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B-17E 'Suzie Q', 19th Bombardment Group, PTO


Romeo Alpha Yankee

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I have started my entry which is the Academy B-17E (Fortress II boxing). I gave the decals away some time ago but have sourced a set from a Frog kit.

 

It started as an OOB build but I have already drilled out the turbocharger intakes on one wing and started to box them in.

 

Pictures of progress to follow soon.

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Thanks V-P!

 

Here is the first update.

 

The kit has been in the stash for quite some time

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I have some Eduard stuff to throw at it

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I am not sure I will use the cowls yet, I will see how much different they are to the kit supplied ones.

 

I started with the wing dihedral issue and added some 10 thou strip to the top of the mounting point,

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and more on the other side, about 30 thou in total

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Cockpit went together and I only noticed a boo boo after I started painting it

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I also cut out the correct right-hand waist gunner's window

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Next was the turbocharger intakes,

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and finally some paint

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The boo boo was that the kit comes with 2 sets of bomb bay bulkheads, turns out I used the wrong ones and am in the process of filing them down to make them fit in the fuselage :banghead:

 

 

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2 minutes ago, vppelt68 said:

One stupid question from a metric part of the world: how much is 10 thou or 30 thou in understandable units :rofl2:? I´m close to buying an Academy B-17 kit next! V-P

Well, we are metric as well you know, 🇦🇺 though I started school before we went decimal and had to learn imperial measurements and then try and figure out the decimal system, :hypnotised:

 

Anyway, 10 though is just over 0.25mm and 30 is 0.76mm

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20 minutes ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Well, we are metric as well you know, 🇦🇺 though I started school before we went decimal and had to learn imperial measurements and then try and figure out the decimal system, :hypnotised:

 

Anyway, 10 though is just over 0.25mm and 30 is 0.76mm

Ah, thousandths of an inch then... now I see, thanks! Does the kit really need a different amount on the starboard and port sides? That´s bad... V-P

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V-P, you obviously have not built a Minicraft B757 kit, the wing roots on that kit are a dog's breakfast!

 

Yes, I added 0.25mm to both sides first and the right wing tip was well above the top of the fuselage, later kits may be different.

 

I was made aware of the difference on another build thread somewhere else and noticed mine needed the extra attention to one side.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been beavering away on the build until I had to start masking the clear parts. I started with the Eduard mask set but I soon found out that the glazing on the E model is far more complex than the F/G the sheet is designed for. 

 

I did manage to use the Eduard sheet for the ball turret but it was back to the hard way for the nose glazing and upper turret.

 

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The turbocharger intakes were finished

 

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and wings fitted and filled

 

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I thought I had more in progress shots but I suppose the camera decided I didn't want them AGAIN!

 

Time to button it up 

 

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I had to patch together the Eduard mask pieces for the G nose cone too though I had the proper G set. It appears they wanted me to mask and paint the seams that were actually glued/bonded/whatever in real aircraft, but not metal and not painted. Just proves that not even the Eduard, the Halfgod to some of us, isn't perfect. If I was now about to buy my first B-17 I'd probably pick the Academy kit. They look nice ones to build. V-P

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The fuselage is together with some adhesive help

 

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And I started on prepping the Quickboost engine and cowls.

 

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Though after a very poor attempt at removing the poor block from the first cowl I will not be using them on the build. The kit ones look ok to me

 

Engine 'backing plates added to the wings

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And after the glue had set some liberal application of putty to the seams

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Some slow progress, I can't get into this build. everything seems to be a chore at the moment.

 

I got most of the clear parts in and masked and then hit those areas with some interior green. I think I may have painted the ball turret too dark a grey. Not sure how to tackle correcting it at this stage

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Also started to paint the engine parts

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The round of interior green exposed some more seam filling which has been done, next to sand that lot and repaint.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Ray

Great work, I have this kit as well, but had no idea of all the challenges it came with. 

Your build will be ideal to follow when I finally get round to building it.

Already looking forward to the next instalment :popcorn:

cheers Pat

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Thanks Pat, you got me mid-update!

 

Not much progress to report, well actually all the transparencies have been installed and the underside neutral grey painted. I realised the Tamiya Neutral Grey is darker than other brands so I have used Gunze Neutral Grey for the rest of the underside and have had to brush paint the already painted and unmasked ball turret the new colour (not a very good job mind you!).

 

I also had a compressor problem, the tank blew a hole in it as I started painting the underside, it had rusted out from years of moisture and sludge build up, I am able to still get enough pressure from the brush with the hole though. But problem was that I don't have any Olive Drab paint, so off to the  LHS tomorrow to stock up. I have had the comperssor for over 10 years so it has provided good service

 

I have plugged the hole in the compressor tank with some leftover milliput from another model I was working on, I think I will reinforce it with something, perhaps wrap some tape around it just in case it becomes a high-speed projectile if it lets go when the tank pressurises.

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Well, I have finally pulled the digit out and made some progress and taken some pictures!

 

Here everything is in place and ready for some paint, I am not happy with the nose but I will live with it after some putty

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here are the different shades of neutral grey, Tamiya on the ball turret and Gunze for the surrounds

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I plugged the hole in my compressor tank with Milliput and after a test run it is holding pressure, so some more paint went on

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The engines are almost ready to go together as well

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Touch ups, another green to go on and it will be ready for some decals

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Some more masking and painting done

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Masking off and a gloss coat down

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The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed and title change. Numpty here painted the undersides neutral grey rather than light grey. I thought that looks a lot darker than the other builds here, oh never mind it will lighten.

 

Anyway I was not going back to remask and spray the underside, so it will now be a Pacific Theatre aircraft rather than European theatre.

 

I need to touch up the props and engines due to overspray, but the finish line is getting closer.

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Well, I did that last night and the use of masking fluid was not the best idea. A lot of painful clean up required. I also flat coated it and I think I added too much. I will have to mist some gloss over it.

 

The good news is the Frog decals performed flawlessly.

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I had a few 'puckering' moments in the final stages but it is almost finished.

 

It still needs to be flat coated again after a near disaster, but that can wait a couple of days so I can figure out a graceful way to do it.

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