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

Tiny - That is some Sweet Progress, such a shame to close it up. I plan on building one of my "G -models" with the transparent fuse just to show off everything.

B17-Guy - For the Isng.# I will be robbing the numbers from two "Memphis Belle" kits (124485) the Wulf Hound as you know (124585) . Since I mostly build German Aircraft I have a healthy supply of Hakenkreuz and Balkenkreuz decals. For the faded out B and the DLXC I will stencil them out on frisket paper and paint them on.

I got the "Ball Turrent" plug fabbed out and bent to match the fuse bottom this afternoon, now I am mating up the wing halves. Yesterday I dipped cleaned and dipped all the "Glass" in Future. Nothing picture worthy but time consuming.

Tiny - for ammo belts maybe you could use some masking tape or perhaps scribe some .010" styrene ? Or better yet roll out some Millput and scribe it with a Razor saw to replicate the ammo belts

I found the Avtar pic on google...click on images and you'll find hundreds of pics of this bird. 

I just remembered I had pics of a B-17 from the Barksdale AFB in Shreveport Louisiana.  I was down there working for a few months and went to the museum at the base...check her out!

If anyone would like to see some more pics of various planes that were at the museum, let me know...i got pics of a B-29, B-52, P51 Mustang, SR-71 Black Bird...etc.

Hey guys...The weather here in Windsor has been terrible this weekend, so I've had plenty of time to work on the Fort.  I added some scratch built oxygen tanks to the forward cockpit and to the rear gunners compartment.

As mentioned before, i opened up the cockpit door and I've pretty much done all I can do with the fuselage half untill I get the bomb racks in the mail (Thanks again). 

I wouldn't mind adding some ammunition belts from the boxes to the guns...any suggestions on how to do that guys?  Please let me know, I think it would look awsome!

Freddie.....I'd love to see your work, you say it's a late G, I assume cheyenne tail?

FM Model and Greg......welcome aboard, the more the merrier, the people to learn things from.

Tiny....love the new avatar, where'd ya find that? I'd love to have that for a desktop background.

Man, this thing is really taking off here, we actually be able to do an actual group build here. I've never done one myself so I dont know all the rules.......ah screw it, No rules! Except one very important rule......HAVE FUN!!

EDIT: Almost forgot, the straps for the o2 tanks were made by cutting a piece of masking tape to rough lenght that would wrap around the tanks, stick said tape on to my cutting mat and painting it silver. The hard part is using a ruler and cutting the tape into very thin strips then peeling them off, one by one, 2 per tank.

Hans...Glad to have in our little build here, I cant to see what you do with that kit.

Summit.....Great idea building wulf hound, I want to do one of those but just cant bring myself to putting swastikas on one myself, even though I do have 2 captured mustangs lined up after the 17's are done. Then it's right back into another B-17!! I'm looking forward to seeing how your comes along. What decals are you using?

Summit again.......I did my O2 tanks by using 1/4" solid styrene rod cut to lenght then chucking them in the drill like tiny said. I used a metal file to round the ends, went much faster then a sanding stick, man, there was shaved styrene alll over the place, good thing I decided early on to go do it in the garage. I ended up making 18 of them, 4 smaller ones from kit sprue.It took forever but I think it was worth it. I actually started the 1 G model about a year ago, been working on it and the F model on and off since. I was only planning on just doing very basic painting on the interior then just slap it together. Then I got on these forums and stopped working the G for a bit reading all these tips cheats and tricks here and got to thinking. THEN, someone on arc was talking about converting a G to an F, I decided I wanted to try it, started working on the idea of how and got carried away. Then the F model got to about the same point of construction as the G was so I just started building them side by side. Wow! I talk alot, sorry about that. 

Hi Guys,

I'm in!!! Haven't had a heck of a chance to work in the last week but I hope to be back in the saddle again tomorrow. I'll snap some photos as I go along and ask for a critique or two.

Hope you guys won't mind me poking and prodding for info and advice as I go along.

Thanks,

Greg

B-17Guy - Tha "F" nose looks really good mocked up , I am surprised at how well the panel lins match up.  Tiny mentioned you were scratch building O2 Tanks also, How did you do yours ? I used sprue , razor saw and a sanding stick...Thats why I only made three

Freddie - Welcome aboard, Its always nice to see those "stalled" projects come back to the front line of the Bench !  

Cool Idea,for a group build.  I have a late model B-17G, mdeled after a ship flown by my uncle Orten H Symer, 349th BS, 100th BG.  It's a stalled project that I think now, it's time has come.  Time to finish her up.  I'll post picks when I can.  Thanks for the kick in the butt.

Freddie

It's great to have you on board Hammer...Looking forward to seeing your work!

Ok... Gol'durnit... After readin' here, mailin' Tiny his bombracks, and vac-forming B-17 Guy's new "F" noses all week,  I decided to go up to Hobby Lobby this morning and buy yet ANOTHER Fort... I now have three of 'em waiting to build, so I reckon I'll start one today sometime... Kinda glad I bought it, it was the only one left, and I had the 40% coupon to burn yet, so I walked outta there with it for 19.25... Can't beat that price with a stick... PLUS, I pre-ordered the Revell re-release of the 1/48th "Memphis Belle" about three/four weeks ago... May have to change m' handle to "Von Boeing"  and do one in KG 200 colors after this...

