1/48 Monogram B-29 Superfortress

Gallery Article by Paul Coppin on July 28 2014

 

Hello everyone this my 1/48 B29 Superfortress of the 444th BG/58th BW and I've been building this monster on and off for about 2 years, but decided to get back into it just after the new year and finally finished it on the 1st of June 2014 :) .  For an old Monogram kit, the build was not too bad.  It was after I attached the wings that it was awkward to work on, also what made it more awkward was the wall mounted display bar that was attached to it.  All I did was get a piece of stainless steel rod and bent it to the shape I wanted, drilled some holes here and there then made some additional supports and it all worked out nicely.  The wood wall support you see in the photos is only temporary until I get something more fitting :)  I also did a bit of scratch building (from my spares box).  I had to make the radar domes because this particular aircraft had a different radar than the one that comes with the kit.  I spent many hours searching online for reference pictures and only found a few but was able to work off those and I think I got it pretty close.  I did not go too much into the detailing of the interior as you can't see much of it at all.  I liberated a few pilots out of my spares box.

 

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I had quite a lot of filling and sanding to do mainly around the landing gear doors, the engines and around the cockpit area.  I had to scribe some new panel lines around these areas.  I used Tamiya paints for the camo, Vallejo for the interior & Humbrol for the engines.  And for all the leading edges I used Humbrol Aluminum metalcoat which is the first time I've sprayed metalcoat & was very pleased of how it came out.  The weathering was done in many stages using chalks, pastels & artist oils & it took a lot of time & trial and error but I finally got the worn look I was after as I did not want to go over the top with it. For the decals I used Iliad Designs excellent "Camouflaged B-29s" set & I chose "Old Battler" as I really like the scheme & for the insignias I used "Superscale Internationals" Insignia set which are also great.

Well I hope you enjoyed my photos of my B-29 & now I will be starting on a new project I'm thinking of a seaplane.  :)

Paul Coppin

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Photos and text © by Paul Coppin