Mighty 8th GB 1-Nov-2010 - 31-Oct-2011

Yep - it's Col. David Schilling's "Hairless Joe". He was CO of the 62nd FS when they came to England in January '43, and became CO of the 56th in August '44.

I actually came across an image of "Hairless Joe" with a yellow cowl band in a research book I picked up...may have to tuck that away for later...

I went the conservative route. I'm doing Johnson's "All Hell". Now if I could figure out how to get "all hell" on the right side of the cowling I'd be in business. The decal sheet I bought doesn't include the name of the aircraft. I'll have to try and free hand it.

For anyone else building a B-24D I found some good shots of the nose interior....

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/b24dinteriorcloseupkh_1.htm

A bit more progress on the Jug tonight. Got the cowl attached, also (not shown) got the prop tips and gear bays/interior gear doors painted. Had the CA accelerator leave a strange line on the red cowl, so I think I'm going to go touch that up tomorrow - then it's prime time! I must say, I'm looking quite forward to painting this bird...

I'm getting closer to the paint booth. It's almost ready for the paint booth.

I went with the closed cowel (sic) because the flap actuators are pretty prominent and I didn't think I could scratch build them.

While I'm waiting for Airfix to replace the damaged left fuselage that came with the kit, I've been working on what I can, and started a second B-17G from the stash, also from Airfix.  Fortunately, the second one seems whole and undamaged.  I plan to build it as "Our Gal Sal" from the 100th Bomb Group.

Here are the two cockpits, with pilots installed from some Hasegawa Forts.  I replaced the heads with other heads transplanted from Airfix's AAF personnel.  I snipped off each head with nippers, drilled a hole in the pilot bodies and superglued the replacement heads.  Then primed and painted.  I think this gives some variety, and besides I like the look of the crush cap.

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0][View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

I ran into conflicting information about the colors in the nose compartment.  Most said the walls were padded with a material in bronze green, sometimes with fixtures like the seats in interior green, which I've tried to replicate here with similar colors.  Some sources said the floors were unpainted wood; another source said the pilot compartment was wood with the bombadier compartment left in unpainted metal.  So I've done one in each.  I wonder who's right? 

So far I've assembled wings and tail planes for both, and painted one set of fuselage halves, but those aren't interesting enough for a photo.

It's been good to see the progress you all have been making. 

Checkmate-  The possibilities for the colors on the different compartment of the forts are endless.  Alot of the planes were different and you wouldnt be wrong any of the combinations.  Pretty much any shade of interior green/zinc chromate/yellow would work.    I dont think theres a definitive "right" way to paint the interior of a fort, so just go with whatever you want.

If you are looking for more figures for your B-17s,  I found  full crew sets at squadron.com .  Legend Productions Korea B-17 crew set LF7202 $24.29 on sale.  Also for USAAF interiors check out http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm

Time for me to catch up as i have had a *** of a week getting on line. red, love those B-24D photos, i had not realised that site did things like that. They will come in really handy at a later date.

checkmateking02 So is that another kit to add to what your building for this GB. I assume that a 1/72nd scale kit. Did that come with marking for a 100th BG aircraft. Will be a pleasure to add another build from a Norfolk Group. I have an Acedamy 17G with a set of AM decals for my 100th build,  and i will be very much looking forward to yours.

DoogsATX, lovely work as always, and i am still amazed at how quick you can put these together and yet your work is still first class.

jbrady I hate masking, i normally use tamiya tape but i can never get it perfect. But i have just for the first time use an Eduard marsking set. I really loved this stuff, especially for the B-24 i was doing with lots of small pains. How is it coming along. Have you tried liquid mask, i am not to keen but it might be worth a try for you.

Great work guys, thanks very much for all your effort.

Bish: Haven't tried liquid mask, what I'm doing now is cutting thin strips of Tamiya tape to outline the frame and filling in the rest with Micro Mask... The next three kits are all Accurate Miniatures (hope I'm ready for those) that come with masks. Does Eduard make a mask set for the Tamiya Bolt? I know I will be building more.

I have just checked hannants and yes they do. They have a few in 48th scale, for dfferent makes and aircrfat types.

This is the one for the tamiya D-20

. http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/EDEX008

They also do one for a D-25. Not sure what you best source would be in the USA. I was not planning on buying any of these, i just got s few sets with soem Big Ed sets i bought. But after useing one i will deffinatly be getting some more, especially for the bomber kits i have, and i may try one of the fighter masks.

