crazypoet

I love this work, and look forward to watching as always an inspiration

I finished weathering the hull and gave it a light dull coat to seal things in. Today I stain-washed the deck; when the stain cures it will get a bit of weathering touch-up and a dull coat as well. I'm getting close to happy with the mast. It's not *completely* finished and the cotton flags I ordered have not yet arrived, so please forgive the state of the rigging - a bit of a tangeled mess at the moment! When the flags arrive, I'll finish the loop-and-toggle rigging and set the mast. I may yet move it behind the tiller - I'm completely undecided as of yet. It would be "correct" in either location, I just have to see which feels *right* next step... machinery

Ok, ok, I did it. I sprung for DeAgostini Millenium Falcon. Plus some extras. I won't even *think* about starting the build until I have at least the first half of the shipments, but the first load arrived today, giving me an idea about what to expect. the Falcon bits: And the Extras: These are PE and decal sets for the cockpit, hold, turret interiors and main engine screen. All by ParaGrafix. I also have some extra cockpit lighting enroute, and I'm looking at some other bits as well. This kit gives me something that's just plain fun to which to look forward.

I'm interested in your approach to the cockpit. The kit version, well, stinks. I've already ordered a PE upgrade, but just saw a full 3D printed version that improves on the PE. Which way did you go on yours? i'm not looking for movie-exact, but having lumps and bumps and switches seems sorta basic

I have the HK G kit in my stash, which I plan to build as a tribute to a specific craft and crew, lost over Czechoslovakia n March of 1945. The pilot was the grandfather of a close friend, so I want to be sure I get it right

Nicely done!

I've been hauling these pictures taken during my visit and flight on Aluminum Overcast for far too long - time to share! The EAA 2014 B-17 Tour made a stop near Atlanta, and there was zero chance that I was going to miss an opportunity to get up close and personal with the ship and her crew. Aluminum Overcast is a late-production G, serial number 44-85740, that did not see any combat time but was sold as surplus - for $750 - at the end of WWII. Details of the ship, as reported by the EAA, are located here: https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/about-eaa/eaa-media-room/eaa-b-17-aluminum-overcast-media-room/eaa-b-17-aluminum-overcast-history I was one of the first to arrive that morning, and was booked on her first flight of the day. That meant that I got to spend a good amount of time crawling around, inside and out. I was also onboard for preflight, engine start and run-up and a lovely flight through perfect weather over the north Georgia mountains. I was sadly not as thorough as I might have been in documenting the ship and the experience - I was too busy being in awe of the ship and some living B-17 aircrew who came to visit. Regardless, here are the pictures I have from that day:

Every now and then things come together... Aluminum Overcast makes occasional trips down my way. In this instance I got to spend a long morning with her, and took a flight on her out over north Georgia. The pic from the radio operator's gun position was taken while we were headed out over the forests. I was able to wander all over, everywhere but inside the ball and tail turrets. It was a humbling experience. Standing and sitting in the various crew positions during the flight, navigating my way across the bomb bay catwalk, sitting up in the glazed nose... and imagining what it may have been like, back when... a hand on a gun, watching out the waist window... It's transformative, things like that

Nice! Who did the lighting mod? I found and ordered the ParaGrafix PE kits for the Hold, Cockpit, Gun bays and Corridor, but hadn't seen any light kits. Some of that I can do myself, but it's nice to have some help along the way. i look forward to your build - this thing has lots of room to play!

Love it! How many of the packs have you received?

I spent a bit of time wandering around the Model Space forums. There's people doing some impressive work with this kit. I also found the SciFi equivalent of Eduard - ParaGrafix - and ordered a batch of PE enhancements for the cockpit, hold, engine and corridors. It will likely be several months months before the subscription delivers enough parts to really get going on this, which is good as it will allow me time to adjust and get things moving on other builds waiting in the queue.

Just saw this on CNN. A Danish teenager doing research for a class project found the remnants of a German fighter, including the remains of the pilot, at his family farm in Jutland. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/europe/denmark-wwii-plane-trnd/index.html Another soldier can now go home to rest

Thank you for putting this thread up... similar to you, I have to have something of a love-affair with my subject, or it just doesn't work. Everything I build has a story attached... somewhere, somehow These are the things that, for me, take modeling from fine craft into a close cousin of the Storyteller's narrative art.

Beautiful beasts, these things we love... i had had an opportunity to visit with the EAA B-17, Aluminum Overcast. Beautiful ship... herewith, some memories:

True that. Does that mean it fits our "1:32 or larger" requirements? i've done some browsing of their build logs. There's an amazing amount of room for detailing and weathering of both the interior and exterior of the ship. fortunately (or not) I'm not married to making this *exactly* as it existed for the movie. This was a busy working ship between episodes, so there's scope to do a bit of "wandering" with details. I noticed that they've made the interior far too clean and tidy. I need to fix that... all those sharp and/or lumpy and/or explosive bits of kit they wore around are sure to have done at least some damage to the upholstery. And I suspect that Chewie probably shed a bit and left unclothed-large-furry-humanoid stains wherever he sat for any length of time. not to mention that never once did I see any of them wipe their feet prior to entering the ship...

Ah - I found the scale and it's smaller than I thought. It shows as 1:43 on the website. Seems like it should be larger. Oh, well - I'm getting it anyway. Now we need to get Eduard to work *their* magic... I can already see places where a bit of PE and resin could be quite handy. I'm gonna have to do *something* about those dead-flat instrument panels...

This shows some of the hull detail a bit better - the somewhat-battered prow, stains and a bit of slime: and the stern, with tiller, hatches and mast socket. If I decide to move the mast, it will go on he centerline just behind the tiller. Still undecided on that...

The deck fittings are essentially complete, though I'm still doing a bit of fine-tuning on the masts. the front mast would of necessity been removable - it sits directly in way of the gun muzzle and would be just a bit of a mess should they forget one time to take it down! For this reason, I chose to just do the mounting socket here. For the rear, I'll mount the mast permanently, hung with an appropriate Naval Ensign. Getting the blocks and cleats the way I want them is an ongoing process at the moment, so it's not quite ready for its closeup. The mast sockets were punched from card stock, stiffened with CA and drilled through before getting a coat of graphite. I'm doing a bit of second-guessing on the location for the rear mast. It was shown offset from the centerline and ahead of the rudder post in the old drawing, but it just doesn't look quite right. I may move it before I make things permanent. If I do move it, I'll have to cover the hole i already drilled in the deck, but that is just a "design challenge"... a day in the life! i've started weathering the hull - left side in-progress just now. I've temporarily mounted the rudder/tiller and prop for reference, to help with splash patterns and the like. The weathering needs to be strong enough to be visible, but not over the top. Finding that space between just enough and too much... so herewith the progress of the moment: foredeck: hull and waterline: cockpit and stern: it doesn't show up well in these shots, but there's a layer of brown algae sludge along the waterline. That is going to be the biggest headache, I think - it's a fine line between enough and overboard. The hull has been in heavily sedimented rivers and nearshore waters for months, with groundings on sandbars and beaches along the way, but is also not yet a year old... more to come as continue along and scratch my head!

Order going in today... I'm already planning enhancements, lol i read up on it a good bit yesterday, and the modular approach to construction really does lend itself well to the sorts of "improvements" we do around here. it doesn't specify anywhere in the literature (that I've yet seen at any rate) but from the raw dimensions on this beast, the scale seems to fall somewhere between 1:32 and 1:24. Lots of room to play!