1/48 B-17 Group Build...ALL INVITED TO JOIN!

Looks like ya forgot some masking on the windows...  You may be able to clean that up with a WOOD tooth-pick cut to a chisel-point, if it's acrylic...

Love all the nose-art... "Pistol Packin' Mama-Lil-Betty Boop"...

That shot kinda reminds me of the flight-line down in Midland, Texas every fall...

Hans von Hammer

Looks like ya forgot some masking on the windows...  You may be able to clean that up with a WOOD tooth-pick cut to a chisel-point, if it's acrylic...

Actually the windows are still masked. I am using a product for the first time called Bob Dively Liquid Masking Film. It goes on looking like Elmers Glue and dries clear. I hope it comes off nice and easy once the time comes.

I would love to make it down to Midland some year, my yearly pilgrimage is to Airventure every year since 1973

Starting the painted tail:

The finished product:

Very nice model, do you plan to weather it at all. I have almost completed my Chow-Hound and wondering if I should do a little weathering myself.

I am just getting back into modeling and I notice that many of you bomber builders paint the fusalage and wings separately. Does that cause a wing root re-paint problem when putting it all together. My stash has several 1/48 B-25's, B-17's, a B-24, and a B-29. 

For people like me who are not very skilled with filler, I end up painting the fuselage separate from the wings even though there will be a slight tiny gap. But on the 1/48 Revell Monogram B-17 the wings lock into the fuselage without glue. It all comes down to what works for you. I know my models wont be as top notch as most guys here but hey its all in the fun. 

Shipwreck

I am just getting back into modeling and I notice that many of you bomber builders paint the fusalage and wings separately. Does that cause a wing root re-paint problem when putting it all together. My stash has several 1/48 B-25's, B-17's, a B-24, and a B-29. 

I honestly do this only with the big bombers. Only because a 48th scale B-17 takes up alot of space, and I have a tiny house, with little kids and 3 dogs. So I dont glue the wings so I can store them easier. Plus they are more portable. And as mentioned, the monogram B-17G's wings lock in pretty damn good, enough that hey hold a good looking dehidral to the wings. Now, the revell B-17F kit, not so much. 

Quick question i starting a Guillow's B-17G  Flying fortress  Balsa Model. now is this the apropriate place to post if i so wish to. or should i been in a differant part due to its Wood not plastic its a

Giant  Scale Balsa Kit  45" Wing Span    Scale (1/28")  7/16" = 1'-0"

Adacan

Quick question i starting a Guillow's B-17G  Flying fortres Balsa Model. now is this the apropriate place to post if i so wish to. or should i been in a differant part due to its Wood not plastic its Giant Scale Balsa Kit  45" Wing Span    Scale (1/28")  7/16" = 1'-0

I dont see an issue myself but if worse case just start your own thread? This is a 1/48 scale thread but no where does it say plastic models only. Either way I wod like to see the build. Are you going to do any covering on it and if so paper, monocoat, or foil? Welcome to the forum, BTW!

Anyway here is an update on mine

Well um not to sure what i  have in  shop for that.. as far as the covering goes.. still thinking about that..

But thank you for the warm welcome. and cant wait to  start posting pictures.. one day..

Although I am impressed with the NMF paint I used, and how it buffs nicely to a shine the only part that sucks is that you cannot use masking tape so I had to free hand the whole thing with other colors.. 

pzl66

Although I am impressed with the NMF paint I used, and how it buffs nicely to a shine the only part that sucks is that you cannot use masking tape so I had to free hand the whole thing with other colors.. 

That paint job looks awesome! Nice work!

Well I finally finished my B-17G, not as good as I would have liked but a fair attempt I think, I lost the side exhausts somewhere but hope to find them one day when clearing out, anyway I'm open to comments and advice for when I do another :)

Adrian,

nice clean looking build, that's how I normally finish mine, only minor exhaust stains and so forth. Your paint finish looks top notch. Only issue I can see is your main gear, the wheels should be out, not in. It wouldn't be to hard to clip the strut from the mount and switch them around. Otherwise looks good.

Oh my life I cant believe I didnt even notice I had done that wrong!!!!

To be honest I was just trying to get it cleared off my bench as I had a terrible time building it,,, oh well,, I will sort it ,,,,,,,,erm someday.

 Appologies to all you out there that will be offended by my stupidness :(

AdrianUK

Oh my life I cant believe I didnt even notice I had done that wrong!!!!

