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Monogram B-26, Lone Star early conversion
- Thread starter jeaton01
- Start date
centaur567
Well-known member
Nice work so far!! The B-26 that Kermit Weeks has at the Fantasy of Flight, is an early version with the shorter wing. Gary S.
jeaton01
Well-known member
I have a very little more to show on the B-26. I have been working on the fuselage. The lower aft windows were different on the early models so I have been filling the kit windows in that area in preparation for putting in two more in a little different location. I have also replaced the other fuselage side windows with oversized clear cut from a DVD case, and am sanding them smooth to conform to the fuselage curves. Some are sanded out in these photos and others are just inserted. I don't like the look of the windows on the Monogram bomber kits, they don't fit well, also true of most other maker's bombers. Since the clear parts are oversize I can mask them down to proper size and have well faired windows. I sure hope this plan comes together!
Skinny_Mike
Well-known member
Great conversion work John.
I have a very little more to show on the B-26. I have been working on the fuselage. The lower aft windows were different on the early models so I have been filling the kit windows in that area in preparation for putting in two more in a little different location. I have also replaced the other fuselage side windows with oversized clear cut from a DVD case, and am sanding them smooth to conform to the fuselage curves. Some are sanded out in these photos and others are just inserted. I don't like the look of the windows on the Monogram bomber kits, they don't fit well, also true of most other maker's bombers. Since the clear parts are oversize I can mask them down to proper size and have well faired windows. I sure hope this plan comes together!
Looks great, really dig how you guys can sand the clear parts and make them clear again.
phantom II
Master at Arms
Nice work . Some pretty tricky mods......And here I thought the CD cases were useless once you dropped them :idonno
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
320 grit sanding stick or file
400 grit wet
600 grit wet
2000 grit wet
Novus 2 plastic polish
Ta-Da!
jeaton01
Well-known member
Thanks, all!
Today I cut out the aft lower windows. I do not agree with where Mike placed those windows, I think his template shows them more forward than they should be, so I reworked the template he supplied to move them back to where I think photos show them. I still need to refine the shape a little, stupid camera never lies. Those openings will not be filled as I doubt they were at Midway.
I filed and sanded the remaining fuselage windows to shape and polished them. The nose gear doors were different on the early B-26, missing a bulge that continued on to the fuselage in front. The fuselage area had already been filled with Aves Epoxysculpt and it was sanded to contour. Lone Star supplied new resin nose gear doors. Still to do is the resin tail stinger but I think I will have to join the fuselage and install the tail surfaces before I can fit that part.
Photos of the above work.
Today I cut out the aft lower windows. I do not agree with where Mike placed those windows, I think his template shows them more forward than they should be, so I reworked the template he supplied to move them back to where I think photos show them. I still need to refine the shape a little, stupid camera never lies. Those openings will not be filled as I doubt they were at Midway.
I filed and sanded the remaining fuselage windows to shape and polished them. The nose gear doors were different on the early B-26, missing a bulge that continued on to the fuselage in front. The fuselage area had already been filled with Aves Epoxysculpt and it was sanded to contour. Lone Star supplied new resin nose gear doors. Still to do is the resin tail stinger but I think I will have to join the fuselage and install the tail surfaces before I can fit that part.
Photos of the above work.
jeaton01
Well-known member
A little more on the B-26. I have fiddled with it a bit from time to time but have had numerous distractions including building and producing a build log for a Goldberg Clipper, pictured here, and also here is the link to the build log:
http://www.yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/gems/clippermk2/clippermk21.html
I've been putting some Eduard PE in the B-26, as usual not sure how much will be seen. The set came with parts to make the seats and the rails they ride on but I think I am going to use the Monogram parts there, they look good to me.
The pictures below are some of the first taken with a new Pentax K-3II and a 16-80mm lens. I think I'm going to like this combination for model photos. Wouldn't have got the new camera but someone broke the window on my pickup the other day and stole my camera bag and an R/C transmitter. I thought about being angry but I guess I'm just getting too old.
http://www.yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/gems/clippermk2/clippermk21.html
I've been putting some Eduard PE in the B-26, as usual not sure how much will be seen. The set came with parts to make the seats and the rails they ride on but I think I am going to use the Monogram parts there, they look good to me.
The pictures below are some of the first taken with a new Pentax K-3II and a 16-80mm lens. I think I'm going to like this combination for model photos. Wouldn't have got the new camera but someone broke the window on my pickup the other day and stole my camera bag and an R/C transmitter. I thought about being angry but I guess I'm just getting too old.
jeaton01
Well-known member
So, in spite of my fervent hopes while I was off building P-40's no one snuck in and worked on this B-26.. Sigh.
Went back to the B-26 day before yesterday and actually feel like I have made some progress. Feeling a little fun happening. I spent some time on the tail gunner station modifications. Having three or four really small arms and hands would help here. I didn't want to wait until the fuselage was assembled to work on this as that would be sure to foul the interior with dust. The fuselage was taped together, and the tailplane assembly was fitted up with the vacuform gunner's canopy and the resin lower tail cone. I finally decided that the best method of getting a good result would be to use the kit's tail gunner canopy because it had a much better chance of having a good fit to the tailplane, but cut it where it could match with a thick frame on the vacuform canopy. I left the cut a little long, and will do that final fit when the tailplane is permanently attached. I was just holding parts in place with Tamiya tape during the test fitting. The lower windows on the kit perspex don't seem to come close to matching up with the kit canopy, that might be due to differences in the tailplane from the kit parts which have long been amputated. Some plastic card filling will have to fix that. After that work I spent half a day rescribing the fuselage using the JLC saw.
Some photos:
Went back to the B-26 day before yesterday and actually feel like I have made some progress. Feeling a little fun happening. I spent some time on the tail gunner station modifications. Having three or four really small arms and hands would help here. I didn't want to wait until the fuselage was assembled to work on this as that would be sure to foul the interior with dust. The fuselage was taped together, and the tailplane assembly was fitted up with the vacuform gunner's canopy and the resin lower tail cone. I finally decided that the best method of getting a good result would be to use the kit's tail gunner canopy because it had a much better chance of having a good fit to the tailplane, but cut it where it could match with a thick frame on the vacuform canopy. I left the cut a little long, and will do that final fit when the tailplane is permanently attached. I was just holding parts in place with Tamiya tape during the test fitting. The lower windows on the kit perspex don't seem to come close to matching up with the kit canopy, that might be due to differences in the tailplane from the kit parts which have long been amputated. Some plastic card filling will have to fix that. After that work I spent half a day rescribing the fuselage using the JLC saw.
Some photos:
It's been said...if it were easy, everyone would do it. :zen
Heavens Eagle
Well-known member
This is turning into a project like I end up with John. All never ending modifications. Looking Great!
Duke Maddog
Well-known member
Looking great John! Your mods will really make this even more impressive! Looking forward to seeing more.