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Airfix 1/72 B-17G (new tool) as 43-37913 / OR-A / Seattle Sleeper - lost November 26th, 1944.


elger

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6 minutes ago, ejboyd5 said:

What is the intended use for the heavy wood cribbing stored on the rear fuselage walls and on the starboard side of the nose compartment? 

Those are the ammo boxes for the waist and nose guns...

 

spacer.png

(photo from walkthrough found here: http://www.vg-photo.com/bombers/b17wt3.html)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been working on the wings, the nacelles, the engines and the propellers. First of all the insides of the nacelles. The real thing is full of wires, cables and plumbing and to make the somewhat bare looking kit components look a little busier I added some lead wires - just to add a little bit of visual interest in an area that's not really seen anyway. I added one or two parts from the Eduard exterior set, but not a lot because the main details are actually there in the kit - and the kit bulkheads actually look better in my opinion than the PE additions. While the PE has rivets and panel lines, the kit parts have some wires and cables molded in, which is nice. Painted the interior with Vallejo dark aluminium and gave it a wash with Mig Ammo's "Starship Filth" acrylic wash. My wife pointed out that if I were a drag queen, that would be a good name for me.

 

oTKP5CZ.jpg

 

The kit's engines received a similar treatment. They're actually really nice OOB and I did not bother with the Eduard PE ignition wires since the molded detail is quite decent. Painted with Vallejo burnt iron first, then details picked out with Vallejo black, German grey, Luftwaffe Uniform, and Khaki. The silver plumbing was painted with AK 3rd Gen silver, which brushes quite nicely. This was also given a wash of Mig Ammo acrylic washes - more Starship Filth and Night Black.

 

heVDBDK.jpg

 

Then the propellers. I had an interesting discussion with @72modeler in the WW2 section a while back about the size of 1/72 B-17 propellers - that most manufacturers tend to make the hubs too small. I had a look in my stash and I had two sets of Quickboost B-24 propellers (one for Academy, one for Hasegawa - both the same dimensions). I vaguely recalled considering using them on the Revell B-17F I built a few years back but I couldn't remember why I didn't - it might have been because at the time I might have thought that the hub is closer to 1/48th scale than 1/72 because it's considerably larger than the kit parts.

 

xohPHjA.jpg

 

The Quickboost hubs are closer dimensionally to what was mentioned in that discussion to be about the right size, but as I was putting the propellers together with the aid of Quickboost's handy alignment tool that comes with the kit it struck me what's so wrong with it: the hub might be much better than these kit parts, but the propeller blades (as well as the tool) are much too long. I debated for a while how to proceed - using the kit props anyway, using the kit props on the resin hub - but then how do you align 12 individual blades on 4 propellers correctly without a proper tool? After a while I figured I was going to adapt Quickboost's alignment tool and cut off the stems of the Quickboost propellers. For anyone who has a set of these Quickboost propellers (for both Academy and Hasegawa B-24 kits), here's what I did:

 

OzG61m6.jpg

 

With these modifications (cutting off at least 2 mm from the base of the propeller blade and drilling a new hole in the tool) the overall diameter of the replacement propeller is the same as the kit parts. And of course I made all 4:

 

jPzbVLo.jpg

 

Conclusion: not so Quickboost this time :)

 

As you can see the model is coming along slowly but surely. I'm going to be rescribing some panel lines on the fuselage but then the wings can be attached and then I can start thinking about painting the thing!

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, elger said:

I've been working on the wings, the nacelles, the engines and the propellers. First of all the insides of the nacelles. The real thing is full of wires, cables and plumbing and to make the somewhat bare looking kit components look a little busier I added some lead wires - just to add a little bit of visual interest in an area that's not really seen anyway. I added one or two parts from the Eduard exterior set, but not a lot because the main details are actually there in the kit - and the kit bulkheads actually look better in my opinion than the PE additions. While the PE has rivets and panel lines, the kit parts have some wires and cables molded in, which is nice. Painted the interior with Vallejo dark aluminium and gave it a wash with Mig Ammo's "Starship Filth" acrylic wash. My wife pointed out that if I were a drag queen, that would be a good name for me.

 

oTKP5CZ.jpg

 

The kit's engines received a similar treatment. They're actually really nice OOB and I did not bother with the Eduard PE ignition wires since the molded detail is quite decent. Painted with Vallejo burnt iron first, then details picked out with Vallejo black, German grey, Luftwaffe Uniform, and Khaki. The silver plumbing was painted with AK 3rd Gen silver, which brushes quite nicely. This was also given a wash of Mig Ammo acrylic washes - more Starship Filth and Night Black.

