With my 109 and Spit complete, I can set about building this famous Liberator. Just received Mike Grant Decals in mail to build Witchcraft. The old Monogram kit builds up nice oob but does have some shortfalls. Nothing that a little determination, skill, figuring out, and a little work can’t overcome. Will have to backdate from J to H model Lib. But, there is lots of reference pics and I’ve figured out pretty much what I need to do in building an H the old fashioned way, scratchbuild, and parts box.
These decals are beautiful. I stumbled upon them while looking for aftermarket B-58 decals. That and having toured the Collings Foundation Liberator recently, I knew I had to build this aircraft.
Originally started this kit years ago and put it aside. Didn’t get past a base of chromate green and some detail painting , so I’m going about this as if it were a fresh kit.
First I’ll glue in, fill and sand smooth the windows in lower portion of nose. Also shave/sand away molded on detail I havn’t seen in ref. pics of the original Witchcraft. Figured it was a good place to start.
While I don’t plan on super detailing the interior, I am going put in enough to add visual interest when looking in through windows, hatches, etc. Especially the nose and tail gun turrets. This should be a fun build.
Note of interest: The original B-24H Witchcraft , after flying over 130 missions without any crew wounded/killed, over 100 straight without an abort, after the P.R. photos; she was sent to salvage only a few months after she came home from the war. Sad.
Got a couple Monogram Libs in the stash… Will be watching your build with mucho interest, pard… I’d REALLY like to do “The Dragon and His Tail” someday, speaking of the Collins foundation… The original Dragon met the same fate as “Witchcraft”… A proud warrior sitting out in the desert, engines chopped off at the firewall, waiting sadly for the salvage company…
I have had the good fortune to actually fly in two of the Collings Foundation aircraft. Their B-25, and their B-17. Both amazing experiences!!!
Last fall, when we went up in the 17, another one of the passengers was a WWII Vet who was a Navigator on a 17. This was the first time he had been in a 17 since the end of the war. Most of the flight I just watched him grinning like a schoolboy, with tears in his eyes. I shed a few myself that day, it was a powerful scene.
One of these days I will build some of their aircraft.
Here is a shot of me (on the left) with my Buddy Brad in the 25.
Hans, the first time Collings toured through our little airport, thier Lib was still painted as the Great American on one side, Dragon and His Tail on the other. This past year though , I asked about the repaint. Evedently, complaints about the topless girl on the Dragon, and the full paint is easier to maintain than bare aluminum. One of the reasons the CAF’s FIFI is painted silver instead of bare metal like the wartime 29s were. Makes sense, that’s a lot of aluminum hangin’out in the weather.
As to the salvage thing, guess we really didn’t need the hundreds of thousands of (by the end of the war) out dated warbirds. Just would have been nice if our gov. had seen fit to save a few more for history’s sake.
On the subject of the build, I will be sure to post regular up dates as it progresses . I have an idea for glueing the nose/tail turrret halves together that will minimize the seam running through the top ‘glass’ of the turrets. Involves dipping pieces in Future, gluing the bottem ‘frame’ areas, then running a bead of Future along the top seam in the clear portion of the turret.
Yea Irish, I would like to take a hop on one someday, especially with my young daughter. I’m still glad I could share a “walk through” with her when they were here last Jan. Showed her the decals and pointed to the nose art. “It’s Witchcraft!” she exclaimed.
Will be cool to photograph completed model with Collings Lib as a backdrop when they tour through next year.
Nice pic of you and Brad in Tondelao . My avatar is my youngun’ at the right waist of Nine O Nine. By the way, watching the the former nav would have made my eys go damp too. Probably would have put my arm around him and said “thank you”.
It’s a shame that so few B24’s are left. The Yankee Air Musuem wants to find a Ford built one for it’s Willow Run located musuem. They have accumulated many parts from different factory’s to start on a static display, but it’s a shame there are none left for the place that build over 8000 of them.
Disregarding it’s mission and combat record, doing what it was designed to do, and speaking purely from asthetics, the Lib, IMHO, is about the butt-ugliest crate that ever wore the Star & Bar…
I have yet to meet a B-24 crew-dawg that said he loved it, unless there’s a B-17 crewman listening… I didn’t even like flying in “Diamond Lil”… And THAT one was pimped for transporting passengers… The view from that huge greenhouse nose was spectacular though, I’ll give it that…
I can believe you Hans about the B-24. My uncle who had 25 missions with the 303rd and 482nd BGs in B-17s got one ride in a B-24 and he didn’t like it either as the wings wagged up and down as it flew.
