B-17 - group build!

Started by capt. R · 741 · 1 year ago
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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    No signs of imperfections, Bernard @lis
    Your work on the interior is excellent.
    You are really challenging the ones that still need to start this group build, like myself.

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    Jay Mitchell said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @lis, you can see on these instruction sheet show simple the interior is on this old kit. I’ve bought these Wabash Cannonball decals to use on it. I’ve had this kit a few years and would like to get it built one of these days.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @ssgt Great that You join us in B-17 Group build thread! I will be waiting for your start!

    Yes, Revel has very detailed interior too. Maybe even more than airfix, because, as I remember correctly, there are even tapes with ammunition for side machine guns! Before I got the Airfix model as a gift, I also thought about the Revell model for a long time.

    @pb_legend @fiveten @johnb This are few B-17 that interestin me to build. What Do You think about it?

    6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    All looking great, my friend @lis!
    I would go for the Yankee Girl 🙂

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @ssgt @pb_legend @fiveten @johnb

    So the time has come for the creme de la creme, which is a spherical belly turret. I specially prepared the radar dome and turret at the same time to see how it is assembled. See for yourself. You can see a large, ugly seam. After painting with a primer it didn't look too bad, but overall something is missing there. The most interesting thing is that the guy from this movie:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWCxBbDoHE

    he put it on at the very end of the construction. I do not know how he did it, but it may have the ability to penetrate the fuselage walls because it cannot be pushed through the fuselage opening after assembly without any damage. You just have to follow the instructions here.

    What is Your advice? At first glance, the turret loses to the radar due to the visible seam, although it cannot be denied that its assembly was very nice, and at first before I build this turret, I want o plane with belly turret. I was supported by transparent Tamiya glue. Which is probably better than the microscale transparent glue. Remember that using radar is the same as choosing a Yankee Girl paint from Bomb Group 303, letter "C".

    3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    It is true that the radar looks very nice, my friend @lis 🙂

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @ssgt @pb_legend @fiveten @johnb

    Due to the fact that I have an alternative solution, I took a risk and smoothed the surface of the topper with CA glue. It is very difficult because correcting the painting of clear parts always ends with some unevenness (which, despite my efforts, can be seen with the naked eye). The entire seam was removed, but I am not sure if the "dents" on the surface could be acceptable. One thing is for sure, in the YT videos, most skipped the plastering of the turrets and left them as they are.

    4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    You did a really fine job there, my friend @lis!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    You are doing a great job here, Bernard @lis
    The turret looks fine.

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @ssgt @pb_legend @fiveten @johnb folding the fuselage was extremely tiring and again I probably had too high expectations after watching the YT videos about assembling this model. Everything was going quite well until the inner tail wheel cover came off. Then there was a dramatic attempt to stick it on with a half-glued fuselage. I recommend it only to people with strong nerves. unfortunately, there are traces of glue in the center of the fuselage in the place where the inner casing of the tail wheel is glued. I just couldn't do otherwise, I hope it won't be visible in the fuselage, because I still have the option to leave the plane's door open and I thought to use it. A little putty in the form of CA glue, I used on the nose of the plane near the turret "Astro". I think I sanded everything smooth and the surfaces will look decent. I glued the fuselage in 70% with CA glue in the gel, because there were some places where you needed a really strong and quick bond. Of the three models of four-engine planes, the B-17 definitely had the most difficult folding fuselage. I don't know if it was me who had two left hands, or if people in YT films do not brag about the moments when they want to throw everything into hell and go fishing.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    Such things happen, my friend @lis!
    All good!

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @fiveten Your words support me a lot, because it was really tiring work. Ultimately, as you may have noticed, I opted for the more demanding option with the under-hull turret. Maybe it was because of the problems, but I felt a challenge to just install it.

    Edit. I found one more nice NMF B-17G from 91BG. At the moment there are two 'I****s Delight" from Print scale livery and the ones I found today from Kits-World due to the rear firing position that is put into the Airfix model.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    You are doing a fantastic job, my friend @lis! There is no perfect model, but there exist excellent models, like your models.
    Opt for perfection and always something will be missing. Opt for excellence and you will always come with excellent models (and be a happy modeler!).

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    By the way, I have the 1/48 B-26 I*iots Delight to build one day, my friend @lis!

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    capt. R said 2 years, 5 months ago:

    @fiveten It will be fantastic build in "Bomber Command" group!