Now that I've decided that I'm going to build a Ford Willow Run built B-24H the "Libra", I've started a new post to track how the build is going.

I spent some time at the Yankee Air Museum today and was able to take some great photos of the top turret they have on display there as well as the cockpit.

I'm starting with that top turret which is from the Koster set. It's a good start, but I've decided to add some additional detail based on what I saw on the actual turret. Attached are the initial photos of the parts as they are after I removed them from the molds and the initial clean up I have done.

Tom,
Sounds like another great build. I'll be following right along till you cross the finish line.
Joel

Looking forward to this one. The Liberator is an often overlooked airplane. And I say this as a dedicated B-17 nut !!!

Time for an update. I haven't done too much, as I have been waiting for the Koster Conversion Kit which came yesterday. And to my delight, this kit ALSO contains the identical content as the turret kit, so I have some extra parts to work with.

I'm a bit concerned with the yellowish color shift with the photos. I think I know what the problem is, and I'll see if I can correct it with the next batch.

Tom,
The turret detailing looks really good.

the issue with your photos is your White Balance setting based on your lighting.

Joel

I'll have to fool around with it. I'm using regular photo flood lights which I think are 3200 Kelvin. I think the problem is that I'm putting the items inside the same box I use as a spray booth, and I think it's picking up color from that. I'm going to go back and pull out my standard blue photo background paper and set stuff on that.

Tom,
sounds like you're shooting with more then a point and shoot which is a good thing. What editing program are you using?

From what you said about using 3200K floods, that's the issue. You can easily compensate for that both in camera and in editing.

Joel

That's another part of the problem. I'm not really using any editing program, which I probably should. My camera is not a professional one, it's a Canon Powershot, so it is better than using my phone!

It's ironic, because my daughter is a professional photographer, but I can't really ask her to stop by every time I want to take WIP photos.

I took a lot of photos when I did my M-88 build and they were fine, but I took them against the plain blue paper background, so I'll go back to that and see if it's an improvement.

These are still not "true" as the resin is actually more of a grey color, but they are better. Guess I'm gong to need to get an editor program to fix the color. Any suggestions on an inexpensive program? Maybe photoshop? I already have WAY too many hobbies to get back into serious photography!

I just bought a large grey sheet of cardboard to use instead of the old blue paper background which was causing the camera to compensate.

This seems to be a better solution and only cost $9.00.

Looking pretty good! I'm sure it will look far better under the naked eye and under the "Plexiglas dome." Carry on as they say.

Tom,
That resin is most impressive looking.

Don't even think about Photoshop as an editor. It's the most expensive one out there by far. I use Adobe Lightroom 6, it's little brother, but it still costs $150 or so. There are a few open source ones you can use.

Joel

Here's the latest update on the top turret. I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like, but now that Christmas is over I should be able to get some more time in.

Hi Tom

Great work on the turret. I've loved Bill's kits and accessories ever since tackling his vacuform A-20G many, many moons ago. It was a real jump into the deep end and by far the most complex project I'd ever tackled at that point, but I enjoyed every part of the challenge it presented.

All the best

Rowan

Yes, this is coming along extremely well!

Tom,
The resin details for the turret look fantastic.
Joel

It has been a very busy month, but I HAVE made some progress. Martin top turret is pretty much done except for gluing on the canopy. The resin seat didn't appear to be as deep as the one over at Willow Run, so I wound up scratch building my own.

your issue with the color is white balance.
I also use a Cannon Powershot (G5), and have found that I can take great photos with no post processing (editing).

Lighting type has a lot to do with it too. I use the Compact fluorescents, but am choosy as some have a yellowish hue. I tend to get the ones that are bright white, then use the "tungsten" setting on my camera for whitebalance. So far, no yellow cast, and reds/blues come out looking like they should.

