Ron Garcia
I think anyone interested in aircraft needs to build at least one of Monogram's (Revell now) big bombers. Think of it as a right of passage. I've built several of these starting when I was was a kid (a long time ago!). I bought an old Superscale decal set of The Dragon and His Tail many years ago and finally decided to take the plunge and build the model using the decals. Fits are rough and there is lots of sanding required - especially around the engine nacelles. I kept the bomb doors closed which helped eliminate some of the detail work. I left all the guns off until the end to avoid the inevitable snapping and losing of the gun barrels. The turrets must be glued together so they have a seam right through the clear areas. Maybe if some other company tackles this aircraft they'll find a better solution for this. Of course a bomber of this size would probably cost at least $200 USD nowadays! Speaking of clear parts, DEFINITELY invest in Eduard's mask set for this beast. It will save a TON of time, plus trying to figure out what should be masked on the turrets without their instruction guide is extremely difficult. I know from doing it the hard way with my previous builds of this kit. The model is a serious tail sitter. I added lead fishing sinkers, BBs, and even heavy nails, but it still sat on its tail. I ended up shoving some large heavy screws into the wheel well to get it to sit correctly. The aluminum finish was tough. I sanded and polished numerous coats of Alclad aluminum but some areas still ended up "pebbly". In the end, I got it to where I was satisfied with it and called it good. The decals went on surprisingly easily without any tearing. The clear areas between the red stripes on the rudder yellowed a bit after drying over the white rudders. I don't know if this was a "fun" build (I seriously hate seam filling and sanding) but it sure looks impressive sitting on the shelf. I still have (another) B-29, B-58, and B-1 to build and before I'm done with the big bombers in my stash. This one took long enough so it'll probably be awhile. If some other company produces a new B-24, with all the multimedia elements they are sure to add, I don't even want to think about how long it would take to complete it! Definitely not for me! Now go out and build one of these bombers!