B-24 Liberator Diorama - 1/48th Scale. (1 Viewer)

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Ahhh clever. Making it look like a model but still shifts 900 liters to a "airfield" for a "museum"
Well spotted Lucky. I will get my container ready.

Can you in invite Yvette again,? Airframes and her seems to hit it off the last time

 
Got the painting finished, gloss coat on, and the decals. I'd just finished applying the matt clear coat, when I realised I'd totally forgotten to apply the "oil" decals - doh !!
So now I'm just waiting for a second gloss coat to fully harden, then I'll apply the missing letters - pics soon.
 
Got it done, and just need to tone-down the white in the lettering.
The stars are from the Rubicon Models 1/56th scale decals sheet, as are the serial numbers, made up from individual letters and numbers, along with the separate, one-piece decals for the "USA". The "Oil" was made up from individual letters from the Railtec decal sheet.
The greyish, horizontal lines just visible in some of the pics are part of the weathering / dirt, yet to be toned-down, and a little more oil staining has yet to be added around the filler cover area.
Once the trailer is on the diorama base, a couple of additions will be made, in the form of a bucket and hose.

Next stage is to start work on the ammunition trailer and tractor, and I have yet to decide whether to use the Revell "Clarke" tractor, or convert an Italeri "modern" tractor to represent a WW2 type - this will probably depend on the relative heights of the trailer drawbar and the tractor towing hitch.
I have hospital and optician appointments tomorrow and Wednesday, in preparation for the second cataract op, on my right eye this time, so I may not get much done, but we'll see (pun not intended !)


 
Thanks very much chaps, it is, as always, much appreciated.

I've had to postpone and re-book the hospital appointment from today to 6th February. Got around four inches of snow overnight, which has frozen solid in the northerly wind from the Arctic. Doesn't sound much, compared to the US and Canada, but my house is on a hill, at the corner of the junction with the access / departure road, which is now like an ice rink, and I just know that the taxi wouldn't be able to get close to my front door. There's a real risk of slipping and falling, so better to delay rather than risk it.
All being well, I should manage the follow-up Optician appointment tomorrow though, as I can go into town on my scooter.

Anyway, this now means I should have some time today to continue work, and I hope to get the oil tank trailer finished, and start on the ammo trailer.
Back later, if there's something to show ..................
 
Hopefully the weather will be better for the postponed appointment Terry. Four inches of snow is plenty to deal with, especially when combined with ice. We're supposed to get about the same amount starting today.
 
Airframes is waiting...

 
Thanks for the good wishes chaps.

I decided to leave the final detail painting and decal tone-down on the oil trailer until I'm able to get some more paints. Some colours I need for mixing have dried up, and, as I'll be passing the local art shop tomorrow, I'm hoping they'll have what I need in their relatively small Humbrol stock. If not, then I'll have to order on-line.
So, I've decided to make a start on the ammunition trailer, as described below.

The Ammunition Trailer - Part One.

Part of the diorama will depict boxes of .50 cal ammunition being unloaded, with a ground crew member preparing belts to load into the ammo tanks onboard the B-24.
Study of war-time photos and videos showed that various modes of transport were used to get the ammo to the dispersal points around the airfields, with trucks, bomb trolleys and bomb trailers being used, as well as standard smaller trailers.
I had thought of using the bomb trailer included with the Monogram B-17G kit, which I've had lying around for many years, but these were normally piled high with ammo boxes and such ordnance as smoke markers etc,
As I only have ten ammo boxes ( I could scratch-build more I guess), I decided that a smaller trailer would be better, and this would also prevent the view of the aircraft being "masked" on the diorama base. The cargo load can be "bulked out" by stacking some of the boxes on top of "mock" boxes, which wouldn't be fully visible, and adding other types of boxes / crates representing smoke markers, flares etc etc, some of which I have in various Tamiya figures and accessories sets.
Consequently, I decided that the truck back from the Airfix 1/72nd scale Bedford MWD truck could be converted and added to, to produce a typical trailer which will resemble the US "Ben Hur" cargo trailer, at least to an extent.

The Airfix parts for the trailer bed, side walls and tail-gate are being used, with 1/48th scale wheels from the Airfix version of the RAF oil bowser trailer, with the front wall, chassis and draw bar being scratch-built. I'm also hoping to use modified mudguards, taken from the old Airfix 1/76th scale re-fuelling set, which has been in my stash for around 30 years, more of which later.

The Bedford truck back has "internal" wheel arches, meaning that the floor and sidewalls have apertures / arches that needed to be blanked off, and this was done using plastic card, with the floor then being engraved to continue the planked effect of the kit part. There are a couple of small gaps around the filled-in floor apertures, but I'm not concerned, as these will be covered by the cargo load. Likewise, the outer faces of the side walls still have the shape of the wheel arches visible, although blanked-off internally, but these will be covered by the larger wheels and wheel arches, and not visible.

Once the apertures had been filled and cleaned up, and the planking engraved, the Airfix parts were assembled and allowed to set, before starting work on the scratch-built front panel.
This was made from plastic card, with the plank effect being engraved before cutting the piece from the sheet. The external framework was then added, using thin plastic strip, and the wall cemented in place.
Once set, vertical supports were added inside, made from wider, laminated, lengths of plastic strip and, when set, the horizontal lathes were added, to match the Airfix side-walls, again using thin strip.

I'll let this set overnight and, sometime tomorrow, start work on the scratch-built chassis and draw bar.

Pics below show the progress so far, and thanks again to all for the continued interest and kind comments.
(PS - I'll try to remember to include a known object in the next set of pics, as a size comparison.).

 

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