andymoore Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 With four days off work, I thought I'd finally start on the B17 that has been sitting in my stash four about 5 months. I was lucky enough to pick this up in a box of kits that some guy was getting rid of on ebay - for the grand total of £4.10!!! Although the colour scheme on the box is tempting, I'm trying to build a collection of models of aircraft that I have taken photographs of. So that leaves me with just one option on this kit - the wonderful Sally-B. It looks like kitsworld are currently supplying Sally-b decals, so there'll be an order heading their way fairly soon (more than twice what I paid for the kit). The only other addition that I'll use is a set of eduard masks. And here's one of my Sally-B pics: Isn't she beautiful? The kit is huge for a 1/72 model - 94 sections in the instruction sheet & it's worth reading through them all before starting as the last section shows painting & decal instructions for the first four sections, which show you how to put the bomb-bay together. Here's the beginning of the bomb-bay with the end-walls painted: Once the kit is together it'll be almost impossible to see most of the detail in here, so when I painted the bombs I didn't bother masking - they'll be tucked away so far I reckon it hardly matters... Once that lot is all assembled, the whole assembly gets fitted to the starboard section of the body. I've used vallejo-air internal green for the interior. The bombs are painted olive-drab. Now that looks rather brown to me & I was going to use the olive drab for the outer colour, but looking at my photo, Sally-B looks more green than brown. It'll be a while before I need to decide on the paint to use, but any suggestions will be gratefully accepted - preferrably a vallejo-air colour, but which one? The next section is the flight-deck, this as far as I got today: 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WV908 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 (edited) Hi Andy, looking forward to this build and a great start on the interior. Don't forget to modify the forward transparencies, as she's halfway between an F and a G model as far as the nose is concerned. I will get mine finished one day haha, as soon as the weather is good enough to get the nacelles and turrets sprayed; EDIT: The nose transparency is nabbed from an Academy B-17 kit Cheers, WV908 Edited April 3, 2015 by WV908 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 A little progress this morning - there is a decal for the instrument panel, but i thought i'd have a go at picking the instruments out by hand & the results were good enough, so the decal can stay on the sheet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 A bit more progress today... not quite as detailed a Fozzy's masterpiece The fit of all the pieces is really good - I've mated the port side up a couple of times & everything if very snug. This really is an excellent kit - even if you were to pay full price. slowly working towards the back... I had a look at the cheek gun ports & trying to fathom out how to get rid of them - plenty of scope for a disaster there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 I'm still undecided over the cheek guns - I feel fairly certain I will make a complete hash of cutting the glazing apart & attempting to fit a bodged window in their place. So This weekend I contacted Revell's part dept & asked for a couple of B17F parts to replace those for the G, I did tell them why I wanted them, so I expect they'll tell me to get lost. Anyway, this has now been passed on to Revel.DE, so fingers crossed on that ! No pictures today - there's been more progress fitting various bits towards the back of the plane, still a little way to go before the two halves get joined together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordfunker Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Looking very nice. I shall be watching closely as I have this kit in the stash. Karl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHead23 Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I also have one in my to do pile and will be very interested to see how this one turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Me too! I was about to start mine but I think I just watch this one! Thanks Andy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 I'm going to enjoy this. I have the same boxing in the loft, and will probably do Miss Mischief as its such an iconic airframe(s) And Ced, maybe we should do a mini GB, your -F and my -G to go with Andy's hybrid! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKguyInUSA Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I was looking at this kit the other day in my Local Hobby Lobby store where I can get 40% discount off their retail pricing! Looking great so far, enjoy the rest of your build! Cheers Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 well the fuselage is together now - but not really a lot to show yet. I thought I'd add the following photos though to help others putting this kit together in the future. The revell instructions weren't all that clear about what went where when I was putting the bits & bobs together that go in the wheel well before putting the two halves of each wing together. the following two parts are put together correctly in the photo & the instructions indicate that they should be painted internal green... I would suggest that you may not want to paint what becomes the outer section of the engine bay green.... also, the final bit of 'internals' for the lower half of each wing is a couple of small discs that fit into the rear section of the central intakes - it's worth paying attention when doing this as one side of each disc is flat & the other side is meshed - so if you happen to look into the intake it looks like a filter:- my next pics should be of the body & wings together all masked up & ready for spraying. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Looking good Andy! Should have asked before but how did you get the wood effect on the tables? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 25, 2015 Author Share Posted April 25, 2015 Looking good Andy! Should have asked before but how did you get the wood effect on the tables? I used Revell Leather Brown as the base coat & then a thin coat of Revell wood brown, using a knackered old brush. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 (edited) An unusual amount of progress this week, well for me anyway. The wings are on, a lot of the masking is done & a little filling... So this evening I decided to get rid of the cheek guns. I don't know how poor this is going to look when the plane is complete, I think one side will look OK & the other may look like she's suffering from toothache. Here's the one of the pieces beforehand: And after some gentle persuasion with the dremel & a little paint just to get an idea of how it will look, I've ended up with these: as you may just be able to make out - the far piece does have a bit of a bulge to it, and the windows are certainly not in exactly the same positions as on Sally-B. Edited April 30, 2015 by andymoore 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 When you put these bits in the fuselage use a little putty. They are not the greatest fit from what I have seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted May 1, 2015 Author Share Posted May 1, 2015 after philp's comment, I tried dry-fitting these parts - the fit looks pretty tight to me from this pic it's clear i need to attempt some scribing now & reseat the mask on the middle window 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Good stuff and can never have too many WW2 heavies around here! Dermot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Does look good on that side but seems to be not seated as well at the top on the other. I have both the F and G to build and probably will end up with a few more as the Fort is one of my all time favorite planes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted May 3, 2015 Author Share Posted May 3, 2015 i couldn't live with that port side window as it was - so I decided it was time to step out of my comfort zone & take some drastic action. I cut out a piece of one of the spare roof windows to be slightly larger than the window I wanted. Then I cut a hole for the new piece to fit into. Now I need to give the putty time to set & line the masks up. I think this will look a lot better than my previous half-arsed attempt once it's all tidied up - and even if it looks a little rough close up, at least from a distance she'll look like Sally-B as the window is in the right place. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 At last - a coat of paint 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted May 9, 2015 Author Share Posted May 9, 2015 a little progress today - the undercarriage is on (the wheels are dry fitted & will be tidied up soon) One engine fitted, although it may need a little darkening up, I'm still fiddling with that front port side window, using pva as a filler. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Getting there sir. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Ooh that's grand sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Keep going Andy, I'm on your tail! Actually, hanging from your apron strings. No competition here, just learning from your experiences. Great build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andymoore Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 A tiny bit of progress second engine fitted & i've darkened up the cylinders. The sun was out, so took the opportunity to get a pic in decent light for a change. A word of warning to anyone else building this kit - the exhaust ring that fits on the rear of the engine is subtly different on the two inboard engines, so take care when putting them together. I realised this as I was assembling the second one, and I have fitted the wrong ring on No.3 - I don't expect it to make any different once the cowlings are fitted. Next up is to spray the ailerons, rudder, tailplanes & cowlings (I wish I was as well organised as Ced). Does anyone out there have any suggestions regarding the colour of the ailerons? Looking at pics on Flickr os Sally-B, It looks to me that the ailerons are the same colour as the leading edges of the wings rather than green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now