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timc

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Everything posted by timc

  1. Come join us for our annual Penncon IPMS Model Show and Contest. Unlike most IPMS shows, we use open judging where a model is graded against a set of standards rather than against other models. Gold, Silver, and Bronze are the available awards as well as theme-based awards. There are also "best-ofs" and "people's choice" awards as well. The only downside this year is that the cafe in the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center will not be open. There are however, several decent restaurants in town within a couple miles of the venue. Make it if you can!
  2. After looking through my references, I found this very topic and indeed, all the King's Mustangs (Mk's I-III [no mention of the IV]) had wheel wells in aluminum, aluminized lacquer or dopes (O'Leary, p. 46). Well, you're entirely in the wrong tree on that. I think a little aircraft manufacturing lesson is what's needed here. The process of aircraft airframe manufacturing goes something like this: raw aluminum (alclad type O - soft aluminum), is created into the various shapes needed for stringers, formers, bulkheads, etc. After forming, these parts are heat treated to
  3. First - Do you have a link? There's too much garbage to sift through going in unaided. Second - Does this topic/thread provide substantive proof (documents/photographs) to support that conclusion? If not, I wouldn't put any stock into that statement whatsoever.
  4. This is interesting. Where did you find that piece of information?
  5. This is relatively accurate for the aircraft you've depicted. Later blocks (20, 25) had more standardized yellow zinc throughout the wheel wells. Having said that, there's absolutely no evidence that the earlier ones weren't painted entirely and/or a hodgepodge of painted/unpainted but the likelyhood of having them fully painted was far lower than not. I guess the paint all depended upon the painter's mood at that time of day during the production process.
  6. 1/32 Hasegawa Bf109K-4 Tweak List
  7. The only medium that you can accurately scale from as far as blueprints are concerned, is vellum (if I'm remembering the medium correctly...it's the brown, translucent paper (it's not really paper) that engineering drawings are done on). We used vellum to loft parts for prototype designs and parts in the aircraft plant I worked in. Plain paper suffers from shrinkage, expansion with humidity, etc. and can't be relied up for measurements. If the factory blueprints are US Government property, why then can I access them on AirCorps Library website? If the USG owns them I should be a
  8. Yes but plywood was covered with black anti-skid paint or rubber mat (earlier aircraft) to include the camera bay door.
  9. Yes, the B-17 has overlapping panel joints in most places. However, to render that effect in 1/48 scale, and at a scale thickness, you would be at 0.0008" (8/10,000 of an inch). That's probably so small that most of us couldn't even feel it with our fingers. Just as a point of reference, a piece of regular 25 lb. copy paper is 0.003" (3/1000 of an inch). Even with an out of scale effort, it would be extremely hard to render the overlapping joints and would no doubt raise the cost of the tooling so that the kit would be much more expensive than it already is; and a few swipes with some roug
  10. timc

