**** DONE: 1/72 B-24H “Booby Trap” - Heavy Hitters II GB

[T Bolt]

Thanks Terry. I did a quick search and there are a lot of them on eBay. Even saw one for $5 including shipping.

 

[N4521U]

Was just thinking of my B-24....... you gonna Wire all four engines????

 

[T Bolt]

Had not thought about that. I didn't do it on the "D" I made a few years back, just did wire on the break lines. Never wired a 1/72nd engine before, I'll have to look at it on your thread.

 

[Airframes]

No problem Glenn. Let me know if you fail, and I'll gladly get them for you.

 

[T Bolt]

Thanks Terry

 

[Wurger]

Nice haul Glenn.

 

[T Bolt]

No photo exists of this aircraft aft of the leading edge of the wing so quite a bit of digging and a little guess work went into the markings. I am very grateful to George (fubar57) and Terry (Airframes) who helped me a great deal with this, digging into their references and sending me a great deal of information without which I could not have come up with as accurate a depiction of this aircraft as I believe I have.
Below are 2 profiles I've modified to depict "Booby Trap" as I believe it appeared in late June 1944 when my father joined the 490th Group. The last few photos are of other OD painted B-24H's with the 490th BG that helped me piece things together. Some of the features are:

-Black T in white square. 490th BG symbol on OD painted B-24s used at least until July 7, 1944 as seen in the dated collision picture. Shortly after this they went with a white tail fin with red top and deleted the "T" in the box symbol.

-Serial number of 42-94802. There is conflicting info about this but most sources agree with this serial. The location of Ford B-24's was higher which accounts for the "2" which is all that's left of the original factory painted serial after the BG symbol was applied.

-Wavy line between Neutral Gray and OD common to Ford Built B-24's.

-De-icing boots removed. The few photos that exist of OD painted B-24s with the 490th show this.

- Individual aircraft code of "B-". The "-" was used on aircraft of the 850th bomb squadron and the B is a guess by Terry that I'm going with. His logic was: B= Booby Trap. Sounds good to me.

-Enclosed type waist guns. Pictures I've found of B-24H's from this production block, including all the pictures below, show the plexiglas enclosed installations. The Academy kit has the hatch type so I'll have to make up the windows and gun mounts, and fill in the panel lines depicting the wind deflectors.

-OD painted bomb bay doors with a white stripe as shown in the color photo of "The Jinx 13" and the 2 B-24's in the collision picture.

Now all I have to do is finish my Group Build #17 entries so I can get started with this one!

 

[fubar57]

Lots of good info Glenn.

Geo

 

[Catch22]

Good detective work guys!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You've been hanging out for this one Glenn and what a great start with the decal.

Agree with others, print on white and trim but I would also print a second set on clear and place these over the white decal so that you have a double layered decal. This brings out the colour, giving it depth. This is how I did the decals on the Gannet.

 

[Lucky13]

Great stuff Glenn!

 

[woody]

Should be a good one Glenn.

 

[N4521U]

Woody has a siggy!!!!!!!!

Aren't there too many wings on that B-24 in the bottom photo?

 

[T Bolt]

There sure are Bill, too many fuselages too! Two Liberators got a little too close. Here's another pic of the same accident.

 

[Airframes]

And nine months later, a little B-25 arrived ..........

 

[N4521U]

At leasst they didn't end up Spooning!

 

[Lucky13]

How do we know for sure?

 

[N4521U]

If they were, one would be on top of the other........ Oh, wait a minute, that would be.............. uh oh.

 

[T Bolt]

Maybe I should have posted throes pics in the "Provide a caption for this picture " thread

 

[ozhawk40]

Hmmm - nice nose art anyways Glenn - great entry