“Witchcraft” B-24J

Even though the belly turret will be in the retracted position, I wanted to scratch-build the complex lifting mechanism, so it is visible through the open waist gunner/s windows. 

Primer really shows off all the scratch built details in the Emerson nose turret 

Interior stringers, a bit of wiring, ammo boxes and oxygen bottles for a bit more realism. 

Lead foil seatbelts on the cockpit seats and a bomb sight and other details added to the Bombardier's compartment. Lead nose wights have been hidden everywhere possible! 

 

Scratch-built details inside the larger (late-war) Emerson nose turret 

A bit more detail added to the bomb bays. Racks and bombs will come later. 

Scratching-in some added details. The thin styrene "doorway" will be painted black to give the appearance of depth to the entry point of the Bombardier's compartment. 

The clear-molded nose all glued-together and masked. Mocked-up for test fitting the nose turret. 

 

The left and right spotter's windows needed to be cut out and replaced with the "blown" style bubble windows (included in the kit). 

The entire outside of all my models gets scuff-sanded with #0000 steel wool so my primer has good adhesion (visible here on the clear nose). 

Test fitting the cockpit and Bombardier's compartment. A LOT of trimming and fiddling was necessary to get the proper fit. 

Eduard canopy masks installed, and Vallejo liquid mask applied to the obscure, hard-to-mask windows. 

Clear nose with Emerson turret test fit. 

Test fitting clear nose parts, prior to assembly. 

G-Factor Brass landing gear and Eduard resin wheels being test fit to the nose bulkhead. 

Side inlet "splitters" added to the engine cowlings. Their absence would have been very obvious (to me). 

Test fitting with good old Broccoli rubber bands 

To simulate the slight gap that exists when B-24 bomb bay doors are rolled open, .005" shims were glued to the fuselage halves. The shims and the backs of the Quick Boost resin doors were also roughly sanded and deeply scored with a knife to give the super glue something to bite into for better adhesion. 

Test fitting the engine cowlings, props and Quick Boost resin engines. 

Thinned-out the trailing edges of all the cowl flaps and cut tiny slits between them for more realistic separation. 

Scratch-building still in-progress 

My initial tape template used to make the interior "stringer" details. 

Evergreen Styrene "Board & Batten" sheets with raised ribs was used to simulate the light weight "stringer" structure running down the length of the fuselage. The largely visible aft fuselage was in desperate need of some added detail! 

Clamping & gluing-in the side wall detail panels. 

Awaiting Future clear Acrylic and a pinwash to highlight the details... 

Since the bomb bay of most late-war Liberators was left unpainted, I started the fuselage painting process with Metallizer Aluminum spray paint and buffed it to a sheen with Q-Tips. 

To get a scale, lightened shade of the dull dark green used on B-24 interiors, I mixed two other colors and sprayed the forward and aft interior, but left the bomb bay natural aluminum. Next comes some extensive hand-painting!