Revell 1/72 Boeing B17G Flying Fortress

[kpnuts]

Revell B17 I'm going to try and do this as a cutaway model, first thing I notice(planes are not my normal thing) checking on photos of the real thing the callout colourwise for the bomb bay (which is the first part on the instructions is wrong) it says the bombs are olive green which is what I've done them and when I look at pics of the bombs they are a medium green not the nearly black as you can see from the pics, the olive green I've done them (I'm using Vallejo air paints ) also they have yellow banding which seems to vary according to which picture you look at, some have 3 bands in the middle some have one in the middle others have one at the tip and a silver tip in front of that. I wouldn't normally worry too much about that but if I'm doing this as a cutaway it needs to be more accurate, help please.

[Kerick]

I think you are right about the olive green color being too dark. Stuff I’ve seen has been lighter than that. I think a lighter color would look much better in a cut away like you mentioned. Don’t worry too much about the final color as war time production varied. The yellow stripes signified live high explosives. Placement seemed to vary also. The silver tip is the fuse that gets screwed into the nose of the bomb. There is a little “propeller” on the tip of the fuse that spins in the airflow after the bomb is dropped. This actually arms the bomb as it falls. The color of the inside of the fuselage should be zinc chromate green primer. As this was not a finish coat it’s color varied widely from medium green to almost yellow depending on the manufacturer. Plus paint back then would fade in the sun fairly quickly so that adds another factor. I think using slightly lighter colors will help in the cut away to keep details from getting lost in shadows. I hope this helps. I’m sure there are others here that can give you more details.

[Old Wombat]

I think you'll find any WW2 Olive Drab, in its many shades, would be better than Olive Green for this. Tamiya do a couple of variants, Life Color do about four, I think, & Vallejo do a few, too - plus I'm sure just about every other manufacturer has at least one.

As for stripes:



However, the PDF linked below seems to be a good source of information for you, including a section on bomb markings at about the 80% mark:

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiHppuWmOXhAhVVeysKHY7mCzMQFjAOegQIAhAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ammunitionpages.com%2Fdownload%2F535%2FAn_introduction_to_US_bombs.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3u1QkgV3p6YLgbIsx9FIr-

[kpnuts]

Thanks for the info guys

[Kelmola]

The color of the inside of the fuselage should be zinc chromate green primer. As this was not a finish coat it’s color varied widely from medium green to almost yellow depending on the manufacturer.

Yes and no. Generally speaking (depending on plane type, manufacturer, etc.), crew compartment and bomb bay were usually painted Interior Green which is an actual paint, whereas gear bays, innards of service hatches, internal structure etc. were left in Zinc Chromate. IIRC in B-17 rear fuse interior was zinc chromate but from radio compartment forwards it was Interior Green. Wooden floors were sometimes painted, but most often left unpainted and simply lacquered. On a mobile right now so can't give exact references but Google is your friend.

[kitnut617]

This might help

[Kerick]

The color of the inside of the fuselage should be zinc chromate green primer. As this was not a finish coat it’s color varied widely from medium green to almost yellow depending on the manufacturer.

Yes and no. Generally speaking (depending on plane type, manufacturer, etc.), crew compartment and bomb bay were usually painted Interior Green which is an actual paint, whereas gear bays, innards of service hatches, internal structure etc. were left in Zinc Chromate. IIRC in B-17 rear fuse interior was zinc chromate but from radio compartment forwards it was Interior Green. Wooden floors were sometimes painted, but most often left unpainted and simply lacquered. On a mobile right now so can't give exact references but Google is your friend.

I forgot about the plywood floors and shelves. They are usually just varnished on the airshow walkthroughs I’ve been at. My bad.
You could try a website called https://www.primeportal.net/the_airstrip.htm Just look down the list labeled "Props". Five B-17 walk arounds some including interior photos. This site has hundreds of photos of aircraft and armor. Just about anything you could imagine.

[kpnuts]

Thanks that site has loads of great pics

[Kerick]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjRQXjcY6u0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-qVVwUTdQ

Couple of videos that might be entertaining. The Jay Leno one is pretty good.

[kpnuts]

Hi all bit more done to this, trying out some aluminium foil on the inside to see the effect before I try it on the outside, i must say I think it looks quite good.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well made more progress on the interior, loads more to do (there's a lot of detail in this kit) I'm wondering wether to add some lighting to the internals, its quite dark even without adding the side with the cut outs in.

Done some of the exterior paint ( not my best work as I'm using a brush since my compressor is dead)

[finsrin]

Uh Oh,,,  are building B-17 toooo gooood.      But hey -- I know where knitting needles are stored.

[kpnuts]

Last time I knitted something was an Arran jumper(took me 6 months ) and it would have looked good on the elephant man, looked like a straight jacket on me though.

[apophenia]

Horse for courses, then. You stick with the polystyrene mastery. The rest of us can get on with the knitting needles ...

[kpnuts]

Is there any way of getting rid of the white stuff you get with superglue, I ask because I'm trying to do the belly turret on the plane which is moulded in clear I'm using Revell clear glue and it just keeps coming apart when I'm handling it whilst trying to paint it (incidentally how do you manage that it's almost impossible I've had to take it off a load of times as the paint seeps under the masking tape and my hands arnt steady enough to do it free hand) anyway i was thinking of gluing it with superglue if I could get rid of the white vapour stuff you get with it.

[kitnut617]

I always use Tamiya Fine or Very Fine Liquid Glue when I do my transparences, even on the vacuform canopies.

I'm not sure about this though, have you tried dabbing on some de-bonder carefully to the area, I've noticed that when I've used de-bonder to take parts apart, all the glue will come off in little flakes.

[kpnuts]

Hi all well I've finished the interior and closed it up, trying foil on the silver part of it I figure doing the panels individually may look more realistic (that remains to be seen)

[Kerick]

That’s a lot of hard work!! Looks great!

[kpnuts]

Let me tell you foiling something like this is no easy task, it's only that I think it looks ok that I'm continuing (put me off planes again) the bit where the wings connect was a real pita (Still not that happy with it) can't see how to make it better, I'm hoping the wings will be easier.








 

There's a lot of detail on the inside of the clear parts which I can't see the point of since when painted you can't see it (I suppose it's another part of building planes) I was really looking forward to the 1/24 Airfix mosquito (was going to ask for it as a birthday prezzie) 

[elmayerle]

Damn, that's impressive.

[Some Duck with an Ultimax]

That looks incredible!

[Old Wombat]

Doing a very good job on this beastie!

[kpnuts]

Well I'm definitely not going to be any good at planes (will stick to genres I'm more in tune with) (what I don't understand is why planes are so difficult)

[GTX_Admin]

Why the negativity?  You appear to be doing a great job.

[elmayerle]

^ What he said.  It's a truly superb job you're doing.