plane_mc

Happy -=B=- Day to plane_mc & scvrobeson ..! 
To the Best of Times ... 
 
-Gregg

The Sherman is the M4A3 with a 105mm main gun.  The kit also contains the 75mm gun parts.  I am building mine as a 75mm version.
 
Mark

Kevin, you are doing a great job with this.  These 1/6 Dragon kits can be a lot of fun and a lot of frustration.  The basic shape is there, but a lot of detail needs to be added.  I am enjoying seeing how you work the details into this.

You will have fun with the Jeep, I spent almost 2 years detailing mine. The whole build is here http://www.sixtharmygroup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13654

Very nice, I will be following this one.  I like the 1/6 scale stuff.

I'm back with a small update. 
 
After a summer consisting of 3 different groups of family staying with us and causing me to lose my model room, plus some other issues, I finally got back to working on this. I have decided to concentrate on the cockpit for now.  I spent some time cleaning up a few details I had already added (correcting shapes and sizes) then I concentrated on the instrument panel.
 

 

 

 
Please ignore the dust on the panel, I didn't see it until I looked at the pictures. I would like some feedback on this to know if it looks ok or if I should do something else.  I still have the kit panel to work with if needed.
 
My progress on this will continue to be slow as I have 2 other projects that need my attention.  The model club I am in is doing a group build of AmTech's 1/48 P-40 and I signed up to do a kit review for IPMS USA.  My plan is to keep all 3 builds going at the same time.
 
Thanks for looking.

I decided to get back to working on the radio room.  I finished up the camera well by adding the wiring, seat and adding a little color.
 

 

 
Thanks again to Dennis7423 for being generous and sending me his extra bucket seats, I really appreciate it.  I modified the bottom of the seats by cutting off the 3 inner ribs (guides for the pilot and copilot stands) and cutting off a wedge-shaped piece of the lower edge of the seat (1/16†tall at the back edge).  I added a new bottom piece made out of sheet styrene and then added the post and supports.  I also added an adjustment lever made out of wire.
 

 
Here it is all together for a test fit.
 

 

 
That's all for now, thanks for looking.

It's been a while.  I have been working on this when I can, but I haven't had much time over the past month.  I am hoping that changes soon.
 
I decided to do some work on the chin turret. My version is not 100% like the original, I just wanted it to look close and represent what the original looks like.  Not much will be seen once the whole front end is put together. 
 
First, I filled in the oversized openings in the back of the turret and then opened up the access panels.
 

 
I modified the center piece of the turret so it would look a little closer to the original. 
 

 

 
I also modified the inside a little to make the guns fit in better.
 

 
Speaking of guns, here are the HK guns on the left, with the Brassin guns on the right.  The bottom is the Brassin guns with Master barrels.
 

 
I made up the ammo bins out of sheet styrene.  The ammo in the top is just stretched sprue cut to size and the ammo feed belts are wire ties heated and bent to shape, then cut to size.  Here is everything put together to get an idea of how it will look. 
 

 
As you can see in this picture, it is going to be hard to see much once it is all together, but I know it is there.
 

 
Here is one of my helpers keeping track of what I am doing as I go along.  She jumps up in the chair as soon as I get up to get anything.
 

 
That's all for this update.  I hope the next one doesn't take so long to happen.
 
Thanks for looking.

Most of my time lately has been spent finishing up the details under the cockpit area.  Here are the results of that effort.  I still need to add more plumbing and all the wiring.
 

 

 

 
Here is what will be seen through the openings.
 

 

 

I realized after looking at my pictures that I forgot to take one from above looking through the opening from the cockpit.
I probably won't start painting much until I get all the details made up.  I find myself constantly going back and adding/fixing details as I make the next pieces and/or find new pictures.
 
(I hope this isn't inappropriate to ask here. If so, Mods will you please remove this part)
Does anyone who has this kit have a spare pilot/copilot/radio room seat (the high back bucket seat - part #J39) that they are not going to use?  I would like to put 3 of the same seat in the radio room, but there are only 4 in the kit.
 
I hope the next update will not take so long to post.
 
Thanks for looking
 
 

Continuing:
 
I haven't decided for sure on what markings I will be putting on it.  I have pretty much narrowed it down to 3 choices:  D-Day Doll (Zotz decals), Blonde Bomber II (both from the 447th BG) or Heaven Sent (from the 100th BG).  I really like Blonde Bomber II and Heaven Sent because of the nose art, my favorite Vargas girl.  I have one of the Esquire centerfolds hanging in my model room.  I still have plenty of time to decide for sure which one I will do.
 

From the 447bg.com website
 

From the 447bg.com website.
 

From the 100thbg.com website.
 

 
 
I didn't notice this at first, my wife pointed it out to me one day, but if I am missing any parts to my build, I know who to blame and where to look.
 

