Messages

4981

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 05, 2010, 08:07:27 PM »

Here's another little installment on what I've done to the poor ol' model so far. I have jumped back and forth from one section of the plane to another during the building process and my updates aren't necessarily in that order.

The radio room is shaped quite differently on the sharkfin Forts due to the teardrop shape of the gunner's transparency. I glued the kit glass in place and filed off the little bit of dorsal fin and the wind deflector for the radio gun:

After the glue had dried I did some filling and cut out the opening for the early bubble. After getting the opening shaped correctly I used my Dremel and files to reshape the turtledeck fairing--it is much narrower than big-tailed Fortresses and tapers to match the bubble:

The photo reference that is under the fuselage in the second photo is actually of a B-17B, but the YB is the same shape with different framing on the bubble.

Scott

4982

Aircraft Modeling / HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

« on: March 05, 2010, 04:22:34 PM »

Since several of us have discussed NMF airplanes on Letipapa's Mystere IV A thread, we thought it would be nice to have a thread dedicated to ideas on how to make bare metal airplanes as realistic as we can. Everyone is invited to contribute all ideas as to preparation, materials, and methods that they use to get a proper finish for such airframes. Hopefully we can all learn from one another and increase the realism we all strive for.

I'll post this photo of a Falcon Vacuform F-89 that I built in the later 1980s as a starting point.

I used Alclad and a product that I can no longer remember  for the finish on this model. The 1/1 airplane I replicated was a rather tired machine and the skin was no longer the bright, polished finish of a new bird, hence the finish I was trying to achieve. I'll post some techniques and a few other photos later, but other duties call!

Scott

4983

Warplane Art / Re: Boeing YB17

« on: March 04, 2010, 08:01:20 PM »

Thank you, No.1, I hadn't thought about doing a magazine submission. I will definitely take you up on the offer if I ever get the model done!!! Once we get the real B-17 flying and get through the airshow season I will probably have a bit more time to finish the YB project.

S

4984

Warplane Art / Re: Boeing YB17

« on: March 04, 2010, 07:54:54 PM »

I think when complete, or you could do an "in-progress" series.

Great stuff,
Scott

4985

Warplane Art / Re: Boeing YB17

« on: March 04, 2010, 07:00:05 PM »

Y'all need to post that one on the YB thread on WIX Modeling Hangar--maybe I will pick up the modeling pace now that you've given me some inspiration!

Thanks!
Scott

4986

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 11:48:46 PM »

If your profile isn't too far along , this is the ship I'm modeling.

The cowls are yellow and black checkerboard, and I have a color profile of the Squadron emblem somewhere in the reference photos for the project. She was in the 38th Recon Squadron at the time this photo was taken. There is a color photo of her and a sister in flight in the group of pictures you posted earlier.

Scott

4987

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 10:05:00 PM »

Well, the evil PC is working right now, so here is the nose photo of the prototype 299:

The small ball pivots in the nose piece and the entire nose rotates. That might be one of the most challenging parts of the model to construct. I have a Mattel Vacuform machine so can experiment until I find the correct solution. Also, all four of the aft gun positions will be vacuformed but these should be a bit easier to fabricate.

Here is a photo of the first time I mated the two fuselage sections.

S

4988

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 09:37:40 PM »

You're correct--the entire nose transparency rotated on a set of rollers so that the gun could be brought to bear on targets. I don't exactly know how easy it was to operate, but it must have kept the gunner very, very busy! I have a good photo of the nose of the Model 299 but I'm having computer issues right now......

Scott

4989

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 08:54:10 PM »

Thanks for posting those pics, Srecko. When I first ran across the two camouflaged airplanes in the Amarillo Army Air Field Historical Records I was surprised a little that they were still around in 1943/44.

I'll transfer the photos from WIX over here as I get time to do so, and then (hopefully) some new progress as I move forward.

Here are a few photos of the transparencies in the Koster kit, starting with the overall sheet less the early cockpit enclosure:

These two are the early effort at fitting the new cockpit area. I had to remove the Airplane Commander's observation dome as these were not used on the YBs.

More later,
Scott

4990

Aircraft Modeling / Re: Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 02:52:18 AM »

Thanks for the interest--now you'll have to be patient as I am a rather slow modeler! I will have several posts to add to the thread before I get caught up to the current state of the project. I've not been able to spend more than a couple of evenings on it this winter. Fortunately, for the first time, I've kept documentation of how I fabricated parts so that duplication for the other side of the airplane is much easier.

Here is a general photo of the finished product. I will be using a slightly different paint scheme and the airplane I'm building will have the later Hydromatic propellers.

Scott

4991

Aircraft Modeling / Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

« on: March 02, 2010, 01:02:26 AM »

I have been far too slow to put up my first thread on the Forum.

I started this model over a year ago and am making slow progress. I find most of my weekends taken up with working on a 1/1 scale B-17, 44-8543, known as Chuckie, at the Vintage Flying Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

I started with a 1/48th scale Monogram B-17G and Koster B-17C/D conversion kit. If you have never built a model using a Koster product I highly recommend his kits. Here are a few photos of the very beginning of the project:
The initial cut of the aft fuselage:

The shortened forward fuselage common to all small-tailed Fortress variants:

This is what comes with the Koster kit. Not only the parts for the "shark fin" C and D model Fortress, but the transparent sheet also include the pieces needed to build a Cheyenne tail turret for the later Gs.

If anyone is interested I'll post more in-progress photos and text.

Scott