More Accurate XB-40 Bomber Escort in 1/72

[TheRealMrEd]

Well, back again for another round!

 

As stated at the end of my last build,  I decided to dig out a decades old Shelf Queen.  This was started with the old Paragon? 1/72 resin XB-40 conversion set and the old Hasegawa B-17F kit for "Hell's Angels":

 

 

I had started this kit years ago, and had gotten this far:

 

 

As you can see in the photo, there were a few problems with this kit.  First off, it had the wrong windows set-up in the nose compared to the XB-40, which was based on a very early B-17F-1-BO.  Also, the windows didn't fit very well, and while I had been able in years before this to glue in clear windows with CA and then sand and then polish them, it didn't work out very well this time around, particularly where the gun holes were already in the clear parts;  they also turned out pretty hazy, rather than clear.

 

The next photo shows the nose gun conversion, which later became standard on the B-17G:

 

 

In the picture above, right, I even re-located the waist gun on that side forward, as the few pictures around at that time indicated.  The waist gun windows were masked over from the inside using Scotch tape, which I figured could be fished out after painting -- a good idea at the time, not as good after the tape sat for more than 20 years!

 

At this point, I become frustrated with the windows problem, and she became an official Shelf Queen, but I looked at her every few years, but didn't come up with a solution. 

 

Fast forward to this week, and seeking a project that for once had no natural metal, I decided to drag the old girl out for yet another look, having gleaned a few more photos on-line over the passing years.  And that's when I realized.....I'd screwed up, as the following picture shows:

 

 

The waist gun on the right side of the first XB-40, 41-24341, had NOT been moved forward!  All my work moving it was a wasted effort.  To be sure the gun position HAD been moved forward on the "Y"B-40, but not on the "X"!

 

After pondering whether I could cut open the fuse and redo the waist gun, I decided to take a look the the Academy B-17E kit I had in the stash, awaiting birth as a Midway B-17; since the B-17E and B-17F are said to mostly be the same externally, except for the nose glazing, it seemed worth a shot:

 

 

The very first thing I checked was the fit of the clear windows -- how much filling would be required.  The two small ones I took off the trees and fit to the model fit perfectly.  Also, they were almost entirely correct for the XB-40! So far, so good.  Next, I noticed that the Academy B-17E kit had provisions for you to cut out the right side waist gun position that you preferred:

 

 

So, I cut out the rear-most or non-staggered position.  Again, so far, so good.

 

Next thing was to make the cutouts for the rear top turret part of the conversion:

 

 

The conversion part turned out to be 38 or 39mm in length after I used debonder to remove the part from the Hasegawa kit.  It turned out to be 20-21 mm in width, which fortuitously happened to correspond to existing kit lines of the Academy B-17E kit. So, as is my custom these days, I used Dymo tape and a scriber to scribe very fine, precise lines to guide a very fine-bladed razor saw for the cut-ous:

 

 

This method provides a very precise cut-out, as can be seen below:

 

 

At this point, there was a very slight difference in height between the Academy kit and the resin part:

 

 

This is taken care of by two strips of 40 thou card glued from the inside with liquid glue, and aligned carefully with the outside of the fuse, to reduce later sanding and filling:

 

 

Above right, the bomb bay door were glued in place.  Since this was a bomber escort, it's carrying capacity was for ammo, not bombs, so there wouldn't be much to see if the bay was left open.  Contrary to remarks of another builder on-line, I found the doors to fit very well.  I re-enforced them with small strips of card on the inside of the ends, and set the whole shebang aside to dry.

 

Well, looks like I'm off to a good start -- praying for smooth sailing...

 

See you soon,

 

Ed

 

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by TheRealMrEd
changed title

[RidgeRunner]

I see your fingers just can't stop building, Ed! 

 

Martin

[theplasticsurgeon]

Hi Ed, Here's my YB-40 from 2011. Paragon conversion and Academy kit.

Built for an ARC GB.

Peruse the thread, it generated a lot of interest and questions.

[72modeler]

A very nice salvage job, Ed- a really distinctive B-17 variant, too. Looking good so far, but might I make a suggestion that you use the cowling, props, and engines from your Hasegawa kit as they are so much more accurate than the ones that Academy provides- the E cowlings are wrong for either the XB or YB version. 👍

Mike

[TheRealMrEd]

Thanks surgeon,

 

Very interesting link and some useful info as well.

 

Mike, seems like I'll be swapping out a few parts for this build... thanks for the heads up on the cowls, etc.

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello again!

