DJJunis Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 4 hours ago, Jabba said: Sorry another question about that clear piece. Roughly what is the length of it, is it about the same size as the square piece that is below it or slightly smaller? Jabba questions are never a problem...getting you a proper answer ....well that's another story! LOL! It should be quite a bit smaller than the window below. You see it is just ahead of the light that is mounted to the roof in the picture. I had to move my masking quite a bit towards the tail on mine. The tip off is the rudder...the clear should start just outside the rudder swing. I blew it on my first mask..probably should of thought like the Mechanical Designer I was...I mean why put the clear all the way under the rudder where it's useless. ..now it looks better. I attached new pic for reference. So my tip on this is use the rudder as a guide for the first arc. All the Best! Don 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 (edited) 7 hours ago, DJJunis said: Jabba questions are never a problem...getting you a proper answer ....well that's another story! LOL! All the Best! Don Again thanks. The reason I asked is because the glazing on the kit is so indistinct. I will always ask questions due to being told during my RAF career that there is no such thing as a stupid question only a stupid answer (not from you by the way). Edited November 15, 2018 by Jabba 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Good Day All, Made some progress. In fact I'm in the masking mode. Still have not assembled the main assemblies only becasue it's easier to do the masking prior to full assembly. I am using the Eduard mask which is very good. I made myself sone brass templated for some panel lines that needed adding. Most ntoably the wing tips and the plated over ball turret area. The location of the under nose enclsure is not correct per references. It needs to be a further back from the nose so don't use the mounting hole for it. Plus the fit is not the best. I filled the gaps with white glue. The clear parts fit really well for the most part and any gaps are filled with white glue. However there are a couple of challenges. The rectangular window forward of astrodome took quite a bit of fitting. The nose clear has a sprue attachment point in a very notible place so be careful removing from the sprue. I did that but still ended up with a blemish which I tried to polish out. I ended up dipping it in Pledge, formerly Future. The cowls took quite a bit of time to line up as there is no positive locators. My suggestion is just be paient and use the panel lines on the cowl to help with the alignment. Well that's about it now into the pictures...hope you enjoy them. All the Best! Don 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Coming along well. I have also started to add the glass and I have bought an Eduards mask set. I yet again have a question which is the 3 very small windows that sit on the angle in front of one of the forward windows, 1 of these would have normally carried a gun but on this aircraft it does not. What happens to the opening as nothing is mentioned (or as far as I can see ) in the instructions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 15 hours ago, Jabba said: Coming along well. I have also started to add the glass and I have bought an Eduards mask set. I yet again have a question which is the 3 very small windows that sit on the angle in front of one of the forward windows, 1 of these would have normally carried a gun but on this aircraft it does not. What happens to the opening as nothing is mentioned (or as far as I can see ) in the instructions? Thanks! The openings for the gun are blanked off...the others are masked as they would be on a "normal" B-17. I'm just going to fill them with Kristal Klear. They will get painted over. You are correct nothing is mentioned in the instructions. As for my version I have it all assembled and am currently resoringthe panel lines at the wing to fuselage joint. It is very tedious. Some of the original panel lines were so light that they disappeared even under minimal sanding, plus the plastic is really soft...not as bad as the Lancaster but almost. Another lesson learned.....deepen the panel lines in areas of fit-up of major assemblies prior to assembly. To be honest to do a natural metal finish on one of these kits with adding all the missing panel lines , clean of of cheek clear seams and some other fit issues is something I will have to really think about before starting one. All the Best! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Thanks for that I thought that would be the most probable answer, but thanks for the confirmation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_RAFBC Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 (edited) Very nice indeed, I must follow your build! What did you use to scratch build your Jostle IV transmitter? Edited December 8, 2018 by WhitleyZ6743 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 17 hours ago, WhitleyZ6743 said: Very nice indeed, I must follow your build! What did you use to scratch build your Jostle IV transmitter? Thank you for the kind words. Glad you're going to follow it. I used 1/4" plastic tube , sheet plastic and square plastic strips. Nothing really special. All the Best! Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 Hello All, Well here's another update. The plane has been primed, cleaned-up and the underside color applied. Just starting to mask. While the primer and color were drying I went ahead and finished off some of the other bits' and pieces. Well enough of the typing onto the pictures. As always any comments are greatly appreciated. All the Best! Don 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Good Day All and Happy New Year, Well this should be the last in-progress set of pictures. Hope you enjoy them. All that's left is a clear gloss over the decals. Matt finish then weathering and finally the last of the small bits. Learned quite a bit about the Airfix kit. Some good some bad. Overall it was a very good experience. The next one will be in natural metal so what I learned on this one will come in handy...however it would definitely take longer. As always any comments are appreciated. All the Best! Don 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Very nice indeed. You have just reminded me to drill out the turbo chargers. A quick question, the radar scanner under the radome, did you fit it?. I only ask because I have not fitted the radome at the moment, but even on my version it is meant to be painted with matt varnish so I do not think that it will be seen when all is finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 29 minutes ago, Jabba said: Very nice indeed. You have just reminded me to drill out the turbo chargers. A quick question, the radar scanner under the radome, did you fit it?. I only ask because I have not fitted the radome at the moment, but even on my version it is meant to be painted with matt varnish so I do not think that it will be seen when all is finished. Hi Jabba, Thank you very much. As far as the scanner yes I did...did it have to be no....but what the heck right. You can't see any of it. For the radome Airfix has it too far forward so pull it back to where the nose clear ends on the bottom of the fuselage. I cemented it with Tamiya EXTRA thin glue and then filled the gaps between the fuselage and radome with white glue then wiped off the excess with a damp cloth. I just shot a clear gloss coat over the decals and next I'll check for any silvering...I hate when that happens. If there is I'll just poke small pin pricks in the offending spots and put a touch of decal set on them. But right now they look good. After that it will be a couple of coats of Vallejo Matt and then onto the final bits. All the Best! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Looking nice,...I`ve just discovered this one and reading through it I was really hoping that you hadn`t reached the decal stage as I wanted to warn you about a mistake in the kit instructions which is often made elsewhere,..... but I`m too late!! The sqn codes were 6G and they were grouped together as such on both sides of the fuselage and separate from the individual code `B' ,..... but on the left side they have been mistakenly grouped as B6-G! I did a Fortress III model from the original release of the new Airfix kit and converted it into 100 Gp spec,..... the RFI with the WIP attached is here is you are interested,.....I did a 223 Sqn aircraft too and the WIP has quite a few reference pics which may be of interest/use. All the best, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_RAFBC Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 I’ll have to be careful when I start my Airfix Fortress Mk.III regarding the Squadron codes. Anyway your Fortress still looks amazing so far, great work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 11 hours ago, tonyot said: Looking nice,...I`ve just discovered this one and reading through it I was really hoping that you hadn`t reached the decal stage as I wanted to warn you about a mistake in the kit instructions which is often made elsewhere,..... but I`m too late!! The sqn codes were 6G and they were grouped together as such on both sides of the fuselage and separate from the individual code `B' ,..... but on the left side they have been mistakenly grouped as B6-G! I did a Fortress III model from the original release of the new Airfix kit and converted it into 100 Gp spec,..... the RFI with the WIP attached is here is you are interested,.....I did a 223 Sqn aircraft too and the WIP has quite a few reference pics which may be of interest/use. All the best, Tony Tony, Thanks ....surely wish I knew that earlier. Oh well that's just another mistake Airfix made that I missed. There are several on this kit. To be honest it is disappointing considering they had the Revell kit to use as a quality guide. I had just finished the Revell "F" so all of this was very fresh in my mind or should I say the wounds were still not healed! LOL! I have four more of the regular kits. But it will quite a while before I attempt another. The most disappointing aspect is the surface detail. The Revell kit is MUCH better in that regard. Much of it is missing and in some cases incorrect. The Cheyenne turret molded with a seam down the middle is inexcusable. Not sure how Revell handled that. The fit of the cheek clears is poor and the complete lack of panels lines on them is ridiculous IMHO. All of which will be quite difficult to fix on a natural metal version. Oh