1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Sun Dec 26, 2010 11:24 pm
At Thunder over Michigan this summer I treated myself to a flight on the Colling's Foundation's Witchcraft. Awesome experience! It definitely deepened my interest in the B-24.
I had an old Monogram B-24 kit stashed away that I picked up on Ebay a few years ago, and I thought what better scheme to do it in than Witchcraft? A quick search turned up Mike Grant Decals in Canada sells a Witchcraft set.
When I opened up my kit I found that somewhere along the way the entire sprue of clear parts had been lost or hijacked. Always check your Ebay purchases when they come! This meant I had no cockpit glass, chin glass, turrets, or windows.
Most WIXers will know that Colling's Witchcraft is painted in the markings of a B-24H that flew 130 missions in Europe. The Monogram kit is a J model, as is the Collings bird, and I was originally content with building my kit as a J. Then since I ended up not having any clear parts I picked up a Koster B-24H conversion kit. The kit came with a Ford-built H model nose, pilot's and copilot's extra armor plate, white metal guns, resin turrets, and clear parts for the entire model.
So I hacked off the nose of a perfectly good kit!
The Koster kit was great. I'm not that experienced with vacuform and I had no trouble with it. Also, the Monogram turrets have seams in a horrible spot in the middle of the turrets, the Koster turrets have their seams in the scale locations.
Some resin engines were a huge improvement over the kit's.
The parts that make up the Koster nose turret.
True Details resin wheels with the correct tread pattern.
Two months worth of work. I'm far from a professional modeler but it didn't turn out too bad for something that I built.
I had an old Monogram B-24 kit stashed away that I picked up on Ebay a few years ago, and I thought what better scheme to do it in than Witchcraft? A quick search turned up Mike Grant Decals in Canada sells a Witchcraft set.
When I opened up my kit I found that somewhere along the way the entire sprue of clear parts had been lost or hijacked. Always check your Ebay purchases when they come! This meant I had no cockpit glass, chin glass, turrets, or windows.
Most WIXers will know that Colling's Witchcraft is painted in the markings of a B-24H that flew 130 missions in Europe. The Monogram kit is a J model, as is the Collings bird, and I was originally content with building my kit as a J. Then since I ended up not having any clear parts I picked up a Koster B-24H conversion kit. The kit came with a Ford-built H model nose, pilot's and copilot's extra armor plate, white metal guns, resin turrets, and clear parts for the entire model.
So I hacked off the nose of a perfectly good kit!
The Koster kit was great. I'm not that experienced with vacuform and I had no trouble with it. Also, the Monogram turrets have seams in a horrible spot in the middle of the turrets, the Koster turrets have their seams in the scale locations.
Some resin engines were a huge improvement over the kit's.
The parts that make up the Koster nose turret.
True Details resin wheels with the correct tread pattern.
Two months worth of work. I'm far from a professional modeler but it didn't turn out too bad for something that I built.
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:10 am
Very, very nice job!
Congrats
Congrats
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:33 am
Very nice, Greg! The Koster kits I've been exposed to are really worth the price and this one looks like another winner. Thanks for posting the results for our viewing. I'll be adding this kit to my next order.
The Emerson turret is especially intriguing as I've been gearing up to vacuform one from the top-down in 1/72nd scale. I'm not certain my method will work and this is a logical option I hadn't thought of.
Scott
The Emerson turret is especially intriguing as I've been gearing up to vacuform one from the top-down in 1/72nd scale. I'm not certain my method will work and this is a logical option I hadn't thought of.
Scott
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:52 pm
Looking good, and I'm glad you decided to do the conversion, hard work is something to be proud of.
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Tue Dec 28, 2010 1:19 am
That looks really nice!
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:25 am
Magnificent model. Please show us some more of your classic kits
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Tue Dec 28, 2010 11:04 pm
Thanks everybody!
I do think it was worth the money too, between the quality and everything you get. I forgot to mention that he includes a decal set along with the kit too (one of the Zodiacs I believe). If I was to do another one I wouldn't hesitate to send off for another kit.
I'm glad too! It was fun and I enjoyed the hard work.
Wellll...most of my stuff isn't as photogenic as Witchcraft here, but here are a couple of my other models. Most of 'em never got digital pictures taken of them before being tucked away in the cabinet so I don't have too many uploaded to Photobucket. A few of these pictures are scattered on different threads.
O-47
Tamiya P-47
Pavla 0-52
T-6
This one I built a few years ago for my father. He drove this truck for many years, often with a young me riding in the sleeper. I started with a GMC Astro semi tractor kit and a kit of a trailer, lengthened the frame on the tractor, cut the trailer box down in length and height.
Very nice, Greg! The Koster kits I've been exposed to are really worth the price and this one looks like another winner. Thanks for posting the results for our viewing. I'll be adding this kit to my next order.
The Emerson turret is especially intriguing as I've been gearing up to vacuform one from the top-down in 1/72nd scale. I'm not certain my method will work and this is a logical option I hadn't thought of.
Scott
I do think it was worth the money too, between the quality and everything you get. I forgot to mention that he includes a decal set along with the kit too (one of the Zodiacs I believe). If I was to do another one I wouldn't hesitate to send off for another kit.
Looking good, and I'm glad you decided to do the conversion, hard work is something to be proud of.
I'm glad too! It was fun and I enjoyed the hard work.
Please show us some more of your classic kits
Wellll...most of my stuff isn't as photogenic as Witchcraft here, but here are a couple of my other models. Most of 'em never got digital pictures taken of them before being tucked away in the cabinet so I don't have too many uploaded to Photobucket. A few of these pictures are scattered on different threads.
O-47
Tamiya P-47
Pavla 0-52
T-6
This one I built a few years ago for my father. He drove this truck for many years, often with a young me riding in the sleeper. I started with a GMC Astro semi tractor kit and a kit of a trailer, lengthened the frame on the tractor, cut the trailer box down in length and height.
Re: 1/48 Monogram B-24H Witchcraft
Thu Dec 30, 2010 10:45 am
WIXerGreg wrote:The parts that make up the Koster nose turret.
oooooh look.., a multiple part glass piece with seperate frames from the glazing? Look how easy this makes it.., no more masking.., !! Awesome idea!!!
This would be awesome on saaaayy.., some 1/32 scale B-17 I have heard about?
Great job.., thanks again for the post!!!