Dirkpitt289 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 My next build is going to be something a little different then what we've been seeing built so far. I'm going to be building a B-17F #42-30145 or better known as the Green Hornet of the 486th BG, Sudbury, 1944. From 7 January 1944 she was on loan to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough for "range tests". Returned to the USAAF in February, the aircraft was assigned as a hack with the 486th BG, where she was stripped of her armaments and had all its turretts removed. It was painted bright green with dark green decorative elements and named Green Hornet. Its main function was to preform communication relays, weather observation and transportation but some uncertain records noted that the Green Hornet was used as the Groups Formation Assembly Ship. If this were true, it would be the only case of an assembly ship being used by the 3rd AD. For this build I'm going to be using the Academy B-17F "Fort Alamo II" kit. The Kit Molded in light gray and clear plastic, the Academy B-17 series feature scribed panel lines and flash-free molding. While there are a few ejector-pin marks on a few visible interior surfaces, these are minor and should be easily sanded away. The kit features a nicely detailed cockpit and nose section for this scale. Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator and Bombardier seats are all provided, along with control yokes and a decal-based instrument panel in the cockpit, a map table for the Navigator, and a Norden bombsight and control panel for the Bombardier. The bomb bay doors are positionable, and there is a nicely represented catwalk that spans the forward and aft bulkheads. The two bomb racks that mount on either side of the catwalk are also present along with eight bombs to arm the racks. The corresponding bomb racks that mount against the inside of the fuselage are not provided in the kit. The top and ball turrets are provided, as well as waist guns that are stowed inside of the waist windows. Unlike most of you I will not be doing any extensive interior work on this one. My focus will be on the exterior finish. I will start posting progress photos sometime next week as this weekend is booked solid. Thanks for taking the time to stop and look. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Nice Will be a treat to see. What do you plan to do with the kit decals? I already have Aeromaster's Fort Alamo decals and am interested in comparing them to the Academy kit's. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) I was going to just put them away for future use. If you want I can post a photo for you. If you need them I can send them to you? Edited April 8, 2011 by Dirkpitt289 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Prop Duster Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Got you flight costume ready?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 If you're building the Academy B-17F, you have to make a couple of corrections. Academy used the same wings for all their Fort kits, but the wings are only correct for the earlier ones. First, you'll need to remove the little bumps on the underside of the inboard nacelles just behind the engines..they're supposed to represent the carberator intakes seen on the B-17B/C/D. On the E/F/G the carb intakes were moved into the wing, between the engines. Unfortunately, they're completely absent in all the Academy kits, meaning you'll have to cut them out yourself. Also, the large supercharger intakes are molded as simple depressions. You can either open them up, or just paint them black. Finally, for some reason Academy molded the outboard superchargers with a wedge-shaped "hood" on the pipe. This was an experimental installation only tried out briefly on one of the early test aircraft, and never seen on production B-17s. Other than those little issues, the Academy Forts are really quite nice. I've heard the wing has too much dihedral, but I've never gotten to the point of putting the wings on one so I can't comment. I did see a built-up Academy B-17F at a show recently, and the dihedral did seem a bit excessive. SN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
100th BG Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 One minor correction Steve. You are correct about what to remove and where to add the openings, just that those were for the oil coolers, not carbs. The oil coolers which show up quite nicely in your photos of the "Swoose". The openings between the fuselage and the inboard engines and outboard of the outboard engines were the intakes for the superchargers (and on to the carbs) and for the intercoolers. Induction system diagram: Outboard intakes (#4): Inboard intakes (#3): The tubing sticking down is for the battery vents. There is only one on the other side (between #2 and the fuselage). All the stuff in the nacelle (#1): Oil System (#1): Might have helped if I had oriented those two diagrams the same way! Typical oil cooler: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 D'oh! Brain fart! I even pointed them out as oil coolers in my Swoose pics captions! SN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 Thanks for the tip guys. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 Here I put some paint to plastic. Nothing special just some Interior green. Stay tuned for more to come on this one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 (edited) I finally got time to sit down and work on the Hornet. Again I'm not going to go crazy with the interior as we all know it will never be seen. So here we go. After I just got done saying I wasn't going to go crazy I found myself going through my stash of Evergreen looking for the right bits to add to the pilot seats. Adding some tape harnesses. Had to cut out the waist gunners window Till next time. Thanks for looking. Edited April 18, 2011 by Dirkpitt289 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 All closed up and moving forward Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 I thought this would be a cool photo. Comparing the E to the F. My favorite time of the build :evil: I should have used styrene as a gap filler first but for some reason I didn't. I think I will be redoing this area very soon. For those who have been wondering. Here are the colors that will be used when the time comes. Here you can see where the top turret would go. In this case this hole will be completely filled in. Here you can see where the bottom turret would go. In this case this hole will be completely filled in. Thanks for looking Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mungo1974 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Looks like your getting there,can't wait to see the finished model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mungo1974 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 (edited) double post edit Edited April 28, 2011 by mungo1974 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 this is off topic but this just arrived today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 this is off topic but this just arrived today. Nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 I guess. Its not as good as the Academy but i'm hoping I can turn it into something decent. Time will tell Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Any B-17 is a nice B-17! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Last night I spent a little time with the Green Hornet. Its at the stage where I need to close up the top turret. Using some thin plastic Evergreen I set forth making a new roof for the inside of the turret. Taking into consideration the contore of the interior the model I need to make the plastic wide enough to sit in these tracks on both sides of the fuselage I also had to notch out the piece to fit into this space in the bomb bay bulkhead Cut to fit Sliding into place In place Next I applied some glue and pressed the plastic to the contore of the interior roof. Now I need to make a disk (again out of Evergreen) that matches the thickness of the fuselage. Using the top turret and a gauge I was able to get the right size I would need for the incert. Using a compass scribe I was able to cut out the disk with ease Next will come the filling and reshaping of the roof line. Thanks for looking Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Somebody just sen me these screen captions from a movie. They are of The Green Hornet. I'm still waiting to find out what movie it was. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B-17 guy Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 The stills look like they came from memphis belle, at least made with the same camera and film type. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 The stills look like they came from memphis belle, at least made with the same camera and film type. I'm told they came from the History/ Millitary Channel series WWII in HD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bigasshammm Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Somebody just sen me these screen captions from a movie. They are of The Green Hornet. I'm still waiting to find out what movie it was. That's a sweet looking scheme. I agree it's probably from the WWII in color series that was on TV. I had recorded them but never got to watching them then my stepdaughter recorded like 65 shows and it erased them all. Sigh. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dirkpitt289 Posted May 26, 2011 Author Share Posted May 26, 2011 Last night we sealed up the top turret on the Green Hornet. Today we close up the ball turret Using the same technique as with the top turret I cuta piece of Evergreen plastic to the same with as the piece that would have held the ball turret in place. Here is the view from through the radio room Once everything has been checked the evergreen was glued into place and the area filled with Squadrons Green putty. Tonight it should be ready to be sanded and shaped Thanks for looking Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted May 31, 2011 Share Posted May 31, 2011 This is friggin cool!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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