This is my B-24 kit with the masks in place

And this is it after the masks were removed, no leakage at all

So i would deffinatly recomend them.

And i was going to post a few pics of this anyway, as it is related. This is the B-24H i have just finished for the IMS IV GB. It is a hasegawa J kit i convernverted. The markings are from extradecal and show a plan from the 466th BG based at Attelbridge (Station 120) in orfolk, and is the first in my plan to build aircraft from all 37 military airfields in the county.

Thanks for the info. I'll see if squadron carries them. Thought you might like this map. Traffic control must have been a *** when a maximum effort raid was on.

Yep, Eduard makes masks for pretty much all the Tamiya and Hasegawa Jugs. I've got a mask for one of my Razorbacks and have every intention of using it. 

One thing I've found, though - the masks are good, but they aren't always perfect. I think it's a combination of impossible-to-attain tolerances between the masks and canopies, and my own butterfingers in applying them. But on my Dauntless I came up against one mask that was just too small for its window, and another that was just too big.

But the convenience, especially around curvy bits and sharp, triangular angles, is great.

O, thats a nice map, thanks for posting that. Yes, it is a bit packed in this area with old bases. There are 3 former B-17 bases with 20 mins drive of where i live. And when i drive upto Norwich to visit family, i pass several more, including Bodney and Snetterton. You can see why the Lead ships were so useful.

redraider:  Thanks.  The lack of consistent practices makes for more interesting models, I think.  It keeps the same kit from looking like the last one or the next one.

Little J:  Thanks for the link.  I will take a look at it.  The Legends crew looks very fine.  I think a model with a full crew at their stations would be sharp, maybe built wheels-up in flight configuration.

Bish:  Yes, the second Fort is also Airfix 1/72.  Decals will come from PYN-up Decals "Fortress Chicks Part 3" and represent "Our Gal Sal" from the 351st Bomb Squadron of the 100th BG (B-17G-30-BO).  The group was stationed at Thorpe Abbots (Station 139).  Your B-24 looks outstanding; very impressive.  It obviously has a well done interior.

I used to get B-17 masks from a company called "Black Magic."  They are defunct now.  They normally worked well, but they were made from something that reminded me of black electrical tape, and wouldn't always conform well to curves--sometimes pulling up and leaving an underspray.  Still, they made the process go faster than the "strip of tape and fill in with liquid mask" method.

I saved a couple of sheets, thinking I might be able to use them to make photocopies, then use the photocopies to cut masks from tape.  I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it would work.

Based on this discussion, I took a look for some alternatives and I see Eduard makes masks for both Academy and Hasegawa kits B-17G, available in the USA from Squadron (nothing it seems for the "F" model).  On closer inspection, it appears that the Eduards mask set contains parts for both the F and the G models.

jbrady:  I also appreciate seeing the map.  It puts things into perspective.

Alot of the Eduard stuff for B-17 F's and G's covers both types, i think the only set that is different is the front interior. I am pretty sure i have the mask for the F with the big Ed set i got. I think for my G kit i had to get seperate sets so haven't got a mask for that one yet.

I don't suppose those decal sets include a set for a B-17 from the 452nd BG from Deopham Green. 

The interiour on the B-24 is very nice, even OOB.  The Eduard set really sets it off, though you can't see alot of it.

Just found those decals and bummer, no they dont have then ones i want. I will find some markings for a 452nd B-17 if its the last thing i do. But i have just seen that the pther markings from the set you have atre for a Bury St Edmunds based aircraft. I might have to get a set of those.

checkmateking02: A little more perspective, the 8th suffered 26 thousand battle deaths... that's more than the US Marines from 1942 to 1945. I tend to forget that sometimes and I shouldn't.

On that note, as i am now on two weeks leave, i am planning to get around my local area to get some photos of some of the memorials around here. I am also planning on visiting the American cemetry near Cambridge, where almost 3,000 crew from the 8th are buried.

Here's three from around Halesworth.

Slightly larger

jbrady:  Thanks for the photos of the monuments.  They are impressive.  I didn't know about them until now.

