Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) My offering will be Revells 1 48th B17F Memphis Belle. There are 2 decal options in the kit, the first being B17F-10-BO "Memphis Belle" of 324th Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group based at Bassingbourn in England in May 1943. The other is a B17F-55-BO of 423rd Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb Group based at Thurleigh, England in the spring of 1943. Its the Memphis Belle option I'm offering here. OOB the Revell kit (unlike the older Monogram kit) has more or less no detail at all inside the fuselage and I plan to do my best to get some interest in there. My previous scratch building experience you could note on a matchbox so it could all go wrong. A pal has donated a resin bomb bay and I will hopefully add to this with a roof for this area out of asda lemonade can alluminium. Edited September 8, 2011 by Pedrovski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 Typical confusing (to me at least) Revell instructions Chopped out the crew access door I've likewise chopped out all the moving surfaces ready for re-fixing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 The resin bomb bay kindly donated by my pal "Diamond 9" Glued up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 (edited) I better stop now ready for the 28th Edited May 23, 2011 by Pedrovski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuprar Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Pete, Gary has loads of bits i gave him for a 48 b17. i think them resin bits were mine as well lol. look forward to seeing this build buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPNGROATS Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Nice start...gotta love the B-17.......... BGB Cheers, ggc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 Pete, Gary has loads of bits i gave him for a 48 b17. i think them resin bits were mine as well lol. look forward to seeing this build buddy Yeah it is from that gear you swapped with Gary bruv. My first attempt with resin. I didn't realise that you needed to wash the releasing agent off the resin till after I'd glued it all up. Thank gawd it all held together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuprar Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Yeah it is from that gear you swapped with Gary bruv. My first attempt with resin. I didn't realise that you needed to wash the releasing agent off the resin till after I'd glued it all up. Thank gawd it all held together! lol, if you want spare parts you can take my built one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 lol, if you want spare parts you can take my built one I see that on the forum Chris. Nicely done mate. All except the weathering on the leading edge anti ice boots. Not sure they would weather silver :-P LOL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuprar Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 I see that on the forum Chris. Nicely done mate. All except the weathering on the leading edge anti ice boots. Not sure they would weather silver :-P LOL!! come on Pete i was 14 or 15 at the time lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 Welcome to the GB Pete and congrats on being the first in with a 'quarter scaler'! Cliff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Welcome to the GB Pete and congrats on being the first in with a 'quarter scaler'! Cliff Thanks Cliff. Lots of firsts here for me. First group build, first play with resin and first proper play with an airbrush. The latter is the most scary but I don't know why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F111Fan Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 This should be good-massive hunk of plastic with big engines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamond9 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Hello pete good start there mate , I'll sort that front door out for you. Gary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) This is the stuff I use for plasticard sheet. Asda ice cream cartons washed and dried they work a treat I'm so tight! Edited May 26, 2011 by Pedrovski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) Revell cockpit area OOB is very bland and lacking in detail. There appear to be 6 main areas inside the fuselage of a B17. 1) The Bombadier/Navigator area, 2) The Cockpit, 3) The Bomb bay, 4) The Radio Operators area, 5) The waist gunners area and 6) Poor old tail end charlie. In this kit the areas arn't linked in any way, indeed some of the areas are missing completely. I plan to do my best to create whats not in the kit from scratch and get some thin balsa for the floors and effectively join up the interior. I'm not experienced in any way in scratch building, so it could all end in tears. Edited May 27, 2011 by Pedrovski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Bomb bay cut out of fuselage and resin bomb bay fitted one side only. Just base paint on awaiting detailing. I've had to adapt (read chop about!) the kit bulkheads to fit the resin bay. I've just bought a profile guage (spelling?) so I can hopefully make my own additional bulkheads to compartmentalise the interior. I've cut out the connecting door and plan to replace it in the open position with balsa. My balsa purchase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Jellyfingers Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 Lovely detail work there mate. Here's the links to the interior pictures I've been using, promised to pm you them a few days back, sorry for the delay ! http://www.b17.org/flight/interior/ http://www.pbase.com/jmhoying/restoration http://www.b17.org/history/interactive_tour/ http://www.91stbombgroup.com/photo_history/photohistory.html http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/B17STUFF.html http://www.air-and-space.com/200705%20Coll...rs%20static.htm I've one or two others if you need more, hope there of interest. Si. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 Lovely detail work there mate.Here's the links to the interior pictures I've been using, promised to pm you them a few days back, sorry for the delay ! http://www.b17.org/flight/interior/ http://www.pbase.com/jmhoying/restoration http://www.b17.org/history/interactive_tour/ http://www.91stbombgroup.com/photo_history/photohistory.html http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/B17STUFF.html http://www.air-and-space.com/200705%20Coll...rs%20static.htm I've one or two others if you need more, hope there of interest. Si. Thanks Si, they're a great help matey! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 A brief update. As mentioned before, because I'm tight, I intended to use old plastic ice cream tubs for plastic sheet and here's my first proper try. I'm building additional bulkheads for the 'belle and used 3 pieces of ice cream tub glued together with Humbrol liquid poly. It seems to work! After trying the profile guage (that was too big) I had a thought and bought some cheap playdough that seems to do the job. I simply squish enough inside the half fuselage gently prise it out and with a really sharp xacto knife cut through exactly where the bulkhead profile needs to be and hey presto! Then I moved onto the roof of the resin bomb bay. I tried the ice cream sheet but that didnt work so after a bit of thought I used a cleaned up and cut to shape empty aluminium can with strips of ice cream tub for the ribs and stringers glued with superglue. These are the stringers: Then disaster! I glued the ribs (on top of the stringers) with white glue but even when it was completely dry as soon as I made the correct roof shape with the metal sheet all the ribs pinged off I pulled the remaining ribs off and looked at what was left. Wierdly it seemed the white glue had formed ridges that looked like the ribs were still there. I painted it up and it looks like this (still wet) what do you folks think, should I leave it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Jellyfingers Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I think youo'll get away with that. You could try carefully filling the troughs if you wanted a more solid look once its the shape you want, alternativly a bit of dry-brushing would probably do the trick. Si. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuprar Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 looking good mr hart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamond9 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I think it looks ok pete, like dr jellyfinger said you could dry brush them with a lighter shade of green or aluminium. Gary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted June 1, 2011 Author Share Posted June 1, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the comments guys. I had a look early this morning when I got in from work and I'm gonna try to fill the recesses then dry brush silver/aluminium see how that looks. Edited June 1, 2011 by Pedrovski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedrovski Posted June 2, 2011 Author Share Posted June 2, 2011 Update on the build. The tin can bomb bay roof is in and drying. ...and I've made up some throttle levers out of tin can and resin bits I had left over from the resin bomb bay ...and I've made up the entrance hatch from the cockpit area to the forward bombadier/navigators area hope you like it so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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