After the CAF brought FiFi and Diamond Lil to town this summer, I am in the mood to build a model of these classic birds. FiFi is a fairly straight forward proposition. Dimaond Lil, on the other hand, will be a great challenge. Has anyone attempted to model Lil in any scale? I know that there is a LOT of modification work required to turn any available B-24 kit into the LB-30/pseudo C-87 configuration of Lil. Here’s a few of the high points:
New canopy structure (similar to late model B-24Ms and B-24Ns)
Early, rounded engine nacelles/cowlings (identical to those on PBYs)
Removal of bomb bays and fiting of passenger/cargo interior
Installation of fuselage windows and cargo door
Solid tail cone
According to several CAF sources, there was also a stretch of the aft fuselage, but I haven’t been able to find any documantation of the exact dimensions yet.
Does anyone have any reference material that might assist me in this major undertaking? If not, do you know where I might find some?
Thanks in advance for any help y’all can provide.
727flyer
I took a few pictures at an air show this summer. Check these sites to see if they will help.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v300/waynebaker/showtime/?start=20
http://photobucket.com/albums/v300/waynebaker/showtime/airshowpics/?start=40
I seem to have lost the others. If these are helpful, I can probably repost the others.
Diamond LiL was an LB-30A originally. It had a short nose that was lengthened 3’ making it the same as most other B-24A - D.
'Diamond ‘Lil’ was originally a B-24A which was diverted to the RAF from a USAAC order and redesignated LB-30B. (Actually the designation, according to the dataplate on the aircraft, is RLB-30 (?)) The lengthening of the nose would make this part of the fuselage aesthetically similar to the B-24D, not the B-24A.
She was damaged on a test flight prior to delivery to England, kept in the States, and subsequently served as the protoype for the C-87.
Anyhoo, I took a buncha shots of ‘Lil’ when she and ‘FIFI’ were here in Buffalo this past August. You can see those I took of 'Diamond ‘Lil’ here:
Diamond ‘Lil’
Fade to Black…
Guys,
Thanks for posting your photos of Lil. BlackWolf, your walk-around shots are OUTSTANDING! Several of them will be most helpful - especially those showing how the gear struts and retraction arms sit within the engine nacelles (something else that is very different on Lil as opposed to oval-nacelled Liberators).
I know that Lil was originally delivered with a short nose as a LB-30B Liberator I (serial AM927). Consolidated installed a longer nose on her when they made her into a transport. I found one source that quoted the length of the stretch as 4 feet. This was based on the solid nose cone that she was given, which appears to have been a little longer than the B-24D glass nose that the CAF put on her several years after they got her. Granted I have no official drawings or measurements to go by, but from comparing a lot of photos of Lil and production B-24Ds, her current nose doesn’t appear to be any longer or shorter to my eye, from the cockpit forward. I think for my modeling purposes, a standard -D nose will work fine. I will have to do some filling/moving of a few side windows, but the basic shape of the nose as a whole will probably work. Now, the canopy itself will be a handful to replicate, because I will have to build it from scratch. I have never done any major work with clear plastic, so it should be interesting! In talking with some of the CAF folks, it also appears that Lil received a fuselage stretch AFT of the wing in addition to the longer nose. Close examination of photographs seems to back this up, but I can’t quite put my finger on exactly where the stretch is (I think it is just in front of the horizontal stab - the aft fuselage in that area looks thinner than most other Libs). Another fuselage difference with Lil is the port side cargo door. Hers is a single door, whereas all other transport Liberators I have seen photos or drawings of had double doors. Not that it matters for my modeling of the aircraft, it is just another thing that highlights the ‘uniqueness’ of Lil.
Thanks again for all your help,