 

At this time it seems appropriate to discuss how to do this XB or YB-40 conversion, WITHOUT having a Paragon conversion kit handy, as those are scarce as hen's teeth these days.  So, I thought I might offer a couple of possibilities.

 

First, you might use jeweler's carving wax to make your own master.  The dimensions are given earlier, and the wax is easy to scrape and smooth with simple tools.  Note that the wax I use for this kind of master is the Purple colored one, which is harder than the green, etc.  The waxes range in differing degrees of hardness, signified by their color:

 

 

Another option, shown above right, is to use the lower gun tub, included in the Academy kit (as a left-over used on older varieties of B-17), to make the piece to round off the back end of the radio operator's hump.  As you can see in the photo, its 4-5mm too narrow, but cutting it in half fore and aft, and inserting a sandwich of plastic card equaling about 5mm would do perfectly.  You'd then have to only make a short piece rounded to fit the fuse curvature, with a hole in it for the turret, at least for the YB-40.

 

Alas for me, onyl a couple of days ago, did I notice the next problem  (which was mentioned in the linked ARC build above -- had I only known about it!!) --  the XB-40 and YB-40 had different top turret installations.  While they were both the Bendix turret, on the XB, it was sort of faired in, while on the YB, it was more free-standing, to give additional field of fire:

 

 

As you can see, the "X" above is different from the "Y" below.  I was surprised to learn that most people had been building the "YB", not the XB-40!  Doh!

 

Anyway, I was absolutely determined to model the XB-40, so now to figure out how to do it.  Again, my usual disclaimer -- this is not necessarily the BEST way to do it, but it's gonna the be the way I muddle through it,  because you see,  I really had no idea, so we're all gonna be surprised together, because I'm going to have to figure it out.  And as usual, as with the example of the kindly-provided link to the ARC build above by theplasticsurgeon, all ideas and inputs are welcome.  I may not end up using them all, but all are grist for the mill, as they say.

 

In any event, we will now change direction, whilst I correct my previous mis-deeds:

 

 

First order of business is to re-glue into place the original cut-outs for the dorsal turret.  Due to the precision of the cut as described above, they fit really well, with only a bit of 10 thou card ( "X" 's) added to make up for the width of the saw cuts.  Another small modification, shown by the arrows, is moving the side gunner gun mount from the center of the opening (top), to more like 1/3 of the way back from the front side (bottom).  The photos of the XB seem to show this, and there is mention here and there of restricted fields of fire on the side guns being corrected on the YB's.  My theory is that to help address the tail-heaviness issue, the guns were moved slightly forward, but then their field of fire was restricted to mostly straight out to the sides or to the rear. I don't know if it's accurate or true, but it makes a good story, and I'm stickin' to it!

 

The good news is that for any one trying this after me, you can just skip most of the stuff above and just start here.

 

The first step toward doing an XB style turret installation, is to add a piece of plastic card (around 40 thou), shaped carefully by hand, and glued to one side of the fuse.  I decided to try and figure out this whole mounting process before mating the fuselage halves, because I can't tell you the amount of agony that I have endured over the years due to sanding crud inside the fuselage at the end of the build.  I am going to try to do as much of the mods as I can before that final step occurs:

 

 

Note that is the picture above left, a small shelf has been added to the other side of the fuselage, for the newly added piece to rest on at final assembly, in case there's a lot of sanding and other violence going on later.  Above right, it looks like this when the fuse halves are held together.

 

Next, the corners of the front part of the opening are squared off, where more 40 thou card pieces are added, glued slightly proud of the fuselage to allow for finish sanding.  Also, the hole for the turret is marked in pencil:

 

 

Next, above right, the hole for the turret is started and hogged out with a sharp  #11 blade (I buy them by the box of 100!)

 

Next, the hole is sanded close to finished size with a bit of 100 grit sandpaper wrapped around the blade-less handle of the same X-Acto knife:

 

 

Above right, a quick test fit of the turret.  Here, I'm using the Paragon bit because I have it, but the turret from any other 1/72 scale aircraft's Bendix MANNED turret -- not the remote-controlled one -- can be used.

 

With the fuselage halves held together and the turret base in place, we have the following:

 

 

Above right, although hard to see in this picture, the side profile begins to be sanded. I used a small sanding drum in a Dremel tool, as well as the sandpaper-around-the-knfe shown above as needed for all this rounding.

 

Next, another piece of card is shaped and glued atop the previous piece. This is only to raise the height of the rear of the cut-out closer to the depth of the fuse top, to reduce sanding and filling later.  This would be a little easier is the fuse halves were already joined, but oh well...

