LSP_K2 Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Dennis, This is of great interest. I am also building my grandfather's B-17 from the 96 BG. I am building his B-17F from the 337 BS using the 1/32 HK kit, and am at about the same stage of the build as you. Really having fun with the inside, using the Eduard PE and some scratch building. He was the aircraft commander, shot down in June 1943 on his second mission, and imprisoned. You are very luck to have actual pictures of your grandfather's plane. I have done pretty extensive research on my subject, but have been unable to find photos of the plane I'm building. Then again once it got to England it only survived for about 2 weeks. Good luck! Don R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckD Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Awesome. I gotta get off my but and get moving on my -17E that I've had on the shelf for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Dennis, This is of great interest. I am also building my grandfather's B-17 from the 96 BG. I am building his B-17F from the 337 BS using the 1/32 HK kit, and am at about the same stage of the build as you. Really having fun with the inside, using the Eduard PE and some scratch building. He was the aircraft commander, shot down in June 1943 on his second mission, and imprisoned. You are very luck to have actual pictures of your grandfather's plane. I have done pretty extensive research on my subject, but have been unable to find photos of the plane I'm building. Then again once it got to England it only survived for about 2 weeks. Good luck! Don R Tell us someting about it Don, you never know what we might find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 Holy cow its been a long time since I did an update! Bout time, right? Since I last left you (which was a real long time ago), I have sealed up the fuselage: 35239539_10102527702575992_3054008329148825600_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Her insides are appropriately busy, too: 24177082_10102271475796512_191279881460025936_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 24312610_10102271475746612_626128421851756686_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr After sealing the fuselage, it was the tedious task of sand, scribe, sand some more, scribe again, sand a few more little spots, prime it, find a few more spots that need a little extra attention, sand, scribe, and then... voila! She's ready for paint. As its a natural metal bird, I needed her smooth and shiny. After much humming and hawing, I settled on AK Extreme Metals. I was drawn to their durability, self leveling characteristics, and the great metal sheen they provided. So, I took a chance, spraying metallics through the airbrush for the first time. This was my result: 20180903_140122 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 20180903_102156 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr A few panels were picked out with other colors to provide a little variation, using war-time photographs as reference: 20180905_105048 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Stay tuned for part two for more updates... LSP_Kevin, Out2gtcha, D.B. Andrus and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 After allowing the AK metals a few days to dry and cure fully (it really dries and cures if about 30 minutes, but I wanted to be sure), I masked her off for her squadron colors: 20180905_184513 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 96th BG birds carried the twin red tail/wing bands, and 337th BS birds carried a red band around the nose. Studying reference pictures of the crash, I observed that the front of the port side cheek gun was painted red along with the nose, and the starboard side forward nose window had red painted around its border: 41045759_573396976425563_6324215403488739328_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr How would the masking tape and red (MM enamel insignia red) work over the AK Metals? Well, perfectly actually: 41332473_10102634811164522_4122621743154069504_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 41418398_10102634811119612_2424225514915889152_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr I was feeling pretty inspired at this point, so I shot the antiglare in front of the cockpit, and got to task applying the decals. Decals were custom made from JBot Decals, and they went down great: 41873213_1974463319278412_1345755949830242304_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 41943862_321131141970773_1211684345207586816_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 41958036_1817414744994333_2471037239648321536_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Windows were cleaned up, gun barrels and fiddly bits added, and the fuselage was mostly complete. She's really starting to look the part: 42591520_2384286398264674_236551839292588032_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42611657_310386739787574_6135258768272785408_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42601091_281713176008644_6617723061791621120_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42612009_308207156634512_6888743405204013056_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Part three coming up... Durangokid, R Palimaka, CODY and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Wow, Dennis! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 After the fuselage was complete, work started on the wings. Since I first planned this build, I wanted to incorporate one of Eduard's beautiful Brassin engines. The quality of the engine really stands out when compared to the kit engines, even with Eduard photo-etch upgrades: 37412602_10102576627060932_7072215191089315840_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 37602505_10102576627110832_2466304645249630208_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 37613708_10102576627295462_2008003219262799872_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The kit engines really don't look too bad with all the Eduard stuff attached, though: 37615318_10102576627520012_3179946451123830784_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The engines were installed in their cowlings, and those were painted up as well. Props were completed, and I just couldn't resist throwing them onto a wing to check them out: 54405583_258361531707186_4458971515550957568_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr And that brings us up to now with the photos! I have finished the sanding on the wings, and have begun the rescribing process. I'm hoping to prime them in the next few days, and get some paint on them next week some time. Landing gear are also under construction (the oleos have been shortened), and I am currently replacing the brake lines with lead wire. Wheels and tires are done, and final details are being placed on the fuselage. The end is definitely in sight! My hope is to have her done for a show on September 28th here in Colorado. Stay tuned! As always, comments and critiques are most welcome. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA LSP_Kevin, CODY, zerosystem and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 As a side note, too, this post comes with some sobering news. When I left you last (July of 2017), my Grandfather was still alive. He ended up passing away on December 24th, 2017. I traveled to PA for his funeral, and while I was there, something fascinating happened. I came into possession of close to 1200 photo negatives from his time in WWII, to include training before the war, and his time in the occupation forces afterwards. But I needed to get them developed... I passed them along to an outfit in Canada (who's name escapes me, sorry), that does photo restorations for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. They did an amazing job with the photos, which included, to my amazement, about 15-20 additional photos of the crash of 44-6888: 0568.L.033 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.034 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.058 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The big gem from the photos? A really majestic photograph of my Grandfather taken during WWII, under the engine of a B-17. It was a fitting tribute to the man who's inspired this build for me, and I will leave you what that photo to enjoy and soak in. 26241290_10210747976678803_569739957_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA Ol' Scrapiron, LSP_Kevin, MikeC and 15 others 15 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrov27 Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Great progress on the build there - it is really coming together nicely and the paintwork sharp... Thank you for sharing those photos as well! Dennis7423 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robthepom Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Fantastic family history and fitting model tribute, great stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Wow, great work on the bomber! Really impressed with the detail inside the front end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyChris Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 10 hours ago, Dennis7423 said: As a side note, too, this post comes with some sobering news. When I left you last (July of 2017), my Grandfather was still alive. He ended up passing away on December 24th, 2017. I traveled to PA for his funeral, and while I was there, something fascinating happened. I came into possession of close to 1200 photo negatives from his time in WWII, to include training before the war, and his time in the occupation forces afterwards. But I needed to get them developed... I passed them along to an outfit in Canada (who's name escapes me, sorry), that does photo restorations for the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. They did an amazing job with the photos, which included, to my amazement, about 15-20 additional photos of the crash of 44-6888: 0568.L.033 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.034 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 0568.L.058 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The big gem from the photos? A really majestic photograph of my Grandfather taken during WWII, under the engine of a B-17. It was a fitting tribute to the man who's inspired this build for me, and I will leave you what that photo to enjoy and soak in. 26241290_10210747976678803_569739957_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA Stunning build Den, and what an enigmatic photo, wonder what he was thinking MikeC, Dennis7423 and nmayhew 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted August 9, 2019 Author Share Posted August 9, 2019 Every time I stare at these photos, I see something new to make the build more accurate. What do you guys make of the color differences here? It almost looks like she got a new leading edge at some point. Looks like the front end of the red wing stripes don't match the rest of the wing. Additionally, what do you make of the discoloration on the aileron? Inquiring minds (mine) are curious what the masses think: Inked27278336127_7dc4888b31_b_LI by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 Wowzers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 (edited) Wow! Talk about returning with a bang! The model is looking fantastic. You've done an amazing job matching a particular aircraft. The fact that it is your grandfather's is all the more poignant, and I am sorry for your loss. Thank you so much for sharing all of this. It is always so satisfying to connect a build to a particular person or crew, but when you have a family connection, that puts it at another level. Enjoy the rest of the build! We are. Richard Edited August 9, 2019 by R Palimaka JerseyChris, Uncarina and Dennis7423 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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