Beyond The Sprues

Modelling => Completed GBs => Group and Themed Builds => U.S. Enters WWII Early (1940) GB => Topic started by: taiidantomcat on October 18, 2019, 04:26:09 AM

Title: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 18, 2019, 04:26:09 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48914957168_21c39b10b0_o.jpg)

just a very simple "chop job" in paint. I'm no profiler and this is not mine originally (I would give the artist credit if it was noted, couldn't find it)

I removed the nose MG (sloppily) used a square to cut the cockpit, dorsal and turret off, and then matched the paint to add just a little bit of blend.

I'm just a huge sucker for any "glass nose" aircraft like the B-29, AR-234 (hey! no wonder this looks familiar!) and I have had this idea with plastic forever, but it will be a while before I ever cut the styrene. Very sleek looking :-*... I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.

anywho, one of those things I was exploring and that lead to a lazy internet search that turned this profile up, and then i right clicked saved, and in 5 minutes or so was able to create something.  8)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Acree on October 18, 2019, 05:21:29 AM
That looks really cool.  If you like that, how about USAAC orders Stearman A-21 into production to supplement A-20 (or instead of)? 
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Brian da Basher on October 18, 2019, 05:40:45 AM
That's a killer concept, Mr Tomcat!

Reminds me of some of the earlier N. American design studies.

Quite well done for a quickie!

Brian da Basher
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: jcf on October 18, 2019, 05:45:37 AM
Yep, it definitely resembles the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 in it's original form.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Stearman_XA-21_in_flight.jpg/1024px-Stearman_XA-21_in_flight.jpg)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: The Big Gimper on October 18, 2019, 06:04:33 AM
Must build .....
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 18, 2019, 06:21:45 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48916199857_6d883a3419_b.jpg)

This one kind of fell into my lap. Just another concept. Again I'm no digital expert if you look closely you will see a lot of seams but a pretty easy photo to tinker with with the monochrome color matching closely to the monochrome sky.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Old Wombat on October 18, 2019, 10:11:53 AM
Nice! :smiley: 8)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: finsrin on October 18, 2019, 12:29:31 PM
Both looking good  :smiley:  :smiley:

Jon - I didn't know of the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 - Thanks for the tip.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Kelmola on October 18, 2019, 05:19:42 PM
[I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.
The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence. Even in its IRL configuration, the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground). Remove all those guns and turrets and the extra crew (and their oxygen systems, flak jackets, etc.) to man them,  and it probably would lose enough weight and drag to gain enough speed to be very difficult to intercept, especially early in the war.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 19, 2019, 02:15:51 AM
Yep, it definitely resembles the Stearman Model X-100/XA-21 in it's original form.


I had never seen that before! The nose reminds me of some of the late war Junkers bombers. :-*

[I guess its reconnaissance due to the lack of armament? or a bomber before we realized they couldn't outrun fighters and needed protection? I believe the colors and such are correct for the 1940ish era as well.
The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence. Even in its IRL configuration, the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground). Remove all those guns and turrets and the extra crew (and their oxygen systems, flak jackets, etc.) to man them,  and it probably would lose enough weight and drag to gain enough speed to be very difficult to intercept, especially early in the war.

(https://media.giphy.com/media/tlGD7PDy1w8fK/giphy.gif)

its all coming together   :smiley:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920066791_f99c411a4e_b.jpg)

 ::) This is getting out of hand. I'm really thinking about how I could wedge in a model now...  ::)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: ChernayaAkula on October 19, 2019, 06:58:59 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48916199857_6d883a3419_b.jpg)

 :-* Gorgeous!

<...> the B-25 was a pretty sweet ship capable of fully acrobatic flying (which the Soviet test pilots demonstrated in front of the horrified Lend-Lease officials on the ground).<...>

Glad you brought that up. I knew I'd read about that Soviet episode - including the horrified onlookers -  somewhere. But try as I might, I couldn't find it again in my references, almost making me doubt my memory.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: jcf on October 19, 2019, 12:10:35 PM
Quote
The Mosquito proved that speed, not defensive armament, was a bomber's best defence

No, it proved the DH concept that defensive armament wasn't needed on a fast, small bomber.
Anything larger was going to need defensive weapons.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 24, 2019, 05:20:14 AM
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48949401626_bb28534eb5_b.jpg)

