B17G Academy 1/72 FINISHED!

[Snafu35]

Good evening all.

 

I'm hurrying to open a post about my next B17 build, before one of you snatches my idea for decorating my future bomber model.

 

Our friend and host Vppelt is a 391BG junky, so I'm going to try to please him. 

My project is to build a B17 bomber that was built by Douglas at the Tulsa factory. It was delivered on 24 February 1944 (the same date as my birthday!. But I was born twenty years later)

It was assigned to its unit in Great Britain in April 1944; its crew christened it with the design of a pin-up girl created by Alberto Vargas. 

This model did not pass through the Cheyenne depot, so it retained its stinger turret. 

However, this bomber had staggered waist guns.

And because she arrived in England in April 1944, she was aluminium overall.

 

Who is she? 🤔

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Snafu35
change title

[vppelt68]

Sleepy Time Gal!

[theplasticsurgeon]

Sleepy Time Gal

[vppelt68]

47 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Sleepy Time Gal

Beat you by 2 minutes! I wrote the reply first and only then checked if it was correct

Fact time: 381st CO in -44 was Colonel Harry Leber. He was pretty strict that the planes of his group didn't carry "offensive" noseart or names. STG, Ice Col' Katy, Underground Farmer and French Dressing were some of the exceptions to the rule. Although, the Vargas girls weren't even nudes.

[modelling minion]

Based on your previous builds Eric this is going to be one to watch.

 

🇺🇦

[Snafu35]

On 7/27/2023 at 9:56 PM, vppelt68 said:

Sleepy Time Gal!

 

On 7/27/2023 at 9:58 PM, theplasticsurgeon said:

Sleepy Time Gal

 

YOU WON! 

 

Here is Sleepy Time gal with its full colours, either in July or August 1944. 

No de-icer boots.

Note that its port fin appears in a darker colour. 

 

We have confirmation that this fin has been replaced thanks to this photo, which was probably taken during the same photo shoot:

It is still the B17G 43-37675 Flak Magnet of the 532BS/381 BG that is the right wingman.

We can see that Sleepy Time Gal has staggered waist guns by observing the position of the bays under the antenna mast.

Finally, it has a rear turret known as the Stinger turret.

 

My "toys" are ready:

 

Let me remind you of the small imperfections in the Academy kit that need to be improved:
_ The dihedral of the kit wings is too pronounced. Add a 1mm shim to the root.

_ Remove the bosses in front of the wheel well openings. These bosses are only present on the first B17C-Ds.

_ Remove the odd trapezoidal shape from the exhaust pipes (parts A16); these are cooling cups fitted for experimental purposes.

_ Fit the cowling flaps onto the internal motors in a rounded shape, allowing the flaps to close without being blocked by the exhaust pipe (parts A19, A20).

_ Adjust the height of part J 15 / dorsal turret dome support, which is too prominent.

_ Change the wheels.

_ Change the machine guns.

_ The oil tank moulded onto the A75 strut is on the wrong side; it's at the back, not the front:

 

The air intakes for the oil coolers are missing from the wing roots between the engines:

 

( Pictures of me! )

_ The engine cowlings are too closed; sand from the inside to increase the opening diameter (replacing them with copies of Revell or Airfix cowlings would be better, as the curve around the engine is not sufficiently pronounced).

 

By the way, I've taken a comparative photo of the shape of the engine cowlings:

You can see that Quickboost has taken the cowling from the Academy model to increase the front opening, without taking over the curvature, which is better reproduced by Airfix and Revell.

 

Isn't this pin-up great?:

 

 

 First thing I'm going to do from the start: rivet all the surfaces of the model to give it a bit of relief:

Picture of my B17F-130-BO Revell My Devotion

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[vppelt68]

Those famous in-flight colour pics were taken on a composite squadron practice flight over East Anglia in early August -44. They were soon published in LIFE magazine special article. The photoship was nothing less than the Little Rock-ette. I have watched some of those pics in a book I got when I was less than ten years old, that was in mid -70's. Maybe that's why the 381st is so special to me?

