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B-17 1/32 My first project (work in progress)


SwissPokerAce

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Hello everyone,

My name is Roberto and I am 33 from Switzerland. I've decided to start a new hobby, so I decided to try building a B-17, 1/32 ;)) Before starting I've read many post about this HK B-17..... I wanted to build something that included many features from all the forums I've visited.. Here are the first pictures of my work in progress... Please feel free to comment and ask anything you want, I'll be glad to reply ;)

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Thanks Kev, well its not really new to me... i've done a few model airplane when i was a kind..since then nothing more.. But i really enjoy little manual work, especially if precision is needed.. Two months ago I've decided to build this B-17, and i've bought everything in eBay (i've spend a total of USD 1'500.- less or more.......) All the tools you see in my pictures are brand new, including the paint, the brushes, etc... I just had an empty desk to fill with my new hobby :) This is also the first time i write in a forum, and it tool a while to undertsnad how to upload the pictures...(i've created an album in my facebook profile)..

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Thank you very much for your nice comments, I'm really happy I decided starting this project and for your great support :)

 

First I would like to apologize for my poor English, my mother tongue is Italian, because I come from south Switzerland (I don't live far away from George Clooney's House at the Lake of Como, Italy), where the official language is Italian (Switzerland has 4 official languages…).

 

After said this, I think I should add some little background in order to understand why this is my first project (since I was a kid) and why I'm obtained this results. What you have seen are the "almost finished" parts (before weathering) and behind those results there is a series of tries, experimenting, learning and a lot of failures, as I will present you in this post.

 

Everything started around last September 2013, when I bought some books about B-17 stories…(I love the plane after watching "Memphis Belle" many years ago).

 

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then suddenly, in Google, I came across some pictures of the B17 1/32 by HK, and I felt in love with the idea of owning this beast :) However the decision to buy the kit was hard, it took me almost 3-4 months before deciding to buy it.

 

Then I've literally read anything about this kit in all the forums that talk about this 1/32 B17… I did a lot of research, and it took a while until I felt confident enough to start working on it.. but before I had to buy all the tools, since I had nothing at all! As I said, I've spend around USD 1'500.- (for the kit, the airbrush pump, brushes, paints, photo etched parts, decals…etc..).

 

The pictures that I've posted in my first posts are taken chronologically. As you might notice, at first I started even if I haven't received all the items from eBay, for example the big green cutting matt…I just couldn't wait to start! I've decided to begin with the cockpit, since in many forums I've seen that many have started this way..

 

THE CHOICE OF WHICH B-17 TO BUILD:

 

I wanted a dark green camouflage B-17 like in the movie "Memphis Belle", but the problem was that the kit is a B-17G… unfortunately this particular version of B-17, with this rear turret, was only built in silver.. and I hate airplanes in silver….. The only way was to build the commemorative B-17G "Texas Raiders". Even if it's a sort of "unrealistic" B-17 (hasn't done any bombing mission over Europe), I liked the idea of a "commemorative" airplane, that pays a tribute to those who have flown them during WWII.

 

THE COCKPIT:

 

Interior paint color: The first problem I encountered was the interior paint color. I've read many forums and a lot of comments about this matter. Basically I got inspiration from all the good things that I could find around the web..and I've learned from the mistakes of others.

 

Tamyia doesn't have the right bottle of color for the interior, hence I was left with no other option: had to mix… I was very disappointed about this, because I never mixed and I wasn't sure about the results.. So I mixed 3 different colors in one large empty jar, ready to airbrush (I watched all the videos on YouTube concerning how to airbrush, since I never used it before and the first models I made as a kid where hand painted). The problem is that I prepared only a little amount of paint, which will not be enough to do all the interior, and sadly I don't remember the exact proportion of colors that I've mixed…this is giving me headaches, but I hope I'll be able to replicate it..(I haven't painted the waist yet, nor the interior of the nose…).

PS: initially I've painted the cockpit  too dark, then I changed color, however it is still too dark..but then I was too lazy to change it again a second time..

