B-24 Liberator Diorama - 1/48th Scale.

Well done Terry!

I've got to admit that I had wondered that myself when you showed the, but didn't want to put a spanner in the works. Anyway, rest up easy, it's your birthday soon.

Lots of tedious work ahead on those engines it would appear.

Thanks again chaps, and yes, Andy, lots of repetitive, tedious work to do, and I've made a start.

As supplied, the resin engines have small "pilot" holes for the prop shafts, and the kit items will be unsuitable, due to the depth of the holes required (all the way through to the rear face), and the shape of the shafts themselves.
Consequently, the holes have been drilled out, to a depth of around 3 to 4mm, using a 2mm drill bit, and new prop shafts fitted.
I didn't have any plastic rod of suitable gauge, so 2mm plastic tube was used instead, which fits perfectly into the hole in the kit props.
After some trial fitting and measuring, the tube was cut to a length of around 10mm, allowing enough for secure insertion into the engine, and the prop boss, with four shafts then being made and fitted.
These are just push-fitted into the engines, with a snug fit, and will eventually be cemented onto the props.

Another small job completed was the engraving of the panel lines on the tail-plane, and the removal of the raised lines.

Next step is to paint the engines, and then start on the delicate task of adding ignition wires and all those small push rods.
Hands allowing, I hope to make a start on this later today.

Pics show the progress so far, and thanks again for the continued interest.

Lot of fiddly work in front of you Terry, good fiddling but don't push it.

Thanks, Wojtek and Vic.

I've done the basic painting on the engines, with the cylinder barrels in two shades of metallic grey, and the heads in bright silver.
I'll let these thoroughly dry before painting the gear housings and other details, and again let them dry before tackling the ignition leads and push rods, which I know will take a lot of time.
I have to go out tonight, to organise the final details for my "18th" Birthday party on Friday night, but I might have time to complete the painting - if not, then it'll be sometime tomorrow.
I'll post pics when the engines are fully painted, and I just hope that fitting the leads and rods won't spoil the paint finish !

Happy Birthday Terry! You don't look a day over 17.

Happy B-Day youngling. Almost old enough to drink

Thanks, Andy and Geo. I'm 18 tomorrow, 29th February. Doesn't seem like 54 years since I was last 18 !!!

Happy birthday old mate, enjoy that first legal sup and the next and you know what!................................................you can have a whisky as well.

Yep, if you gotta have one, better than Not............
Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Happy Birthday my friend !!!

Thanks all.
Nothing much achieved yet, but hoping to get some work done on the engines tonight.

I didn't feel up to tackling the tricky and delicate work on the engines just yet, so I started on another area which needs modification before the main construction can begin, namely the ball turret mounting.

By the time depicted in the diorama (summer 1944), most B-24's in the ETO had their ball turrets removed, and the aperture plated over, although some Groups did retain them in at least a few, if not all, aircraft.
After studying photos of "Male Call", albeit mainly those few which show the aircraft after 130 missions, it appears the ball turret was removed from this aircraft at some point ( the Directive was circulated in late May, 1944), and she also received some "mods", for example, enclosed, glazed, waist gun windows.
Although the kit ball turret arrangement would look reasonable when retracted, the suspension yoke, fairly hefty due to being "operational" on the model, would be at least partly visible through the open waist gun positions, and would not look realistic.
Also, the framework and raised decking around the turret is incomplete, and sits rather too high, compared to the floor section around the waist gun positions (more on this area later in the build), where it should be a "step", slightly higher than the rest of the floor area, so I decided to dispense with the turret, and modify the floor area inside.

The "legs" for the floor/framework area were shortened by around 5mm, the internal mouldings for the gun tunnels were removed, and the fuselage insert aperture and tunnels plated over internally, using plastic card. These areas will be filled with "Milliput", and then blended and sanded to match the fuselage contours, and will then have the "blanking plate" panel line engraved.
The raised floor area, now reduced in height, has had the turret aperture blanked off, again using plastic card, and rudimentary walls added to the front and rear, as these areas can just be seen through the bomb bay access hatch and the waist windows.
Once the "Milliput" has been applied, set, and sanded etc, the interior area will be painted and the assembly set aside, as it is fitted from the outside much later in the build.
I'm not sure if the turret suspension/retraction yoke was removed when the ball turrets were deleted, although it makes sense that they were, so this part has also been deleted.
(Note that the B-24 in the Kermit Weeks collection, ex RAF/Indian Air Force, has the ball turret aperture plated over, but retains the suspension yoke. However, at one time this aircraft was fitted with a retractable radar dome, so this may be a "hold over" from that period).

I hope to make a start on detailing the engines sometime over the weekend, and meanwhile the pics below show the ball turret area mods so far.

nice Dogsbody.

but shouldn't you be getting your hair done and frock ready for your party ?

Nah, my butler takes care of that !

Ah, the butler did it once again. I would have thought he'd need at least a day's jump on things to get Terry spiffed up though....

Terry my guess would be that all detachable parts associated with the ball turret mechanism would have been removed to save as much weight as possible.