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HK B-17...C 11/2 progress resumes!


brahman104

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This is amazing stuff!

 

What did you use for the green on the interior parts? I mixed my own 'bronze green' in the past but wondered if there's an 'off the shelf' alternative? And I'm delighted to see you've not done it 'interior green'...

 

Tom

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Those seats are amazing, Craig! Terrific work, mate.

 

Kev

 

Thanks Kev! I had no idea if the concept would work, especially as I had to butt join all the pieces together, but with a semi-steady hand and a little practice all ended well :) The real fun was running the solder bead around the outside while trying to hold onto the seat, while not holding it too tight otherwise it'd squash.... The things I do to myself....

 

I am hopelessly inadequate !!.........Harv :popcorn:   

 

Not at all mate! Anyone can do this ;)

 

try polishing the cast aluminum parts - maybe that'll bring up a shine?

Clark

 

Thanks for the tip mate. I did try it but to not avail, it seems the powder becomes part of the resin mix, rather than being on the outside so to speak. Hopefully the shinier powder will work. On the plus side you do get a consistent colour throughout, which I was sceptical of.....

 

Wow Craig, like Kevin said, those seats and their bases are amazing! Very cool!

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

Thanks very much Wolf. At least being metal I didn't have to paint them, which is something I am terrible at :) Thanks also for the epoxy glue tip, I tried it today and it worked a treat! 

 

+ 1 !

 

Hubert

 

Cheers Hubert!

 

This is amazing stuff!

 

What did you use for the green on the interior parts? I mixed my own 'bronze green' in the past but wondered if there's an 'off the shelf' alternative? And I'm delighted to see you've not done it 'interior green'...

 

Tom

 

Thanks Tom!

 

Sorry mate, not sure if you're talking about the "sound proofing" in the radio room/cockpit walls or the majority of the cockpit. 

 

For the soundproofing I used this:

 

IMG_0505_zpsl0owgkpm.jpg

 

Unfortunately for the other stuff I mixed my own, which I believe I used Tamiya paints although sadly I can't remember what the mix was made up of. I only made sure I mixed enough that I wouldn't run out on this build!

 

Hahaha, oh no, there'll be none of that business going on here! The darker green is as close to what I can make out from photos of the "swoose" and as for the soundproofing.... well that's pure interpretation of a black and white photo and seeing as any modern bird doesn't have it fitted, there isn't much you can go on.

 

On the subject of interior colours, I was having a look at the interior of what I believe to be the "shoo shoo shoo baby" and it's painted in what almost looks like that "aotake" stuff the zeros were done in..... almost blue!

 

Today was more tidying up the radio room and permanently installing it into the right side. This had to be done so that I have something solid as a reference to begin building up the aft fuselage frame work and the bathtub. Also, the structure around the radio room window is going to be quite a challenge to build, so should be very interesting!

 

IMG_0503_zps9lil9knx.jpg

 

IMG_0501_zpsc64nc6rm.jpg

 

I also decided to see how badly I got the alignment on the radio room wrong and fitted both sides for a bit of a look.... turns out no worse than the gaps I already have, so building the rear fuselage should not present any nasty surprises. Hopefully....

 

I think I need to build some more LED dome lights and get them in before too much longer......

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Craig,

 

You've done it again with the seats/mounts --- models going into a model! Excellent work and very realistic looking.

 

As far as your comment of "anyone can do it", well anyone can "try" is more the reality of it.

Yeah, trying can be fun in itself, but success certainly makes things "funner!"

You have the perfect combination of talent and passion --- something not all of us can claim.

 

As far as your resin parts, I reallly think just going with paint and a wash would work fine. The shade and sheen contrast with the real aluminum would be subtle and probably add to the sense of depth. Also all your work won't be lost in a "sea of shiny aluminum."

While I'm an advocate of unpainted B-17 bombbays, I also feel the side and center truss structures and bomb racks would have been painted a dark green with zinc-cromate chipping and wear points. If you plan on going this route, painting the resin is not going to detract from your work.

 

Another way might be a coating of a "Rub-n-Buff" type material. I always liked to the "metal look" you could get, but was always concerned about it being a waxy "surface" coating. Unfortunately I never experimented with how painting over it or glues were affected by using it.

 

Speaking of colors, that Shoo-Shoo Baby green is for sure a REALLY BAD interpetation of bronze green and lighting. Considering she is somewhat of a "fantasy" version of Shoo-Shoo Baby, it's a moot point.

I use to be an "exact match" fanatic. Fortunately I finally came around to realizing  "close" worked just as well and varying the base shade in the same area worked even better. Looking at some color pics of original components, I can see different shades of dark green that range from bronze green, forest green to almost an olive drab. Don't misunderstand me; I don't mean the finished item should be  a kaleidoscope of greens, but simply and subtle shade differences. Just my take on it, but it always seemed to look better then one continuous solid color.

 

I've often wondered how many color chip samples would match exactly if compared side by side.

 

Again, thanks for sharing you progress with us.

 

Terry

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After my comment about Shoo-Shoo Baby in my last post, I kinda felt bad.

 

In no way did I mean to depreciate the effort that went into to her restoration by the 512th Military Airlift Wing.

 

My "fantasy" reference was directed at the exterior --- camouflage vs the original natural metal.

