Leo the Liberator

[MSea]

Always available hohohohho

[cph64]

Lots of filler later the fuselage was something like, so on to the painting stage. Turret were masked with sponge and the usual coat of automobile primer followed by preshading of black and white. The undersurfaces were then painted with Vallejo Barley Grey which is a good match of US Medium Grey. I'd seen a build where the fuselage wings etc, were painted as modules to ease masking so I thought I'd try that way. The wheelwells had been filled with sponge and the engines temporarily fixed in place with Maskol. Once the grey had dried this was masked with tape and Vallejo Olive Green applied to the upper surfaces. The lower front and main canopy have little or none in the way of framing so these will be addressed later. De-icing boots were painted with Vallejo Black. The recesses in the fuselage that accept the wings had to be scraped to get the wings to sit, but as these are a 'flared' recess then I've ended up placing the model upside down to try and help the fit.

[Bigkev]

Really looking like a Liberator now.
The paint job looks neat.

[chriswil42]

You'll get there Chris - looking good.

[cph64]

In the end I had to use platic card and filler to make the upper wing joint something like. THe main undercarriage wheels were fitted next and to make the legs sit correctly and hopefully to prevent splaying I glued the doors to the engine nacelles. All the engine housings had been numbered so they could be removed to allow the propellers to be fitted, which once done meant they could be glued back in place. When I looked more closely at the decals I had I realised that I didn't have anything to create the codes for Leo 2 so it was out with the masking tape and putty to create the wavy line between the upper and lower colours. Unfortunately the photos I have and the decal chart only show the port side of Leo 1 so artistic license was used on the starboard side. A start has been made on the cockpit framing which doesn't have a lot of frame lines on the plastic and some of those don't line up.

[Bigkev]

Looks good so far Chris. For the canopy, I would suggest checking you references, and do an 'approximation' to suit you.
The frames are probably straight lines anyway, so should be easy enough to replicate.
Keep at it.

[chriswil42]

Looking very nice Chris.

[Bob C]

Looking very good Chris.

Bob c

[cph64]

As you mentioned Kev I checked photos and painted the cockpit canopy after removing what was left of the aberrant lines. This will then be masked fully before the final coat of varnish as well as fitting the gun turret glazing and filling all the small windows with Glue and Glaze. Klear was reapplied to repainted areas and then it was onto decalling. The Kits-World decals went on well but the Xs on the rudders were too big so 1mm was cut off each side. Stencilling was from the Airfix kit but not all was applied as many were underneath and too small plus others didn't show on my reference photo. Wings stars and bars are slightly oversize 1/48 ones whilst Bob sourced me ones for the fuselage. Thanks Bob.

[chriswil42]

I like the Leo decal. Looks good Chris.

[kiwichappers]

Seems to be quite a challenging kit Chris.

[cph64]

The final items to fit were the glazing for the turrets and the guns. As the was an 'original' mould I reduced the huge rings on the gunners which you were to thread the guns through to shallow troughs and they held the guns adequately. The canopy glazing had huge 'knock-out' points on the inside which weren't easy to get at so I'm living with that. All the small windows were filled with Glue and Glaze. Once everything was in place a final check was made to see if any touch-ups were required and these were dealt with accordingly. This kit fought me most of the way but in the end it looks like a Liberator, with the 6ft rule being a pre-requisite and it definitely won't be going to any shows!!! Not a silk purse from a sow's ear, more a Tesco carrier bag.

Leo 1 was B-24H-15-FO 42-52768/K of the 486th Bomber Group's, 834th Bomber Squadron, it was also listed as 'G' build number 252768. It was subsequently passed on to the 493rd BG's 860th BS and so the pilot, Bill Hilfinger, obtained Leo 2, 42-52605/E which had a different nose art. All the artwork for the 834th BS was designed and produced by Phil Brinkman who was a commercial artist before being drafted. Whilst he produced 12 sets of art for the 'Zodiac' Squadron it only included 11 signs with Leo being produced twice. This was because during the painting of 'Taurus' the aircraft was lost in combat.

[chriswil42]

Excellent Chris.

[zak]

Nice nose art.

[MSea]

Looks great Chris