1/48 Revell B-17G WIP

Beautiful!  I've got a pair in my stash and after all the talk about the interiors I think I'm going to do one of them as at least partially cutaway. 

Nice, nice work.  Inspires me to step it up a notch or three.

Really good job on a fun classic build! I built the OD "Chowhound" version. She looks good in metal I must say. Good work!   Hey, mine's a clean one too just like the one I saw in the USAF Museum.

Max

Yeah !

 I wonder how they had to scramble so the General wouldn't see them in a surprise inspection ! LOL.LOL. Nice Job ! T.B.

Beeyooteeful build , it's been a pleasure to follow your W.I.P. and a pleasure to view this final result, Mate.

Now I'm even more tentative to start on mine because I just know mine won't come out this good.

Thank you all for your Comments! I appreciate it! Now to start work on one of the 1/32 B17 kits........ 

Having built this beast I have to say that this is one very VERY nicely done piece of art. She looks simply amazing and I love the clean look too. After all, they were all once clean and crisp before that got hammered. Excellent work, Sir. 

BK

I really find "clean", (or lightly weathered) builds more to my taste and yours is a beautiful example of that.

Now I'm starting to think about the only big bird in my stash - my B-24. Not ready for it quite yet but your build has started the juices flowing in my head.

Very nice!  I have on of these in the stash, but I think I'll save it to build during those cold months I won't talk about! 

That is looking just superb!  I love the details you worked so hard to put in!  Excellent job.

Toshi

FINISHED!! After almost a year and a half of on and off work here and there, I finally finished this baby! Now for you historically accurate buffs, please don't knock me. I modeled this as Miss Conduct, but somewhere along the line I decided to take a creative approach to it and put my own flair on it. I wanted to add a few more touches for realism so you will notice the added antenna on the nose section including the lower fuselage and a more realistic antenna running along the underside of the waist section. I also added the trailing antenna that sits just behind and to the right (viewed from the front of the plane) of the ball turret. Didn't do any oil stains trailing from the engine because well I suck at that still and I didn't want to ruin my work. Maybe one day when I get better. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome guys. Until my next build........enjoy!

Chad, I think I know dwhere you are coming from. When I built the Enola Gay I rebuilt the bomb bay and flight deck to silverplate specs (at least I tried to represent so much); but when it came to the mid cabin, I left it empty. It would have been very difficult to do, and it would be totally enclosed! Now, because I rebuilt so much else, I kind-of wish I put that extra 20 hours into it so that I could say it is there! I suppose such decisions are based on the amount of time you are willing to invest in a project. At some point you need to say "done"!

the Baron

You're showing this kit the love and affection it deserves!  That's an interesting touch on the walkways.  It's hard to tell from the photos, but does the sandpaper look out of scale, or just about right?

Nice job varying the panel colors, too!

And I'm with you on the interior.  I got this kit for Christmas in 1979, when I was 15.  My best friend also got one.  We started building the day after Christmas.  In two days, he was done, and I was still painting the crew stations.  I asked him if he finished the interior, and he said, "No, nobody's going to see it."  And I replied, "I'm finishing mine, because I know it's there."  I guess we each go through that step, as we got through our lives as modelers.

I had the bedroom ceiling diorama, too, with two of these, two B-24s, and the Enola Gay, as well as two C-47s dropping their sticks of paratroopers.  I looked at Shep's dioramas, though, and just wondered how I might ever do something like that.

I look forward to your next update!

Best regards,

Brad

 

Thanks Brad. I know exactly what you mean. Just the fact that I will know the interior isn't done won't sit right with me. And since I have to paint the Bombardier section, might as well do it all. As for the sandpaper walkways, it looks amazing! Since it's a fine grit it's perfect scale and just adds that perfect extra touch. I'm going to do it from now on on all my planes that have walkways. And I am going to do a dio in the end with this. I got the new Meng P51D that's will go in with it. Got a few ideas floating around in my head, but I will wait to tell and surprise you guys with what I go with. Show not tell my friends!

You're showing this kit the love and affection it deserves!  That's an interesting touch on the walkways.  It's hard to tell from the photos, but does the sandpaper look out of scale, or just about right?

Nice job varying the panel colors, too!

And I'm with you on the interior.  I got this kit for Christmas in 1979, when I was 15.  My best friend also got one.  We started building the day after Christmas.  In two days, he was done, and I was still painting the crew stations.  I asked him if he finished the interior, and he said, "No, nobody's going to see it."  And I replied, "I'm finishing mine, because I know it's there."  I guess we each go through that step, as we got through our lives as modelers.

I had the bedroom ceiling diorama, too, with two of these, two B-24s, and the Enola Gay, as well as two C-47s dropping their sticks of paratroopers.  I looked at Shep's dioramas, though, and just wondered how I might ever do something like that.

I look forward to your next update!

Best regards,

Brad

More work finished. Got the other walkway laid down, hand painted the marking on the wing (a little tamiya tape and frisket work wonders!) And finished up two engine nacelles. Decided to do a little patchwork on the plane to simulate replaced panels, very subtle color difference but not too drastic. Keep hanging in there, the finish line is in sight!