 

 

Above right, the side profile of the cut-out is shown better.  Some of the "hump" sides have been sanded down at the rear of the opening, and the depth of the the newly-added piece can be seen.

 

With the fuse halves taken apart again, the added piece can be seen a little better, and the turret hole will be completed when dry:

 

 

Well, while this piece of card addition is drying, I'll take a break for now.  Just noticed that I'm over 30 pictures already, and it doesn't even look like an airplane yet.  Oh well, looks like I'm in for another long haul.

 

So much for a "quick and dirty" Shelf Queen fix-up!

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Back again.

 

Last time, I'd added the second piece of plastic to the turret shelf.  When dried and sanded on one side it looks like this:

 

 

Smoking along now, right?   Wrong!!   At about this point, in another irrational Ed act, seems like I've misplaced the Paragon turret that I was using to design this whole modification.  Seems like I've gotten both old and dumb!

 

Oh well, after some frantic research  -- non of which I had intended to do for this "simple" conversion --  I found that the added turret in question was a Bendix turret.  Next, I had to find what donor aircraft might feature a Bendix upper turret.  After looking at a few of the normally found, simplistic turrets in model kits, I discovered that the Hasegawa kit of the B-25J Mitchell bomber (#00546), featured the complete (or what passes for complete  in 1/72 scale) turret assembly.  Fortunately, I had one in the stash, which I had started to paint, years ago:

 

 

So, looks like another resin casting in the works!  First, all the hollow areas were filled with a thin film of white glue and allowed to dry.  This will then act as a thin flash on the final product so that the silicone rubber will not bind to itself through the hole when the mold is made -- and old trick from my wargames figure-casting past!

 

 

For the mold, first a wall of my favorite material for such things (Legos)  was built on a platform, and the bottom of each mold filled with about 3/8 of non-sulfur modeling clay.  The objects were each pushed halfway down their thickness into the clay, the silicone rubber was poured into the mold and allowed to harden.  Later the rubber surface of the first half of the mold was painted with two coats of PVA mold release, which also have been just Vaseline petroleum jelly,

mixed into some slightly heated alcohol, so that the rubber faces of the mold would would not stick to the other.  Then, the second half of the mold was poured (with the masters of course left in the first half of the mold) and allowed to cure.

Then some resin was mixed and poured into the mold, and also allowed to cure.

 

It should be mentioned here that both these molds are "squish" molds, wherein the side of the mold with the deepest depressions is laid down, and then mixed resin is poured into the mold, not quite filling the mold.  Then, the upper half of the mold is set into place (note indexing holes and tabs) and the resin squished out the sides and the excess wiped off.  Then the resin is allowed to cure. In my case, invariably under pressure, as opposed to vacuum.

 

 

For the first effort, above, the original parts are on top left,  the newly cast parts are on bottom left, and on the right is another casting of the Martin turret that I used on my P2V-3 Neptune build -- the other widely-used turret on American aircraft in WWII.

 

The clear turret glazing did not quite cure, perhaps because the mold had not been preheated at all. A second attempt will be made.  I do have a vacuum-formed copy if needed later.

 

The green stuff is the PVA mold release, most of which comes up with the first casting, and is easily scrubbed away with an old toothbrush.  The flash looks severe, but it is not really, and it is far better to have the flash than no molding at all.

Which brings up the point of why a squish cast was used instead of designing a more usual injection-type mold; and it's because the original parts were too fine to allow for any large sprue gates for the resin to flow into -- they would have been more troublesome than the flash...

 

A second copy, with a little less resin and more case squishing, came out like this:

 

 

With just minimal cleaning, the parts look like this, with more detailed cleanup yet to do:

 

 

While this is being glued up and painted, and the second turret glazing is being cast, time to move on to the next step, adding a little detail to the rear waist gun area.  I was not originally going to bother, but after added the more detailed turret, I decided that I'd go a little further with the detail than I normally do, given that all this work will probably never be seen again.  It's more or less an effort to sort of "show the flag"...

 

After a lot of research of the XB-40 in particular, and the B-17 E, F, and G models, both early and late, I decided I'd probably never know what was absolutely correct, given that this was an experimental ship, and varied greatly in many details over it's life.  So, here;s what I settled on with no particular attempt at any degree of accuracy!