[modelling minion]

Looks like you have all you need to produce another great B-17 Eric.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Thanks for the list of corrections for the Academy Forts, I'll refer back to it for mine

 

James

[reini]

On 29/07/2023 at 18:19, Snafu35 said:

 

 

YOU WON! 

 

Here is Sleepy Time gal with its full colours, either in July or August 1944. 

No de-icer boots.

Note that its port fin appears in a darker colour. 

 

We have confirmation that this fin has been replaced thanks to this photo, which was probably taken during the same photo shoot:

It is still the B17G 43-37675 Flak Magnet of the 532BS/381 BG that is the right wingman.

We can see that Sleepy Time Gal has staggered waist guns by observing the position of the bays under the antenna mast.

Finally, it has a rear turret known as the Stinger turret.

 

My "toys" are ready:

 

Let me remind you of the small imperfections in the Academy kit that need to be improved:
_ The dihedral of the kit wings is too pronounced. Add a 1mm shim to the root.

_ Remove the bosses in front of the wheel well openings. These bosses are only present on the first B17C-Ds.

_ Remove the odd trapezoidal shape from the exhaust pipes (parts A16); these are cooling cups fitted for experimental purposes.

_ Fit the cowling flaps onto the internal motors in a rounded shape, allowing the flaps to close without being blocked by the exhaust pipe (parts A19, A20).

_ Adjust the height of part J 15 / dorsal turret dome support, which is too prominent.

_ Change the wheels.

_ Change the machine guns.

_ The oil tank moulded onto the A75 strut is on the wrong side; it's at the back, not the front:

 

The air intakes for the oil coolers are missing from the wing roots between the engines:

 

( Pictures of me! )

_ The engine cowlings are too closed; sand from the inside to increase the opening diameter (replacing them with copies of Revell or Airfix cowlings would be better, as the curve around the engine is not sufficiently pronounced).

 

By the way, I've taken a comparative photo of the shape of the engine cowlings:

You can see that Quickboost has taken the cowling from the Academy model to increase the front opening, without taking over the curvature, which is better reproduced by Airfix and Revell.

 

Isn't this pin-up great?:

 

 

 First thing I'm going to do from the start: rivet all the surfaces of the model to give it a bit of relief:

Picture of my B17F-130-BO Revell My Devotion

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

This will be interesting  Always nice to see someone who knows the details of the actual subject to make it happen in plastic. Looking forwards to it 

[Snafu35]

Hello everyone,

 

Here we are. 
I'm taking off everything covering my work surface:

I'll be sure to include this in my end-of-year Kuta!

 

And I can start on my first B17:

 

I'm going to start by cutting the air intakes in the leading edges of the wings, and riveting the wings and fuselage together.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

[vppelt68]

Or regarding where you come from, there's a version of "Rum and Coca cola" by a Finnish jazz group and it's translated to "Vin rouge et camembert". I may skip the cheezy part of it but the bottle of Côtes-du-Rhône I just opened tastes fine with a B-17

[Snafu35]

Hello vppelt,

 

I'm careful about what I drink so I don't do anything stupid when I'm building a model! 
Or I refrain from building like I did this evening, because an aperitif is compulsory!

 

I started by doing a few things to the wings.

I'd like to warn you that I'm getting into some stupid things that you won't want to see repeated in your home! 

 

I opened the air vents in the leading edges of the wings, and cut the protrusion in front of the wheel well:

 

I took the opportunity to drill some air intakes on the underside using a 0.3mm drill bit:

 

and I'm having fun filling in the engravings that are wrong on the top surface:

 

What else?

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Snafu35
added precision and vocabulary point

[Snafu35]

Hello everyone,

 

I've finished changing some engravings on the wings, and I've applied the riveting:

It's a tedious little job, but it will produce a certain result in the end.

