1/32 385th BG(H) B-17G - Fictitious

[Geddyme]

Greetings all,

 

After lurking for a year+ on this site I'm going to take the plunge. This kit marks my return to modeling after more than three decades away. When I first saw this massive kit, and then later, what the excellent modelers here were doing with it, I could no longer resist joining in! And frankly, I can use all the help I can get! It will be my first attempt at anything not right out of the box, spraying anything that isn't in a rattle-can, so amateur fits. All tips and suggestions are welcome, constructive criticisms too.

 

Some background... I've been working on this kit periodically since it came out so I have a bit of it together and am currently enjoying the build, I'm in hot mode and hope to be until it's finished. I got the MK1 Design - Super Detail Up PE, at BNAModelWorld early on and have all that primed with some in place as we speak. I'm intending this B-17 to be a camo, non-checkered 385th vertical stabilizer, and displayed gear down, bomb bay, crew hatch and waist door open, flaps down - if I don't mangle the PE beyond repair. Also intending to simulate a mission load on the main gear.

 

This particular build will not be a specific ship, but an amalgam of planes from the 385th BG. The research was 95% the memories of my 97 yr old father and was intended for him, when he was living. Some wrong colors, strange scales for some of the scratch built stuff and various other atrocities, all on me of course, will result and are mostly from what I've finished already. Now, I do plan to build a specific plane (not sure which ship yet) with the re-release of the G model, but let me knock this one out, and learn a bit, first.

 

I'll be back after work to post some photos of where I am currently, then I'll play catch up with photos from earlier in the project as the days go by.

 

Thank you for reading this far!

 

On an aside... I live 15 minutes away from the newly restored Memphis Belle (and the rest of the Museum of the USAF). I'm more than happy to grab photos for any modelers needing any visual references for their "F" kits. Only constraints, week days the museum is open while I'm at work. FYI: She is currently posed “in flightâ€, gear up and on supports about 15' above the floor. I haven't seen her in person yet, though.

 

Below you'll no doubt recognize these two, image is from a photo-op as the Belle's debut approached, and not of my making...found on the interwebz.

Respectfully Submitted / David

 

[Kagemusha]

Great project, just take your time and you'll be fine. I would consider buying this book it'll prove a very useful guide.

[brahman104]

Hi David!

 

Great first post for your build! I instantly follow anyone tackling one of these kits; I wish you good luck with your build! Good on you for doing a ficticious subject too, I'm sure it'll come out great!

 

I am in total envy that you live so close to the Mecca of all aviation museums! If I may, I'll PM you with a request if and when you get time please!

 

Looking forward to seeing more on your build!

 

Craig

[Geddyme]

Hi David!

 

Great first post for your build! I instantly follow anyone tackling one of these kits; I wish you good luck with your build! Good on you for doing a ficticious subject too, I'm sure it'll come out great!

 

I am in total envy that you live so close to the Mecca of all aviation museums! If I may, I'll PM you with a request if and when you get time please!

 

Looking forward to seeing more on your build!

 

Craig

Thank you Craig and certainly you can PM a request. I will likely be visiting this weekend, haven't been in more than a year actually, got the itch for sure!

 

Great project, just take your time and you'll be fine. I would consider buying this book it'll prove a very useful guide.

Thanks for the tip Kagemusha, that looks fantastic, I just checked Amazon since I have Prime and a gift card balance there, but they are out, I will use your link.

 

 

I'll get to the build in the next post, so I can sendf these replies..

 

R/S

David

[SCRATCH BUILDER]

Cool!  Wright Pat, the place i was born!

[Out2gtcha]

Nice project! Looking forward to some progress.

[Geddyme]

Most recently I'm trying try to get the bomb bay squared away... when I test fit this area together last Thursday I had trouble getting the side racks mated to the fore and aft bulkheads of the bomb bay. I broke off a couple fins actually. I gave up and put the kit aside for the night. In the morning I remembered a build I saw elsewhere some months ago, where a modeler rotated the bombs so the fins formed a cross when viewed from behind.

 

So I decided that was my play as well. I filled the existing holes in my finished or so I had thought, bombs (sigh)... finished except for the flat coat, anyway. Then I removed the upper and lower pins on the inner racks, drilled new 1mm holes and moved  the upper pins 2mm up and the lower pins 2mm lower to allow the fins to mesh once in their new orientation, I left the middle pins as is... then removed all outboard pins, wasn't necessary to relocate these after a test fit, but re-drilled them in original place, since I liked how the inner racks turned out. I used my pointy exacto blade to make pilot tiny holes so the 1mm bit wouldn't walk while starting the holes. I then used my little spiral drill to complete the holes. Some .040 Evergreen rod became my new pins.

