Consolidated Liberator B.VI – Part Four – Weigh Day

Well, I learned my lesson early. I built an Airfix model of a Vickers Wellington back in the 1960’s and no-one told me about nose weights. The plane turned out to be a tail-sitter…

I was cautious with the new Airfix Liberator I am building in case the plastic model company was going to fool me again. I taped the fuselage halves together, taped the wing and tail on, and set it on a flat surface. Of course the weight of the thing pulled it down at the back.

So I got one of the old Brown Bess musket balls – an ounce of lead – and tried it – the plane popped down on the front wheel. Then I simply flattened the sphere on an anvil with a couple of blows from a hammer and glued it into the space between the cockpit and the revolving turret. A coat of green paint hides it enough for my purposes.

One response to “Consolidated Liberator B.VI – Part Four – Weigh Day”

  1. Dr, it won’t be a problem with a painted Bess ball, but for future weigh ins, are you aware of the expansive qualities of shot/PVA? It seems to depend a bit on the surface area of the lead and the size of the space you’re filling. It’s a known embuggerance in the rail modelling community. https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2737

    I’ve moved to galvanised steel weights to avoid the problem.

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