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

Looking good, Tiny.

Hey y'all...it's been a while since we've had some updates, so here's where I'm at.  I just shot the paint and assembled the engines on the left wing...It is Olive Drab on top of Cammo Grey.

A lot of attention was paid to the seems in the wings and the engines.  Man, those sanding sticks are absolute money!  I can't believe I'd never used them before.  I used to use sand paper, that's why I hated sanding prep so much.

I was going to use liquid mask to do the curves in the engines, but used masking tape instead. 

I know the Cammo Grey isn't...well...really all that grey at all, but I really love the colour combination.  It has great contrast but matches well. 

As you may have noticed, I didn't do the salt crystal method.  To be honest, I don't like this method.  It leaves a bit of a ridge when you remove the salt.  To be honest again...I don't know if I'm gonna wheather the exterior at all.  I've never put this much work into a piece, and I'm kinda afraid of totally wrecking it.  I may build a single engine fighter and try out wheathering...

Well, hope you guys like the progress and I hope you guys are hard at work on your Forts...I know it's a busy time of year but...FORTS FIRST...FAMILY LATER!  (just kidding guys)

Well, after seeing all the great work that's going on in here, I started gearing up for my own build.

I got the re-release of the visible B-17 with the intention of going super crazy with the detailing.  So I just placed and order with Eduards for the Big Ed PE set, which includes every PE detail set that Eduards makes for the big bird.

When the sets arrive, I'm going to photo document the build (well, try to, anyway), so I'll post a link here to a new thread that everyone can follow.

-Fred

Decided to take a break from the birds and start on the base... 22" X 24" was the smallest i could get cut and still have room for the trucks, compressor and tent... 

I'm using a 2 X 4 foot ceiling tile for base material... Light, easy to gouge, and CHEAP!!! (Hope the wife doesn't notice it's missing from her sewing room until I get to the hardware store)

 I'll glue the other half to the bottom of the base to make it sturdy enough, and frame it out with some wood stripping...

While that's fermenting (meaning I've now glued the top half to the bottom and I'm waitin' on Elmer), I'm starting on the tent and compressor..

Trying to reason out something here... I wonder about the guns, specifically the flex-mounts... I'd imagine that the guns would be stripped at the same time someone was picking up the crew at the crash-site, that they wouldn't walk away from 13 .50 cals and leave them for anyone to take while the recovery crew gets notified and deploys... 

EDIT: Well, I guess I can say that I fell victim to not following the "6-P Rule": Prior Planning Prevents P*ss-Poor Performance...

In making the squad tent, a standard M-34 pryamid tent, I scaled it out a mock-up of the walls in 1/48th and found that's too big for the base I'm using... SO... It looks like the recovery dio is out for this Fort and I'm back to 12 O'Clock High...  The tent has a 16-foot X 16-foot "footprint" which is 1 1/16th inches X 4 1/2 inches, and that's just the tent.  It doesn't include the ropes which extend even farther out...

I hate starting over or modifying a WIP, but that's the nature of the beast... I broke my own rule about mocking up before committing to the build, lol.. Or as I put it, "Mock-up or F- Up"...

Hans von Hammer wrote:

The CA on the little cards is the brand-name "Super Glue" I use, Tiny... Works on all non-pourus materials.. Just easier to type "CA" than "Super Glue".. The stuff works fine for PE, so you don't need to pay hobby-shop prices for hobby-brand CAs... The little tubes on the card are the same stuff.. If you want it thicker, squeeze some into a beer-bottle cap and let it sit for a bit.. It'll thicken nicely...  I tried the Jet CA and others like it in the hobby shop when I was ignorant on the actual make-up of these "Specially-made for the Modeler" products, but used so little that the bottle would be useless after a period... There goes 5 bucks into trash can...  So I just use the little tubes on the card now... Cheap and if the tube goes "bad", it's no big deal... And you can buy it anywhere...  Kinda the same reason I use vinegar for decal set... .99 cents a pint for vinegar, 2.49 for a 1/4 oz of "Decal Set"... Phooey...