 

As for the bombs I drilled the new holes clean through one side (since my new pins are longer), carefully tracking where each bomb was going, several have messages to Adolph on them. Wanted to see those. Test fit it all and viola! it fits... now I'm just going to touch up the weathered bombs and flat coat them, and install...tomorrow.

 

 

The new holes in the outside port rack... one hole slightly off as drill walked a bit despite my best efforts... can't see it once assembled so no harm no foul. I added a bit of color that isn't on any B-17 I have ever seen, seemed a bit plain in there.

 

 

 

 

The racks with new pins installed bombs layed out how they will be installed and partially completed engines in the middle distance. The young lady will eventually grace the radio operators open door. If she looks familiar, you might be a fan of a certain Canadian rock band.

 

 

My spiral drill helped me complete the passengers with one way tickets, once touched up and bit more wash, in they go. You can see I practiced my toothpick penmanship on the top of the bomb bay, and spilled the last of my flat white. Those pins look a bit crooked here? Bombs fit nicely though.

 

 

I'll start at the beginning of the build next post. Glad to have this bit in the rearview... almost.

 

Thanks!

 

R/S 

David

 

 

[Sgt Shultz II]

The black things you painted are  the actuators for the bomb shackles. The shackles hold the bombs and are hung to the rack on hooks and remain after the bombs are released. The actuators trigger the release of the bombs in sequence from the bottom up. The bombardier sets the interval for the drop sequence.

 

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/3196054120_58e509580e_z-jpg.463247/

Edited June 26, 2018 by Sgt Shultz II

[Geddyme]

The black things you painted are  the actuators for the bomb shackles. The shackles hold the bombs and are hung to the rack on hooks and remain after the bombs are released. The actuators trigger the release of the bombs in sequence from the bottom up. The bombardier sets the interval for the drop sequence.

 

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/3196054120_58e509580e_z-jpg.463247/

 

I took this photo of "Sentimental Journey" in 2012, since then I've wondered if/how those shackles are grouped together given they outnumber the actuators. Or can more actuators be added as needed if the mission calls for more of a lighter bomb?

 

EDIT: I see that I'm possibly confusing these "hooks" on the sides with "shackles" maybe?

 

Edited June 26, 2018 by Geddyme

[Geddyme]

As promised, from the begining.

 

   For some reason I started in the tail wheel well. I had seen the PE in this area used by Avenger2614 on his first WIP and I thought it looked fantastic and my own PE set didn't have any for this area.

 

   I used .005 Evergreen clear sheet, impressed the shape of the well upon it with the kit part, cut, trimmed to fit. For the sides, I did not want seams so that's one strip of the .005 that took a bit of finagling to get the right length. Double sided tape was used to stick it in there and follow the bends while I traced the extents of fuselage on it with mechanical pen, you'll notice a small bit of the ink still on fuselage which I'm happy to leave there.

 

   The two roundish brackets on the front wall mimic the PE piece and are the .005 as well. The splines on the front wall front wall are .020 Evergreen strip trimmed/sanded to mimic the PE. Once all was test fitted I used my rivet maker, primed and painted (MM Aluminum Acrylic) and glued it in place, let it set up overnight then after some minor trimming the next morning it received a wash (Vallejo Black). I will revisit that wheel recess with a bit more wash soon! And once I join the fuselage I'll putty any tiny gaps I find around my added work.

 

 

You can see the Interior Green I used on the areas I wanted green inside, is not correct, I didn't find this out until I had sprayed and worn all of what I intended for green. I could still change it I suppose... or wait for the G re-release where I'll build a historical ship.

 

 

 

My next task was to open the waist door.  You'll no doubt notice the impetus for the most virulent cursing streak on this build to date. a careless elbow and mixing cup of lacquer thinner I was using on some small bits of MM Aluminum overspray from the waist interior. Oops. It didn't ruin any fine details, I hope the MM enamel primer (Grey) will cover it, other suggestions welcome, always!

 

Anyway... I used my fine panel line tool to carefully deepen the door outline on the exterior until I could get that saw blade you see through in one spot, then again, carefully worked until I had it out. I intend to use the door I cut out and some PE hinges from my set for the finished model. 

 

 

 

Thanks again for reading,

 

R/S 

 

David

 

 

 

Edit: I can see from the last photo that the door wasn't after the tail wheel area. I did the nose interior in between... forgive, this early part of the build was about 2-1/2 years ago... more on the nose next time. 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Geddyme

[Uncarina]

David,

 

Nice work so far!

 

Cheers, Tom

[Dennis7423]

Looking good David!

 

- Dennis S.

  Thornton, CO USA

[brahman104]

That's some fine work on removing the entry door David!