 

 

The formerly re-positioned waist gun mounts were removed entirely, and strips of plastic card were added here and the, as were new gun-mounting platforms, shelves for the gunner to set one raised leg upon (as well as a place to set the ammo boxes!).  Also, a bit of floor was added.  I had no plastic strips of better size on hand, so I had to cut strips of card down, as best I could. Next, the kit waist window were trimmed to useful size:

 

 

These will have the clear areas masked on the inside, and the whole inside face will then be painted Interior Green.  Then the whole rear area of the model was will be painted Interior Green (FS# 34151), and when dry, wood tan will be added to the walkways and other needed parts.  In the later B-17 versions a lot of these part were metal, rather than wood:

 

 

Next, the pre-painted waist gun windows and ammo boxes were added:

 

 

Everything was added to the forward part of the fuselage from the window cut-out, in a nod to the center of gravity problems found with this aircraft.  My guess, is that the further forward everything could be moved, was moved!

 

Well, that's about it for now.

 

Later,

 

Ed

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Just done a very interesting catch up. Like it so far and I'll be popping back again. Cheers, Pete

[RidgeRunner]

Great work, Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Thanks Pete!

 

Hi Martin -- looks like I've stepped in it again!

 

Ed

[tomprobert]

Enjoying this... great work so far. 

 

A quick bit of info before you stick the fuselage together: B-17 interiors were never, at  any time/model during production, painted interior green. Instead, they remained in natural aluminium, with only the exposed metal on the flightdeck being painted bronze green. Some Douglas-built models had some interior painting, but pictures/evidence is few and far between. Boeing/Vega built machines were never painted though. 

 

I’ve done many years of research on B-17 interiors over the years, so do fire away if you have any questions. 

 

As you're striving for accuracy, I thought you’d like to know. 

 

All the best,

Tom

[TheRealMrEd]

Hi Tom,

 

Thanks for the info.  I basically agree with your color assertions.  While there are a few color pictures out there showing the interior green in the waist area, it is confusing because most are indeed modern restorations that by now would need to be preserved/protected in some way. If present at all, Interior Green in the waist area  would generally by only on the longerons, with everything else bare metal.

 

In any event, as I stated earlier in the build, I was originally not going to add any detail at all to this part of the interior, but decided to do so as an afterthought.  The best reason for the green interior was twofold:  1) It's a lot more interesting, visually.  In fact, I had thought about a lack wash here to "pop" the detail, but since it is admittedly NOT to scale NOR accurate, I decided not to bother, and 2)  After all the liquid glue that was used to add the ribbing, etc., it would have been far too difficult to present a smooth, metallic appearance that was convincing.

 

Actually the article should have been titled "The Most Accurate Appearing From The Outside XB-40", but I had not anticipated much more than gluing together the Paragon parts with a B-17 kit, and calling it a day!  So much for that thought.

 

In my particular case, all my models are built, and then put into a glass display case, and rarely ever handled again.  So, in any event, all this will never be seen again, and I'll probably just let this slide.

 

All that being said, I really do thank you and welcome your further input.  One question I do have about the interior would be, in this case, the nose gunner's area.  Any ideas on what equipment might have been removed for the XB-40?  Also, I'm wandering if the big wooden ammo boxes for the nose turret would be in that area, as seen on some B-17G's.  In particular, I would also welcome any other general or detail comments about the exterior of the XB-40 vs the YB-40, about which there is much more material afoot.

 

I would like to say here and now that without the helpful input of yourself and others like you, some of my models  -- particularly the P2V-3 Neptune -- would have never gotten done!

 

Thanks again,

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello,

 

Got a little more done, but it's been a busy week, with house repairs and other foolishness.

 

In any event, working on the inside of the XB-40 -- with almost no references --  I began working on the inside front parts.  After gluing the cockpit floor and rear bulkhead, and the bombardier's (in this case, nose gunner's) compartment floor, rear bulkhead and desk together, these were used to make pencil marks on the insides of the fuselage.  Next, paper patterns were cut to determine the shape of the 10 thou card that will be used for the cockpit side.  In real life, I've read they were canvas, but who knows what color they were on the XB-40?

 

 

Above right, after brief sanding to make up for the added thickness of the card, the new sides were glued to the edges of the cockpit flooring.  They come up to just beneath the windows when all is installed.  A small extension of thicker plastic card has been added to the former bomb-aimer's platform at the front, which, at least on the XB-40, appears to protrude somewhat into the nose glazing.

 

Next, some stringers, etc. begin to be added to the front gunner's compartment -- not to scale or accurate, but just for window dressing:

 

 

Above right, the bit of plastic strip alongside the front edges of the nose are not just for show, they actually DOUBLE the amount of gluing surface for the front nose glazing, which I am dead positive will be useful later on!