 

heVDBDK.jpg

 

Then the propellers. I had an interesting discussion with @72modeler in the WW2 section a while back about the size of 1/72 B-17 propellers - that most manufacturers tend to make the hubs too small. I had a look in my stash and I had two sets of Quickboost B-24 propellers (one for Academy, one for Hasegawa - both the same dimensions). I vaguely recalled considering using them on the Revell B-17F I built a few years back but I couldn't remember why I didn't - it might have been because at the time I might have thought that the hub is closer to 1/48th scale than 1/72 because it's considerably larger than the kit parts.

 

xohPHjA.jpg

 

The Quickboost hubs are closer dimensionally to what was mentioned in that discussion to be about the right size, but as I was putting the propellers together with the aid of Quickboost's handy alignment tool that comes with the kit it struck me what's so wrong with it: the hub might be much better than these kit parts, but the propeller blades (as well as the tool) are much too long. I debated for a while how to proceed - using the kit props anyway, using the kit props on the resin hub - but then how do you align 12 individual blades on 4 propellers correctly without a proper tool? After a while I figured I was going to adapt Quickboost's alignment tool and cut off the stems of the Quickboost propellers. For anyone who has a set of these Quickboost propellers (for both Academy and Hasegawa B-24 kits), here's what I did:

 

OzG61m6.jpg

 

With these modifications (cutting off at least 2 mm from the base of the propeller blade and drilling a new hole in the tool) the overall diameter of the replacement propeller is the same as the kit parts. And of course I made all 4:

 

jPzbVLo.jpg

 

Conclusion: not so Quickboost this time :)

 

As you can see the model is coming along slowly but surely. I'm going to be rescribing some panel lines on the fuselage but then the wings can be attached and then I can start thinking about painting the thing!

 

 

 

By George- I think e's got it! (Way to go- those look soooo much better than the kit props!)

Mike

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1 hour ago, Deano353 said:

I have to ask hows the fit of the kit? I get the impression Airfix is making some great stuff these days the detail looks pretty good.

 

It's not great to be honest. I've had trouble especially with the clear parts of the ball turret and the tail turret. The wings were okay but the nacelles did not fit great. The fuselage also needed some work. Especially the bomb bay doors in their closed position were difficult to squeeze into place. Bulkheads and floors were fine though, as are most details, but the overall fit is a bit crude. The Revell kit is much better in that respect.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pressing on - the main assembly is done and it's almost ready for paint. I've run into a few issues, and usually this phase of any build I find demotivating (I'm going to call it the witching hour from now on). The issues mainly have to do with the relatively poor fit. For anyone intending to build this kit: make sure that the bulkheads with the wing spars sit flush with the floor of the fuselage, not the roof. The left wing is a bit wonky on mine - it's elevated slightly above the mating surface on the fuselage. I used Mr Surfacer 500 to fill the gaps.

 

GEXi5RC.jpg

 

I made a mistake in the assembly as well. I mounted the engine backing plate bulkheads in the outer nacelles in front of the ridge where they're supposed to go. Now they protrude so I had to trim them down, as well as the outer engine backs to make sure they fit. This was on me, 100%.

 

One thing I have noticed on other builds of this kit - some of them are really great, but I don't like the big panel lines that the front windows leave so that was the main reason for gluing them in place from the start. I considered various options for adding some surface detail, but I ended up scribing some lines. It's a little ironic - the Revell kit's surface detail is too pronounced in this area, but there isn't enough for my taste with the Airfix kit.

 

MnRdF9P.jpg

 

The first step of the painting process will be coating the front end with black Mr Surfacer from a spray can, so that I can check for issues that no doubt will be there, fix those, and then to follow with a coat of Tamiya grey primer to finish. Then I'm planning to hit the entire airframe with black One Shot, followed by the Vallejo primer for their metallics.

 

As a bonus, here are some photos from 1995 or 1996 of my aircraft collection proudly on display in my teenage bedroom.

 

B73U3W8.jpg

 

You may have spotted the classic Matchbox B-17G, photographed here in flight:

 

dGqkglj.jpg

 

Brush painted with Revell 99 aluminium, and the red was Revell 36 carmin red. Don't remember what I used for the OD, but the cowls were Humbrol 22 gloss white (as per Matchbox' instructions) :)

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2 hours ago, woody37 said:

Nice progress Elger, happy new year too :)

 

I'm building a Marauder at the moment and been using your build as a good reference.

thanks! happy new year to you too and can't wait to see your B-26!

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Black base coats are on. First black One Shot, which I'm very familiar with now, and a second layer of Vallejo's dedicated metal primer. Was not happy about using that - it really clogged my airbrush and the experience wasn't pleasant. A coat of Vallejo Chrome is next.

