1/48 Revell Early B-17G Flying Fortress COMPLETED !!!

Very crisp and clean Brandon.  It looks great from here.

Joe

lawdog114

Looking sharp Brandon. I've had success with clear 5 minute epoxy to hold the windows in place. I use the Gorilla brand. The bond is much better than the stuff you used.

 

Thanks for the heads up Joe, I picked some up and I'll give it a try.

BK

BrandonK

Update: Slowly making progress on A Bit O Lace. The interior is finally done and all the test fitting is complete and she'll go together without too much fuss. The glass is all masked, that was fun , and it is all installed. I used Micro Crystal Clear to secure the glass in place and fill the gaps. OH, and about those gaps, good Lord!! Many of the side windows fit pretty well, but the front corner windows and the two above the cockpit, not good, not good at all. 

The fit was so far off, the glass was too small, that I very nearly gave up on them and was ready to use a Squadron set. But, I think now that I have used plenty of Crystal clear to fill in the edges and hold the glass, they appear to be ok. We'll see about that when I try to pull the masks. It's too bad that the openings and the glass are so far off. Otherwise the kit's overall fit is not all that bad, given its age.

Your B-17 interior is looking really nice Brandon, although I fully agree with your comments about the glazing. When I built mine I used the kit-supplied parts for the gun 'blisters' on either side of the nose, but for all of the other individual windows I replaced them with panes cut from thin acetate. It was a bit of a drag cutting each one to fit its aperture but it did look much nicer when done, and they were so much clearer than the thick kit parts. 

Brandon, I have this one on my shelf as well and plan on getting it going this next Spring hopefully. I was seeing the difficulty you had with the upper fuselage windows and said it took a lot of Micro Crystal Clear to fill the gaps. Is this something that I could possibly make some ledges out of thin styrene strip to eliminate the gaps, sort of build a small ledge for the windows to sit on and then fill in the surrounding "canyons"?

The picture above is what I plan on doing with mine, also the olive drab version, instead of NFM.

Everything on the kit is totally fixable. The window fit could be solved with some styrene and patience. I plan to use Squadron canopy next time so that will be a whole new problem I'm sure.

BK

Well, Ive had a major setback with the Alclad. I'm not even gonna bother you with the details. I'm off to order rattle cans and change the scheme. I will not be using Alclad on a kit again. Too many problems. Bare metal foil next time.

BK

BK

What the heck hapenned? The first shot shows a great NMF.

plasticjunkie

BK

What the heck hapenned? The first shot shows a great NMF.

At a guess, masking for the anti-glare panels on the engines pulled the Alclad up.  I've read of that happening before.

I've grown to hate this stuff. I won't be using it on a full kit again. Bits and bobs, but that's it. I cleaned and sanded the kit. I primed the surface fully with Alclad black primer and microfiller, and sanded that smooth as heck. Shot the Alclad polished aluminum, a bottle and a half with multiple coats. Let it dry 2 days and clear coated it with Alclad Aqua gloss, twice. Let that dry two days. Masked for the anti-glare paint and this happens. 

I've already sanded it all down with 3000 grit and will shoot some OD over NG in the next few days. I have enough NG, but I think I may run out of OD. Next one of these is gonna get the full bare metal foil finish. I'm just at my whits end with the stuff.

BK

BrandonK

I primed the surface fully with Alclad black primer . 

When I saw your post and what hapenned I suspected that you used their black primer. I have heard horror stories about that black primer. They had a lot of problems with the early batches so maybe you had one of those?

I use Testors gloss black enamel in the small bottle and haven't had an issue yet. Sorry to see that happen to you BK.

plasticjunkie

 

 

BrandonK

I primed the surface fully with Alclad black primer . 

 

 

 

 

When I saw your post and what hapenned I suspected that you used their black primer. I have heard horror stories about that black primer. They had a lot of problems with the early batches so maybe you had one of those?

I use Testors gloss black enamel in the small bottle and haven't had an issue yet. Sorry to see that happen to you BK.

 

BK

Man that hurts.  I can truly understand your frustration though.  For me if I am planning to do anti glare or de icing areas I try to paint and mask them prior to doing the Alclad.  I really hope you reconsider and try it out again buddy.

Joe

BK

A similar thing hapenned to a friend of mine except the AB was spitting globs of the Alclad black primer. It was apparently an older bottle.

If you want to be cautious you can use Joe's method of masking the panels first or use post it notes that are less tacky.

As an example, I shot Testors gloss black enamel on my 1/72 Fujimi Cutlass, then Alclad polished aluminum was sprayed the following day. I taped up some panels and shot more polished alum darkened with steel. Nothing pulled up when the masking was removed. The finish is not sealed.

Hey Brandon, sorry to see your paint problems.  I use Krylon gloss black as my base for Alclad and have not had issues masking over it. I just decant it from the big rattle can and shoot through the AB.  Krylon is cheap from Walmart and lasts a long time.