    P-51D Cockpit Color

    Hold one.... On P-51D production: The framing (part H40) for the radio and battery (prior to it being relocated to the firewall area) was painted flat black. Everything above a certain waterline (I've forgotten what that waterline is), was painted flat black. That's why that portion of the armor plating behind the seat is painted black while the remainder is interior green. The floor that the auxiliary fuel tank sits on is a resin board with balsa wood supports on the sides between the fuselage formers and the tank. Whether that resin board was painted or not is unknown so if
  11. Not quite true... HK released a 1/32 late B-17G, then a 1/32 B-17E/F and then re-released the late B-17G with different markings. You'd never be able to see overlapping panels in 1/48 unless it was so out of scale that would make it look like a shingled roof. A prototypical 0.040" thick skin overlap will be 0.00083" (that's 83/10,000 of an inch) in 1/48 scale...you'd be hard pressed to even feel that with your fingertip. From the CAD images I've seen, the panel lines will be recessed with recessed rivets. I gave the CAD images a cursory look and they did address the "issue" at
  12. until
  13. In close proximity to the Gettysburg National Military Park
  14. As I remember, the kit instructions give two options for dealing with turret removal; one is to leave the turret rings and just cap them with flat plastic pieces and two; remove the turret rings and install shaped circular discs over the holes left by the turret ring removal. Neither of these is a good option to a passable Silverplate B-29.
  15. I found her. 42-37791 GD*L. It appears she was the very first B-17G produced by Douglas after the last production F's (B-17F-85-DL). It's no wonder she's got a lot of "F" traits.
  16. Yes, all input is welcome. Helps all of us understand better. The blocks you identified as introducing the bulged cheek windows are from a production line standpoint. The UAL Cheyenne Mod Center was installing the bulged cheek windows on B-17's long before they made it to the production line; the same is true of the pumpkin turrets. Most of those B-17G's not equipped with cheek windows from the factory, received them from the UAL Cheyenne Mod Center (or other modification centers) but the above photo is a G and we can plainly see that not all B-17G's received the bulged cheek windows befo
  17. Interesting.... I know most of the characteristics of the early G's but that upper local turret is definitely a new one for me. Do you know her serial number? I cannot identify her from the photograph.
  18. The 91st went to Cologne several times. Are you referring to the October 15, 1944 mission to Cologne when she took the damage that eventually made her half-n-half or are you referring to a 1945 mission? If you're talking about the October 15, 1944 mission, then she had the standard tail stinger at that time (LMM was B-17G-35-VE, serial no. 42-97880, DF*F). She retained the standard tail stinger up until some time in 1945 when she was fitted with the pumpkin turret. She would have had red vertical and horizontal tailplanes (sans rudder and elevators) and wingtips from July 1944.
  19. I assumed paint because in a color photo I have of "General Ike", the cooling jackets are red whereas here they seem to be white. These are obviously late war photos (the red barrel jackets on General Ike and the white barrel jackets on Wee Willie) so it may just be personal/crew dressing as there doesn't seem to be a consistency among the ships in the group. I haven't really looked at a lot of late war 91st ships but these two just caught my eye; they may be the only ones and they may not be...evaluation continues (until such time as I take the dirt nap).
  20. How early in the G production run are you talking about? Wee Willie (42-31333) is a B-17G-15-BO and she was delivered with the typical G style nose plexi. It was then replaced (for whatever reason) with the F style nose later on in her career. The first photo is from early in her career while the second is after she's put on a few dozen missions. Note the BDR patches and the replacement chin turret in addition to the F style nose plexi. Still haven't figured out why the cooling jackets on the guns were painted white (for that matter, painted at all). Above photo bor
  21. That's why I make my own decals (nose art, squadron markings, serial numbers, etc...) I only do 91st BG ships though as that's all that interests me. Besides, a lot (not all, there are a few very good ones out there...Mike Grant Decals "Hikin for Home" comes to mind) of the commercially available decals for the 91st BG are incorrect in some form or another, some grossly inaccurate. I'll use what I can from a commercially available sheet (such as "Wee Willie" nose art from Kit's World Decals but I will render the division symbol (triangle "A") and the squadron/plane-in-squadron codes as they
  22. Indeed... here's one of the more notable aircraft with a pumpkin tail turret and unstaggered waist guns albeit not a factory or mod center ship, the result is the same. You'll recognize her as Little Miss Mischief... B-17G-35-VE (as built). Note that the leading edge of her vertical stabliizer is NOT black, it's red, just as it should be.
  23. Do the latest releases of the venerable 1/48 Revell B-17G come with the pumpkin (aka Cheyenne) tail turret originally found in the Promodeler version? I thought it did but I don't have a current copy of this kit to verify.
  24. I replied to a post you had with the photo of the top of one of Griff's Buffs in the Caracal's forum.... I wish I had paid closer attention to what was going on then. In the late 80's through Desert Storm and into the early 90's, (my mid to late 20's) my attention had turned more to socialization and the opposite sex than capturing the changing B-52's at the local Air Force base.... Hindsight is truly, 20/20.
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