 

Next up, the floors.  It seems  that a lot of references  state that the cockpit floor was natural aluminum, while the front-end floors were of varnished wood.  For a while, I've had, laying about in the decal box, a sheet of Warbird Decals #72-028 Small Grain Brown on Clear Wood Grain Decal.  I thought I would finally try it out on this build; the sheet looks like this::

 

 

Above right, I  began by cutting out paper patterns of the areas needing wood grain. As the decals are clear with only the brown wood grain streaks, it is necessary to paint the appropriate surfaces beforehand, in this case with Model Master Wood enamel color.  I also cut out the decal for the instrument panel, as it will be installed at the same time.  Since it will be very hard to see, I will make no attempt to detail the I.P.

 

Next, using Elmer's rubber cement, I laid the decal patterns upside down on the back side of the wood grain decal sheet, aligned the wood grain in the (more or less) proper orientation:

 

 

I'm not really sure that this game WAS worth the candle!  Seems to me that the wood grain is way too far apart for this scale.  One could probably do as well with a tiny paint brush and brown paint.  At least, now I know, and so do you!

 

Just a head's up to other potential users of this decal sheet -- they may work better for 1/48 or bigger kits, thus Warbird's other offerings of 48th and 32nd scale sheets of this product may similarly need to use the next size smaller sheet for a better result...

 

A final view. Note that the cockpit sides and area have been painted the proverbial Dark Green, vs. the Bronze Green or other possibilities.  This was done by slightly darkening FSA #34092, using Model Master European 1 Dark Green and a few drops of black.  This is one of the colors that I have yet to pick up in the Colourcoats range, which would be simpler than mixing my own!  (C'mon Jamie, we in the New World need more providers!)

 

Well, T.T.F.N. -- see you next time...

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Another brief update...

 

After reading what Mike (72modeler) said earlier about the Hasegawa Cowlings, engines, and props being more accurate, I decided to investigate a little more.  First thing I noticed was that the wheels on the Hasegawa were better for the XB-40 (no wheel covers), so I got to thinking about the landing gear, and the the whole wing.  Turns out the Hasegawa F wing is MUCH more accurate for what I need here!  But, would it fit?

 

First thing I noticed is that the hole for the wing joint in the Academy fuselage would have to be both enlarged, and sort of tilted up at the front:

 

 

Above right, also the little extra tab on the Has wing needs to be sawn off.

 

Next, if I was going that far, how about a set of Quickboot engines for the Hasegawa kit, to fit the cowls, etc.:

 

 

The front mounting "pads" on the front of the Has nacelles needed to be sanded off, and the resultant holes needed to be enlarged to fit the sawn off Quickboost engines.  (Shown here just stuck on, not properly aligned.)  Note also the various holes on the front of the Has wing.

 

In any event, check the fit to the Academy fuse -- almost perfect, maybe a hair thick in the bottom side.  And adding them completely corrects the much-discussed wing dihedral problem!

 

 

(Picture on left above intentionally lightened to better show the join fit...).  Above right, the two "ToKio Tank" vents on the Has wing need to be filled as they didn't appear until later on.  Also, note that the Hasegawa wing has a better fabric look on the ailerons, compared to the Academy kit's smooth metal look.

 

And finally, the underside:

 

 

First, compare the circled area on the Has wing (top) to the Academy wing.  Next,  the arrow shows a bulge or inlet than was only on the earlier B-17 models -- not present on the Hasegawa kit.   Also, note the Hasegawa kit has the open intakes on the leading edge, most of which are alreay "boxed in".  And lastly, the open flap on the Hasegawa wing, which also has detailing on the inside parts.

 

All that being said, this model gets the Hasegawa wings!   As I originally undertook to build this model (as a YB-40 it turns out!), I had decided that the Hasegawa kit was the way to go, and except for the big windows on the cheeks (okay for some YB-40's) and the undersized tail gunner window glazing, it probably still is.  And, had I not screwed up and moved the right tail gun forward on that kit, I might have still been there today.

 

Of course, then I would have had a YB-40, rather than the XB-40, because I would have been too lazy to do the other mods....

 

Ed

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Chuggin' away,

 

Truth be told, I'm kind of stalling this build until a couple more items come in by mail.  That being said, still plenty remains to be done before the fuselage halves can be assembled, much less adding the wings.

