Revell B29 Superfortress WIP

[WigWag Workshop]

Good Day Folks!

I am building this kit for the SMA Big Spring Contest 2013. I don't expect to win anything, it's just for fun.

-Steven

[Deleted]

B29 in 1/48 ! I'd need to move out the house to fit that in    Superb choice of kit and great start to the build Steven, it'll be interesting to see this come together  

[WigWag Workshop]

Good Day Folks!

I was reading through some information on this kit, what are "raised panel lines"? and how do I deal with them?

Thanks In Advance,

-Steven

[Deleted]

Hi Steven,

Raised panel lines are the older way kit makers gave their
kits surface detail where the real aircraft had join lines.

There are two main ways to deal with them.

First is to sand them down slightly and carry on with the
build, with careful weathering they can look quite good.

If you’ve a bit of time and a lot of patience, you can sand
them off, then using Dymo tape as a guide, re-scribe them with  a pointed tool such as an engineer’s scribe.
This give a recessed panel line that some say looks more realistic.

Personally, I’d go for the first option for most of the
lines and only the second for the bigger join lines.

Either way, I’m sure you’ll make a nice kit of her 

[deafpanzer]

Count me in... built one when I was very young for one of my uncles who flew it in late 1950's. Good luck and have fun!

[406 Silverado]

There is something about the B29 that makes it look sooo cool. Love the clean work on the cockpit so far.

[406 Silverado]

Just caught that it's 1/48....wow that will be a big bird.

[Leon]

Steve count me in.That is a sweet looking B29.

[wbill76]

Going to be fun watching this one come together!

[venom1]

Hi Steven,

In adding to stevem's post, wot he said, plus:

If I decide to rescribe, I have found that the raised panel lines make an excellent guide for a scribing tool. Just run the scriber gently along the edge of each raised panel line until you have the depth you require. Once the entire part is scribed, you can go ahead and sand off the raised lines. Done and done!

The engraved panel lines will be ever so slightly off from the raised ones, but unless you are a real rivet counter, or want it as accurate as possible, I don't worry about that fact. Of course if the particular kit you are building has completely naffed up the panel lines and they are in totally fictitious locations, you can always sand them off completely, redraw them in the correct location with pencil, then use the Dymo tape trick to engrave new ones.

I think that raised panel lines can be very effective if weathered correctly, and I don't really have a problem with them. I built Italeri's 1/72 UH-1H, it was a lovely kit, with raised panel lines, and it came out great.

The major down side to raised panel lines is restoring the lines after sanding. This is especially a problem between things like fuselage halves. The only real successful way I have seen them restored is with the use of fine stretched sprue. The hardest part is matching up the stretched sprue diameter with the original panel line, but it can be done without too much difficulty. There may be other ways to restore the panel lines, but this is the only real successful one I know about. Anyone else??

Ennyweigh, enough jibber-jabber. Hope I didn't clog up the internets with my ramblings! Hope I cleared up the mud a little!!

Cheers,

Sam

[bish]

Now this will be a beast. Looking forward to this.

[joelsmith]

Something you need to seriously consider is Nose Weight! The kit is very "Tail Heavy". Terry Dean makes a great set of nose weights fir this kit, they fit on either side of the nose wheel well, are invisible once installed. Terry can be reached at nightiemission.com He has nose weights for most, if not all of the populas tricycle gear aircraft, plus, he has some great aftermrket for B29s. Check him out, Joel.

[Mence]

Wow, she's a biggy, look forward to seeing this go together!

[WigWag Workshop]

The build continues... Unfortunately, I had to remove the decals on the instrument panels, because, I forgot to paint first, and I am not able to get replacement, unless I buy another kit

-Steven

[wbill76]

Too bad about the decals Steven, but you could paint the faces by hand and add a drop of Future to simulate glass faces...would provide a little more detail if you're so inclined for viewing through the nose glazing?

[joelsmith]

Steen, don't sweat the decals, the panels are only marginally visible after completion. If you still want to do decals, I have a set of US Instrumrnt decals, you can have. Just shoot me a snail mail address. PS. don't forget about nose weight. The plane is a horrendous tail sitter!!! HTH, Joel.

[fightnjoe]

i have had this kit for a couple of years. i am watching with great interest. looking forward to what you do with her.



joe

[Thomas_M]

The beautiful B-29 kit from Monogram is a rare build to be seen. I still have two of them in my stash, together with Paragon flaps and a B-50 conversion set.

I am taking a front row chair to follow you on this here. You will do this beauty justice!

[Deleted]

I just picked up a 1977 Monogram version of this big beast, with Enola Gay / Thumper / Bockscar decals. Built one when I was a kid... looking forward to building it again.