 

Photo etched parts: I think they are AWESOME! In fact, they are one of the main reasons why I've decided to start this hobby. At first I didn't know about them, so I was really excited when I seen them for the first time.I bought many from Eduards, almost all the photo etched parts for the B-17 1/32. So, when I've received them I' was so happy that I've started immediately to glue the photo etched parts to the plastic parts.. Unfortunately, once I've glued the floor of the cockpit, I left it under direct sun light for several days….the result was that the metal heated and it bended, bending also the entire plastic of the floor underneath.. see picture above… (which is still like shown in the picture.. suggestions how to repair this are more than welcome, since I've found nothing about in the web).

 

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When I discovered this I was so frustrated I even thought to throw away this kit because I thought that everything was ruined.. I've stopped working on the kit for 2-3 weeks, because I was depressed for the ruined cockpit floor.… But then I decided to not give up (the USD 1'500 where hard to forget…). I've tried to bend it back to his shape with my fingers, and I think I will be able to glue it and keep it straight, thanks to strong clamps that I've just bought some days ago for this purpose. (I'll keep you posted of my progress in real time).

 

Magic sculp: this was also something I never heard about before and I was surprised to discover I could use it to "improve" the kit :) I've seen that some had excellent good looking results, so I've decided I had to do the same ;) So I ordered this magic sculp from eBay. I received two small plastic containers, one with something white and the other onw with something grey. I didn't understand why, so I thought the grey one was a gift for buying the white one (lol). So i did the base of the joystick using only the white stuff and I did a pretty neat job. So I glued the finished joystick to the cockpit floor. After one or two days I realized that the white stuff did not hardened! So I've did some digging and I found out that I had to mix together both the white stuff and the grey stuff (doh!) :/ I had to re-start from the beginning, working on the joystick already glued to the floor.. However I was happy enough with the end result.

 

Using the wrong glue: In the past, as a kid I remember I've always used this glue for my previous airplane models (spitfire, Bf109, ju88…which I used to build in order to play with it and then finally, burn them with gasoline…. Btw, this time I won't burn my B-17, I promise):

 

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The reason for using this glue is that it was, and still is, the only available glue at my local  model kit shop.. So I thought I would build the entire kit with this glue..WRONG! My biggest mistake is that I've used this glue for the photo etched parts…worst mistake ever. In fact ALL the photo etched parts are starting to detach and fall apart, since they have not glued to the plastic surface…second depression….

So I did some digging and I've discovered that I had to use another type of glue, the super glue. In fact the glue I've used so far is only for plastic, since it melts the plastic and harden  together the two plastic pieces that are glued together.. So I bought 4 types of super glue on eBay, which I'm waiting to received in the following weeks.. Once I0ve received them, then I'll have to remove all the photo etched parts and re-glue them with the right glue. (PS: I'll keep you posted with the pictures of my work-in progress.. )

The wrong glue was also the reason why I didn't used many photo etched parts details because they were too small…unfortunately they finished in the bin before I've heard about the super glue…. (poker face)….

 

Seat belts: another great discovery and another reason to start building this kit were the seat best, one of the most visible parts from the cockpit windows. I've seen many kind of belts used by others and finally I decided for this (they are really made of fabric like real seat belts):

 

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Those look really realistic, but I've found too hard to glue them as shown in the instructions.. hence I've improvised and I did a compromise (I did not glue the pieces exactly as described)..also in this case I've started with the wrong glue (the one for the plastic). Even in this case. once I'll receive the super glue I'll finish also the other seat belts…

 

Wooden floor: at first I was thinking to do the floor "wood" effect with a light brown Tamiya and a dark siena brown oil paint (I've seen many good results around the web). However I've found out I'm not Picasso... I failed several attempts and I was almost sure to paint it one single color, all brown.. Suddenly I came across the wooden decals from HGW and I immediately bought two of those:

 

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When I received them at first I did not understand they were a decal.. in fact, I've cut the piece I needed and I glued it to the floor, including the paper that is under the decal (doh!) :/

I decided not to change this.. (if you look close enough you can see it…). I've made the same mistake for the floor in the radio room…

 

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Then I realized the mistake… and the table/doors in the radio room I've made them the right way.. I also bought a softener for decals and a setter, but I don't see any visible result or improvement by using them….I suspect they are some kind of fraud..

