Academy 1/72 B-17E "Old 666" 43rd Bomb Group 1943

vikingBerserker · Nov 5, 2009

Beautiful start!

rochie · Nov 5, 2009

nice start Dirk

dirkpitt289 · Nov 6, 2009

I know its silly but I would like to figure out a way to make the throttle control levers. I'm going to have to give that some thought

Airframes · Nov 7, 2009

Stretched sprue or fuse wire willl work, set into small holes and fixed with CA glue.

dirkpitt289 · Nov 7, 2009

I've tried over and over to stretch spree but it never seems to work. What is "Fuse" wire?

Airframes · Nov 7, 2009

Fuse wire is the 'silver' coloured wire, in various gauges, and measured in their amperage resistance, for example '5 Amp', used in the main fuse or electrical circuit box in the electrical system in your house. Maybe called 'Breaker wire', or 'Circuit (Breaker) wire' in the U.S.?

B-17engineer · Nov 7, 2009

dirkpitt289 said:
I've tried over and over to stretch spree but it never seems to work. What is "Fuse" wire?

Do you warm it over a candle firstly? That is what Wojtek has taught me to do. Warm it, but don't melt it.

dirkpitt289 · Nov 7, 2009

Airframes said:
Fuse wire is the 'silver' coloured wire, in various gauges, and measured in their amperage resistance, for example '5 Amp', used in the main fuse or electrical circuit box in the electrical system in your house. Maybe called 'Breaker wire', or 'Circuit (Breaker) wire' in the U.S.?

As a Computer guy I have lots of wire here and there but nothing that small. I was thinking of going to a art supply store or my friend down the street is an electrician maybe he has something kicking around in his van
.

B-17 Engineer said:
Do you warm it over a candle firstly? That is what Wojtek has taught me to do. Warm it, but don't melt it.

Of course but it always breaks. I kept a bunch of left over trees from some of my other models to use for just that but... I figured it was just cheap plastic :lol:

B-17engineer · Nov 7, 2009

hehe

Oh, I got 51 pictures from Gettysburg up!

dirkpitt289 · Nov 7, 2009

Where did you post them?

B-17engineer · Nov 7, 2009

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/personal-gallery/gettysburg-wahoo-21601.html

Crimea_River · Nov 7, 2009

Dirk, I found a nice source of wire at Radio Shack. They sell "Motor Winding Wire" in spools and I got some 30ga which is nice for fine work wiring.

Sprue stretching takes a bit of practice. If it's breaking on you, it's probably not hot enough. Hold it and turn it about an inch over the flame and watch for the surface to get glossy. When you feel it get limp, get it away from the flame and pull it slowly, speeding up if you see it stretching nicely. You should be able to get a very thin thread, as fine as any wire you can get. Try plastic from a newer kit. That may help too.

dirkpitt289 · Nov 7, 2009

Crimea_River said:
Dirk, I found a nice source of wire at Radio Shack. They sell "Motor Winding Wire" in spools and I got some 30ga which is nice for fine work wiring.

Sprue stretching takes a bit of practice. If it's breaking on you, it's probably not hot enough. Hold it and turn it about an inch over the flame and watch for the surface to get glossy. When you feel it get limp, get it away from the flame and pull it slowly, speeding up if you see it stretching nicely. You should be able to get a very thin thread, as fine as any wire you can get. Try plastic from a newer kit. That may help too.

I will try the spree stretching again someday but in the mean time there is a radio shack within 2 miles of my humble abode, :lol:

Wayne Little · Nov 8, 2009

Stretching sprue is not hard, but can be frustrating at times, you just have to be patient and get the plastic to the right temp....and don't ask me what the temp should be...dunno!?? Just right is er...right!

Sometimes I go through a dozen pieces....sometimes first shot....

dirkpitt289 · Nov 8, 2009

There is also a possibility that the fishing line I found for my antennas could work too. I haven't scaled it to the strut yet but will give it a try

Vic Balshaw · Nov 9, 2009

Some good info coming out of here guys, thanks

:hotsun:

Wayne Little · Nov 10, 2009

dirkpitt289 said:
There is also a possibility that the fishing line I found for my antennas could work too. I haven't scaled it to the strut yet but will give it a try

Sounds like a good alternative too....in the right gauge...

dirkpitt289 · Dec 31, 2009

Well its been a long time since I worked on "Old 666" and thanks to Alex today was the day I found my grove. I was able to sit at my bench today at around 10:00am as opposed to 10:00pm which has been the norm these days. Seeing the work Alex has done in his B-17 "Hells Angels" was just the spark I needed.

Here's what I accomplished:

Starting with some styrene and Terry's photos from post 32, photo 6 I set to work.

I started by using some green Putty to fill in the optional staggered waste gunners position and started to lay out some frame work using .030 square stock styrene.

Next I used .080 H-Column to make the tracks for the waste gunners window.

More frame work.

Now before I could complete the frame work i had to install the gunners window but I had to paint it first. Using some fine grit sand paper i sanded the area around the window I wanted to paint olive green. This allowed the paint to stick to the clear plastic.