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'Memphis Belle' B-17f Revell 1/72 (Pic heavy)


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My next build is Revell's 1/72 B-17f, being built as 'Memphis Belle'.

box.jpg

Woody37 did a great review of the kit here on BM (thanks Neil!) and that has some great sprue shots so please refer to that. My only sprue shot will be this:

9CCCFA5B-60CB-4489-AFB4-55E6AE2CCBBC_zps

Still in the plastic bags. Perhaps a little intimidating but my last two (big) builds have been Valom short-run kits so I'm expecting Revell's German engineering and 'efficient' instructions (ve vill give ze orders!) to give me a bit of a rest (famous last words).

Most people (including me when I bought it some time ago) consider this to be a big model, but my recent experiences have warped my perception somewhat - it's not big, it's just, er, close. Here's the B17 wing compared to my recently completed Bombay:

B6DA4D3F-899C-46F5-A9B0-CD284A233191_zps

So 'standard size' then. And it has locator pins and everything!

I'm a bit concerned by the number of 'Marie Celeste' builds out there that start well but then just fizzle out. I shall, however, be ruthlessly plagiarising tips and warnings from:

- robbo1234biking's part build WiP in June 2009

- Rickpadwick1801's completed build in May 2014 and

- Andy Moore's current WiP - although it's a 'G' they share a lot of parts (naughty things)

And of course I'll be trying to replicate Fozzy's interior from his amazing scratch build:

oo%20014_zpsno8jdpf3.jpg

Just kidding, of course, I won't be trying to do that, it's a 'G' too! And, of course, well beyond my relatively Newbie skills.

So, I've read the threads, watched the film (last night) and done some 'research' on BM and the internet. I hope this WiP will be as 'educational and entertaining' as my last couple so, to quote 'Buffalo Joe', "Hold onto your hats boys!"**. And girls, obviously. And others.

It's time to wash my parts, and then I'll rinse the sprues and get started*.

* Dbl-E, score 1, fnaar fnaar

** If you haven't watched 'Ice Pilots' I recommend it. It's on YouTube and here's the Season 1 trailer. Six series to watch - go on, you know you want to!

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Always good to follow in the footsteps of giants, so my Miss Mischief will be along shortly, assuming the never ending trail of decorating gets done this weekend, and the p38, and the 2cvs and the Lightning and the... Who am I trying to kid. It 'll get done sometime soon, honest!

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Nice choice Ced,I got to the varnish stage of the original boxing before fate(my ham fisted spraying) stepped in,It,s a lovely kit fit wise shame most

of the great interior detail get,s hidden.

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this is going to be fun - I reckon I've still got a couple of weeks to go on mine, depending upon how much more time I spend on that pesky window.

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Thanks guys!

Adrian: Complain? Me? :)

Andy: Don't worry mate, it's not a race. At your own pace is the best :)

Bits washed and so are the sprues*, now drying. In a big pile. A really big pile. The box says 235 parts:

47CAFA3E-767E-4BF9-AD96-E3510E9B25B0_zps

Yikes. While I had a gap between bits of paid work (yes, I do some) I thought about the next step.

The usual decision (paint then glue OR glue then paint) has been made because of the volume of the parts - I'm going to paint, then assemble, being careful to clean the joins. I know some have complained about fit issues too so I'll be using Tamiya Extra Thin wherever possible (or where it looks like too much glue might mess up the fit).

There's a lot of parts to paint Interior Green and Aluminium so I decided to plan, hopefully, a single run on the airbrush by photocopying the instructions, reading through the steps and marking up two sheets, one for each colour. Included here at a large size in case you want to print them off and use them yourself, usual disclaimer applies (it's all your fault)!!!

Note my scrawled note of the colour on the top right and also the red writing near some of the parts where you need to refer to the instructions, usually because the sides have to be different colours (e.g. part 42 - see step 29A). Part highlighted means part painted (to state the bl**ding obvious) like inside the wings for the flaps and cowlings.

Interior green bits:

65129E2F-D64C-42B1-89AC-66D66A44D66C_zps

Aluminium:

894cc74d-0b57-424b-a8f8-44095c22b103_zps

More later - I have one of those 'Best laid plans of mice and men...' feelings, and the mice are nowhere to be seen.