 

Very neat indeed. I'm looking forward to seeing more progress

 

Craig

[Geddyme]

I was happy with the door effort Craig, I'd never done surgery on a kit before, though it was minor compared to what I've seen here on LSP, it gave me a little confidence to take alteration & scratch building further, as I progress with this build.

 

After opening the door I then proceeded to the nose where I sprayed MM enamel primer {7561127370} on the floor, bulkhead and fuselage then MM Interior Green Acrylic on floor and MM Aluminum for the interior nose fuselage. I was and still am learning to use washes. adding a drop of dish soap or Isopropyl for acrylics was unknown to me back then, still interested any tips and preferences from others here... always. I have debated going back with the correct green (which I'll certainly use on future projects), for now though, there's still time as I press on with the nagging little touches left to do before each compartment is complete.

 

The simulated wood in this build is another area that was on the job training for me. The wood block you see in some photos is free flooring samples from Home Depot or Lowes, I have many. I was originally thinking how I could shave off some for the interior wood,  alas that proved almost impossible with my tools. Ultimately I did all the wood floors with Testor's 1166 Flat Brown enamel, let the brush get a bit tacky after the first coat and went back over it to add a bit of texture. I used a varying amounts of MM Radome Tan & MM Flat Black enamels to vary the color of the wood, hoping for a well used look inside this mighty warrior. In the nose I purposely misaligned the joints in the floor panels, maybe they were added on separate occasions or the installer was similar to me, a mediocre carpenter : ) 

 

Also new to me was using PE and there are a few pieces in the nose such as the bombardiers panel and some gauges/dials for the fuselage walls, not much really with my PE set. I made everything else, again from ideas I have seen around here and photos around the internet.

 

 

- Wiring for the chin turret is various sizes of single strands of copper wire I stripped of insulation, primed and painted.

- The chin turret items under the bombardiers chair are sculpted from Milliput and 10 thou plastic card.

- The round, filthy plywood deck is also 10 thou sheet cut to match as closely to the size I've seen in a few photo's.

- The bomb bay door control etc, is more plastic card, and rod for the lever arms, and took me a while... which is why I am fine with it only having two levers, after realizing there are actually three. The sides and bottom are one piece of folded .005, and the curved top, front and back are a single piece as well. Inside there is 3mm rod glued in the center of the bottom to make gluing the front and back to the bottom, while maintaining the top curve, easier.

- Various dabs of red & yellow to busy it up a bit

 

 

Shadows are really enhancing the weathering here, not nearly as dark as the photo lets on. 

 

- Covering some of the more stubborn fuselage ejection pin marks with .005 plasti-card "patches" painted MM Steel Acrylic. I decided last week I will go back over those with MM Aluminum and wash.

 

 

Non kit pieces I'd like to add (build) here before calling the nose done... support straps for the window mounted machine guns, maps and maybe few instruments for the Navi. Perhaps headsets for both crew here. As we know, it's quite crowded in there, and I've a few kit parts yet to stuff in there - but I'm open to suggestions for more. I've seen Lucky Strikes in various crew positions as well. I'm getting carried away now, stop me!

 

 

Best Regards,

 

David

[Geddyme]

Hello everyone... back at it last night. I'm concentrating on getting the nose interior finished, to that end I began with the machine gun belts. I decided to paint them all while I was at it. I did not paint the ball turret belts, since I removed the kit location for the ammo boxes in favor of fashioning my own in the correct locations. I will need to carefully soften (with heat) the kits belts in this area, and see if I can mange to get them to work before painting them.

 

I used MM Brass Enamel for the rounds themselves. I meant to get the Acrylic, but grabbed the wrong bottle last night at the local hobby store somehow, and didn't realize it until I was home and they were closed. So I decided to live with it. After the Brass dried for about and hour I painted the belts with MM Steel, acrylic, and set aside for another 30 minutes or so. A wash with Vallejo black thinned 50/50 with distilled water was next, a couple of applications and I was content, you can see the results below. Too dark? Too light?... opinions always appreciated. They have not been given a dull coat yet... as I'm a little unsure if its needed? Again, any tips are appreciated. I do read resources from elsewhere on this site for assistance, but always appreciate hearing form other modelers in real time.

 

Machine guns tonight! My PE set came with some nice looking barrels and I'll be using those (at the appropriate time of course!) The gun themselves will be the kit parts.

 

Also before I forget again, I've been looking for any thread concerning errors in the instructions for this kit, with no luck. The engines in particular, specifically the cowl flap pieces they mount to seems to call for two mounts to be used from tree "H" where I only have one on "H" and one on "I" (eye) for this area?

 

 

 

I'll be getting a new camera in early August, so the photos will hopefully improve. No way to do decent macros with my iPad Pro that I can find.

 

Thanks again, more to come!

 

R/S

David