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| 2. I recollect that this model then got moved to my grandmother's house when my parents moved house. This was around 1980. There it sat for a few years before being brought back to our new home. | 3. After a while I completely refurbished this kit to the standard you see here. This is not the sort of thing I would do today but when I was younger I did "recycle" quite a few kits - including some featured here. | 4. I think all the paint was stripped of and everything disassembled. I know I inserted lot of lead in the nose to stop it tail sitting. I then sealed in the nose gear bay and bomb bay with DIY wall filler. | 5. The wall filler strengthened the fuselage making it very rigid but the model became quite heavy. The original Airfix kit had working undercarriage. I had modified the main gear so that it went further backward than originally or was authentic. |
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| 6. This re-engineering helped stop the tail sitting problem. I then use a heated metal file to press a diamond pattern into the tyres. | 7. This experiment was not successful and the wheel were ruined. However, I wasn't too fussy about this at the time. | 8. I was then experimenting with Tamiya Acrylics. I liked that fact that I could use Acrylic Silver yet overcoat with polyurethane gloss without the gloss melting the metallic paint. | 9. So this model was then brush painted with Tamiya Silver paint. It was then glossed and the decals applied. I think the model is maybe something from the Korean war. |
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| 10. This shot shows that I airbrushed the exhaust streaks over the wings. Obviously my technique was slowly improving and this was quite an advanced idea for me. | 11. Like every model I ever built this may have ended up a pile of crap but I learnt so much from the various techniques, I experimented with, that it became a worthwhile experience. | 12. Hence I can raise a glass to the Airfix B-29 and thank it for its contribution to my greater wisdom. | 13. A model that lived twice.... |
