Subject: Re: B-17F article
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Josh Kaiser" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 23:40:22 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Josh Kaiser 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 9:26 PM
  Subject: B-17F article

  Gallery Template #05
  1:48 Revell B-17F "Black Jack/The Joker's Wild" 
  by Josh Kaiser
  --------------------
        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here  

  The B-17 has always been a favorite of mine (my birthday is the same as its first flight!), as evidenced by the fact that I have two finished ones, as well as one in progress and two that I built when I was still very young and didn't know that models weren't meant for "flying" and "crashing" all over the house. This kit was the second "good" kit that I built. This kit is getting harder and harder to find, but I managed to pick it up at a local show in 2006 for $20. It sat in my room for awhile as other projects took priority, and as I gathered up reference materials. I wanted to do this kit justice by adding a lot of detail. However, I can never really afford aftermarket detail, so I would have to scratchbuild pretty much everything. 
  Finally, after working up the courage to start it, I was off. After about six months of on-again off-again work, the kit was finished, just in time for the June 2007 show. Below is the process that got me there:
  Work started with the cockpit (doesn't it always.). I didn't add too much detail, because a lot of it won't be visible, but I did add these things:
  Detailed the throttle quadrant/center pedestal
  Added sidewalls from my old B-17G kit
  Reshaped the seats and added seatbelts
  Added control surface and tail wheel lock levers to the floor
  Added oxygen bottles from a Monogram B-29
  Added soundproofing material from Kleenex, wetted down and attached with white glue
  The top turret received some new framing, as the kit part is incorrect. It's still not 100% correct, but it'll do.
  Once that was finished, I moved forward to the nose:
  All Revell included for the interior was a floor and a crude bombsight, so I had to do some work. I added the bombardier's seat, the navigator's table (also from the old -G), a new bombsight mount, and some minor sidewall detail. I also added some soundproofing material. The aircraft I was modeling had an extra .50 caliber machine gun mounted in the nose that could be fired by the pilot, so I added it and its ammunition box, and drilled a hole in the nose glass for it. The nose glass also received ball mounts from an accurate Miniatures B-25 in the two molded holes. 
  Next was the radio operator's compartment. Revell doesn't include any parts for this area at all, so I had to add everything. Using the parts from the old -G, as templates, I made my own floor and bulkheads from .020" styrene. I added the radio operator's table and several brackets for the radio equipment to the forward bulkhead, and then scratchbuilt the equipment. I added strip-styrene frames to the sidewalls, and the fuselage stringers were added by scribing a in deep lines with a hobby knife. This was then covered up with "soundproofing material", and gave it a very realistic effect. The big radio equipment came from several sources. The equipment on the right side of the bulkhead was made both by scratch building and by making a putty cast of the radio from a B-29. The equipment on the left was scratchbuilt, including the landing gear cranks stored above the radio. The seats all came from the old -G again, but they were heavily modified by reshaping. I also added seatbelts from tape and fine wire. I also added the camera compartment below the floor, and had planned on displaying it open, but then decided against it. 
  With that, I moved on to the rear fuselage. I added structural detail with .010x.020 strip styrene, (and .020x.040 in a few places), and added stringers again by scribing. The waist windows were modified and placed in the open position, and I added a floor from .020 sheet. I also added the gun mounts and the rear bulkhead. The hardest part was the ball turret framing. The basic part from the -G was used as a base, but I added the ammunition boxes and belts. The belts were made my folding/rolling aluminum foil ti the correct width and thickness, and then squeezing them in the jaws of a pair of pliers to get the ribbed texture.
  Once that was done, I got ready for paint. The cockpit was painted mostly in a custom-mixed bronze green color, with the details picked out in silver, black, white, red, etc. The radio compartment was painted with another color I mixed that is similar to brownish interior green. The rest of the interior was natural metal, with dark green/olive drab soundproofing blankets.
  Click on images below to see larger images
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  Finally, I was able to move on to the actual assembly. The interior went together pretty smoothly, as did the rest of the model. I used some filler in the usual places, like the wing roots and the top of the fuselage. 
        Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here  

  After the model had set for a couple months while I tried to get the motivation to finish it, it was time for paint. I painted the model with Model Master neutral gray and acrylic olive drab. I used Zotz decals for "Black Jack," with the kit's insignia decals. I can only say good things about the decals. They were extremely thin, in perfect register, were very accurate, and they went on without a hitch. However, the kit's insignia were old and yellowed, so I trimmed away the clear film and after several applications of micro sol, they finally settled down. 
  The weathering was done by airbrushing black watercolors lightly over the entire model, and then going over the exhaust areas a bit more heavily. To finish the exhaust stains, I wiped them down with a damp paper towel, which game them a nice streaky look. Once that was done, I added a clear flat coat and all the small details. 
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  Photos and text © by "your name goes here"

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