The Collings B-24 is a post war bird bought in India, after the RAF left hundreds of them behind in 1948.
I’ve got 100 or so shots from when I went up in her once, with my father. It was pretty instructive- it was his choice (48 years at UAL as an engineer) as it was all about a/c design from the inside out. The Liberator was fast, carried more ordnance, and was built in greater numbers than the -17. It also was not quite so dead-end road as the -17; had a good career up til about 1970.
I got the R/O seat for takeoff, as I did some volunteer work prior to the first flight of the day.
This is an interesting topic. Those of us born in the '50’s had WW2 in our life, like kids ought to now with 9/11, except most don’t care.
I have known, worked for, drank with etc. guys who flew B-26’s and got stuck in a Stalag; guys who flew P-61’s and lived; guys who were Lancaster crews and bought Austin dealerships;
A lot of B-24 people which suggests to me that she brought them home. One thing I realized on my flight, among may, was the porosity of the skin. Like lizard scales; all kinds of gaps and overlaps.
How visually different is the H from the J? Together with a P-47 I’m doing the Monogram B-24 and I want to use Mike Grant’s decals but it is supposed to be for an H. Can I get away with it using in on a J?
I agree with the Lib being ugly and I’ve often heard it could be a handful to fly. Not very roomy inside either. When climbing through the Collings birds ,I found it interesting how open the 24 was from one station to another . Also , while being taller on the inside than the Fortress, it was much narrower. Except for the bombay catwalk. The 17, on the other hand, felt alot roomier and each station is more like a contained space.
As far as looks and comfort, how often has that been a prime requirement when designing combat aircraft? Especially back in WWII. And combat aitcraft can be ugly to the point of being beautiful in thier own brutish way. The B-24 is a good example of that.
Better get to my model desk, I’ve got some time before the wife and daughter are awake. YES! Daddy time!
Not very different. Thats why I’m doing some mods using the kit parts,parts box, etc. instead of the Cutting edge conversion set. May not be 100% accurate, but will still be very presentable.
The downloadable instructions on the Mike Grant site shows a good compairison view of a J and H . Plus I’ve come up with lots of pics on the internet. The Mike Grant decals also include markings for a J model that flew against Japanese targets. You could build out of box for that one.
There are quite a few Former B-24 crews in the area, you never want to say a bad word about the B24 when they are in earshot.
It is the same for the B-17 I am sure.
Much like it is now, I can call my aircraft all sorts of names and hate the thing with a passion, but you say one word. . .
I am looking forward to seeing this build progress
Well, I suppose I could be a bit biased as my grandfather flew 'em…and he actually flew a few missions in the original Witchcraft! He has always been exceptionally proud of that fact.
First pics are what got me into the idea of converting the old R/M kit to an H model. Not much difference visually and what there is , can be changed by using good modeling skills and the ole’ noggin.
Following pics show where I taped and tacked the fuselage together along with the bombadiers glass. I then taped off and scribed where to trim the glass.
Being careful not to break or crack the clear piece, cut along scribed lines with razor saw. Then glued trimed pieces in place.
Next I had to do some shimming to make up for material lost during cutting and smoothing edges. Then to filling, sanding ,a little spot primer and a little more sanding.
Not exactly 100% accurate, but darn close. Still need to scribe the extra framing on the nose glass, but thats easy.
Ahhhhh, first hurdle overcome. Think I’ll do all the conversion work to the fuselage halves so I can build as if this were a B-24H kit.
The nose gear? It’s one of those areas I’ll call “glimpse space”. Where you dont really see too much on the finished model sitting on a shelf. Will add some detail in there , but also need to leave a place to add weight to keep this model from being a taildragger.
Looking at the war time photo of “Witchcraft” I noticed a panel under the pilots side window. Is that applique armor? The decal sheets show the panel on Witchcraft but it isn’t shown on 489.
Wow, great project, Howard! I’ll be following along, too. It’s my kinda project-a Monogram 1/48 bomber kit.
Nice job on the bombardier’s window!
And as far as the B-17 vs B-24 debate goes, they both did their jobs, and they both were pretty cool-looking planes. And the -24 for me is always a reminder of the Ploesti missions, and Foggia.
Good eye g . One of the field applied armor plate. Not an uncommon practice back then. Not all aircraft had the extra armor, depended on crew preference, etc.
Will be easy to add a bit of sheet plastic there and on the right side in same spot.