Bish:  I checked the B-17's I've built over the years.  Hasegawa has released and re-released their "F" and "G" over and over again with varying markings, and I thought they might have included decals for the 452nd BG at some point.  The group designator was a letter "L" in a square?  Unfortunately, no luck.  There doesn't seem to be too much of anything done for planes of the 45th Combat Bomb Wing, 3rd Air Division.

And, by the way, how is "Deopham" pronounced?

According to a site called "Friends of the Norfolk Dialect" (not kidding) it's pronounced deepum. I'd wait for Bish on this one.

checkmateking02: I refined the acryl wash I had trouble with and I got this result.

That's over bare plastic. When I try it again I think I'll use a darkened base color instead of black. The mix was 6 parts water 2 parts paint and 4 drops of dish detergent.

Deepum looks about right. In any word that ends with HAM, we don't pronounce the H. Though to be fair that applies to anywhere in England, not just Norfolk or East Anglia. And theres alot of examples of that over here. The most famous one i guess would be Buckingham Palace. It can be rather odd hearing you guys, especially as you stress the HAM, were as we would pronounce it Buckinam

 I will have to check that site out, thanks.

Your right about the 45th, i do have a set of decals for the 96th BG, thats what i am useing for this GB, but those are the only ones i could find. Thanks for the info. I will keep a look out for anything with that tail marking.

jbrady:  I think using a darkened base color would probably work--or maybe a very thin black wash.  I don't remember where I read it but somehow it's in my mind 1 part color to 9 parts thinner (with a "couple" of drops of detergent).  You might be able to get some of the overage off with a moistened  q-tip/cotton swab.  For myself, I have never had much good results with washes.  Either they come out too light to see or they look like sludge.  I admire your efforts.

Bish:  Thanks for the pronunciation clues.  I used to be certified to teach reading (corrective and developmental) by our state's Department of Public Instruction--and I must say "deepum" defies every rule of phonics they taught us back in the day.  I would never have guessed!

As for my Fortress, I am now playing around with installing Squadron waist windows of the three piece "canted" variety.  According to photos, they were attached from the outside, which means my earlier installations in other models is WRONG, when I installed them from the inside.

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0] 

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/:550:0]

Unfortunately, the Squadron pieces are almost too small to cover the openings.  They make a set specifically for the Airfix/Academy kits--but they are way too small.  So I'm using the Hasegawa-specific type, and they are a bit better, but it is still fiddly work to try to line them up, cover the opening, and get them glued in without messing superglue all over the place.  The 8th Air Force wouldn't have had many planes if I'd been on the assembly line back then.

Its interesting you mention those waiste windows. I have two more B-24J's in the stash both to be built as H models. One of those has waiste windows similar to those. I wounder if those ones will fit a B-24. Could you give me the details of those windows, i will see if i can find them over here.

Apparently, you guys speake real English, it's us who has corrupted it. You guys seem to stick to the rules of phonics, where as we just threw them out the window.

Try Worcester and Leicester pronounced Wister and Lester.

Ah, the rules of phonics; and every one of them has exceptions!  Bernard Shaw, I understand, once proposed spelling "fish" as "ghoti" (enough  women nation).

And "Wister" and "Lester"--who would have thought?

About the waist windows, I think I saw that Hannants carries them.  I don't know if Squadron makes a set specifically for B-24's, but the B-17 windows measure 15mm long X 10mm width (top to bottom) once they are removed from their "frame."  They are vacu-formed.  This is for the Hasegawa-type set.  The Airfix/Academy set doesn't even include enough material for the frame, and they are peculiarly formed below the surrounding plastic so they can't be cut any bigger.  On the Airfix/Academy kit, as you know, the starboard waist window has to be cut out by the modeler, so the opening could be cut to fit the window, I suppose; but the port side window is already open, and would have to be closed in somehow around the window.  Both sets come with additional windows for other places in the fuselage.  The nose cones are handy.

One thought for the waist windows - what about thermoforming them? 

Finally made some picture-worthy progress on the Jug tonight. SnJ spray enamel on the underside.

Here's the starting point:

The enamel sprayed on:

And...after polishing:

All in all, it's looking pretty decent - I obviously could've done a better job on seam duty, though. 

I'd originally intended to use Talon acrylic, but (again) had a hell of a time getting it to spray out of the airbrush. Seems to require at least 3/4 throttle to flow consistently, and at that rate it's almost impossible to go with the light, misting coats.