B-17G 1/48 43-39209 Sioux Princess

Here are some pictures of the actual bird that I'll be trying to replicate.

A big WELCOME to you Sir from a former E7 groundpounder USMC

As a USAF Cpt. I'm sure your insights and rememberances will be greatly valued on this site.

Welcome to the group!

Mike

Welcome from a former E4 in ECM back in the day.  Worked F4's (D, E, and RF) and G model BUFFs.

Look forward to your build in honor of your father.

Love the name of your pops A/C, do you have any pics of the nose art?

Welcome to the forum Black Optimus.

Welcome sir, and thank you for your service.

btw, my daughter is an E-3 at Ellsworth

Chris

Welcome to the gang!

My first attempt at my fathers plane was met with inaccuracies that I intend to fix this time around.  But here is the nose art and tail from the first plane I did.

Welcome to the Forum!

Thanks for your service.

Great looking work on the Fort!

I've finished the Pilot and Bombardier flight deck.  I'm using a paintbrush and so the authentic patina of age and wear is not going to show.  Zinc Chromate was used for the flooring and bulkheads. And I have to say I am not pleased with Testers version of "Wood".  It's too light and doesn't look "woodish" at all to me.  I'd change it but since it's all going to be covered up...

I found that if I take a round toothpick and cut off and end with the Sword of Exact-Zero it makes a perfect tool to create dials, seatbelts, buckles and anyother small dot like items.  My son recommended that I cut the clipboard off of one of the crew members and paint it to put on the bombardiers table...turned out ok, I even added a pseudo map as well.

I learned a new technique by dragging the exacto knife backwards on the non-sharp edge remove plastic.  I did this to open the bulkhead door behind the pilots.  Low risk, just need a steady hand.

Hope you enjoy...I'm making drastic changes to the radio room since it's very badly laidout.  I just need my Dremel cutting disks to arrive from China in order to do it!

Glad to have you here.  You're off to a nice start.  =]  I have a B-17 that I've shelved for now.  I was waiting to get my skills up for it...now it managed to find itself in line behind a bunch of other smaller builds.  =/

One thing I noticed in your cockpit is the fire extinguisher.  Back then they weren't really painted anything...they were just left in the brass color of the container.  Not sure if it really matters much to you.  I think it's fine it you wanted to leave it.  Most of this will be virtually unseen unfortunately.  I for one am always working to make these builds as close to the real thing as I can, so if you're one of those too...then I try to throw it out there for you.  =]

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Welcome sir from a former E4 AGE Ranger!  Cockpit is looking good so far

Looks nice. I like the desk, your son had a great idea to set it apart.  For the panels, I take a real stiff bristle round brush and cut to about 3/16" long for dry brushing either silver or flat steel to bring up the highs.  Late wife never missed that brush.

So I began the Radio Operator room and decided to go with wood flooring on either side of the black rubber walkway down the center of the room. 

I removed the molded desk with my exacto knife drawing it backwards on the dull edge to carve out the plastic.  I then took some balsa wood and sanded it down to , cut to fit and painted brown to get a better wood look.

I thencut out the desk and a small length of brass tubing for a desk support.  Installed with a foam cube for support while the glue dried.  Then installed the chair and ball turret framework.

Next step in the daunting task of moving the right waist gunner window forward.

Measuring it out went will and I grinded off the wind buffer with the dremel. 

Great looking start there Captain. Welcome to the forum from a former E5.

Welcome Black,Op. I'd call you B.O., But I don't want to offend you LOL

I'm doing 2 17s (& a 24, its The Strawberry B. i. t. c. h.) currently The 17s are the Chowhound and Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby.

So, I'll be watching to see how your Dads Fort turns out. I had 2 uncles in 17s . My Dad flew a B-26. That will be next on my agenda.

Welcome Aboard

Ken

Perhaps this could be built as a cutaway, to let all that beautiful interior detail show.  Looks like a great model in the making!

B.O. is just fine.  Hopefully you live near Dayton Ohio so you can go to the museum there and photograph the B-24 Strawberry *** that's there.

I don't want to destroy the integrity of the plane by doing a cutaway...gathers to much dust anyways.  It'd be nice but not doable.  The hardest part of this build will be handpainting the nose art on it.

Black Optimus

B.O. is just fine.  Hopefully you live near Dayton Ohio so you can go to the museum there and photograph the B-24 Strawberry *** that's there.

I'm told Dayton Ohio is about 6 or 7 hours drive from me. So, I'm not sure when that will happen. I'm glad its not this week. They're getting about 10 tons of snow as I type this. I'm in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

Have you thought about making your own decal for it vice handpainting?  It might make life a lot easier and the decal paper and bonder spray might be cheaper than all the different paint colors you might need.

Groot

Newest completed items include the top turret and the ball turret.

The top turret was done with a bit of inprovised masking for the metal framework.  Paint doesn't adhere to the clear plastic so several coats were needed for complete coverage.

Ball turret was done using a flat light gray as a base coat and then aluminum was used for the final coat.  No masking was used for this as I did everything freehand.

The finished ball turret.

Looking fantastic.  My grandfather spent 13 missions one of those ball turrets.  I built his 390th BG plane about 8 years ago out of this kit and made mistakes too...maybe someday I'll take another crack at it.   Little suggestion, if you don't mind, try preshading your interior pieces flat black before adding the interior green.  It adds alot of depth and you'll love the result.  

Joe

So I got down to it and moved the right waist window forward.  used my Dremel with a diamond disk.  Ended up cutting 19mm instead of 18mm but when I cut the custom Koster window for it 19mm was perfect.  i'll still have to make small adjustments but all in all i'm happy with the results.

I also removed the excess resin from the wheels.  Used the diamond disk then a barrel sander to grind away the excess resin...I think I inhaled (thanks Bill)!

When you get her done, and you still are not finished with the punishment Gods, then a cutaway fuselage and stub wings showing the interior would be a beauty to display alongside the complete bird.  A lot of work, but would be a beauty.  Just a thought from some one with way less skills and lots more time.

Hi.  I'm a former E7, US Army.  My father-in-law was the radio operator on the Souix Princess during its entire service in WWII.  He retired Professor Emiritus at Miami University.  Dr Stephen Hathaway (SSG as the radioman on the Souix Princess) passed in 2004.  I salute him and his heroic service in the war.  I thank you for modeling his and your Dad's war bird.