EDIT: WOW! I just opened the new kit and what did I find?  A reprint of the old Shep Paine Diorama tip-sheet of "In the Pink"!!! Talk about a blast from the past!!!  I woulda bought this kit weeks ago had I known it was in there! 

Ok...here's my entry into this thread, my 2 B-17's

this is most of my B-17 stuff, it has since grown, it's a mess I know.    

F model nose onto the G airframe 

I cut up the G and F noses to put them together for the F models nose to have bulged cheeks and the astrodome on top.

This/these are the current build project.

More pics will follow soon, I need space on the camera, all the flexible .50's are done, engines and props are almost done, wings for the G are done.                                                                                                                                        

-Tiny- wrote:

[I also started painting the ball-turret today.  I hand painted the framing on it but after researching pictures of it online, I noticed that it is mostly painted sheet metal with a little bit of window...so I masked off the windows and am going to spray it once the mask dries.  It said on the directions not to use water based paint...has anyone had a problem with this before?  If so let me know before I paint it tomorrow...Thanks guys.

I  coat my clear plastic in future to proect it then paint over the future. Havn't had an issue with water based paints on that.

Good call on the Foil...I've seen it done on a B-29, it looks sweet if done right.  It sounds like a great challenge...Good luck with it man!

I've decided to step it up a notch on my bomb-bay.  I didn't like the fact that the walls of the bomb-bay are full of ejection pin marks and indentations.  I removed the cockpit rear bulkhead that I already installed, removed and sanded the huge pin marks and filled the indentations with putty...

For an added personal touch, I decided to open the door...why the hell not eh?  I'm gonna use some sheet to duplicate the framing as well.

You can see the pin marks here...

Removed...Door opened.

I also started painting the ball-turret today.  I hand painted the framing on it but after researching pictures of it online, I noticed that it is mostly painted sheet metal with a little bit of window...so I masked off the windows and am going to spray it once the mask dries. 

It said on the directions not to use water based paint...has anyone had a problem with this before?  If so let me know before I paint it tomorrow...Thanks guys.

Ok just picked up the 1/48 Revell Kit.

Can't wait to get started maybe tonight.

I think I might try using foil on the outer surfaces fot that aluminium look. 

Trexx - I have no problems with you using an old started kit...I think it would be awsome if you would join us.

Summit - I also have no problem with adding the 1/72 either...I don't think we should restrict annything...if you have a Fort, build the Fort...thats it.

Your bird is looking awsome so far, very clean.  B-17 Guy has scratch built some oxygen tanks too, I like this idea.  I think I'm gonna give this idea a try.  Keep it up !

As mentioned earlier, I am building up an old Revell "Memphis Belle" F . The kit is Very Sparse with Interior Details. I scratch build a couple of oxygen bottles and wood box to spiff it up a little. Not going overboard on this as I have (6) G's in the stash to build for the details. This B-17 Im building will be mostly a different "Exterior Paint Version " for my collection

Kinda lacking compared to the Revell G versions

Trexx -I think this is more of a Build-along, Far as I know there is no Group Leader. It just happened that there were several members building B-17's and putting them into one thread seemed to make sense. I have no Problem with a partially started kit as I think the main thing is to Get them Built and Pick up Tips along the way.

  Tiny - I think 1/72 should be included also , the more B-17's the Greater the Squadron 

Anyone correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

Summit wrote:

Yeah Trexx that Spad can wait a little longer.....Mine (Spad)  is getting further out of reach on the bench   Com'on Trexx and join us

Question:

Could I join if I started my Monogram 1/48 B-17 back in the 70s? The only thing touched though is two engines that have been cut off the sprue and painted. Just thought I should put this out there.

 Uhh... My Spad will be built! I'm thinking of a full blown diorama with a tent hangar... After the new year, after the new year...

It looks excellent!  The whole plane is looking great!

trexx wrote:

Getting tempted with all this activity!

Come on man...everybody's doing it...feel the peer preassure trexx...

Sweet dude...looking forward to it bro.

Andy - I'm using the Monogram 1/48 "Visible" B-17G.  It comes with a clear fuselage half if you'd like to see all the interior guts.  I'm not gonna use the clear half....I'm gonna seal it up..that's why I'm taking plenty of pics of her.  P.S The clear half is already taken...I have yet to mail it...you know who you are.

Have a look at TowerHobbies.com that is an awsome site...they have many b-17's to choose from...I just ordered a B-52 myself.

Ron - As for the instrunment pannel...I tried to paint each guage white with a silver ring...it just didn't work out.  I cut and sanded off all of the guages and used the decal with some decal set.  It's kinda the quick and easy way out, but I like how it looks.

trexx wrote:

Getting tempted with all this activity!

"If you build it".............you can post your pics here and join us.

Come to to the dark side..........and build your B-17 trexx, you know you want to.

You can do it!!!! (waterboy)

modlvr wrote:

What kit are you using? I am having trouble finding a 1/48 B-17 anywhere.

The basis for these these builds is either the monogram/revell B-17G and Summit is building the Revell B-17F Memphis belle. I'm building 2, on is just the G OOB plus some scratch building, the other is a G being converted to an F. The B-17G kit is quite common, if you cant find it in a store, look online.

Tiny.....I'll have my pics posted here tonight. I'm in.