Silver Dollar

Thanks Nige. I was thinking about flattening the nose but it would make so many ripples elsewhere I just bit my lip, closed my eyes and pushed on without it. My favorite parts to detail anyhow is the interior which would make me an internist. I'd have to refer the body and wings to you a.k.a. the plastic surgeon.

After the quad, I decided to tackle the instrument panel. There were just too many problems for me to have to deal with using the kit piece so I decided to scratch build another one using the sandwich technique which I learned about 30 years ago from Fine Scale Modeler. the kit panel is just waaaaaaay too thick and the bezels are all out of whack. I took a piece of .008 tin, marked all of the instrument holes and cut them out with a drill and a diamond tipped Dremel stone. It looks a bit wavy due to the lights but is actually flat. I'll then be cutting a .010 piece of clear acetate to serve as the glass. The instrument decal will be put on a piece of .030 sheet styrene and matched to the panel face. It'll all be stuck together with the same glue I use to stick aluminum foil to the fuselage. Here's the panel with the paint and the doodads on it. I still have a few more things to add. For all of the fine lines, I trimmed a thin brush down to about 6 bristles. They wear out quick but they come in really handy. Here's another pic up close and sharpened with the edit program. The painted lines are about as steady as theses old 63 year old hands can muster. Gone are my pin striping days.

Here's the first installment. I decided to start working on the throttle quadrant and add a few details to it. I didn't like the plastic levers that came with the kit. The plastic is very soft which makes cleanup difficult and they're too wide. Also, I wanted to make the throttle handles look more separate so I set about scratch building. I made the levers out of brass strip with a piece of hex rod soldered to it. The throttles are also brass strip and round rod trimmed to fit. I then hollowed out the kit piece, opened up the lever slots and cemented some round styrene rod with slots into which I secured all the levers. It looks a lot more realistic this way. The rest is all paint, smoke and mirrors.

HI all. This will be my first build on this site and hopefully it will be of interest. On another site, I've been building one of these giant HKM B-17s but I haven't been all that attentive to a number of details and errors. In fact, I started off a little sloppy so I got another kit (my wife surprised me with it at Christmas) and now, I'm really settling down and paying attention to what I do. This aircraft will be an all natural metal finish G from the 96th Bomb Group, square block C. I chose this group because the group's aircraft has some nice red stripes and also because I was stationed with the 96th Test Wing at Eglin AFB which is a direct descendant of the 96th BG. I guess that makes me connected. I'm not sure about the nose art so I will put up a couple of A2 jackets I painted over the years. This ill be a fictitious plane. Maybe you guys could help me choose one. [/url

Thanks for the invitation. Let me go through my stuff and I'll see what I've got to post. Then I will.

Hey Nigel. Man am I glad to see you start this thread over here. I've missed you over at you know where along with a number of your other admirers and B-17 builders over there. They've expressed how much they missed you also. Thanks so much for continuing this tutorial. I've started a second kit to correct a bunch of the errors that I'll be able to deal with. There are a heck of a lot more internal problems than I thought with this kit. Fortunately, those errors are very easily fixed with a little scratching. I may have to leave the bigger errors alone due to lack of time and because of their extent. Still, I'll follow ever step in this tutorial with great admiration and respect. Keep working that sharp eye. It's one of the best tools in the armamentarium.