B-17 from Hasegawa (1 Viewer)

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

RAF Liberators

Airman 1st Class
113
0
Apr 17, 2009
Englishman in NZ
www.rafb24.com
Here's another 1/72 Offering.
This one is a 1/72 B-17G from Hasegawa, it's the really old one not the nice new one with new moulds.
I did nothing but struggle with this one from the word go, everything just kept going wrong with it.
The first thing I did was rescribe all the panel lines but as I went along I realised that the plastic of this kit was a bit softer than the normal kits. So the panel lines became fault lines. No worries, Mr Surfacer to the rescue, slapped some paint on the lines and rubbed it down to make them less prominent.
Fuselage fit was terrible, I've seen straighter lines on a dokey's back leg and the alignment pins were all over the place like a drunken camel on rollerskates.
After much supergluing, plastic weld, filler and Mr Surfacer, I got it all together and looking quite nice.
I thought I'd give the Alclad system a go, it's the first time I've ever used that stuff. The black went down and ended up with the texture of 100 grit glass paper, more rubbing down required. I finally sorted the problem with the rough coats, I think I had too much air pressure.
The Aluminium coats took a fair bit of getting used to, but after messing this one up I think I've got the hang of it now.
I didn't think the decals would look right yellow so after putting them in a glad bag antaping them to a window for 3 weeks, they finally went back to the proper colours. Once they hit the drink they started to disintegrate, I feared as much and used one from the set I wasn't going to use. I slapped some Klear on to them and tried again, this time they came off relatively well.
After putting the canopies on I realised that I hadn't painted the top of the fuselage where it enters the cockpit. Couldn't be bothered to remove the canopies so that gets to stay the primer grey.
Anyway here she is, not one of my best but more of an experiment in Alclad.
B-17 A Bit O'Lace - 8th Air Force, 447th Bombardment Group.
I hope you enjoy looking at it more than I did building it. :D

Picture 029.jpg


Picture 033.jpg


Picture 034.jpg


Picture 044.jpg
 
I think it turned out very nice indeed. Sorry to hear of your frustrations. The hobby should be a joy, not a chore.

You should be proud of this one. I never had the guts to try the Alclad but one of these days....
 
Nah I think I was a bit harsh, it wasn't a chore but I was glad when I glued the last barrels in place and said that's it.
I tried a new method on this one, I'm always snapping the barrels off half way through a build and then grovelling on the floor looking for them. This time I cut them off so that they were flush from the inside and left a bit of a hole in the "glass" to use as a fixing point later.
I always dip my canopies in Klear for various reasons, one of them being it doesn't fog when I use CA.
 
Thanks chaps, yeah I suprised myself with those photos. I had the sun streaming in to the room and the lighting seemed too good to miss. I was a bit too quick off the mark as I've left off the prop blade tip indicator (you know the bit that gets painted yellow). I'll sort it out before it goes in to the box. I've built a big "crate" where all my finished kits go, it's a stop gap measure until I get my display case made. I could just leave them on the shelf but I hate the thought of having to dust them, so I wrap them up and store them in the big crate.
 
Very nice. I've got that very same model purchased in 1976. I thought the upper starboard wing panel on that bird was battle damaged and replaced with a F version olive drab outter wing panel. You decide not to depict this on yours?
 
No I'm literally building stuff out of the box at the moment, to get some practice at different methods and technologies. I only got back in to modelling this time last year, after a long break. Methods and the tools available have changed a lot since I did it with any real vengence.
The B-24 I did was pretty much my first model since returning, I still think it's probably my best, but I feel I can do better, so I'm using these cheaper old kits to practice things like Alclad etc. I'm doing a 1/72 B-24 at the moment, whiich I'm either going to use different tones of Alclad on differing panels or foil it. It's nice chucking things out quickly because it gives me something to have at the end of the day plus I've learnt something along the way.
I've just started dabbling with making my own photo etch and I've just sent off for some casting resin. I'm going to be building a fully fitted B-24 in 1/48. I'll use the Monogram as a "shell" (I still have 4 as I recently found another one), grind out the interiors and make a new one. I may even completely scratch build it if I can get good enough with the photo etch.
 
Look forward to seeing that one Gary. Revell have re-released the 1/48th B24D, and I saw an ad for the 'J' not long ago, but haven't seen it around.
 
No I'm literally building stuff out of the box at the moment, to get some practice at different methods and technologies. I only got back in to modelling this time last year, after a long break. Methods and the tools available have changed a lot since I did it with any real vengence.
The B-24 I did was pretty much my first model since returning, I still think it's probably my best, but I feel I can do better, so I'm using these cheaper old kits to practice things like Alclad etc. I'm doing a 1/72 B-24 at the moment, whiich I'm either going to use different tones of Alclad on differing panels or foil it. It's nice chucking things out quickly because it gives me something to have at the end of the day plus I've learnt something along the way.
I've just started dabbling with making my own photo etch and I've just sent off for some casting resin. I'm going to be building a fully fitted B-24 in 1/48. I'll use the Monogram as a "shell" (I still have 4 as I recently found another one), grind out the interiors and make a new one. I may even completely scratch build it if I can get good enough with the photo etch.

I only asked because I distinctly remembered my instruction sheet having the OD upper panel mentioned in the painting instructions. :cool:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back