 

This time around, I'll start with the belly turret, a Sperry Retractable Turret, taken straight from the Academy kit, as it is the correct one.  While I usually make my own painting masks, this time I took a dive and bought the Eduard masks for the Academy F/G kit.  Just looking at all those tiny windows on the ball turret was enough for me!  The turret and kit mount were painted Neutral Grey FS#  36270 from Model Master enamels.  It's lighter than some pics and darker than others, but close enough for this build, as the actual aircraft looks like a "paint mule" in photos.  Also, a small strip of plastic was added around the turret mount, so that when the whole thing as added to the model, the turret will look a little more "retracted", sitting higher up into the model:

 

 

Some B-24's had the ball turret retractable enough so that "cut-outs" were added to the underside of the fuse for the gun barrels to fit into, so that the turret could be retracted  --  I guess far enough to help the gunner get out.  Not sure, and since I can't find any pictures of such cut-outs on the XB-40, this was the next best compromise...

 

I also finally took the advice of tomprobert earlier, and re-painted the rear interior aluminum.  As I suspected, it looks like crap, but only a trace will ever be seen anyway.  To confess, I was too lazy to do this, until I read that actually, the walkways, etc. back there were originally built of aluminum, but LATER changed to wood, to save on aluminum -- NOT the other way around as I had thought!.  Anyway, the dirty deed is done.

 

The next thing was to figure out how to mount my newly cast add-on rear top Bendix turret.  This actually took a while because, in the midst of other things, I used Amazing Clearcast resin to cast the turret top, twice, which both came out quite yellow.  Then, when I finally got around to using the correct stuff from Resin Obsessions, I finally got one clear and hard enough to use.  Doh!

 

Anyway, I painted up the parts and glued the top glazing onto the turret proper with Rs watch cement.  I made no special effort to clean up the turret parts, except the guns, as none of it would likely be seen -- although I did add a seat for the gunner....?!

 

 

In lieu of paint, I used an AeroMaster decals product as shown above right for the turret glazing.  Although I looked at several different pictures of this turret, it was hard to determine which frames might be metal, and which were simply clear perspex reinforced joints.  This is my best guess, and comments or suggestions are welcome, as this turret will not be permanently installed until final assembly, unlike the ball turret.

 

My primary reason for using this turret (other than that it was the correct one, was that having a full height turret to play with would allow me to adjust the depth of the turret in the model, as pictures seem to show that on the XB-40, the turret was somewhat nestled down behind the upper fuselage, sort of as a windbreaker or streamlining device.  This was of course change on the YB-40, to give a better field of fire. I started up by drilling a hole in one end, then chopping off the end of an old (probably Revell) old Lancaster Dambuster's rotating bomb to the correct height -- in my case about 1/2 inch:

 

 

This was then centered up under the turret hole in the top of the fuselage, and then glued in place to one fuselage side.  This was, the turret can be lifted out, then dropped back in and aligned later.  Not shown here is the fact that the turret casting has a "pin" on the bottom that will (hopefully) drop down into this hole on final assembly.

 

The effect of all this turret madness is shown next, and it will be left for history to judge it's worth:

 

 

Well as soon as my other needed stuff shows up (hopefully a day or two), I'll post some more.  That is, if you all haven't fallen asleep out there...

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

A few more details...

 

Next the front top turret.  Neither of the two kits I was working with had a decent front top turret, a Sperry.  The Academy kit featured the piece show below (top left).  I decided to use a resin casting of the Martin 250CE turret (cast from, IIRC a Hasegawa B-24 kit), appears top right (below):

 

 

The Academy part was modified by removing the "gun mounts" and perspex mounting ring.  The Martin turret (right above) had it's "ears" removed.

 

Next, the Academy part was sanded, to enlarge the inner diameter to accept the slightly thinned Martin turret:

 

 

Next, this assembly was turned upside down, and the seat bottom part of the Martin turret was cut away, to make it a "stand-up-in" turret, to represent the Sperry.  Then, two pieces of plastic rod were glued into holes drilled into the bottom of the turret, and a disc of plastic was also drilled for the rods and glued into place:

 

 

Next, the Academy kit gun were modified to fit the Martin Sperry type turret glazing and allow movement, and the the clear part was glued into place.  Shown below is the turret while decal framing is being added:

 

 

The inside parts of the turret were painted dark green (again, darkened FS # 34092), and the outside a faded FS #34086 O.D. A few more small decal frames are still needed.  This is one of those areas that gets a little tricky, as the turret started off with minimal framing, and armor plating was later added here and there.  I'll figure it out at the end.

 

While that process continues, Quickboost engines were painted aluminum, washed with black, and had push-rods added, mode of .0005" wire, two types of which are shown below, one type on a coil, and the other which comes in 30" lengths, used by some for wire rigging:

 

 

I'll touch these up with a black Magic Marker later, as paint would be too thick.  I'll also try and add the horse collar shaped fuel manifold, but probably not the fuel lines themselves.

