Did this one for the Navy Air Wing GB, which at this time is doing RN airplanes. It’s the Academy 1/72 kit which is very nice. A little grief with the dihedral angle but only a little. I made up a remote belly turrret with Apoxy Sculpt. Mostly Model Master paints, Extra Dark Sea Gray/Dark Slate Gray over flat white. I weathered and stained it with Tamiya Smoke and ground up gray pastels. Most of the framing on clear parts is decal strips with a little paint by brush added. The nose transparency fit was not so good but some careful sanding to reduce its diameter and a little filler on the fuselage bottom hid it pretty well. More details at the Navy Air Wing GB.
True on the CC, but the CAG has expanded the GB to include the CC, for variety. I’m building a Whitley, so info abt gloss vs. matte would be most useful.
Thanks for the appreciative comments, everyone. I’m glad you like this one. I recommend the kit, it’s a good one to build. There are just three spots to look out for, the fit of the nose transparency, the fuselage top between the cockpit glass and the top turret, and the dihedral angle which will be too great if you do not adjust it by sanding the fuselage sides at that fit. Also, the color call outs are not correct for the upper colors. According to the Harleyford book Fortess IIA’s in CC service were dark slate grey/extra dark sea grey over white.
Antoni, you noted the white should be gloss on the bottom, do you have any info on where the division line is between the gloss and the matt white? Anything that helps get it right is always welcome, it was rather difficult for me to determine what the proper colors are for Coastal Command airplanes, there was so much variation. It would be easy enough to gloss up the bottom if I knew the demarcation between the two sheens.
Beautiful Fortress, thanks for sharing. Great subject and paint scheme. always liked those colors on Forts and Libs as well. got any Academy B-24’s? ha ha… nice job![:D]
Thanks. The remote turret was made with Apoxy Sculpt, Milliput would be as good. I used the kit base for the ball turret and made it to the same diameter, which looks good according to pictures I have. It is fairly flat on the bottom with a sight window carved in it. So it wasn’t too hard. I cut in the 4 small windows, filled them with crystal clear, and found a sighting blister in the spares box.
Have just had a book published on this very subject. The gloss white was specified to be applied from the lower fuselage sides and underneath the aircraft but I suspect this was never done. The idea was to reflect light off the water and make the aircraft less visible to a U-boat under attack. The cowlings were supposed to be painted gloss white stove enamel and there is some evidence this was done.
A couple of items I see missing on the model are the wing and tailplane deicing boots, which were painted with aluminum paint to reduce their visual impact, and the various ASV radar aerials.
