Is the 1/48 Revell/Monogram B-24 Liberator worth buying, as regards accuracy, fit, etc?
Absolutely! I think it is a very good kit not to mention the only game in town for 1/48 scale. The nose is slightly narrow but if I didn’t tell you you would probably never realize it. The kit has raised detail that is actually accurate. Interior detail in adaquate but if you add some Aires Browning machine guns to the waist position its a great improvement. You can also add a few turret detail packages from Koster Aero Enterprises. You’ll need some putty around the engine nacelle seams but that is probably the worst spot to deal with. Here is an excellent reference site for you also … http://www.b24bestweb.com/
Thanks for that, Mr Swanny. Might just buy one now.[:D]
Swanny, thatt is good info to know as i have that kit ( or the revell germany re-issue) sitting under my bench right now waiting on me. The only thing that i dont like about the kit is the nose art decals, but there are plenty of aftermarket choises available.
Mike Grant makes some killer decals for this model. A few are shown in his gallery but there are many more he has done that are not shown - send him an email and see what he can do for you or if you have good reference material he might do a custom set for you. He did the “Impatient Virgin” for me.
http://www.mikegrantdesign.com/decals/
Also you might want to look at Meteorprod.com for some other choices.
I’ve got the B-24D and J models in my stash, with a pair of Koster upgrades, plus the Flightpath etch set, some resin wheels and 500lb bombs. It should make for a pretty impressive pairing when they’re both done, but time is short at present. [:(]
Two things, anyone have a good link to an online build?
Second, I can’t wait until a powerhouse like Accurate or Tamiya tackles this subject. I am waiting for great 1:48 versions of a B17 and a B24 from the mighty 8th!!!
THere’s a few B-24’s here:
I haven’t seen the current release, but I assume the same fit problems are still there. I have built three of the old releases – 1 D & 2 J’s.
The problem areas I encountered were around the engine nacelles and nacelle covers and the horizontal tail plane – and the resulting loss of panel detail from filling and sanding. The ball turret panel requires a lot of filling and sanding. The tail turret has a seam right in the middle of the clear portion. There’s lot’s of clear part masking. Pre-cut masks are helpful. The fuselage halves on all of mine were bowed. I had to clamp them together so the interior bulkheads could be glued.
It’s also a real tail sitter. You need to add a bunch of weight to keep it off its tail skid. I recommend Terry Dean’s nose weights - http://www.njipms.org/Reviews/Terry_Dean_Weights/noseweights.htm He’s a 1st class guy with great products. His weights take all the guess work out of weighting the model.
With all that said, they are impressive models and worth the effort.
Here’s some links that may be helpful.
http://s96920072.onlinehome.us/ISL/RoG/1.48/B-24D/B-24.htm
http://www.rollmodels.net/index2.htm then click full build reviews, and b24d.
http://hsfeatures.com/features04/b24dmc_1.htm
http://m2reviews.cnsi.net/reviews/allies/us/kolb24.htm
Good luck!
You better be ready to pay $100+ for the basic kit then. Only reason these are as inexpensive as they are is because of 1970s molds.
You just have to look at the Lanc from Tamiya for that, and by all accounts, It’s not all that great and there’s a healthy market of upgrades for it.
I snet Accurate a email almost 2 years ago begging them to do a B-17… They said at the time that they might explore the idea but were not in a position to compete with the larger kit makers. I have come to the conclusion that these (revel/monogram) kits are the best and only 1/48 kits we will see for the B-17, B-24. Sadly as it may be.