 

Also, the rest of the windows were added to the fuselage sides.  After screwing one up with liquid glue and a micro applicator, the rest were installed using RSA watch cement, with the excess being cleaned off later with 91% alcohol.

A added some oxygen tanks from Quickboost, as they were bright yellow and might be seen from outside. I decided not to add the hydraulic accumulator, etc. behind the co-pilot's seat, as they would probably not be seen.  Then,  the cockpit/nose gunner's crew compartments were glued into one fuselage side:

 

 

Once the top front turret decals are done, I think it will finally be time to join the two fuselage halves  -- for this build, a MAJOR milestone!

 

See you next time,

 

Ed

 

 

[Thom216]

Some real great modeling! Real nice seeing it all come together, even the missteps which are enlightening in themselves. You're making me think about getting an Academy B-17G and doing one myself!

 

A suggestion for the wood floors, which I picked up from a modeller on Youtube, is to use woodgrain scrapbook paper. A craft store like Micheal's carry it in different looks and styles. Just cut to shape and treat it like a decal you need to glue down.

[TheRealMrEd]

Yeah Thom216,

 

It would have been much more simple to just start with the Academy E.  Not sure whether the "G" would be as easy, given the larger cheek windows, but that might be fine for a YB-40, at least some of which had the cheek windows, and all had the staggered waist guns.

 

Haven't seen the woodgrain scrapbook paper, but if it's got a finer woodgrain look, then it would probably be better.

 

Ed

[Pete in Lincs]

On 6/12/2019 at 7:39 PM, TheRealMrEd said:

That is, if you all haven't fallen asleep out there...

Well, some of us are still awake, and rather impressed with what's going on here.

[TheRealMrEd]

Well thanks Pete  --  appreciate you looking in!

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Plodding along...

 

Finally about to assemble fuselage halves.  Because of extreme thinness of some gluing edges, additional tabs of plastic card have been added (small arrows below); I may add even more.  Od particular note (large arrow below) is that the turret ring sets on the aft cockpit bulkhead, and the part has been designed to reflect this:

 

 

Next, the fuselage halves have been joined.  Aligning the tail wheel strut gave me fits, but I finally sorted it.  The arrow below point to the window that was installed, but will need to be filled in for the XB-40:

 

 

Above right, the tail turret clear parts have been added (after gluing in the tail gun mount), and the arrow shows where the filling needed to be made, after I decided to change the rudder from the "E" kit and use that from the "F" kit, which has a slightly differing width, fore and aft.  After checking the view every which way, I decided that any detail added to the tail gunner's compartment would not be seen.,\ so I didn't add any.  Pity, as several good photos of this area are extant.

 

 

Photo above shows the canopy having been installed first.  Then, a hole was started for the navigator's bubble, using the tip of a #11 X-Acto blade, and finished to the side of the insuide diameter of the bubble, with a short-taper little circular reamer.  I forgot to paint the area under the bubble, so I may end up with a slight circle the wrong color around the edges of the bubble, where the glue join is.  Possibly the final outside paint will take care of it; will have to ponder that for a while, as I'm not sure I can pry the bubble back up without damage, as I used tube glue here!

 

The window in front of the bubble is okay, there is just a lot of wax residue from the Pic-N-Stic that I used to set it into place.  The wax will be removed later, with alcohol.  Other problems a little tougher to solve are shown below:

 

 

The rear turtle deck behind the canopy is going to have to be built up, as I'm sure not gonna sand the canopy, while the gap at the front might just be filled with PPputty.

 

We'll see, when the canopy glue dries.

 

Later,

 

Ed

[janneman36]

Love what you are doing Ed the only thing is that could have kept it as it was as the XB40 somewhere in it’s life got the back supplied by paragon and had probably the right waist moved forward but retained the  small window panes in the nose ..

It also got some art applied in the from of a gunslinging Mickey Mouse..

As i said before still love your build ( got the same in my stash as well which is going to have the Mickey Mouse)

 

cheers, Jan

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Thanks Jan,

 

Hang in there for a bit and I'll save you some work on yours....

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

One more small step for Ed...