I had the same problem with Zap-A-Gap, I found that I could open a new bottle, use it for a while, then it would harden all at once.  Dis-a-POINTED!

Does vinegar really work as a decal setting solution?  I've never heard that, but I'll have to try it.  I take it you're using white distilled vinegar for that?

Good tips, thanks!

Brad

Eh crap....yeah I did see that.....stupid metal frame!

Why the CA, it's a screw on metal frame.

Sure, the frame screws onto the bed and the cab, but the styrene leaf springs, bumpers, fuel tank, and exhaust get glued to the metal frame.. 

The CA on the little cards is the brand-name "Super Glue" I use, Tiny... Works on all non-pourus materials..

Just easier to type "CA" than "Super Glue".. The stuff works fine for PE, so you don't need to pay hobby-shop prices for hobby-brand CAs... The little tubes on the card are the same stuff.. If you want it thicker, squeeze some into a beer-bottle cap and let it sit for a bit.. It'll thicken nicely... 

I tried the Jet CA and others like it in the hobby shop when I was ignorant on the actual make-up of these "Specially-made for the Modeler" products, but used so little that the bottle would be useless after a period... There goes 5 bucks into trash can...  So I just use the little tubes on the card now... Cheap and if the tube goes "bad", it's no big deal... And you can buy it anywhere...  Kinda the same reason I use vinegar for decal set... .99 cents a pint for vinegar, 2.49 for a 1/4 oz of "Decal Set"... Phooey...

Hi, Tiny, for the PE parts, how about a slower-acting CA glue, or a 2-part epoxy.  I'm thinking, slow drying time, which would give you time to deploy some glue to an applicator (that sounds so formal; I really meant "toothpick", which is what I use for this kind of work), then apply it to the piece, and adjust it, before the glue sets up.

When I said "slower-acting", I'm thinking of a medium-flowing glue.  I use Hobbytown's store brand, and it comes in 3 levels of flow, or drying time.  The fast flowing dries fastest, and there are 2 grades of slower flow that they offer.  I used to use Zap-A-Gap, but I never bought but the same formula, which was quick-flowing and drying.

But I use that technique for metal-to-styrene joins, and they seem to hold up OK.

I'm sure the rest of the guys will have good tips for you!

Regards,

Brad

No sweat on the bomb racks, T-man... The funny part was that we were both missing the same part from a kit...

I don't think I've ever installed those bomb racks in any of the previous Forts I built, since the bomb bay isn't open and once I set a completed model down, it doesn't get seen again on the underside...

I don't know how much of yours will be visible through the door, but you might wann add some yellow markings to them before you close it up...  It'll increase the visibility of the bombs if'n ya want to..

Hammer - I finnished up the bomb racks today.  Thanks again for the hook up!

I recently got my photo-etched detail kit in the mail.  I havn't worked with this shtuff too much...does anyone have any secret tips on how to execute this stuff?  I don't want to get my bird done...start with the PE detailing and completley wreck my work.  I've never put this much work into a model before and I don't want to mess it up.  Any suggestions would be appreciated...like, what glue do I use?  Model cement will not bond this stuff...I remember that much.  How do I trim off the excess metal?...its not like trimming away scratch. Thanks guys!

I wouldnt mind getting one of those dueces too, half to use a hobby lobby coupon for it though. Dont they run about $35-40?

Yeah, yer gonna want the coupon... Sticker's 34.00 and change without it... Just happens to be another 40% week from 1-6 Dec..

The American recovery will probably be the way I go... There's the technical aspect of the inflatable rubber bladders they used to lift the aircraft to lower the gear that's kinda cool, along with the compressors and tenting used.  Usually worked in two-truck sections with one truck carrying the recovery gear and compessors and the other the crew, parts, tools, and tentage...

It would be easy to work an engine change into the recovery (more likely two) as well... If an engine's running when the prop strikes the ground, it usually causes crankshaft damage, so it'd be quicker to change out an engine in the field than rebuild one..

