B-24 Maisto conversion

**clipper1801** · 01-19-2017 23:05

These guys are back on the shelves here in the local toy stores! They have been noted before, but then the prices on ebay soared to $20+! They retail for $3.99 normally so keep your eyes out for them. They are approximately 1/210" scale so work great for us. With a few mods they look great on the table!

After a few months off with medical matters, my fingers are getting back into action, so this is coming at you in parts . . .

Landing gear and props need to go! Side cutters and hobby knife will do the job!

Now the wings need some attention, from the package some wing sagging is apparent, easily fixed with a bit of pressure applied to the wings whilst clamping the fuselage in a vise . . .

Upper bomber is corrected, lower one shows the droop

Now to apply some plastic filler to the gaps and some green struff to the canopy to improve the windscreen and details . . . gotta let the elves rest for a day . . .

**csadn** · 01-20-2017 13:11

I don't remember the B-24 being a taildragger (at least not intentionally).... ;)

**clipper1801** · 01-20-2017 19:11

Originally Posted by csadn

I don't remember the B-24 being a taildragger (at least not intentionally)....

They did have a retractable skid for overload rotations . . . : )

**clipper1801** · 01-20-2017 19:13

Here the elves have applied adequate "Green Putty" to fill in the holes and unwanted cracks . . .

**csadn** · 01-21-2017 13:30

Originally Posted by clipper1801

They did have a retractable skid for overload rotations . . . : )

Which is why I said "not intentionally". :)

There was also a problem with it tilting back in light-load config; there's a Bob Stevens cartoon of a B-24 "taildragger" whose pilot is shouting "OK, WHO FORGOT THE *&^%$#!ING AMMO CAN?". (An ammo can was used to "chock" the fuselage.)

**clipper1801** · 02-27-2017 07:48

Had a good day Saturday and got a few fine things done . . .

Just love a good formation . . .

Found a great silver spray paint and let it cure a few weeks . . .

Flashy few . . .

Which way to the enemy?

Now for some weathering . . .

**Flying Helmut** · 02-27-2017 11:17

Very nicely done, Mr Clipper, Sir!

**Jager** · 02-27-2017 12:24

Ohhh...I see you did "The Dragon and His Tail "; such a racy bit of artwork for a family game

Karl

**clipper1801** · 02-27-2017 12:47

Tiny enough at this scale to get away with . . . . I was surfing for bright silver finished B-24's and found the trio here. Liked the tail stripes! Need to work up the bases . . . how different than the B-17?

**Jager** · 02-27-2017 13:01

Originally Posted by clipper1801

Tiny enough at this scale to get away with . . . . I was surfing for bright silver finished B-24's and found the trio here. Liked the tail stripes! Need to work up the bases . . . how different than the B-17?

Gun arcs are the issue; both D and J Liberators are in the unofficial plane files.
Gunnery arcs are here: http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/dow...o=file&id=2138
Karl

**clipper1801** · 02-27-2017 13:28

You are my Huckleberry! You may be too important to the war effort to let you go overseas, hmmm, maybe I should go instead . . . : )

**OldGuy59** · 02-28-2017 18:52

So, all the markings are for J model planes, but you have D models? 64th and 403rd squadron planes, in silver.

You know why I am jumping in to this discussion....

**clipper1801** · 02-28-2017 20:29

They are J models, modified them myself : )

**OldGuy59** · 02-28-2017 20:32

Darn. Not one of these, then:

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**clipper1801** · 02-28-2017 20:51

Noise turret is main visible difference from top view as I recall.

**OldGuy59** · 02-28-2017 21:08

So, more like one of these?

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**clipper1801** · 02-28-2017 21:10

Yep! That's my baby!

**OldGuy59** · 03-01-2017 00:15

The easy part is done:

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Now to pound out the cards. That might take a while...

**BobP** · 03-01-2017 14:32

As always great job on those seeing how they a just really toys. You did them justice in my mind.

**clipper1801** · 04-26-2017 21:57

Picked up another pair of bombers, one came in British colors, recently reworked . . .

And with the full squadron . . .

**Jager** · 04-27-2017 13:13

Nice looking flight, there David.

Karl

**Dieter W.** · 04-27-2017 13:57

i used to have one of those B-24 when i was younger. i never really liked it for some reason, i guess it was the unpainted canopies (those always bug me!).

**BobP** · 04-27-2017 14:57

Nice job on the conversion.

**Naharaht** · 04-28-2017 00:34

Excellent work, as always, David!

**OldGuy59** · 04-28-2017 10:49

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This took too long. Sorry, Dave.

And a management card has to follow. 11 crew, but 8 effective for the card?