 

After totally protecting the glass areas of the canopy with Tamiya tape, I put another layer of blue painter's taper along the top edge (it is tougher and protects better from over-sanding).  I added some spot filler at the top edge and PPP at the front edge.  Also note that the front top turret is wrapped with a layer of Parafilm "M" and then a strip of Tamiya tape atop that, to -- hopefully --  protect he turret canopy decals from being pulled up:

 

 

Next we examine the two clear plastic fuselage halves from the Academy "E" kit, that leave a very unsightly glue join down the middle of the rear glass:

 

 

Above right, a vacuform rear gunner's glass is, after being separated from it's backing, laid atop the Academy kits tail gunner glass, and fine lines are scribed under, behind and at the front, to help guide the razor saw which I will use to saw off the kit part, to replace with the vacuform part, which was, I think, an old Squadron set, but I can't remember for sure.  The tail gunners glazing from the Hasegawa B-17 wasn't tall enough, so that vacuform was pretty much my only shot.

 

Next a little more spot filler and PPP are used, after the opening was sanded to fit the vacuform piece, and the vacuform piece was glued down with CA, and some more tape was added to protect the glass while sanding:

 

 

Above right, after a little polishing, this transplant will work out fine.

 

Next, while very hard to see, the front lower turret gun controls are added, obtained from along-ago butchered Minicraft/Hasegawa B-17G kit, #1113.  Fortuitously, that same kit also provided the very nose glazing I needed for this ship, ie. one with no gun holes in the glass.  The Academy "E" glazing was the wrong shape, and the Hasegawa "F" kit had two holes for machine guns already drilling into the glazing.  I could have filled and sanded the holes from the outside, but doubted my ability to sand the filled holes on the INSIDE, at least not good enough from which to cast a new clear nose glazing.  The nose provided with the vacuformed glazing set was oddly deformed and slightly crushed, so no joy there,\.

 

The second arrow points to a gun sighting system, also hard to see, gleaned from an old B-29 side turret control set and modified.  Not exactly accurate, but better than the nothing I had before:

 

 

Unfortunately, the B-17G glazing was a little too large, so I had two choices":  1) sand the whole rear edge down to reduce the circumference somewhat, and I actually did that to the vacuform one before finding this one, or 2) fill the missing area behind the glazing, which I felt was the safer option,  Also the curve seemed a little too pronounced at the bottom (arrow, above right.  Curiously the nose glazing fit fine on the top and sides, so I went with option #2:

 

 

Apiece of tape was added around the lower edge of the nose glazing after it was glued into place with Testor's tube glue, the PPP was added to fill the recess.  A slight sanding when dry should fix this area, and also, I think the add-on nose turret will fit better!

 

And last for today, I finished sanding to shape the other side of the plastic shelf for the upper rear turret, to follow the fuselage at the rear and sides.  Also, note the tear drop shapes pieces added below the waist gunner's window on either side.  It is not certain why these were added, some someone on line felt that they were perhaps added strengthening for the dual M-2A gun mounts, and I sort of feel that way also.  These were made from a piece of thick stretched sprue, pulled to shape at the rear, then sanded to shape at the front, then sawn in two with my trusty razor saw:

 

 

Note again the ball and upper front turrets wrapped with Parafilm "M", with tape added atop that.

 

Well, until next time, and we'll see what else I can find to desecrate...

 

Ed

 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Still plugging along...

 

With fuselage finally assembled, it was time to mask all the windows and apply a little Mr Surfacer 500 here and there, trying to fill tiny defects:

 

 

The nose masking is a combination of the Eduard masks and some Micro Mask.  The Eduard masks for the F/G do not fit this model precisely in all cases;  I guess they had more of the "G" in mind...

 

 

Above right, a little Mr Surfacer 500 and mostly hand-cut tail-end masks from Tamiya tape.

 

After a little more sanding of the Mr Surfacer, the entire fuselage was given a coat of Alclad II Grey Primer, after which a few more spots of primer putty were needed:

 

 

Oops, sorry!  Somehow the photo forgot to get cropped!

 

While the parts given in the kit for the landing light lenses in the wing weren't bad, I decided to try and give them some depth, but cutting tiny bits of clear Lucite to fit the openings, then drilling a scale 6" hole or  indentation on  the back side.  These indentations were then painted silver to represent the bulbs while everything else back there was painted flat black.  We;ll see later whether these mods were worth the effort:

 

 

 

I also decided to articulate the elevators, by cutting them loose from the horizontal stabilizers as well as  re-scribing larger trim tabs.  The front of the elevators will have sprue added to their front edges, so that they may be rounded a bit before being install onto the horizontal stabilizers:

 

 

Well, back to waiting for glue and paint to dry, but it will soon be time to start assembly of the major components.

 

Seen you later,

 

Ed