She is basically a negative representaion of what she really was.

 

The "bronze green" does look too blueish, proving once you get back to full size, the shade does make a difference!

The "interior green" in the waist section --- just plain wrong.

 

Seems that most B-17 restorations are prone to the "interior green" waist section. I suppose for corrosion control it's a good idea, but isn't there a metallic paint or clearcoat that would serve that purpose?

 

Sorry, I'm climbing up on my soapbox again!

 

Again, I apologize if I may have offended any of those that did the restoation work on her.

 

 

Terry

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While I'm an advocate of unpainted B-17 bombbays, I also feel the side and center truss structures and bomb racks would have been painted a dark green with zinc-cromate chipping and wear points. If you plan on going this route, painting the resin is not going to detract from your work.

 

Thanks as always for the advice Terry :) The whole reason I post my work on the forum is so I can bounce ideas and concepts off people and quite often they come up with something I hadn't considered; you can never look at a problem from too many sides!

 

I know the bomb bay of the Duxford G, Mary Alice, has precisely what I think you are talking about and it is certainly worth considering, as as you said would make a nice contrast so as not to get overwhelmed by all the aluminium.

 

I had a crack at using AK's "extreme metal" on the cast parts and they came up pretty good, so there's an option for the rear fuselage even if I don't go down the route for the bomb bay.

 

 

The "bronze green" does look too blueish, proving once you get back to full size, the shade does make a difference!

The "interior green" in the waist section --- just plain wrong.

 

Seems that most B-17 restorations are prone to the "interior green" waist section. I suppose for corrosion control it's a good idea, but isn't there a metallic paint or clearcoat that would serve that purpose?

 

Sorry, I'm climbing up on my soapbox again

 

Not at all! Everyone is entitled to their opinion of what looks right or wrong and everyone has their own personal take on things, which is what keeps life interesting! 

 

I do agree with you on the above with regards to the waist sections, they obviously have their reasons even if it isn't historically accurate :)

 

Yeah I was really struck by that interior colour for "Shoo Shoo Baby" but in any case, I suppose it is preserving the metal underneath, which at the end of the day is the most important part. At least it isn't pink I suppose!

 

Craig

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Those seats are brilliant

 

Thanks Ron! Trial and error, but I think I got away with it :) It's a concept I can build on for next time anyway.

 

What others' have said re. those seats - absolutely amazing!  :thumbsup:

 

Iain

 

Cheers Iain! Shows what you can do with some "tin" sheet... so much potential, although I'm quite literally scratching the surface! :)

 

Craig

Edited by brahman104
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Thank you Rich and Richard! :)

 

So now I'm kind of bouncing between the bomb bay and the radio room and they both have some interesting engineering challenges ahead. This may have to be in two posts as I might exceed the photo limit.

 

First of all the radio room. The challenge is this: The overhead hatch was built around the "fuselage proper" meaning the room itself follows the contours of the actual bomb bay and the rear section. The hatch with the window in it was faired down over the top of this opening as part of the turtle deck area. Hopefully this photo shows what I mean, obviously not my photo......

 

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii532/brahman104/idb17-27b_zpsymhynvwo.jpg

 

And where the soundproofing comes up it is attached to the support structure for the opening. Thinking about it, I've never seen this area replicated on any model (maybe as it's just way too hard), but I was in the mood for a challenge so here's how it went:

 

First of all, I had to add the other side of the radio room inner wall. This sucked immensely, as now my access to the radio room was severely restricted, but you get that on the big jobs right? ;)

 

Then I worked out the shape of the upper section. This had to be done as seamless as possible, given that in reality it was one continuous piece that went all the way up to the hatch. So after A LOT of test fitting I was reasonably happy with what I had.

 

Next was to mark out the shape of the opening with the two halves joined. This would hopefully give me the most accurate shape....

 

IMG_0519_zpsrziwtyng.jpg

 

Then I removed the section and cut out the opening.

 

IMG_0521_zpsyld27hix.jpg

 

The keen eyed among you will notice the little bulge where the two walls join. This is because the material is so thin. Once the fuselage is joined these sort themselves out.... luckily for me!

 

Oh and I figured I should add some control cables while I was there.

 

IMG_0523_zpsaqgwkthy.jpg

 

Now for the really fun part. As the roof was rounded, I needed to somehow capture the curves so I could build the representative structure into it at all the right angles, so carefully I laminated two thin pieces into the hole and glued them. I reasoned that once this was dry, I hoped I'd be able to remove the piece and it would retain its shape....

 

IMG_0525_zpsorgvctt5.jpg

 

And...

 

IMG_0524_zpslzadpjdc.jpg

 

There you have it! It doesn't look like much now, but when I add putty to the inside and trim it all back it should hopefully look pretty close to the original. Maybe..... :)

 

Oh and I forgot, can't have all that work in the radio room hidden away in darkness. The radio operator had a work lamp above his table, so out came the nano-LEDs again and I built the lamp. I kind of forgot to take progress photos of this but I have to do another for the navigator, so hopefully I'll remember next time.

 

IMG_0541_zpsppx8poxs.jpg

 

IMG_0543_zps75vu2di7.jpg

 

And with that, it's on to part two!

Edited by brahman104
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