* Dbl-E, score 1, fnaar fnaar

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Great start CedB! I'll be watching with great interest as I have myself one in my stash (it will be "Memphis Belle", if I ever complete it...).

Brilliant idea the colour planning. I also try to systematise painting by lumping parts together by colour.

Keep the posts coming :thumbsup:

Jaime

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I am most pleased to see that I do share some model building skills with you masterful types, judging by the pics.

Washing sprues, then laying them on a paper towel. Check.

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Ok, tracked down the new thread and ready to watch. I have several Forts in the stash. A Revell F and G and an Academy SB-17.

I did track down decals for the FAA version Aluminum Overcast as I got a flight in her a couple years ago. One thing that does is reinforce what the airmen went through while flying in these. Can't even imagine what it would be like trying to move around in it while wearing the bulky flight suit and oxygen mask and then having flak and fighters thrown in. All the more respect for those courageous young men.

Anyway, here is the video I shot if anyone is interested.

https://youtu.be/3-gK14lS9vQ

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Thanks guys!

Adrian: Complain? Me? :)

Andy: Don't worry mate, it's not a race. At your own pace is the best :)

Bits washed and so are the sprues*, now drying. In a big pile. A really big pile. The box says 235 parts:

47CAFA3E-767E-4BF9-AD96-E3510E9B25B0_zps

Yikes. While I had a gap between bits of paid work (yes, I do some) I thought about the next step.

The usual decision (paint then glue OR glue then paint) has been made because of the volume of the parts - I'm going to paint, then assemble, being careful to clean the joins. I know some have complained about fit issues too so I'll be using Tamiya Extra Thin wherever possible (or where it looks like too much glue might mess up the fit).

There's a lot of parts to paint Interior Green and Aluminium so I decided to plan, hopefully, a single run on the airbrush by photocopying the instructions, reading through the steps and marking up two sheets, one for each colour. Included here at a large size in case you want to print them off and use them yourself, usual disclaimer applies (it's all your fault)!!!

Note my scrawled note of the colour on the top right and also the red writing near some of the parts where you need to refer to the instructions, usually because the sides have to be different colours (e.g. part 42 - see step 29A). Part highlighted means part painted (to state the bl**ding obvious) like inside the wings for the flaps and cowlings.

Interior green bits:

65129E2F-D64C-42B1-89AC-66D66A44D66C_zps

Aluminium:

894cc74d-0b57-424b-a8f8-44095c22b103_zps

More later - I have one of those 'Best laid plans of mice and men...' feelings, and the mice are nowhere to be seen.

* Dbl-E, score 1, fnaar fnaar

Well... That's rather organised of you Ced and cheers for posting it, I hope to do one of these one day and it would be great to rip you off.... Eeerrrr sorry I mean.... Ummmmm .... Replicate?? Your (no doubt) great work.

Cheers

Rob

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Wow, what a gathering - welcome all!

Thanks Nigel, DAG058, Hardtarget and Steve (even if you did use that emoticon Steve. You boys!)

Christer 'Little Patches' looks gorgeous - a great build and I'll be popping back to that RFI thread and your WiP from time to time. The interior looks great too - lovely detailing.

Jaime the colour planning is a nightmare on Revell IMHO. Why thy can't 'do an Airfix' and just label the parts with the paint colour number I don't know. Maybe it's so they can do different schemes for the same instructions? Easy for them, hard for us.

Mike I'm sure that's not the only technique we share - you're too modest!

Andy all my builds go on the ceiling so wheels and flaps up, bomb doors open. Looking at the great flap detail I think I'd deploy them if I was building wheels down.

Phil the video's great - what an experience! Where did you fly from?

Hey Rob, feel free* to rip off whatever you like*. (Two in one sentence!)