B-29 backdated with B-17 turrets. All of this is from Mark Styling. I just copy pasted some stuff, from the same artist's B-17F works. Again, I'm still a noob when it comes to this. The turrets are offset a little. On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other. Nothing here is to scale either. I just fitted it until it was proportional, so don't take this one to the bank.  ;)

Hopefully more B-29 stuff to come.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: finsrin on October 24, 2019, 06:41:26 AM
Nice  :smiley:      Unpressurized B-29 with B-17 type turrets as predecessor to full on B-29 could enter earlier.   Interesting concept.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Old Wombat on October 24, 2019, 05:02:46 PM
Just saved those Topless B-25 images for future reference. :o

Bloody TT giving me unwanted ideas! ::)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: GTX_Admin on October 24, 2019, 07:02:31 PM
See here:  https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/manually-operated-turret-armed-boeing-b-29-superfortress.7396/ (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/manually-operated-turret-armed-boeing-b-29-superfortress.7396/)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: jcf on October 25, 2019, 03:54:04 AM
Perhaps single fin and turrets like buried engine concept.  ;D  :icon_fsm:

(http://photos.smugmug.com/OLDPB/i-4dppJbZ/0/55343659/O/B25X_01.jpg)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Frank3k on October 25, 2019, 04:24:05 AM
The Trumpeter 1/200 (and 1/350) B-25s are good, cheap canvases to try these ideas!
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: apophenia on October 25, 2019, 09:53:03 AM
... On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other...

I suspect that there'd be plenty of room if the turrets were lined up. But your current arrangement looks great as is.

As an aside... considering the visual distractions, probably best to avoid phrasings like "stacked evenly" and "one on top of the other"  ;)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 25, 2019, 11:05:40 PM
... On the B-29 the turrets are seemingly stacked evenly, but since these would be manned, I didn't know if there would be any room one on top of the other...

I suspect that there'd be plenty of room if the turrets were lined up. But your current arrangement looks great as is.

As an aside... considering the visual distractions, probably best to avoid phrasings like "stacked evenly" and "one on top of the other"  ;)

 ;D ;D ;D I know! The lightbulb went on too when Wombat refered to my B-25 as "topless"

(https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.gngDhLHiu53-PkbRh_zGvwHaEZ&pid=Api&P=0&w=282&h=169)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on October 26, 2019, 05:16:05 AM
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/61/db/37/61db37a810012b393fd0ac1d93bfb783.jpg)

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48959755742_3d6ef852cb_b.jpg)

I've been working on ways to make a B-29 more shelf/space/ceiling/significant other friendly-sized. This idea utilizes B-17 wings and I tried to scale it appropriately along with cutting the B-29 length by around 1/4 to match all the proportions, but the drawing I used were not the same size so its very much the TLAR method. Since the wings look so different, it really does look backdated. And in the right hand drawing I left some of the B-29 "prop circles" and the Landing gear to give another inkling of just how darn Big B-29s were compared to the B-17
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Jeffry Fontaine on October 26, 2019, 07:00:41 AM
Looks good TT.  Maybe ramp it up a bit further with the engines from the XB-38? 
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on November 06, 2019, 06:08:09 AM
Looks good TT.  Maybe ramp it up a bit further with the engines from the XB-38?

Let me see what I can do  :smiley:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49020350163_20f90b6f46_o.jpg)

Just a real quick one, a P-51D with Spitfire wings

Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: jcf on November 06, 2019, 02:27:14 PM
Bearing in mind that the B-17 has a basically circular cross-section, you could cheat appearance wise
and remove the cockpit hump.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: taiidantomcat on November 27, 2019, 05:20:57 AM
Bearing in mind that the B-17 has a basically circular cross-section, you could cheat appearance wise
and remove the cockpit hump.

good idea  :smiley:


(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49129372641_80be4e0fa6_b.jpg)

just a random one. V-22 with B-25 wings. No idea what its job would be.
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: jcf on November 27, 2019, 06:09:17 AM
The cutdown Aphrodite B-17s could be a guide for the B-17 notion.

(http://ww2awartobewon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/b17-operation-aphrodite.jpg)
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: LemonJello on November 27, 2019, 10:21:50 PM

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49129372641_80be4e0fa6_b.jpg)

just a random one. V-22 with B-25 wings. No idea what its job would be.

For some reason, I really want to collect the kits to make this one.  Some whif-ication of the engines and you'd almost have an early Marvel Cinematic Universe Quinjet...
Title: Re: TT somehow finds time to participate?!
Post by: Klown on June 08, 2020, 09:54:33 AM
Reminds me of a Ar 234 a little in the front area.