That catches me up for now.  I hope to post some more progress soon.
 
Thanks for looking
 

Thanks Kevin.
 
Continuing from the first post:
 
  I decided I had to detail the sides of the fuselage to add in the missing details.  I know it is not 100% correct, but it looks much better than it did before.
 

 
 
 
I decided to detail under the cockpit as this will be visible through the open entry door. 
 

 

 

 
I raised the instrument panel and controls a little, I am still not sure if I am going to use the kit IP or scratch my own.  I have started detailing the floor area by adding the depressions for the locks and scribing some panel lines.  I have also added the trim wheel to the side and moved the autopilot controls up a little.  I still have a lot to do to this area.
 

 

 

 
I opened up all the doorways on the interior bulkheads to make it easier to see the interior.  I also removed the ball turret ammo bins and filled in the details on that bulkhead.
 

 

 
To be continued. . .

Hello everyone, I have been lurking here for a long time (too long) and decided it was time to come out and contribute. 
 
First off, I would like to say that this forum has an incredible amount of talented people posting on it, I hope my contributions don't bring it down too much. 
 
I should probably start out with an introduction.  I build pretty much anything that catches my eye. I really like the one-off stuff and odd-balls, mostly military, but I also do some civilian stuff.  I have built a few large scale kits in the past including aircraft, cars and a couple of 1/6 military vehicles.  I was working on a 1/6 DML M4A3 Sherman when I got my B-17 kit.  After a few months, I decided to put the Sherman aside and work on the B-17.  I have always been a fan of the B-17 and consider it my favorite WWII aircraft and I was thrilled when I heard that a large scale kit was going to be produced.  I knew I had to get one. 
 
I must warn everyone that I am an extremely slow builder and this may take a while, but I will try to keep posting my progress as I go. I also apologize in advance for my photography skills, or lack of them. 
 
I didn't take any pictures of my progress until now, so I don't have any “start†pictures except for a couple I took with the Sherman to show someone the size of it.
 

 

 
 I have a few aftermarket sets, but not all of them.  I will try to scratch build the details that I don't have aftermarket for.  I am also going to try to light the interior to make it easier to see.  I have some ideas and some small, surface mount LEDs that I am going to try to incorporate into the build.
 

 

 
At the moment, I am skipping around and working on different areas as I find information about them.
I started in the radio room and after modifying the kit floor and not being happy with it, I decided to make a new one out of .040†sheet styrene. 
 

 
Then I got the crazy idea to open up the strike camera bay and detail it out.  I also opened up the doors in the bottom of the fuselage.  I don't think I am going to put the camera in there for a couple of reasons:  First, I haven't seen any good pictures of the strike camera to use to make it and second, almost all of the reference I have of the camera bay show it without the camera installed.  I still have to add the wiring and a couple of other small details.
 

 

 

 

 

 
To be continued. . .

Here is the turret temporarily placed in the fuselage to get some idea of what it might look like when finished!.... 
 

 

 

 

 
Well done for sticking around to look at all the photos!
 
So now its back to the Radio room section of the fuselage which will incorporate this ball turret.
I will start by skinning the interior of the bottom section half and will post again when I have made some progress.
 
Thanks a lot for looking in
 
Fozzy 

Hi guys
 
I am pleased to announce that the ball turret construction has come to an end! leaving me with just the detail above the ball that will be shown inside the fuselage.
 
I have to say that although it was a challenge.... I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the B17G build!......I didn't realize from the offset how much equipment there was inside the turret   and I have learn' t a lot about the operation of the turret along the way.
 
Since my last post I finished off by placing an electrical box and cable on top of all the other detail!...and had to make the gunners hatch door that I will show you first.........
 

 
the next photo shows the inside of the door.....
 

 
I have temporarily blue tacked the gunners door in its place on the turret for these next set of photos.....
 
So here is the completed turret at different angles placed on a medicine dispenser I found that held it steady whilst photographing!!....took me ages to scratch build this so no apologies for the amount of photos!!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here it is turned upside down so you can see the detail!.....
 

 

 

 

Hey Guys, just wanted to share my latest video I uploaded on my youtube channel of the 2018 Modelfest Hobby show I recently attended this weekend. Hope you all enjoy it. I also got a 2nd place award for my 1/48th scale AH-64 Apache and 3rd place for my 1/32nd scale F-8 Crusader. 
 
Chris Causey
 

 

 

They make really neat harnesses for Jeep puppys that buckle right into the normal seat belts!  That is not quite the blue that my "Blue" is but very close!
 

Every time I turn around there's more little stuff to do. Pretty good possibility I finish next weekend and can move onto making a display I have in mind.