Right, some progress. My new edge cutters arrived today - ordered from here on Monday and arrived today, second class from a seller based in Hong Kong! For £2.98 including shipping??!! Go figure. Anyway, couldn't wait to use these so I chopped the bombs off:

4520B9A5-7DF0-4F3B-ADFF-C6C9A618DE35_zps

The parts look weird but they go together really cleverly* and, with a touch of Tamiya Extra Thin (TET) and a quick sand off they're done. Sanding those reminded me that I should check the sprue for flash and, although the quality is great (compared to some manufacturers I could mention) there were a few bits that needed tidying up (examples below):

29ccd55f-d218-44db-a686-6893ab69a9eb_zps1051A77B-341D-41AB-9F9F-D6D435863001_zps

I soon got bored trimming off with a blade so out with the Molding Flash Sander:

EAD504CB-4702-4347-998E-BC2BE0132EDD_zps

The sanders are the four clean, shiny bits and the one in the Dremel. The other 'instruments' are burrs I got from my dentist - you may hear more from them later! The flash sander really is great by the way. I don't know how 'it knows', but if you follow the tutorials and just 'brush it' along the parts the flash runs for the hills and vanishes in a trice leaving the part unharmed! Push harder and, of course, you'll cause a mess*. Really handy when you've got lots to clean up and no, I'm not on commission.

Then I realised that the bomb rack parts #7 were surrounded by sprue and would not get fully painted, so I cut them off and stuck them on the racks with some precision poly:

71A73F87-838B-40AF-9A7D-DB0B19C83E7D_zps77BE59AB-1D29-4FBC-B04A-55CA372490C0_zps

And look, the parts have their little numbers against them and everything - you can't imagine what bliss that is after the Valom kits.

So, back to the best laid plans of men. I can see now why the mice wanted nothing to do with it. I spent a long time spraying things Vallejo Model Air Interior Green and there are two problems with this method:

  1. You have no idea which bits of the parts will be visible when assembled and so end up spraying both sides just in case (unless it's obvious, like the floor) and
  2. There is nowhere to put the sprues while they're drying and
  3. You get in a pickle with dust coat, place somewhere, go back for the wet coat and it's...

Oh, that's three. OK, amongst the problems are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency etc etc (with apologies to non-Monty Python fans who won't know what that's about. "No one expects the Spanish inquisition"**). So, I will now go and have a well deserved glass of wine and let this dry off:

46653004-27D6-4228-A62F-786009647BCF_zps

* Dbl-E, score 1, fnaar fnaar

** Actually Steven Fry on QI pointed out that they inquisition actually gave people plenty of notice, thus spoiling the joke. Kill joy.

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so out with the Molding Flash Sander:

I have never hear of such a tool - it is allowed out in public? Is it that much easier than using a knife? We need to know.

So your plan is to paint many of the parts on the sprues, I wondered if this was the case. I can see it working well in some cases but needs a bit of care in others. (Like what you did with the bomb bay racks).

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Jaime the colour planning is a nightmare on Revell IMHO. Why thy can't 'do an Airfix' and just label the parts with the paint colour number I don't know. Maybe it's so they can do different schemes for the same instructions? Easy for them, hard for us.

I agree Revell's colour instructions are hard to follow. I always write the colour name and reference next to Revell's letters on the diagrams. But I have another problem with Revell's colour instructions: they only use their own paint references, while I use Gunze and some Tamiya, and many times they don't even present RLM or FS references. They also tend to mix their colours to obtain the needed colours, which complicates matters further.

With Revell kits I always look for documentation on the real aircraft in order to determine the correct colours, but for detail / interior colours that can be difficult.

So your plan is to paint many of the parts on the sprues, I wondered if this was the case. I can see it working well in some cases but needs a bit of care in others. (Like what you did with the bomb bay racks).

Regarding small parts, I prefer to take them off the sprues, glue them to a toothpick with super-glue and prime them all at once. Then, I paint them in groups of the same colour. This way I can get a better finish at first attempt, because I'm able to choose (most of the times) the gluing point which minimises later damages to the paint job and, also, do not need to touch the parts until they're finished.

For bigger parts I try to make subassemblies before painting.

The objective is always to minimise damages to the paint job due to handling, seam treatment, etc after painting.

I have some examples in my WIPs. Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,

Jaime

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Looking good so far. Wonder how you are painting the interior of the clear cheek windows? Are you masking the windows from the inside and then spraying, just masking the outside and spraying the interior green or just going to hand paint the interior?

My flight was out of Salt Lake Airport 2 (now renamed South Valley Regional Airport) which is about 3.5 miles from my house. I guess Memphis Belle has been here the last two years but I have spent that weekend at Wonderfest and missed her both times. Probably not going to the show this year so wonder if she will show up (the current Belle is a G model with the chin turret removed to look more like an F).

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