DDonSS3

One tip for future reference: Those vents on the upper surfaces of the wings are vents that exhaust (relatively) clean air, so directly behind the vents will be much cleaner than the areas around and between them. I've seen this get goobered up so many times, I'd hate to see you do it. Just look at overhead shots of active B-17s and you'll see what I mean.

 

Of course! I've seen that as well and have seen the same incorrect weathering, some even having the oil streaks starting at and coming out of those vents!

Greatmaker

Fantastic Build! Looks like you nailed the NMF.  I was too chicken to try that on mine. The engines look amazing as does the interior.  Between the Fort and the Liberator. I'm sick of Olive Drab and Neutral gray, nice to see a NMF on this one

 

Thank you very much. I practiced on a few scrap builds before I went all in on the Fort! NMF is one of those finishes that you can screw up easily and have a unrealistic finish.

Fantastic Build! Looks like you nailed the NMF.  I was too chicken to try that on mine. The engines look amazing as does the interior.  Between the Fort and the Liberator. I'm sick of Olive Drab and Neutral gray, nice to see a NMF on this one

Reaper420

 

 

Shipwreck

She is really shaping up Chad. I understand what you mean about doing all that good interior detail that no one will ever see; I spent hours on my B-29 Silverplate interior, including the crew members. Well you can see very little of it; but it is there!

 

You are going to fly this bird. Have you considered blurred props? I painted up my static props; then I built blurred ones as an experiment. I was kind of satisfied with the results!

 

 

This was my first attempt. I am planning on building a cleaned up and clearer set!

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot to ask, but which prop blurs did you use? I'm having the hardest time finding B17 blurs! I see everything from Corsair to Zero to Mustang, but no Fort! Which ones would be close to the right size in that case? I was leaning towards Corsair, but not sure to be honest. Any input would be appreciated!

To start let's consider that it is a model and our goal is only to approach realism. Mostly it is all a matter of personal choice; so static props in flight are OK. I feel that the Prop Blur products may be a bit better. Probably motorized props are about as good as you can get. I decided that I would be satisfied with clear discs. What you see on the B-29 is the results of several attempts (read hours) before my cutting blades went dull! I now have new blades so I plan to redo them!

If you Google "prop blur" you should get lots of ideas on how to do it. The following is a tutorial which is essentially the same procedure which I used: http://gregers.fr.yuku.com/topic/11537/Prop-blur-tutorial-Picture-heavy#.WJ8qkRiZNR4

Please feel free to ask any specific questions that you might have.

Shipwreck

She is really shaping up Chad. I understand what you mean about doing all that good interior detail that no one will ever see; I spent hours on my B-29 Silverplate interior, including the crew members. Well you can see very little of it; but it is there!

 

You are going to fly this bird. Have you considered blurred props? I painted up my static props; then I built blurred ones as an experiment. I was kind of satisfied with the results!

 

 

This was my first attempt. I am planning on building a cleaned up and clearer set!

 

I forgot to ask, but which prop blurs did you use? I'm having the hardest time finding B17 blurs! I see everything from Corsair to Zero to Mustang, but no Fort! Which ones would be close to the right size in that case? I was leaning towards Corsair, but not sure to be honest. Any input would be appreciated!

Bish

Great work on this,she islook very nice. This is the kit which got meinto dio's. I hadthe Monograme boxing back in the 80'swith the Shep Paine booklet inside with his crashed B-17. Right then i was hooked.

 

Thank you good sir! And funny you mention the booklet with the dio! This Revell kit has that very same booklet still packaged inside with it. Granted this is a 2004 boxing, but I am sure they are still throwing them in there.

Shipwreck

She is really shaping up Chad. I understand what you mean about doing all that good interior detail that no one will ever see; I spent hours on my B-29 Silverplate interior, including the crew members. Well you can see very little of it; but it is there!

 

You are going to fly this bird. Have you considered blurred props? I painted up my static props; then I built blurred ones as an experiment. I was kind of satisfied with the results!

 

 

This was my first attempt. I am planning on building a cleaned up and clearer set!

 

Thanks a bunch everyone! 

And funny you mention that shipwreck! I actually ordered some prop blurs just last night! Just so that it has more of a dynamic look to it! BTW, love what you did with the bomb! That's awesome!  Your bird definitely is dynamic!

She is really shaping up Chad. I understand what you mean about doing all that good interior detail that no one will ever see; I spent hours on my B-29 Silverplate interior, including the crew members. Well you can see very little of it; but it is there!

You are going to fly this bird. Have you considered blurred props? I painted up my static props; then I built blurred ones as an experiment. I was kind of satisfied with the results!

This was my first attempt. I am planning on building a cleaned up and clearer set!

Looking great! I'm keeping an eye on this as my son got me this kit for Christmas

Great work on this,she islook very nice. This is the kit which got meinto dio's. I hadthe Monograme boxing back in the 80'swith the Shep Paine booklet inside with his crashed B-17. Right then i was hooked.

Finally got some more bench time in. Here is what I have done so far, mainly just getting some paint down for squadron and bomber group markings. Don't see many modeled with them, but I decided to put the walkways on the wings. I wanted it to actually have texture, so I used some 3M 150 grit fine drywall sheets that I cut into strips and laid down. Started work on props and engines as well. Getting close to the end guys so stay tuned!