Hasegawa keeps adding to its excellent series of 1/72 scale WWII bombers. Following the Lancaster, He 111, Ju 88, Mitchell, and Marauder, this B-24D is the first of what is sure to be a long line of Liberators.
Hasegawa's approach to modular construction is similar to Minicraft's B-24 kits; different nose pieces attach on a diagonal panel line just behind the canopy. But Hasegawa's level of interior detail and external recessed panels and rivets is superior to Minicraft's 20-year-old moldings. Hasegawa has already announced a B-24J to come, and by the looks of the alternate parts on the sprues there are other variants in the future.
This kit represents an early D model. One of the two markings provided,
The Squaw, depicts a Ploesti raider of the 98th Bomb Group. This airframe was festooned with special markings to go on a Stateside war-bonds tour, and the decals are printed well enough to read all the testimonials.
Building the kit was a long process because of the high parts count and my difficulty with the crowded instruction steps. Also, the short half-round pins on the interior bulkheads and floors, and the shallow recesses for them in the fuselage halves, must be carefully aligned. Forward-firing guns in the nose transparency require carefully drilled holes in the clear parts - I left the guns out and the nose piece off until after painting.
Even the full-size Liberator was tail-heavy; when it wasn't loaded it could flop back on its tail bumper. (A crate or wooden pylon was placed under the bumper to keep the aircraft level.) Hasegawa recommends 90 grams (3 oz.) of weight around the nose gear bay to balance the model. I used styrene stock to build a tail stand similar to the ones in photos.
I was most impressed with the fit of the wings to the fuselage - so impressed that I never even glued them on. The wings fit snugly into recesses in the fuselage, and spars fit through grooves inside the wings. The result is perfect alignment and a super-tight fit.
Carefully study the instructions or you might miss boring holes in the bombs so they mount to the racks, eliminating the recessed lines of the wing's trim tabs, and cutting away the later-style wingtip position lights. If you intend to keep the waist hatches shut, there's not much sense in painting or detailing the aft compartment - you won't see anything through the small windows. Same goes for the bomb bay.
The B-24D had nose gear doors that retracted inside the bay, but Hasegawa missed this and showed the doors hinged outboard. I simply left them off. The landing gear is excellent, with separate tires (flattened to simulate weight) and wheels to make painting easier. I appreciated the turret designs that allow installation after painting.
I painted the model with Polly Scale sand (thinned with Pledge Future floor polish) and Model Master neutral gray enamel. I made a dark brown sludge wash for the top surfaces, dark gray for the bottom. The decals went on perfectly. After all was dry, I overcoated with Testors Acryl clear flat, unmasked the clear panels, installed the nose guns, and attached the nose transparency.
It took 52 hours to finish this big Liberator; an enjoyable and not-too-challenging project. Is the kit worth more than double the cost of earlier Liberator models? That's up to you - but if you want the very best B-24 in the scale, this is it.
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