Markh-75 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 The control surfaces were all fabric covered, as with the B-17; the reason was that if and when the aircraft was damaged it wasnt metal that was burning; it was much easier to replace fabric on frames and cheaper that to fit a sheet of aluminium. Yes there were large areas that were alum' sheet but they were able to repair the fabric covered areas much more easily. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 Control surfaces were covered in fabric to save weight, reducing the possible onset of flutter, which would and did tear aircraft apart. It was also easier to balance by adding doping on strips of thread - although I don't think they stopped doing that with metal surfaces. Metal surfaces were adopted because the faster speeds lead to the fabric ballooning between fastening, making control forces heavier. It is much quicker to rivet a new patch or panel than to remove damaged areas of fabric and recover, with lengthy drying times. The odd bullet hole, ok. Any notable fire would weaken the metal structure underneath so it would need replacing. Especially aluminium. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markh-75 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 (edited) Well thanks for that. Edited May 27, 2020 by Markh-75 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 Well I’ve parked the B-24 as it’s I’m a pretty advanced state after all that painting, and I’ve started on the B-17. I hoped I would get this buttoned up pretty quick like with the B-24 but it’s got so much internal detail it took a fair while! There’s more in there than the Hase B-24 which is nice, but the way it’s put together Isn’t as cunning. Also it’s not a well thought out as the airfix B-25, that was a joy to pop together where as this is a little frustrating at times, and you have to add some clear parts before you close up which worries me as I may damage them or they might drop inside the model. all that said it’s still a very nice kit and probably unfair to compare it to the B-24 and a newer design Airfix kit. anyhow you came for the model not the ramble! first up I painted as much as I could in the sprue as it’s easier. that is a small amount of the pre work! then I got to assembling the cockpit, which was like a little model in its self and probably has more parts than some of single engine kits. I event bothered with the decals. and made little yellow seat covers to add some interest, and because I saw them in some pictures. they look better on the seat I think. see. Then the insides got a paint. so that was day one! this may be a rather big update so will do separate post as is rather pic heavy! Rob 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markh-75 Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Like the seat covers! I did paint the parts on the sprues but left the 'contact' areas unpainted so the glue had a good clean surface to adhere to; what glue do you use that allows you to glue painted parts? (not having a go; just a question😁). I've started assembling some internal areas and then painting them before fitting into the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Hello Rob I'm not quite sure, what you building here at the moment. Or better said, I'm a bit cofused what and which first and so on.... All look good at the moment. 3, if I'm right now? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 Day 2 if you will... I painted a decaled the IP pulling out all the stops here. then it was assembling all the painted bits for the bomb bay, actually quite tricky to get together and as with all new airfix watch out for paint on mating surfaces! I even remembered the decals for the bombs... unlike the b-25! Then it was all popped into the main body to dry fit it. that seam is going to be a PITA. all this detail and you won’t see it as the clear parts are too think and it’s a b-17.... shame. any way on to the little coms room/ navigators room behind the bomb bay. dry fitted and then the walk way for the gunners glued on. and that’s day two, day three in a sec! Rob 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 Day 3 was getting her buttoned up! but first the bomb aimer’s office. which was all dry fitted then glued in place. and after more dry fitting she was glued shut in stages and clamped in a number of areas till she looked like this! see what I mean that seem will take work! cheers for bearing with me while I added all this!! Rob 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Markh-75 said: Like the seat covers! I did paint the parts on the sprues but left the 'contact' areas unpainted so the glue had a good clean surface to adhere to; what glue do you use that allows you to glue painted parts? (not having a go; just a question😁). I've started assembling some internal areas and then painting them before fitting into the kit. I just use TET or normal poly cement, I try not to paint contact surfaces but I’m not a tidy worker so often have to scrape it clean after painting 2 hours ago, bbudde said: Hello Rob I'm not quite sure, what you building here at the moment. Or better said, I'm a bit cofused what and which first and so on.... All look good at the moment. 3, if I'm right now? Cheers So the last three updates are for the B-17G from Airfix which will be ‘Madame Shoo Shoo’. Before that it was progress on the B-24J which will be ‘Bat Out of Hell’ and is the Hase kit. ill be building them both at the same time, but wasn’t really clear in my first update for the start of the B-17G. think of it as two for the price of one. I will hopefully get them both to the point of getting the decals on do them both together... hopefully. cheers for the comments chaps Rob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markh-75 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Thanks Rob, mucho appreciado.🙂 im waiting for the Academy ‘Memphis Belle’ arriving very soon, love academy kits! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Impressive amount of detailing there, Rob! - Impressive update too Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 3 hours ago, Markh-75 said: Thanks Rob, mucho appreciado.🙂 im waiting for the Academy ‘Memphis Belle’ arriving very soon, love academy kits! Nice, I want an F so I can build ‘Nine Little Yanks and a Jerk’! Will you have a build thread? 1 hour ago, giemme said: Impressive amount of detailing there, Rob! - Impressive update too Ciao Cheers Giemme, would have been more cunning to update as I went along but I was obviously lost in the moment! cheers all! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markh-75 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Yes I reckon I could be persuaded!😂 the Academy kits have lots of good quality details throughout. in time I might buy a B-17G for my collection; I will want a B-24D model I want to paint in a Ploesti scheme! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Markh-75 said: Yes I reckon I could be persuaded!😂 the Academy kits have lots of good quality details throughout. in time I might buy a B-17G for my collection; I will want a B-24D model I want to paint in a Ploesti scheme! Yeah I’ve got a 24D that is lined up to be Strawberry B**** but I’m still not 100% I may build it as Lil De’icer. We will see! Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 Well hello all, the B-17 is really taking shape as you will see and has paint on! But let’s start where we left off! first the wings, these needed a lot of dry fitting and adjusting. The assembly for the wings and landing gear is, in my humble little opinion, completely over complicated. here are my best pictures the inside was all painted silver and given a wash to make them look a bit interesting and oily. heres a clear view of the wash as you can’t really see it once together that bit that’s silver is horrible to line up and has, as you can see created some nasty joins that needed a good tidy up. Then once the two main bits of wing are together you need to clamp and glue as you go round to get an ok fit.... or at least that’s my experience anyway. The seem of the fuselage has had a lot of work but the main trouble area is below, it needed glue gloop to go in there and get sanded back. The underside has come out alright! the wings and rear planes were fitted and glued, them given a number of cotes of red. and left to cure overnight before being masked ready for the silver. All seems etc were of course sorted before this point (sorry I wasn’t the best at taking pics as I went) but I decided to test two paints that I bought, tamiya chrome, which turns out is fine as a layer to lighten the metal look so for shading panels but not so good as a base, and revell ‘steel’. some rough tester, (tamiya on left, revell in right) the revell performed well! Not paint I’ve used before but I think I’ve seen @PlaStix work his brush on magic with them so gave it a go! first cote and after a further two cotes (a lot less than the 80 cotes for the B-24) and I felt brave enough to take the masking off! she’s looking good, a few touch ups on the red of the tail and in a few areas on the silver but all in all rather happy with how the paint performed. It was actually easier to use with small amounts of paint on the brush and very little water. so here is a group photo of the 24 and 17, as you can see I’m an organised kinda guy who really has his act together. so next will touch ups then masking and panel variation. cheers for stopping by! Rob 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Impressive! Such a good NMF finish with a brush! Ciao 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Is it an optical illusion, or is the B-17 that much bigger than a B-24? I like the progress so far. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted June 22, 2020 Author Share Posted June 22, 2020 58 minutes ago, giemme said: Impressive! Such a good NMF finish with a brush! Ciao Cheers Giemme, it’s coming out well I think, hopefully that will continue! 28 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: Is it an optical illusion, or is the B-17 that much bigger than a B-24? I like the progress so far. the wing span of the B-24 is much longer but the bodies pretty much similar sizes. I know what you mean though, it’s probably camera angle and the fact the B-17 has such wide wings.... still couldn’t carry as much as the mozzie though, which always baffles me. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 1 hour ago, rob85 said: still couldn’t carry as much as the mozzie though, which always baffles me. Yes, but the B-17 was much slower. Reminds me of the (American) football scout report: He's small, but slow. Incredible brush metal work Rob. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Great work on those heavies. Very nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 On 6/23/2020 at 3:02 AM, Thom216 said: Great work on those heavies. Very nice. Cheers glad you like it! On 6/23/2020 at 12:22 AM, Cookenbacher said: Yes, but the B-17 was much slower. Reminds me of the (American) football scout report: He's small, but slow. Incredible brush metal work Rob. Thanks cookie, more brushing of metals has been done. i have been painting lots of different metal shades to try and break this up a bit, it’s more subtle than the liberator which I think is better? thoughts? i think I’m going to finish this as the box option, I just can’t justify getting a whole extra sheet just to get the 3 number codes I’m missing and the black letter M! So think I’ll finish as Mah Ideal. and I’ve given the transparent parts a mask and a few cotes of the interior colour. The clear part fit like a glove, which is very nice. However I would have liked there to be raised/indented details on the inside so I could do an internal mask for green rather than painting it on the outside, but oh well. that’s where we are at for now, thanks for dropping in! Rob 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 Another little update, the silver was painted and then masks removed. I don’t like painting silver on little parts as you can’t get long smooth brush strokes and I think it shows. Hopefully will still look good after a few touch ups and an aqua gloss. from a masking point of view probably one of the best jobs I’ve ever done! So that’s good. the upper turret was also masked, I won’t be masking the ball turret just painting it then removing excess with a pointed stick. I have also started painting the B-24’s canopy but the lines on this are not raised so can’t mask them accurately. So I’ve painted them by hand and will tidy it up with another pointed stick. I’ll get a pic up when I take one. Rob 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Neat job, Rob -both on the airframe and the clear parts! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 More excellent metal brush work Rob, you have skills my friend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Most impressive natural metal work there. I like the variation and the smooth finish . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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