 

Pilot and co-pilot seats: this is another thing that gave me a lot of headaches…and nightmares (talking about nightmares: once I've dreamed that my girlfriend put out her cigarette on my finished B-17, melting it..was horrible…PS: she hates that I'm wasting spending time building it). At first I thought I had to build the cushions with magic sculp, as many did.. however with the seat belts they sent me (for free) also a set of cushions :) Unfortunately I've painted them yellow by using the paint straight from the Tamiya jar (gloss yellow)..which was too bright.. however I've decided to glue it to the chair and apply the decals...I then wanted to add some weathering to the cushions (some white color, since I thought is probably the original color underneath the yellow..). So I've used the white weathering from Vallejo..and after applying it I've found out it didn't made the desired effect (I wanted an abrasion of the yellow paint that showed the white of the cushion underneath…I don't know if you got the idea..). Instead it gave the cushion a more realistic "faded" yellow :) I'm now happy to have a better yellow.. in the future I'll make the weathering (abrasion) with some white from Tamiya weathering kit (the one with 3 colors to apply with a small sponge used also by the women's to paint their faces..sorry  I couldn't find the right word in English…)

 

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BOMB BAY:

 

I've seen/read in many forums that the position of the bombs is not correct, in fact the entire kit has many mistakes that need corrections... So I've made some holes and changed the positions of the bombs in the bomb racks and changed the position of the holes in the bombs.. (magic sculp to cover the holes).

 

Weathering the bombs: after the cushions of the seats, the bombs are the second thing I've started to weathering (once I've done some more practice with the weathering and I feel confident enough, I'll start the weathering of the interior.. however for the interior I won't use the Vallejo solution as many do, because this kind of dirt is not realistic for the interior, which is subject only to dust and chipping of paint.. so I'll do some dry brushing of some white powder and the metal chipping..i might need help about this topic). For the bombs I've got inspiration from this photos (some from another guy that built an excellent B-17 1/32).

 

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By watching the pictures I thought it was a "piece of cake job"…the famous last words.. My first attempt to do the weathering with the white Vallejo was a complete disaster…. I've used the color straight from the bottle, and the bombs became too much white, like if they have been under the snow…(I was so ashamed with the result that unfortunately I did not take no photo..).

So I've used a sponge filled with alcohol and I decided to clean away all the entire color from the bombs, including the dark green and the yellow stripes (btw the yellow stripes near the fin were the most difficult thing i0ve made in this kit so far…seriously. I know understand why they haven't done it..but after many attempts I discovered a little secret to how to do it..) After staring washing away the colors, I was surprised to see that the alcohol washed away only the excess white and not the dark matte green of the gloss yellow… and I obtained "by accident"  the effect you can see in the pictures I've posted above…

 

SO FAR…

 

So far I'm happy with the results I've obtained. I'm still learning and doing a lot of mistake, but I'm a fast learner and I have a lot of fantasy (like for example the touch to add the poster of the pinup girl near the navigator table ;) (i0ve got inspiration from an original wwii photo of a bombardier position with the photo of the baby of the bombardier) or the papers on the radio operator table…btw not my original idea..). I've many other small ideas to improve the kit, which I hope will also give you inspiration ;)

The secret about my work is simple: I collect a lot of information, EVERYTHING and ANYWHERE I can found them: in forums, YouTube videos, web site etc… and then you just retain the best thing and apply them!

 

Last thing: I really think that my results were possible also thanks to you guys, which share your experience in this forum…without your comments, pictures, experiences, etc.. it would have been for me impossible to obtain such results. In fact my experience is build upon your experience ;) This is also the reason I've decided to join you in the forum and share with you :) Thank you!

 

PS: I'll do my best to post new pictures every week end (unfortunately I don't have a lot of spare time to work on this project…). Under, a photo of my working station at the moment (12 June 2014):

Edited by SwissPokerAce
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