Got the wings all fitted up tonight! Put the smoke piping on the tail, found another spot of blue to fix (fortunately I can brush it), and repainted the exhaust nozzle after doing something stupid and scratching it 

 

Let me know what you think of these panel lines. I did a test section over in Tips & Techniques. I chose the grey panel line accent to put under the paint rather than on top of it. I was trying for just a subtle but defined shadow. 

 



 

Last pics:
 

 

 

 

 
Ok, got this one out of my system! Time to open up the roden O-2!
 
Thanks for looking!
 
Mark

Hey guys,
 
It's been a while since posting anything - the whole PB mess really took the wind out of my sails for a while, but I finally got some mojo back. Between sailboat repairs I managed to finish a few models. My latest is the Trumpeter A-10 with the 107th FS 100th anniversary retro paint scheme.
 
When I first saw this scheme I was pretty jazzed and wanted to do it so when Speed Hunter Graphics came out with the decals I had to go for it. Unfortunately when the kit arrived I lost a lot of my enthusiasm! I built the Trumpy A-10 way back when it first came out but I guess I blocked memories of it, or maybe we've just gotten spoiled with the "modern era" kits. All I can say about the kit is - it's a little bit better than their Mig-15 or Mig-17 but not by much!
 
I knew from previous experience that the pit was pretty poor so I got the Avionix pit. it's not much better but it is better. I mixed and matched parts from it and used the Eduard printed instrument panels to cobble up something the would look halfway decent. I am far from any type of expert on the A-10 variants but I have read from other (much better!) builds that there is no way to adequately build an A-10C from the kit and available accessories. After looking at the armament provided in the kit it all went promptly into the trash! Seriously, the weapons provided are just garbage. I thought about raiding the spares box for some Tamiya goodies but all the photos of the airplane show no weapons hung so that's what I did. Problem solved! Another thing I remembered from my previous build was the fuselage at the wing box was weak and flexible so I braced the insides before adding the wings. Seems pretty strong now. I left the cannon out (why bother) and built the rest OOB cuz the focus is the paint scheme. Paints are MM and all the photos of the real thing show a clean airframe so I didn't add any weathering.
 
So here she sits:
 

 

 

 

 
More pics to follow.
 
Cheers,
 
Mark

More pics:
 

 
I had an audience during the photoshoot!
 

 
My audience was given some treats and retreated to a safe distance:
 

 

 
I trashed the resin engines provided by Trumpeter (pure fantasy on their part). Interestingly, they give some basic turbine faces for the tailpipes on one of the parts trees but never reference them in the instructions. I used them instead.
 
Mark

Plane_mc I'm looking forward to seeing it! Not too many people do these airshow birds. I'm sure you'll do it justice.
Shawn and Out2gtcha thanks for the encouraging words!
 
And here's the big reveal. Another 3-1/2 hours to mask everything beyond the pin striping and put down the blue. Finished up baout 130am. Going to be a 2 coffee morning
 

 

 

 

 

Hey Gang, here's tonights progress. I'm getting excited about this now, you can see the silhouette of the Thunderbird really well now!
I laid the exhaust nozzle in there for effect. Another day before i can spray the matt varnish on it.
 

Every build I've followed always talks about how much time is spent on masking. Now I really know what they went thru! I've got 6hrs invested in what you see here. Probably another 3hrs to go. Maybe I'll have the blue on by Wednesday. That's 3M fineline tape I'm using; 1 piece is for the color and the other 2 set the border so that the pin stripe starys a uniform width.

 

 

BIG progress tonight, red striping is complete!
In the promo renderings certain parts of the plane are a brighter white. I masked those off and shot the same MCW white through my Sotar airbrush at 10psi. This gave a distictly brighter finish than the Paasche single action I used for the large surfaces.

 
Maketar paint masks arrived today and i put them to good use. I noticed after removing them that there is a much finer demarcation line between layers, better than 3M fine line pinstriping. Maybe half as thick i would guess.

 
I made the masks by first taping tracing paper to the plane, sketching the curves i wanted, and then transferring those to a light piece of cardstock. I used the cardstock to layout the pattern on the Maketar masks and cut them out with a fresh #11.

 

 
After applying the mask I lightly sanded the white with a 600 grit pad to rough it up a little so the red would have something to stick to. RCW recommends painting the clear coat, or next paint layer i would assume, within 8hrs and since it had been longer it needed some prep i thought.

 

 

A little bit of progress tonight. I sanded down the wing tips where i had adhesion problems and resprayed them. All but the vertical stabilizers glued on. I'll do those after i paint the red on them this weekend. I taped it up to do the brighter white color on specific features based on the lockheed Martin pics.
I decided on 3:3:5 pale jet exhaust, duraluminum, copper for the exhaust. If its still a little too coppery after matt varnish i may spritz it with some brown to tone it down.