Crew: pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, nose turret, dorsal turret, 2 waist gunners, ventral turret, tail gunner.

**clipper1801** · 04-28-2017 11:10

Looks great Mike! Now worries on the delay, you have been a busy boy and what with all these martians running around with the elves I have been a busy guy! Thanks!!!

**OldGuy59** · 04-28-2017 11:57

Not sure which RAF squadron Dave's plane is from, but the Mk VIs were the same armament, so:

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**clipper1801** · 04-28-2017 12:17

Very nice! Thanks, the RAF is generic at the moment . . . still need to make some bases and these will help!

**OldGuy59** · 04-28-2017 22:42

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**Angiolillo** · 04-28-2017 23:18

My favorite would of course be a Regia Aeronautica one.

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Even better if in the sand camouflage with the girl crest on the nose.

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**clipper1801** · 04-28-2017 23:30

Thanks all, now I need to find another pair of B-24's!

**OldGuy59** · 04-29-2017 00:54

Originally Posted by Angiolillo

My favorite would of course be a Regia Aeronautica one.
...

Even better if in the sand camouflage with the girl crest on the nose.

Unfortunately, this is a B-24D, and requires a rework of the crews and firing arcs for the cards.

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**clipper1801** · 04-29-2017 23:22

Very nice indeed! Just picked up another pair to convert, will do both of these next! Thanks!

**Angiolillo** · 04-30-2017 13:32

Well, I am a supporter of any Regia Aeronautica plane but that's not so interesting for foreigners I fear. We just had one actually, that never saw action (while our P-38 has been quite successful instead).
This B-24 was captured and brought to Rome to be studied (a friend of my father was in the crew that recovered it). Then Germans asked to have a look at it, so it was repainted olive drab and flown to Rechlin in Germany where our pilot Capitano Giovanni Raina demoed it. Then a German pilot asked to try it and - surprise - "forgot" to open the landing gear when he landed. So the damaged plane had to be left in Germany and our crew had to go back to Rome by train.

**BobP** · 04-30-2017 14:13

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Here is my sand color B-24.

**Jager** · 04-30-2017 14:30

I wonder if Ollies' or Hobby Lobby has any of these?
Karl

**clipper1801** · 04-30-2017 17:06

Originally Posted by Jager

I wonder if Ollies' or Hobby Lobby has any of these?
Karl

Most of mine I found at our local "Kroger/Fred Meyer/Fry's" grocery stores! The rest are off Evil Bay . . .

**OldGuy59** · 05-01-2017 00:43

This should be correct to the D version with the lower firing nose gun, and the ventral gun tunnel.

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**clipper1801** · 05-05-2017 15:22

Okay then, if Andrea and Mike are finished finding cool colors schemes, the B-24 conversion elves can now move onto the Martin Mars project, oh no another Mars reference! Yikes!

Blonde Bomber II in tan and green!

Among friends . . .

Now I really need to make some bases . . .

**BobP** · 05-05-2017 16:00

As always great job on all of those B-24's.

**Angiolillo** · 05-05-2017 23:08

These are great, really!
I am finished Sir. Italy inly had one B-24, so two schemes are already far more than enough.

**Angiolillo** · 05-06-2017 00:29

With a bit more of details... B-24D U.S.A.A.F. #41-23859 "Blonde Bomber II" from 98th bomb group, crash-landed on the southernmost point of Sicily on 20 February 1943.
A friend of my father was in the experimental unit that tested prototypes and captured planes. When I was a kid during lunch he discovered I was an aviation enthusiast and we ended speaking about that plane - I could even show him full color plates of it on one of my favourite books.
He was one of the technicians going to recover it at Capo Passero, reaching the place flying on a beautiful, carefully built Cant Z.1007 whose wooden fuselage was glued on a mould bit after bit, electric wires carefully concealed in the walls. A masterpiece.
He told me that as soon a he entered the B-24 he understood that we would lose the war. Bare metal with wires hanging here and there. He touyght that in the time we finished a Cant Z.1007, many B-24s were built...

Italian insigna are painted on the original desert pink color and every damage is carefully repaired. The plane is extensively tested, then repainted olive drab. On June 19, 1943 Capitano Raina fly it to Munich and then Rechlin, since Germans asked to test it for a couple of weeks. A German pilot breaks landing gear (unintentionally or to keep the plane?) and the Italian crew has to go back ome by train leaving the plane there.

A great book on planes captured and re-used by Italians (including a P-38 that shot down a couple of B-17 over Rome) is Giancarlo Garello, Prede di guerra - War Prizes, La Bancarella Aeronautica.