 

s1F8yrC.jpg

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The Vallejo chrome is on:

 

JbUoeQm.jpg

 

actually I could use some input - if you look at the photo of the real thing, the "pumpkin" part of the Cheyenne turret looks to be a different shade than the rest of the aircraft. A darker shade of aluminium or a different colour all together? Any thoughts are welcome!

 

nLj2IQF.jpg

 

(photo from https://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/26025 [IWM])

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Giving some panels a different shade. A bit contrasty perhaps but with all the markings and weathering it will get toned down, I think.

 

sgqGYoc.jpg

 

I'm still looking for suggestions for the colour of the tail cone - as mentioned in the previous post. Any suggestion welcome!

 

Next up: the red, and then I'm going to put the engines and cowls on and then the anti-glare olive drab will be the last colours that will be sprayed on.

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Some details... here are the exhausts (Eduard Brassin)

 

nx50nj5.jpg

 

One of the engines with a completed propeller

 

Gy2vGet.jpg

 

and the wheels (from the kit)

 

DfFVO8K.jpg

 

And the red is on. Going to be assembling some of the components next (tail, engines), and paint the OD anti glare panels.

 

ZnycScS.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

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Depending on the batch, the Cheyenne tail turrets were added at modification centres before heading out to squadrons. This was also true of the cheek gun bulged windows. Therefore, it is likely shades of metal would be different to the remainder of the airframe, so a different shade of aluminium would replicate this well. The extreme rear of the turret, where the guns protrude, certainly looks a lot darker though - perhaps this is a personal mod by the tail gunner. Decorating individual crew stations was not uncommon. 

 

It's looking great, by the way!

 

Tom

 

 

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25 minutes ago, tomprobert said:

Depending on the batch, the Cheyenne tail turrets were added at modification centres before heading out to squadrons. This was also true of the cheek gun bulged windows. Therefore, it is likely shades of metal would be different to the remainder of the airframe, so a different shade of aluminium would replicate this well. The extreme rear of the turret, where the guns protrude, certainly looks a lot darker though - perhaps this is a personal mod by the tail gunner. Decorating individual crew stations was not uncommon. 

 

It's looking great, by the way!

 

Tom

 

 

 

Thanks! Yeah it almost looks like it could be red, but I'm not ruling out olive drab for anti glare purposes either. Still haven't made up my mind!

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14 hours ago, tomprobert said:

Depending on the batch, the Cheyenne tail turrets were added at modification centres before heading out to squadrons. This was also true of the cheek gun bulged windows. Therefore, it is likely shades of metal would be different to the remainder of the airframe, so a different shade of aluminium would replicate this well. The extreme rear of the turret, where the guns protrude, certainly looks a lot darker though - perhaps this is a personal mod by the tail gunner. Decorating individual crew stations was not uncommon. 

 

It's looking great, by the way!

 

Tom

Hey, fellas

 

The "pumpkin" turret replacement for the "stinger" tail wasn't the only mod made by the United Airlines Modification Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. There were also the cheek guns, waist and radio guns, some IFF stuff and other assorted odds and ends.

 

As noted, both the bottom half of the turret and the pumpkin itself were indeed a different shade of metal, here's a pic:

spacer.png

There's actually plenty more where that came from, here's an AWESOME link with tons of period LIFE Magazine photos of the modifications being undertaken at Cheyenne: http://hangarthirteen.org/cheyenne-mod-center/

 

You'll have to scroll about halfway down to get to the stinger being replaced by the pumpkin but all the other stuff is just as fascinating.

 

Hope that helps, keep up the great work on your Fort!

 

Cheers,

 

- Thomaz

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Yes those photos are amazing - I saved all of them :) I agree, those photos clearly show that the pumpkin is a different shade of metal in those photos, but in the photo of Seattle Sleeper it looks distinctly darker - I'm leaning more and more towards OD - it seems closer in shade to the anti glare of the aircraft the photo was taken from than the red of the tail of the aircraft itself (all guesswork, of course).

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Looking good Elger - those exhausts and engines look marvellous!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Edited by Dunny
Wrong name
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On 07/01/2022 at 10:04, elger said:

Some details... here are the exhausts (Eduard Brassin)

 

nx50nj5.jpg

 

One of the engines with a completed propeller

 

Gy2vGet.jpg

 

and the wheels (from the kit)

 

DfFVO8K.jpg

 

And the red is on. Going to be assembling some of the components next (tail, engines), and paint the OD anti glare panels.

 

ZnycScS.jpg

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

Sorry ignore me. Wrong edit…

Edited by GlueDad
Wrong quote
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