Also, with those "lower" end function cameras, more light the better! I use at least 3 bulbs, with a 4th bouncing off my white ceiling. all are "100W equivalent" (so I think that is about 26W in the Compact fluorescent world)

OK, so I'm using Eduard's masks for the first time on one of the turrets, and I'm a bit confused about the directions. I've applied the masking on the outside of the turret to what is obviously the part which is to remain clear. No problem. At this point, I'm thinking that I'd apply the body color (in this case OD), and then remove the masking. However the instructions have a graphic of an airbrush which says, "Interior color" then it appears to show the entire turret shaded with a corresponding block of the same color which says "Liquid Mask", and then finally there's another graphic of an airbrush which says, "Camouflage Color".

So what is all this telling me to do, because it SEEMS like all I need to do is paint OD and remove the masking.

Superdetailing ! The turret is a model in its own right.

Well you can disregard my last post. As often happens with design and construction problems, after a good night's sleep the answer bubbled up on its own. The Eduard instructions assume you are using the parts from the Revell/Monogram kit straight out of the box, and therefore, with no detail parts inside the turret, you "frost" the inside of the turret with the "interior" color" to hide the inside, cover that with liquid mask to protect it, and then paint the outside of the turret with the exterior or as they refer to it "camouflage" color.

(Insert the famous Homer Simpson: "Do'oh!")

That said, the ball turret in the Koster kit has no interior parts other than the .50 cal machine guns so it's time to do some more research to figure out what else should be in there.

Update time. This first group shows the completed top turret.



Next batch shows the work on the Nose Turret. In order to make the guns elevate and depress, the opening in the glass needs to be cut out and the guns and sight need to be glued to a single rod so they can pivot together.









In order to mount this turret, I cut off the bottom of the kit supplied turret, and knowing that weight will be needed in the nose, I inserted several nuts and washers. (I suspect they won't be enough, but it's a start.)



And here's the finished turret.





The tail turret really required some extra work. In order to have the guns elevate and depress, they had to be drilled out and glued to a rod so they would move together, and the metal rod in the kit was not long enough. Next I noticed that due to the side wall, there was no way the bullets could feed the guns. I don't know whether it's correct or not, but I cut out an opening so that the ammo feed would actually supply the guns. Next I noticed that the bell crank or drag link mechanism was fixed and clearly this was intended to coordinate the movement of both the guns and the site, so, I scratch built my own mechanism, put a bracket on top of the guns and then glued the site to it's own rod. Everything now moves together.
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It's not visible in the photos, as I needed a "prop" to hold the turret in place, but as with the nose turret, I cut the bottom of the kit supplied turret off to make a mounting base which took a bit of finessing to make sure it rotated in the fuselage. (No weight added to the tail
)

I'm not sure what's happened, but it may be that for some reason the photos I posted in my previous update, may have gotten moved and were not available. Photobucket is doing some weird stuff, like telling me I have two different counts of photos in the same album depending on which page I'm on. Regardless, my apologies if you've come looking for photos and they weren't there. That said, it's update time again. Sorry for the long delay, but March was a busy month finishing up the boy's hockey season but I've moved on to the ball turret.

This first batch shows the two halves of the turret painted and still masked with several scratch built items to go inside.





This next group shows the interior control items after they've been painted and are ready to install.




And here's the control panel installed:

And here's the completed and buttoned up turret. Of course just about nothing of what's in there is visible, but it's there!





Next is all the scratch built stuff to mount the turret. Part of what took so long was figuring out how to make the turret rotate as well as be able to be moved from the inboard/stowed position to the position when actually shooting.




And finally the whole assembly showing both the lowered and raised positions. I'll secure the entire assembly to a bracket mounted in the ceiling. It's not exactly like the prototype, but hey, it functions! I'll finish it up with paint and wiring and post some photos of that after I get the A/M oxygen bottles I ordered today.

Would! I am realy impressed. I began à B -24J associated to the Koster ' s turrets but i did not obtain your result.Please, what kind of glue do you use for the clear part? My turrets are so far of your.