well I'm sure I'll get over it after time and out another will come onto the table. Thanks again for the input...I really appreciate it. All the Best! Don 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Haha... Revell Cheyenne position has exactly the same inexcusable seam in the middle. Much of it will be hidden by (a centrally positioned) rudder anyway. Having just finished a Revell kit and now building an Airfix, I can't say which one of them is better or worse in my opinion. I know I want to try Hasegawa and Academy next. Like Osgood says in the end of "Some like it hot", nobody's perfect! V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 12 hours ago, WhitleyZ6743 said: I’ll have to be careful when I start my Airfix Fortress Mk.III regarding the Squadron codes. Anyway your Fortress still looks amazing so far, great work. Thanks so much. But that error took the luster out of the build to be honest. Now I'm just looking to get it done and put it in the case. All the Best! Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 6 hours ago, vppelt68 said: Haha... Revell Cheyenne position has exactly the same inexcusable seam in the middle. Much of it will be hidden by (a centrally positioned) rudder anyway. Having just finished a Revell kit and now building an Airfix, I can't say which one of them is better or worse in my opinion. I know I want to try Hasegawa and Academy next. Like Osgood says in the end of "Some like it hot", nobody's perfect! V-P "nobody's perfect!" I can certainly agree with that one V-P! LOL!. Interesting concerning the Cheyenne turret...well at least I know how to fix it. In any case it will look good on display and at least I did gain some valuable insight into the kit itself. I have not built either the Hasegawa or Academy kits. I use to build 1/48 exclusively but have switched to 1/72 for the bigger subjects as space is at a premium. So this is only my second 1/72 B-17. Not counting the one I did in 1968 from the original Revell kit. My next B-17 will be an Academy B-17E "Peggy D" using the Pacific version they recently released. Having looked at it recently I see it is a long road ahead. But that is quite a bit in the future. I have B-29 to finish , the new 1/48 Blenheim which I got for Christmas from my wife and I committed to the C-47 group build for the near term. All the Best! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan_RAFBC Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 11 hours ago, DJJunis said: Thanks so much. But that error took the luster out of the build to be honest. Now I'm just looking to get it done and put it in the case. All the Best! Don It still looks the part, if it really bothers you only display it on the starboard side 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 2 hours ago, WhitleyZ6743 said: It still looks the part, if it really bothers you only display it on the starboard side 😁 😁 Well that's one solution! 😁 I'll display as I do others...in full view...never been one to hide my mistakes. will be interesting to see if anyone notices...really doubt it as there are not too many modellers I know with that keen of interest in 100 group. Just peeled off the mask with minimal damage. Just doing the touch ups now then the final push to add the small and dangly bits. Should be done by the end of next week. Thanks for the kind words. All the Best! Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Excellent job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Airfix messed up their He 111 H-6 decal guide too. They didn't notice Luftwaffe group and squadron codes weren't handed, in this case 1H+BP on both flanks, but reversed them on the starboard side to be incorrectly BP+1H V-P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 3 hours ago, vppelt68 said: Airfix messed up their He 111 H-6 decal guide too. They didn't notice Luftwaffe group and squadron codes weren't handed, in this case 1H+BP on both flanks, but reversed them on the starboard side to be incorrectly BP+1H V-P V-P, Airfix do have some quality issues from the issues with the markings but also quality of the molded parts. As far as the marking errors that is simply laziness on the part of the researches and whoever checked their work. But they are not the only ones so this is essentially what we are dealing with now. So in essence as modelers we have to check for ourselves. All the Best! Don 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJJunis Posted January 8, 2019 Author Share Posted January 8, 2019 Good Day All, Well I very happy to show some final pictures of my B-17 of 233 Squadron of 100 Group. Although not perfect I feel it came out well considering this was my first Airfix B-17. I learned quite a bit about the kit and I hope I was able to pass some of that along. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I. Thanks to all that provided comments and encouragement, especially after the recent news concerning the codes.I wish to thank V-P for putting this together ..it was a heck of ride. Without further adieu here my final pictures. All the Best! Don 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Beautiful model, congratulations! Glad you enjoyed the group build too 😊. V-P 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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