Christer A Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Once a year, I'll start up a fairly complicated model, with the demand that it has to be finished in less the one year, to have it read for the local show. Last year it was a Trumpeter Wyvern, but now, the bar has been raised considerably! It was started in October 2011 and it mus be finished no later than 14:th September 2012. We all know this little gem: So, lets dive in! This is going to be Little Patches, from 91:st bomb group Extra info on her, can be found HERE Enormous B-17 walkaround HERE Decals comes from Kits-world, and since they have a blond Little Patches, that means I'll have to paint it as she looked in the beginning. After a major repair job, she was repainted as a brunette... Couldn't resist, I had to tape it together just to appreciate the size of it! Yep, it's still big, even if not as enormous as an Airfix B-17G was to me some 25+ years ago Starting with the interior as usual, but no aftermarket goodies for this. This actually managed to draw blood. Note to self always use a cutting motion away from fingers Interior paint in a B-17G is a big can of worms, so much have I understood. Little Patches was a B17G-25-BO delivered on 6:th September 1943. The picture above also shows a more heavily framed cockpit window, which to me confirms that this was an somewhat early G model, and as such had the interior painted Interior Green I haven't found any pictures that shows the inside of little patches so I cannot be certain... The sound proofing mats were probably painted Dark Dull green, or Bronze green. With that out of the way, the bomb bay was duly painted . Off course, THEN I discovered that the doors should be in natural wood Next job was the radio compartment. This was my inspiration I made the wood surfaces by painting tamiya XF-59, followed by some dusting with Mig Products Dark mud pigments, and a protective layer of Tamyia X-26 clear orange. And that's the progress so far! I haven't touched it for two months now but that'll change! More to come, hopefully showing the pilots office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Genocide Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Looks great so far, will be following this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acky190 Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 That's a bit nice, good start mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Nice start, looks like it's going to be an epic build! Found this in Gary Valant's excellent book Vintage Aircraft Nose Art , unfortunately it's only a b/w photo but does appear to show her as a brunette and there seems to be some form of camo markings on the side of the front cannon. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thanks everyone! DannyB: Thanks for the photo! She was a blonde for mission #2-#20 after a fire broke out in the maintenance depot. After that she became a brunette. I have to take a closer look at the decals, because I can't really decide the hair color. Link to decal sheet What do you guys say, blonde or brunette? The caption stating that she was lost on March 6 is wrong though. Got damaged, but returned to bomb Berlin to 2 days later! In the end, well over 100 missions was completed and she ended her days by the scrapmans torch in Arizona. The camo splotches on the nose turret is interesting! Never seen that before. Very interesting book though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Wow that decal sheet is great! I'll have a look when I get home but I'm pretty sure I've seen some of those if not all of them in the Valient book. I'd go for which ever version I had better reference for, I'm guessing by the name 'little patches' she had been patched up more than once so the chance of her having a factory fresh finish all over might not be the case! I have found it before with a couple of the captions throughout the book, that not all the details are 100% or where the original plane was scraped in theatre after a rough flight and the crew took their nose-art to another airframe! If you're interested in the WW2 bombers it is a fantastic book to get along with Aircraft Nose Art: From World War I to Today by Jeffrey Ethell which is more about the history of noseart than a reference book but does have some cracking examples Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 That looks like a great book Danny! Have moved a bit forward now, to the cockpit and front compartment. Added oxygen tubes to the rear of the seat frames. I have seen that somewhere, and it looks good so why not? Decals for the dashboard is good enough but I'm thinking about doing something for the throttle levers. They are quite prominent Nose compartment for bomb aimer and navigator looks a bit bare, but at least the Norden sight is detailed enough. What's left to do is to paint a bunch of seat belts, and lots and lots of machine-guns. There are guns all over the place, and even more yellow oxygen bottles! But onto the turrets The Ball turret has quite a bit of parts, but the flash on the clear parts is kinda bad. Oh well, some polishing and a short bath in the local equivalent to future and it should be ok. By the way, is there anything to be done about the height of the top turret? It sits a bit high, doesn't it? Or perhaps I should just leave it as is: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Looking very nice so far. Regarding the top turret... I personally think it does sit too high when you compare it to wartime photos. The photo you have used is of course a warbird (am I right in thinking it's 'Chuckie'?) and therefore I wonder how accurate that restoration is. On my first build of this kit I removed the lip on the turret mounting and that lowered it just enough to look right in my eyes. But hey, each to their own... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks! Yes that's Chuckie. I found that picture while I was searching for pictures of the turret installation. You say "I removed the lip on the turret mounting" but I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean the lip on the turret part part (part-no. 171) or the fuselage halves? Looking through your Little Miss Mischeif build (BEAUTIFUL by the way!) it seems the the turret part is the route to take. Just saw it off, and sort out the gun mounting later? Could be interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks!Yes that's Chuckie. I found that picture while I was searching for pictures of the turret installation. You say "I removed the lip on the turret mounting" but I'm not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean the lip on the turret part part (part-no. 171) or the fuselage halves? I removed about 1mm from the turret base itself - sorry can't remember the part number and don't have the parts in front of me currently. Once you've removed the small lip and lowered it slightly, the clear part sits lower on the mount as it slides over the base itself. Hope that makes sense! Looking through your Little Miss Mischeif build (BEAUTIFUL by the way!) it seems the the turret part is the route to take. Thank you, it is certainly a very enjoyable build. It's a shame you can't see all that lovely interior when it's together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Yeah that makes sense! Should be quite doable too. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Seats have been painted, and I made a hamfisted attempt to add throttle levers in cockpit Yes it should have been four, but its really tight as it is! But that concludes the internal structure Now to add .50-cals here and there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Looking good, gonna follow this one as I would like to build a B-17 at some point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Thanks Mish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Well, its time for another update! Those .50-cals in the front need some drilling to point in the right direction. They should point forward, and not perpendicular to the fuselage. A little work with a drill sorted that. Also took the liberty to cut the gun in half, in order to attach the muzzle from the outside. All internal parts have been fitted and it's time to mate the body I wonder what I might have forgotten? Too late for that now I guess Tail gun position next then: That poor guy, travelling backwards to Berlin, on a small seat with his legs bend backwards...I bet he must have cramped up all the time, and how did he manage to see anything? Or even aim those guns? It's actually not that easy to get all these parts to fit correctly. The armour plate is to wide so the guns cannot go around it, and there is no room to fit the handles either. Just as good that nothing can be seen once it's glued to the airframe Here I got a small step between the new tail and the fuselage. Nothing that a little filler can't sort out but I wonder if the Cheyenne-tail fits better? Oh well. Time to add the clear parts, and then check the seems. Until next time! Cheers! //Christer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcanicity Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 Thanks Phil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 With the fuselage safely closed and all filler is drying its time for the wings. Quite a few parts here but it all looks nice, and the fit is ok. Off course, my modelling skills will only make it worse The flaps were sawn off in order to be posed in the down position: When you do that, you'll also need to add an insert to the top wing. Unfortunately its full of ejector pin marks, but it's in an easily sanded area. I like that the exhaust-through on the inner nacelles is a separate part: With a little sanding it will look good I hope. Time for some paint then! I start with Tamiya black, to act both as a primer and to allow some subtle shading . Xtracrylix interior green next : Decided to go for interior green since I painted entire interior that way. Little Patches was an early G and I think that was practise then. Anyway, not many people are going to look into the wheel wells, and even fewer are going to come up with pictorial evidence of the real machine After installation of an oiltank (?) it was time to mate the winghalves and add a Promodeller wash and filler here and there: Suddenly I feel hopeful that I can get this done by September! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Wow! Nice work on the interior, if that's anything to go by the outside is going to look fantastic. Funnily enough since I've got back in to modelling I'm always really tempted by this kit whenever I see it. What's it like to build and handle?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Thanks Danny! This is a great kit. Lots of parts and details, not too many sinkmarks and ejector pins in bad positions. No major fit issues, that cannot be overcome with repeated dry runs and some filler, but then I would probably end up with filler on a Tamiya-kit anyway =) As for size, I'm planning on painting the wings separate from the fuselage in order to simplify the masking process. It looks like the wing to fuselage fit is perfect so I will try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Long time no see! This one has been on the backburner for way too long time now, and I only have until 15:th of september to get it done... Well, atleast I have moved on to painting This is my first time with Lifecolor, and I'm having a hard time getting them to spray as nicely as Xtracrylix och Tamiya. I'll keep experimenting and see what happens later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 Finally, all Olive Drab surfaces have been painted! Phew! Time for more masking tape. Again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 Right! The kids were sick today, no school for them, and no work for me. Which meant modeling time! Little patches has got the major paint job done now So far I've learned that Lifecolor and Tamiya-tape, or Lifecolor and Blu-tak are no good long-time companions. I need to repaint the rudder, since no amount of Johnson/Future/Pledge/Gloss cote could dampen that mess. Oh well. But Decal-time is rapidly approaching! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dekenba Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Coming along nicely - you build at quite a pace! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 Thank you, but to call this quite a pace is quite an exaggeration. After all, it was started in September last year... Anyway, it's decal time! I'm using a mix of Kits-World and Revell for this one, since Kits-World sheets are devoid of stencils and national markings. Let's start with the pretty girl then Kits-world decals looks very nice, and the behaved perfectly! Only bad part of using them is this: Now I need to build a couple more! I think I have to wait a few years for that Well, the next challange is to get this: to look like this Any tip for that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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