Bob, I have the kit no.5711; probably the same one you have. There was a kit no. 5700 that only had decals for the Silverplate Enola Gay and Bocks car. One of our forum members graciously sent me his 5700 instructions and decals. They have been a tremendous help.
Revell offers a couple of approaches to the Silverplate conversion. Both are inaccurate. Some of the kit parts I may modify; but it looks like I will be scratch building. I hope to open the box next week and may change direction once I start cutting; but for the movement, I have more parts than I can use. Thank you for the offer; and as my build comes together or falls apart I may want to take you up on some of those pieces.
The navigators blister was the only one retained (you cannot see anything inside after it except the open forward bomb bay).
The last four months have been a disaster of sorts in that I was unable to get to the workbench at all. Started with a nice week-long vacation in early August (love cruising to Bermuda!), but when we returned, Herself’s mother, who lives with us, took a turn for the worse. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease. The upshot was that a combination of caring for her, some of my own health issues which thankfully were resolved, and some business travel thrown in for good measure, all kept me away from Sweet Sue. Everyday I would pass by the workbench and see her sitting there and vow to get back to her but until now, it hasn’t been able to happen.
So, when we last left for commercial break, I was closing the bomb bay doors. The rear set is now closed and puttied, and I am closing the front set today. I plan to use the same technique, of putting in a strip styrene reinforcing mechanism, then gluing the doors to it and puttying them. I guess Revell never intended for them to be closed because there is no rest inside for the door to set on when shut.
Next step will be to finish puttying the fuselage center seam, glue on the cokpit glass, and then attach the wings and horizontal stabilizers.
I spoke to my friend (who is to be the recipient of this model) and he has graciously extended me until next summer. I have a six week convalescent leave coming up (a joint replacement is in my immediate future) and I hope to make huge strides while I am out of the workforce!
In the aft bomb bay, I installed stringers in a similar manner as they would be in the real aircraft, following the curvature of the fuselage. The purpose of the stringers is to give the bomb bay doors something to rest on when closed. You can see an example in the photo a few posts back, from July. In the forward bomb bay, I tried something different, and installed stringers that ran from front to back instead of following the curvature of the fuselage. It was easier to install and seemed to work just as well.
I also repaired some minor damage to the cockpit area. One instrument panel had to be re-glued, and the stick on the other side as well.
I note that both photos show to be rotated 90 degrees from the way I inserted them. Does anyone know why this is suddenly happening to my inserts from Flickr? Never happened before.
I’m having a similar problem with Photobucket. Not sure what’s causing it, but I know it does this before the pics make it to the forums. Great job on the B-29. BTW.
Yup, that seemed to work. I guess the original picture size was too large to put in without some software deciding it had to be rotated. When I cut the picture down to 800 by 600, they both rendered perfectly. I’ll continue to post them smaller.
Cbaltrin: no, I am not finished yet. Summation of the last 300 posts is: how I got started on a specific B-29 to give to an old friend; being an exact replica of his bird from 1945; the tips, tricks, techniques and education gained as I built the model over 9 months; till I got it 93.4% completed and dropped it, and had to start over again with a new kit.
it’s worth a read, if I do say so myself. Lot’s of helpful advice in there. Grab a cup of coffee or a beer and give it a go!
So, Bob, is this the new project that you are working on now? I am sure that you will find that the experience of building the first kit will be invaluable on this build. We are all watching you. Good luck!
Shipwreck: yes, this is the replacement B-29 for the one I dropped. Had a four month hiatus for other stuff, and I’m now back at it. Onward and upward!
A short sitrep: it is beginning to look like an airplane again! I finished closing up both bomb bay doors, and installed the cockpit glass and nose bubble. I mounted both the horizontal stabilizers and the wings, and filled the seams using the acetone smoothing trick and a Q-tip. Makes it go much more quickly than just plain sanding. I also completed masking all the glass. I have not yet painted the glass cockpit ribs with the interior color (so you can see them through the glass as the interior shade of green).
Next step is to wipe it clean of oils and fingerprints, cover up the wheel wells and other holes, and prime it. I am going to try a spray can of primer this time around rather than the airbrush (due to the large size of the model) and see how that comes out. If it works well, then I may do the same for the gloss black coat.
I am going to have knee replacement surgery on Tuesday and will be out of the net for a few days while in the hospital. Should have plenty of time to work on it once I return to the house (assuming I can get up and down stairs!)
Glad to see you getting somewhere on this one. =] I just recently got to see “Fifi” at the CAF tour here in New Orleans a short while back. Got tons of photos that I can’t wait to use when I finally get to that monstrous build …sometime just before never.
