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B24 Liberator - 1/12th scale PSS


Andy Meade
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Posted by Andy Meade on 29/10/2014 10:17:02:

Ha! Fancy coming up with the goods afterwards like that Monz! Yes, it does show the front formers with no angled "vee" at the bottom, which is what I have worked too.

Danny - every time I open it, I think the same thing! I think it's a visual thing, as there is so much wood in them at the moment compared to the fuselage. I will do a sanity check though against a scaled side view to keep us both happy. It does look odd. They must have had superb rudder authority cool

Just ask next time laugh

I have thousands and thousands of three views and references saved.

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Lol no worries still look massive in the corrected shot embarrassed being a pain I know and please tell me to bog off but it still doesn't look right somehow, the fins look right compared to the fus, its the wing and nacelles that look too small perhaps? is it worth checking a few other dims, perhaps the span?

Could of course just be me, I am not that familiar with the "Libby"

Cheers

Danny

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Danny - always happy to receive comments before I finish painting laugh at least I can correct it then.

The wing and tail span are both a little stretched, but funny you should pick up on the nacelles. They are shrunk to about 90% of true scale at the moment, mainly to reduce the cross sectional area. The reasoning behind this, is specific to a sloper - I am already pushing a great big box through the air, and I have no motive power of course to drag the model forward. On windier days, I don't want to be struggling for penetration, is what it boils down to.

The wing is less bulky as I have definitely not used the scale section - look at Monz's plan up there - it's huge! Again, no way I could live with that on the slope, so I am using an Eppler 205. I may re-visit it and thicken it ever-so-slightly to lessen the effect of it looking like a thin blade of a wing when head-on, but I'm not sure on how well that section behaves to being fatter just yet.

Oh, another point on the wing - don't forget she hasn't got her tips on yet, so will definitely look shorter in that respect. I posted this overlay image on page 1, and you can see I'm relatively close to scale for the planform overall :

b24 fus assy plan view.jpg

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Well that was a fun few minute's modelling!

b24 fus assy 22.jpg

I now have a ball turret - this will either get sent off to be 3D printed by RMP, or made in balsa if I'm feeling particularly masochistic (also known as Jones-like). The turret will of course retract, as per full size. I thought she'd look odd in the air without one, but didn't fancy landing on it either.

On the subject of scale details - I figured out a way of doing the "shuttered" type of bomb doors that the Libby sported, but just couldn't figure out a way of doing it without 4 servos; light; easily repairable; or reliable, all in 12th scale. I still want an operating bomb-drop, so will be installing something simpler, as per Lancaster - just hinged, opening doors, but 4 off on the Lib - 2 front and 2 rear. If it was 10th scale, I could probably get it in there. Maybe for the electric version, if I do one.

Rudders are now done but they aren't very interesting - that's it for today probably.

Edited By Andy Meade on 30/10/2014 15:17:38

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Indeed it does! Because the main undercarriage is in the wing, the length of the legs is limited. That means the belly is quite low to the ground when she's on her wheels, and the ball must retract for clearance. There is even a skid in the aft section of the fuselage that is lowered upon take off to stop the pilot scraping the under side too much!

Here you can see the ball turret (or not) sucked up into the belly, and the skid lowered :

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A few stringers designed and cut into the formers tonight, other than that, not much activity this weekend. I have sketched out some bomb bay door mechanisms, and will have to commit them to CAD the coming week I hope.

Front upper and lateral, as well as rear upper stringers :

b24 fus assy 25.jpg

Underside stringers. Large bomb bay in view! :

b24 fus assy 26.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a huge deal of progress at the moment, but I have printed out all the formers and ribs required, ready for a scroll saw session. Strangely, as soon as I started printing, I was a bit disappointed on how small she looks.

Ah well, she's meant to be 12th scale to match the Me262, so I can't complain - I may think about scaling her up for a 10th or 9th scale electric version in the future.

I squared up the bomb bay on the design too. It may be hard to tell form the pictures, but there was an approx. 8mm taper front to rear - a result of the lack of clarity in the sections I used. Now this has been squared up, I will be using roller shutter type (i.e. scale) bomb doors, after I found this nice site where a chap built a 12th scale Libby from a "Palmer" plan **LINK**

Only things left to do now is to finish of the MiG tail upgrade, finish off some sanding on the Hunter, and the B24 can be started on the big bench.

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There is a nice "virtual" cockpit of the B24 here from the NMUSAF museum - actually of the Strawberry B***h, which is quite nice. If you scratch around a bit on their website, you can visit the bomb-bay, gunners seats etc throughout the plane.

 

http://nmusafvirtualtour.com/media/024/B-24D%20Pilot%20Station.html

 

Edited By Andy Meade on 17/11/2014 10:25:00

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  • 2 weeks later...

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