For
all those modelers among us that have the venerable Monogram 1/48th
B-29 kit gathering dust in the stash, and simply dread having to give this huge
model a bare metal finish, now have a viable alternative thanks to our northern
neighbors.
Iliad Design out of Ottawa,
Canada
has produced a sheet with four early B-29s camouflaged in the oh-so-much-easier
to reproduce olive drab over neutral grey scheme. The only bare metal areas left
to reproduce on the model are the leading edges of the flying surfaces, and for
one of the aircraft, the entire rudder.
The instructions provide color
illustrations of all the aircraft and nose art on one side, with a b&w
illustration of the top of the aircraft with color callouts on the other.
The decal sheet is the typical A4
size. The decal themselves are pretty large one-piece affairs. The printing is
very crisp and everything in my set was in register.
There are no national insignia or data stenciling included with this set.
All of the aircraft depicted on the set served
in China-Burma-India theater of operations.
First up is “Old Battler”.
This a/c has a pretty big scoreboard of mission markings for those of us
out there that dig ‘em. Along with having to replicate the bare metal rudder,
this a/c also has a red fuselage band that will have to be painted by the
modeler.
“Lady
Boomerang”, complete with risqué nose art decal, is next.
Let me tell you guys, the decal for the lady is pretty big and
noticeable. She’s three inches long
from head to toe, and hard to miss, even from across the room on a model this
size.
“Monsoon Goon” is probably the
camo’d B-29 most familiar to modelers because of the Superscale or Microscale
sheet with these markings back in the day. This scheme requires the builder to
paint two scale 15 inch yellow stripes on the rudder.
This bird also has a few mission markings on the nose consisting of three
typical bomb silhouettes, and six decidedly non-standard camel silhouettes.
Finally “Hump-Happy Pappy” is depicted.
This aircraft was modified for fuel transport, with the 600-gallon aux
fuel tanks in both bomb bays, and the removal of all four gun turrets.
This means the modeler has his work cut out for him fairing over the
turrets. The other (expensive)
option is to locate the Cutting Edge Silverplate B-29 conversion set.
The builder will also have to paint the yellow stripes on the tail.