Steve

I've been doing some reading and apparently the Alclad primers with  microfiller are just paint with filler and have a history of not curing, even when allowed to for some time. Then the Alclad lifts the primer and it all goes to hell. It sprays like total garbage too. I may use it for painting things like de-icing boots, but no more base coats.

I'll try the regular black paint for base coat next time. This one is not getting another Alclad spray. Too much to cover it up. Changing the scheme to Man O War. I have that decal set also. I'll use the Bit O Lace for the bare metal foil I plan to do next.

Thanks guys,

Bk

If it's going to be OD you may want to do hairspray or salt chipping since the Alclad will be underneath.

plasticjunkie

 

 

BrandonK

I primed the surface fully with Alclad black primer . 

 

 

 

 

When I saw your post and what hapenned I suspected that you used their black primer. I have heard horror stories about that black primer. They had a lot of problems with the early batches so maybe you had one of those?

I use Testors gloss black enamel in the small bottle and haven't had an issue yet. Sorry to see that happen to you BK.

 

Do you primer you model first then spray enamel black ? 

Rick 

I rarely use primer unless thare are areas with putty which I try not to have when using Alclad otherwise I just shoot the gloss black enamel on the plastic.

Sorry to hear about the Alclad woes. I used Aqua Gloss as my undercoat for the Alclad metals, since their black paint takes FOREVER to cure. I also coated with aqua gloss before I masked when I built my P-51, which I think helped a lot.

Just a note on clears with Alclad: The first time I used it, I don't think I waited long enough from paint drying to put on decals and then spray Klear Kote (their laquer gloss coat - Aqua Gloss is acrylic). Anyway, it changed the color of the polished aluminum everywhere but under the decals themselves, which would have been fine, except it basically ended up being a carrier film highlighter.

Since then, I just clear before decals, then clear after as I would with flat paints. Helps tremendously.

-BD-

BD

I know that Alclad recommends to seal their high shine colors prior to decaling but I haven't done that and not even Solvaset which is very strong damaged the high shine unsealed Alclad. I make certain that it's cured by leaving it sitting for at  least 3-4 days minimum just to be safe.

Well, now that I've sanded it all down with 3000 grit and slept on it I have looked the kit over and most of the alclad is intact. One wing and some spots here and there are worn through, so I am going to give it one more go.

I will paint all the colored areas first and get all them sealed and then mask them off, shoot some Tamiay flat black, to match the primer and only in the worn through areas. I will use the black to fade the blended areas and then focus on the tough spots. If it blends well I'll clear coat it with Alclad so it all matches.

I thought about it alot and I think this may work to repair the NMF. The bird is very dull in the photos, so the clear gives it more of a weathered look anyway. I'll  post up when I have some more results.

BK

infofrog

Not trying to change subject . If you sand surface to smooth . Will this cause issue ? Paint not bonding to surface ? To slick Thanks Rick

 

Actually when using Alclad high shine paints, the surface has to be ultra smooth to get the best reflection and metal look/tone effect. Polishing prior to Alclad is good too.

Okay, I've been hard at it today. I masked and painted the yellow and OD portions of the plane as they appear in this post war photo. The plane received extensive damage during combat and was repaired using large parts of a donor plane. So, the colors are a hodge podge. They also attempted to remove the OD from the upper left wing. I tried to replicate the chipping on that wing. The lower portion was NG and I don't have any good photos so I am assuming they left it mostly alone since it blended with the NMF better. 

I also applied the NG under the left wing and the black stripe. I still have to do the right wing upper with the black stripe and both OG fuselage stripes. I will tackle those tomorrow. I also need to apply the anti-glare to the engine nacels. Once this is done I will tackle repairing the Alclad. I hope it works.

BK

Here is why she needed so much repair.

Looks like you are making a complete recovery and is looking very good. The Alclad is relatively easy to touch up in the damaged areas.

This is an excellent kit. I built it for my grandson, although I didn't do all the extra interior painting and detailing. I did give it a green exterior, which came out pretty nice and it made the Reader's Gallery of FineScale website, for February 2015. I just wasn't doing the silver look to it. But your build is coming along quite nicely. Keep up the great work and can't wait to see the finished model.

lawdog114

It's their Black Primer....it sucks. Use the Grey. It's much better I've been using it for years...

 

I've completed the color painting and have resprayed the wings in Tamiya semi-gloss black to match the tone of the primer so I can get a close match overall. I'll be re-shooting the Alclad over the wings today and hopefully it will look good.

Thanks again,

Bk

Well I have completed the repaint of the wings and they look much better. I need to complete the chipping on the lower NG portion, but overall I can live with the NMF on the wings now. As long as I don't mask them I should be fine.

I will re-spray/overspray the fuselage today as it only need some small bits here and there. Once that is complete I should be close to decals.

BK

WOW What a save !  looking REAL good.