 

The subject of wingtip vents is a recurrent one, especially as Douglas 42-107112's B17G Block 35 was equipped with them, like its colleague 43-37675 built by Boeing in the foreground:

These vents were installed on the chains from block 25 for Douglas, from December 1943.

 

the Academy kit doesn't have these wingtip vents, unlike Hasegawa, for example.
Do you think I should graft the wing from the Hasegawa model onto the Academy model I'm building, or should I pass?   

(Let's not forget that we're building models for our own pleasure !!!)  

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

Edited August 12, 2023 by Snafu35

[Snafu35]

Hello everyone,

 

It's summer and some of you are at the beach. 🤿  🏖️

I'm still building my kits. 

I've almost finished preparing the wings and I've partitioned off the air intakes:

 

I'll be starting on the fuselage soon.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[Thom216]

Liking the progress! For the wing tips, looks like a little drilling, a little cutting and a little work with a jeweler's file could open some up for you.

[vppelt68]

On 12/08/2023 at 19:48, Snafu35 said:

Do you think I should graft the wing from the Hasegawa model onto the Academy model I'm building, or should I pass?   

(Let's not forget that we're building models for our own pleasure !!!)  

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

 

I tried to D-I-M (do-it-myself) those into a pair of Academy wings. I also tried to open the leading edge intakes and build walls for them, but that was not my glass of pastis. I'm sure you'll succeed if you try, but on the other hand, they are not that big deal. V-P

[marvinneko]

On 12/08/2023 at 12:48, Snafu35 said:

The subject of wingtip vents is a recurrent one

 

I was just looking at a photo of a Ventura walkaround on (I believe) this topic. Photo linked below. I was thinking of opening mine up.

 

[Snafu35]

Hello,

On 13/08/2023 at 20:29, Thom216 said:

Liking the progress! For the wing tips, looks like a little drilling, a little cutting and a little work with a jeweler's file could open some up for you.

 

It's done:

 

I did a little work on changing the undercarriage:

 

I also installed the pipework and gripping rings:

 

I'll carry on with the engines. I'm going to have fun sanding resin sprues, cool!

 

I'm also going to start dressing the engines, installing the rocker rods and ignition wires: 

 

To be continued...

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[81-er]

That's some neat work there, Eric!

 

James

[Snafu35]

Hello, All.

 

I removed the sprues from the engine covers:

 

I currently work for engine manufacturer Wright:

 

I've drilled small holes on each engine to fit the ignition wires, and I'm now fitting the rocker rods. These are pieces of plastic stretched over a flame. It's boring to do but the result is convincing when it's finished. I've already done this exercise to dress up 1/72 B24 engines: 

 

More to come.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[CliffB]

Respect for all the work going into this one Eric 

[Snafu35]

Good evening everyone,

 

I'm not showing any photos tonight, but I'll give you an account of what I did:
I'm currently working on building elements by subset, so as to streamline the painting activity when I get the airbrush out.
I've finished preparing the engines and landing gear. So the wings are ready for painting. I'm not going to go into detail about the wheel wells, as the B17 will be installed on a diorama.

I'm currently working on horizontal stabilisers. A particular feature of the B17 is that the elevator flaps 'drop' when the aircraft is parked. So I'm riveting the plans, and I've cut out the flaps.

I opened a door and the angel hatch under the cockpit. The shape of this hatch given by Academy is wrong, so I used a cast of the hatch suggested by Hasegawa.  

I'm going to start dressing the interior. I'll make do with the parts suggested in the box, because in the end you can't see anything in the model. To add a bit of colour to the cockpit, I'll put yellow on the seats, and I'll put the red hatch repeater box on the inside edge of the windscreen. 

 

Photos ASAP.

 

Regards,

Eric-Snafu35

[vppelt68]

Impressive build diary! Keep them coming, with pics or not (but preferably with!)

[Dansk]

Super work Eric. It's a pleasure so your work on this build.