To be honest I was just trying to get it cleared off my bench as I had a terrible time building it,,, oh well,, I will sort it ,,,,,,,,erm someday.

 Appologies to all you out there that will be offended by my stupidness :(

I don't think anyone here is that full of themselves,,, good job,, every build is a learning experience ,, whether its your first or hundreth,,,

I've already cut and rebonded them in the correct way , I'll also add a little weathering, not too much just a little and repost the pics tomorrow :)

Catching up on things, been busy with work and then the sinuses started acting up:

Good looking B-17s!

For those that want to do a wheels up, Swanny did it on a 17 a while ago, scroll down about half way and he describes what he did to get the wheels retracted.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

I have made small progress on my -D.  The radio compart is all done, still trying to get the top hatch to fit. Next up is a major repair job where she broke in two.

B17Pilot

Catching up on things, been busy with work and then the sinuses started acting up:

Good looking B-17s!

For those that want to do a wheels up, Swanny did it on a 17 a while ago, scroll down about half way and he describes what he did to get the wheels retracted.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

I have made small progress on my -D.  The radio compart is all done, still trying to get the top hatch to fit. Next up is a major repair job where she broke in two.

Hope to see pics soon Pilot!!   Heres a update pic on my Visible build I gave to the Bong Museum,, starting to get B-17 vet artifacts and pics next to it,,, I think I'm gonna have to start building another,,, mabye with some battle damage,,, winter sucks,,,, gotta keep busy

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B17Pilot

 

For those that want to do a wheels up, Swanny did it on a 17 a while ago, scroll down about half way and he describes what he did to get the wheels retracted.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

Talking about wheels up; I noticed that Bigfoot 01 has posted some pics of his museum with some hanging aircraft wheels up and some with wheels down. BTW, Bigfoote01, I am sure we all would love to see a more detailed view of your museum. And, I notice that Swanny's model room has a combination of hangers with wheels up and down.

 I, for one, agonize over building my hangers with wheels up or down. On one hand a hanger may look more authentic with the wheels up. On the other hand you loose much of the wheel/well detail; and you loose the option of displaying your model on the ground. Anyone care to share their display philosophy on how and why they display their hanging aircraft.

B17Pilot

Catching up on things, been busy with work and then the sinuses started acting up:

Good looking B-17s!

For those that want to do a wheels up, Swanny did it on a 17 a while ago, scroll down about half way and he describes what he did to get the wheels retracted.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

I have made small progress on my -D.  The radio compart is all done, still trying to get the top hatch to fit. Next up is a major repair job where she broke in two.

Thanks for the find! I already have one B-17 with gear down but nothing beats the look of the Fort in flying mode gear up (although Im thinking about twisting the props and have it as her last landing.)

So since I cannot make up my mind of doing the tail swapped version of last flight or last landing I will ask all of you.. Landing gear will be up and thats a for sure but should I do this model in flight or belly landing?

pzl66

So since I cannot make up my mind of doing the tail swapped version of last flight or last landing I will ask all of you.. Landing gear will be up and thats a for sure but should I do this model in flight or belly landing?

I'd say in flight. This way you dont have to do a diorama to go with it. Also, if you go with in flight, you could add prop blur to get the prop turning effect.

Handiabled, your visible B-17 look awesome! That is the next project on my desk.

Shipwreck, actually 99.9% of my collection is "gear down" for the reasons you mentioned including showing the detail of gear and allowing for flexibility in display. As far as my "museum" it is more of a man-cave in my basement. You can see all of my collection on Photobucket. Just search for "BigFoot01" and you can see all of my albums. Lots of aircraft, some ships, tanks, sci-fi and spacecraft. Lil bit of everything! My collection is for the most part OOB with minimal weathering. I guess after being around restored warbirds I like the "clean" look. I do like to load each aircraft up with the maximum weapons to show what they could haul. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v485/BigFoot01/

Might wanna grab the touch-up brush for that insignia.. One thing about Mongram's decals is that they are often off-register a skosh, so you want to ALWAYS trim close, even if it means getting a little "blue" in the process...  Difficult to see until it's too late, I know.. So just figure on it being that way,, lol..

Same thing happened to me and my P-39's top wing...  Fear not, for if you do take a little "blue" out, it's easier to touch up the insignia with a dab of MM Insignia Blue than it is to go around the whole thing with finish-color..

