel, throttles and parking brake levers in the front of the cockpit:
I glued a small part of the real aircraft from the wreck inside the back of the model:
I will post some more photos when its finished.
Keith.
Last edited:
