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HK Models B-17G 1/48 “The Swoose” 463rd BG


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17 hours ago, Matt B said:

I did the same with mine and I believe I removed about 2.5mm and drilled out both pieces and inserted a small piece of brass rod before reattaching.  Subtle change but I think it adds a touch more realism to the overall look.  As molded, the gear legs would only be that far extended when the plane is airborne.

 

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Thanks Matt, not sure how I missed this when replying to Tom! That's just what I need, thanks for sharing  :)

 

14 hours ago, tomprobert said:

I think @Matt B has answered the question pretty well above :)

What a numpty I am!

 

I got the paint on last night. The MRP stuff has become my new favourite. The only downside is that if you need to do any touch ups, you can't apply it with a brush as it pulls the paint off the surface. That said, it's pretty strong stuff. No issues so far masking over what I've already done including their silver.

 

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Cheers

Neil

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3 hours ago, Matt B said:

Ha, well to be fair I replied after you asked the question so you didn’t miss anything.

 

Looking forward to seeing the OD go on!

I've been productive today, it's now on. Not sure I've got the colour quite right, I think it needs to be a bit more brown. The nearest modern reference is the sadly departed Nine o Nine. That said, it looks more brown in the flesh than the photo's would have you believe, it looks very green here.. 

 

I've used the MRP colours roughly 50/50 olive green MRP035 and brown green MRP-010 but then sprayed a light covering of Tamiya yellow green XF4 over the top to introduce a bit more yellow. 

 

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Getting there :)

 

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That's some seriously quick work! She's looking great. 

 

Re the colour, I know this one ain't faded but here's a shot of the one they have in the american display at Duxford. Not Sally B. 

20200819-122805.jpg

 

Not sure if this is even helpful? 

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4 minutes ago, Antb said:

That's some seriously quick work! She's looking great. 

 

Re the colour, I know this one ain't faded but here's a shot of the one they have in the american display at Duxford. Not Sally B. 

20200819-122805.jpg

 

Not sure if this is even helpful? 

If I remember, that is a dark green one rather than olive drab isn't it? It's hard to tell.

 

I wasn't too happy with the colour so I've given it a dusting of dark earth to add some brown to it. It's looking better. It also breaks the colour up a bit too giving it some interest. There will be a lot of weathering going over the top too.

 

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If I remember, that is a dark green one rather than olive drab isn't it? It's hard to tell.

 

I've no actual idea 😁 theres so many shades of green and olive drab, who knows. 

 

Still, the builds looking great. 

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1 hour ago, Antb said:

If I remember, that is a dark green one rather than olive drab isn't it? It's hard to tell.

 

I've no actual idea 😁 theres so many shades of green and olive drab, who knows. 

 

Still, the builds looking great. 

Lol, It doesn't help when they faded too 😂

13 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Impressive colour variations. Great work! :thumbsup2:

Thanks, there's still more to do on it yet :)

 

Last instalment for today...

I've got the big decals on this evening. The Swoose decals by Super Scale International were a bit hit n miss tbh. Some cracked up with ease including the big Swoose decal under the cockpit and the rear Swoose decal was too big to fit between the door and the waist gun so I had to overlap a corner of the waist gun. The front one is still fighting although the decal set seems to be winning slowly. A small note too is that the front one should say 4000lb on the bomb, but it says 2000lb, the same as the rear one. Once all the decals are on, I'm going to give a mist of Tamiya buff to tone everything down and lighten things up a bit. 

 

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Cheers

Neil

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Loving this build, and amazing work so far. This is going to be a 1/48th B-17 masterclass once finished. Not sure how I missed this, but I'm onboard for the remainder of the build. 

 

Doubly helpful for me as I have this kit to build. I did make a start, but I'm sort of waiting to see if we get a late G. I building a B-17G-35-DL, so ideally need staggered waist gun positions with a stinger tail gun position and the double Tokyo tank vents on the wing tips. Not sure whether to wait and cross kit, or just scratch build what I need. Should be easy I suppose.

 

Like you, I've found the fit pretty good so far. One question though: How did you find fitting the wings to the fuselage using the locking system? I've tried a dry fit and the starboard wing is fine, but the port wing doesn't want to know!

 

I watched some guy building one on Youtube who seemed to give up near the end and subsequently caned the kit. I'm still not sure where he's coming from as all the test fitting I've tried seems to suggest this is a well fitting kit. 

 

Anyhow! I'm rambling. Enjoying the build and I've certainly picked up some very helpful hints!

 

Steve

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Looking good :)

 

To be honest I think any colour of greeny-brown will work for faded olive drab. When you study wartime colour pictures they vary greatly. Some stayed a dark olive, others went brown and some even took on a purplish hue. Forts were built at numerous factories, using numerous sub-contractors who used numerous paint suppliers so it’s not surprising that the colours varied so much. 
 

When it comes to weathering, don’t forget that no stains are emitted from the vents behind the engines on the upper wing. These were vents to allow hot air and vapours to escape from the wing - the oil from the breather pipe on the top of the engine actually went around these vents, leaving the area behind clean. These images show it well - there are a few more to study too: 

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/2758

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/2769

 

If I had £1 for the number of B-17 models I’ve seen with big thick black stains coming from those vents...

 

Tom

Edited by tomprobert
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12 hours ago, fightersweep said:

Loving this build, and amazing work so far. This is going to be a 1/48th B-17 masterclass once finished. Not sure how I missed this, but I'm onboard for the remainder of the build. 

 

Doubly helpful for me as I have this kit to build. I did make a start, but I'm sort of waiting to see if we get a late G. I building a B-17G-35-DL, so ideally need staggered waist gun positions with a stinger tail gun position and the double Tokyo tank vents on the wing tips. Not sure whether to wait and cross kit, or just scratch build what I need. Should be easy I suppose.

 

Like you, I've found the fit pretty good so far. One question though: How did you find fitting the wings to the fuselage using the locking system? I've tried a dry fit and the starboard wing is fine, but the port wing doesn't want to know!

 

I watched some guy building one on Youtube who seemed to give up near the end and subsequently caned the kit. I'm still not sure where he's coming from as all the test fitting I've tried seems to suggest this is a well fitting kit. 

 

Anyhow! I'm rambling. Enjoying the build and I've certainly picked up some very helpful hints!

 

Steve

Thanks Steve :)

My port wing was too tight too so I filed the slot in the wing and filed some off the tabs that lock in to place until I could get it on. I'm not sure giving up on the kit is necessary however, this is £100 worth of kit and just needs some patience. Considering the pleasure that most of the kit is, I found this to be a minor issue.

 

Looking at the kit breakdown, we can expect to see a later model and an F model. Whether they add the extra vent is though is debateable as it would require a complete new wing. Would be easy enough to add it with a scalpel blade though.

1 hour ago, tomprobert said:

Looking good :)

 

To be honest I think any colour of greeny-brown will work for faded olive drab. When you study wartime colour pictures they vary greatly. Some stayed a dark olive, others went brown and some even took on a purplish hue. Forts were built at numerous factories, using numerous sub-contractors who used numerous paint suppliers so it’s not surprising that the colours varied so much. 
 

When it comes to weathering, don’t forget that no stains are emitted from the vents behind the engines on the upper wing. These were vents to allow hot air and vapours to escape from the wing - the oil from the breather pipe on the top of the engine actually went around these vents, leaving the area behind clean. These images show it well - there are a few more to study too: 

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/2758

 

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/2769

 

If I had £1 for the number of B-17 models I’ve seen with big thick black stains coming from those vents...

 

Tom

Thanks Tom, 

 

I'd picked up on the staining error that a lot do. I'll be adding those using oils.

 

I was just about to go to bed last night and decided I wasn't happy with the colour! A late night it became!

 

I've decided to go over it with some Tamiya khaki mixed with white as there's just too much green in it I think.

 

One wing is done and I've masked up all the decals, that was a joy...not! It's looking much better now, although care needs to be taken spraying around the decals, the airbrush will be throttled back. Before applying masking tape to the decals, they were brushed with Kleer to protect them. I also dulled the stickyness of the masking tape down to prevent the decals from being pulled off when I come to remove them. Why do we put ourselves through these things? 😂

 

This shows a 'before & after' with one wing done, the other awaiting some khaki. The khaki wing has also has a mig deep brown panel wash too.

 

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And the fuselage. Some areas have already been sprayed but I need to go around the decal areas next to finish it off. The port nose is done so that is the finished result.

 

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It's been a bit of a set back but unless I cock up around the decals, it was a step worth taking. Fingers crossed, should have some good pics later today :)

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There is a certain shade of acrylic colour from Revell range. #45 NATO olive. For my eyes it is the best generic paint for faded operational aircraft. 

The trouble with your model is that its 90% about the exterior appearance and effective painting is a do or die thing. 

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7 minutes ago, Josip said:

There is a certain shade of acrylic colour from Revell range. #45 NATO olive. For my eyes it is the best generic paint for faded operational aircraft. 

The trouble with your model is that its 90% about the exterior appearance and effective painting is a do or die thing. 

If I was to do another, I would start with khaki rather than olive green as it much better represents the weathered look on these aircraft. I’ve seen some which are a bleached olive look, particularly earlier models and the Tamiya olive green mixed with white would do well on them. 

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2 hours ago, Josip said:

My friend has provided you with very informative photos so don't forget to paint the waist window frames and such in darker olive drab. 

Already done mate, they were masked to preserve the colour.

 

Well that was a rough ride, but I'm happy with how it's turned out. Adding the colours over the top has created a rich finish where you can see a variety of shades. That was my original intention, it just wasn't the route I was planning to take to get there! There's some tidying up needed on the demarcation lines in places but considering the drastic masking episode, the decals have faired well.

 

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Cheers

Neil

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Neil, just a few remarks.

 

If it's not a bother, maybe you should consider correcting the shape of digit "2" in the serial number, as Superscale did it wrong. I think a little bit of masking and spraying would fix the issue easy.

Also, remember that the real thing carried a little "pie slice-Y" marking on the right upper horizontal stabilizer, as we discussed before. Again, use the masking tape for a better effect.

 

Best regards

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23 minutes ago, Rakovica said:

Neil, just a few remarks.

 

If it's not a bother, maybe you should consider correcting the shape of digit "2" in the serial number, as Superscale did it wrong. I think a little bit of masking and spraying would fix the issue easy.

Also, remember that the real thing carried a little "pie slice-Y" marking on the right upper horizontal stabilizer, as we discussed before. Again, use the masking tape for a better effect.

 

Best regards

Thanks for pointing that out, I will see what I can do with the No.2

 

I'm thinking of making a decal for the tail planes as they aren't included in the set unfortunately. 

 

I've put the fuselage to one side for a bit as I'm sick of painting for this weekend! I just got the rest of the etch on the engines so they're ready for going on soon

 

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53 minutes ago, Rakovica said:

Neil, just a few remarks.

 

If it's not a bother, maybe you should consider correcting the shape of digit "2" in the serial number, as Superscale did it wrong. I think a little bit of masking and spraying would fix the issue easy.

Also, remember that the real thing carried a little "pie slice-Y" marking on the right upper horizontal stabilizer, as we discussed before. Again, use the masking tape for a better effect.

 

Best regards

Just knocked these up on powerpoint. These are just drafts on paper for now

 

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2 hours ago, Rakovica said:

Neil, just a few remarks.

 

If it's not a bother, maybe you should consider correcting the shape of digit "2" in the serial number, as Superscale did it wrong. I think a little bit of masking and spraying would fix the issue easy.

Also, remember that the real thing carried a little "pie slice-Y" marking on the right upper horizontal stabilizer, as we discussed before. Again, use the masking tape for a better effect.

 

Best regards

Rear markings now sorted :)

 

The yellow No.2 correction needs another coat yet but looks OK, I just painted freehand as it was probably easier than masking. I've printed some decals off from the Powerpoint stencil and they're now fitted too. Once printed, I spray with car lacquer as it dries fast and makes the decals quite strong. Looking at the photo of the port side you posted a while back, there appears to be a lot of paint chipping on the tail so I've used creative license and added some.

 

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Cheers

Neil

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3 hours ago, Rakovica said:

Excellent Neil, now it's the real deal! 😀

 

As about the weathering, here's another shot of the omnipresent mud and dirt. Interestingly, the artwork itself seems to be clean!

 

swoose3.jpg

 

Keep it up!

 

 

That underside is filthy, must of been carrying some extra weight with all that mud! Not sure how to replicate that, I might need to spend some time looking through the military vehicle section! Looks like they’ve cleaned the artwork for a visit!

1 hour ago, Scooby said:

Great work, I like that shade of green/ olive much better!

Thanks mate, got there in the end!

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