Hans von Hammer wrote:

-OR- A German recovery crew doing the same in France or Belgium, perhaps...  At any rate, I got enough Forts to actually do all three, lol....

I say do one as a us recovery, and another as a german recovery. one as a ship on the it's tarmac undergoing.....perhaps an engine change. Lots of opportunity for scratch there. The german recovery would be cool. I've read about how they had to work asap because allied fighters would strafe it when found, yet carefully because of unexploded ordnance. You could still do a complete wreck of one, the germans would still clean up the site for any useful parts from the wreck and take the remains to a scrap yard and meltdown the airframe.

I wouldnt mind getting one of those dueces too, half to use a hobby lobby coupon for it though. Dont they run about $35-40?

Look's like your copying shep payne's dio.

Damage's similar, but the dio isn't... Right now, it's planned as a scene similar to LT Bishop's (Paul Mantz's) landing in 12 O'Clock High...   Could wind up as a recovery operation too, haven't decided which way to go yet... Bth have a decent story, Bishop's is probably the easiest to recognize, but the recovery will show another side of B-17 ops in which recovery crews went around England getting crash-landed but flyable Forts back up on their "feet" and ultimately, back into the air... The latter will give me an excuse to buy a couple more Tamiya 1/48th Deuces...

-OR- A German recovery crew doing the same in France or Belgium, perhaps...  At any rate, I got enough Forts to actually do all three, lol....

Hans.......like tiny said, looking good, I'm digg'n the battle damage. Look's like your copying shep payne's dio.

Tiny.......hans cut the stabs off. None of the 48th scale kits come with any flight control's seperated. ........I was looking at the plumbing you did on your engines, I really want to do that, I'm leary of how much work that will be though, I've gotta do 8 engines here.

Well, I spent most of the night at the table tonight. Sorry no pics yet but I promise some soon. Both fuselages are sealed, the G's fuse is painted, od/ng. Some paint is started on the F's tail but I only want to go so far the paint on her till more of the nose is built. The nose....is started. She has her chin in place and is deffinetly an F model now, the bombardier's floor is also in place now, just need to build and fill and sand the rest of it. As for the paint scheme on her, she will obviously be od/ng but I'm considering adding the medium green mottled pattern to her upper surfaces. Her wings and horizontal stabs still need to be constructed though. I've gotta do all the little things to the wings. Open up all the little scoops on the nacelles and maybe even the vents behind each engine. The next 17 I build will be a later G and I wanna add the vents to the upper wing tips for the tokyo tanks.......but gotta get these 2 done first before I start another, maybe I'll do another tandem build. Holey crap....it's 2:30, I gotta go sleep now, sorry for any typo's, I'm going to bed now. More work 2moro, hopefully pics so I can go forward with the F nose.  

Minor update: I've shot the Fort with it's primary coat of color, found a few flaws that need addressed before I shoot the final base-colors... After I shot it, I took my knife and began opening up the pre-thinned areas of the fuselage and wings that took flak damage...  I also added a bit of internal structure in the right stab and elevator.  After I fix the flawed areas, I'll shoot it with the final colors and then start weathering and accentuating the flak-damage with chipped paint.  It'll be complete enough then for me to start construction of the base for the diorama.

Baron - Yup, I had to warm the wire ties with a lighter to make them more plyable.  Never would have worked unless they were heated up.  Thanks for the complements man, when I started the engines, I didn't know what I was getting myself into...phew!  160 holes drilled...80 pieces of wire and about 2 hours a piece.  I have them all plumbed now, just have 2 left with wires to paint.  I just hope it will be visable once everything is together.

I picked up a new Dremel today with a Walmart gift card I got...gonna use it to do some bullet holes I think.  I'm not gonna get too carried away with them, just a few lucky shots I think.

Tiny, the ammo chutes look great, glad that worked.  Did you find that you had to warm them, to get them to keep the shape you wanted?

Nice job dressing up the engines, too, very convincing!

Regards,

Brad