A little bit of dark grey in the form of a pin-wash would have looked good around that hatch, as well as going around the chin-turret fairing...  Little bit of silvering going on there with the decals too, but if you poke them in few places with a SHARP X-Acto point and brush a little more decal sovent over them, it might go away...

Might wanna hit that cheek-gun's barrel with some gunmetal or black, too.. You also have a little issue with the paint demarcation lines matching up at the wing-root..  That's always an issue when you paint the wings off the bird.. You just need to mask a little bit and give it a quick touch-up, really, to tie the areas together... The grey on the wing would curve down to the grey on the fuselage.. Also, you may want to touch up the de-icer boot-edges...

Here's a quick & dirty look at it fixed with "MS Paint" at the 'root..

Overall, a nice clean build with just a tiny few "Ah, Sh*ts" in there...

It's way too clean for my tastes, but that has nothing to do with your build...

Hi all,

Saw on pg 2 where 1/72 was welcome as well, so I thought I'd close my eyes and jump in the pool, too.

Quick Summary:  Going to get back to building (as I am strictly a seasoned amateur )  Last spent time building nearly 15-20 years ago after college and a hand injury to work on control.)   Now, married with kids and just found out some details about my Dad's cousin who flew B17s with the 303rd in March/April of 1945.  Dad would take me to airshows as a kid and we'd built many a model, but he never knew much about his cousin, as his Dad moved to the West coast after the war and the families lost touch.

Thanks to the internet and a lot of hard work by the veterans, we were finally able to find out some details about his cousin Fred, so I'm going to start building some of the planes he flew--and hopefully get my kids to have as good a time with Dad, as I had with mine...

(if okay to link,)  from the 303rdBGs terrific website:   http://www.303rdbg.com/359stewart.html 

So for Christmas, the wife got me Revell's 1/72 B17G and some decals for "Sweet LaRhonda" with the 359thBS that Dad's cousin Fred flew a couple of times.    I've already picked up lots of great info and tips from this forum, and hope to develop a bit of skill over time.    I saw a great build of this kit by Kermit on the NMF 3 group build around page 6, and hope to do it some justice--but will enjoy it nonetheless.

First impressions:  forgot how small these are compared to 1/48!  My eyes aren't what they used to be, nor my fingers, but we'll have a go anyway!  First up, is the bomb bay, which has nice detail and surprisingly good fit overall wit the kit so far.

and partly assembled, with some touch ups and a piece or two still needed to finish this subassembly.

thanks in advance for the tips and advice!

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B17Pilot:

 

For those that want to do a wheels up, Swanny did it on a 17 a while ago, scroll down about half way and he describes what he did to get the wheels retracted.

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

Talking about wheels up; I noticed that Bigfoot 01 has posted some pics of his museum with some hanging aircraft wheels up and some with wheels down. BTW, Bigfoote01, I am sure we all would love to see a more detailed view of your museum. And, I notice that Swanny's model room has a combination of hangers with wheels up and down.

 I, for one, agonize over building my hangers with wheels up or down. On one hand a hanger may look more authentic with the wheels up. On the other hand you loose much of the wheel/well detail; and you loose the option of displaying your model on the ground. Anyone care to share their display philosophy on how and why they display their hanging aircraft.

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                                      I've done both as well,,, I don't think theres a right or wrong ,,just how you feel on displaying it,,,,,,,,good thing my wife likes me

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Thanks Hans for the great feedback, I'll try and put some of the issues to rights over the coming week, I know it's not a good thing to say but I lost my *** making this kit hence I left it for 8 months and didnt pay full attention when I returned. I have been doing a little weathering on my builds to get the feel but thought I would leave this one almost factory new :)

I dont know if you can see but used a little pin wash on the door like you suggested

corrected the guns, an over sight when painting the hull

Also added just a little weathering to the wings like I saw in a previous post, done the same underneath but forgot to take a pic :)

The major thing I corrected was the wheels, just a quick fix of sawing and bonding on the other side. I'm still learning after my 30 year break so the advice given is most welcome and I hope to improve  as I go, I have some pics of 3 other planes I have done please feel free to have a look and comment ( WWII European Aircraft )

Hmm they censored M*O*J*O ??????

AdrianUK

Hmm they censored M*O*J*O ??????

Yeah... It's a long story though...