Monogram's 1/48 scale
B-24J Liberator

by John Forman

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Here is my B-24J flown by Captain John M. Formon and crew, 2nd AD, 491st BG, 852nd squadron, North Pickenham England, March 1945.

The model is Monogram's 1/48 scale B-24J with many scratch built parts.

The entire bomb bay was scratch built.

This included:

• building the wing box section that runs through the bomb bay

• hydraulic lines, fuel lines and control cables

• hydraulic tank

• bomb bay door actuating cylinders

• misc electrical cables

• oxygen bottles

Also scratch built were the bomb racks, catwalk and bomb bay door actuating cogs

Nose and main gear were scratch built.

Engines were modified, detailed and fully wired.

The natural metal finish is done using .003 soft aluminum adhesive backed foil. This foil is approx 3 times thicker than bare metal foil. This makes it a little tougher to burnish down... but it allows you to emboss rivet detail and panel fastener detail into the aluminum. This adhesive backed foil is available online from McMaster Carr.

The results proved quite convincing.

The basic steps are as follows:

• surface to be foiled should be finish sanded with 600 grit (no need for a mirror finish)

• apply foil to each individual panel

• foil the entire aircraft

• mask off select panels and polish the panels using various grits of Scotchbrite

• emboss all surface detail (rivets, fasteners etc...)
  

The tools I use for this process are a plastic burnishing stick, pounce wheel for rivet detail and sharp exacto blades for trimming.

I constructed a foam pad that would hold the aircraft as I added the foil panels.

Main gear, main gear wells and turbochargers were scratch built.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2009 by John Forman
Page Created 25 February, 2009
Last Updated 26 February, 2009

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