Wiggy Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 (edited) Greetings friends. So I'm building "Little Miss Mischief" again. This time, With the battle damage sustained on the 15 October 44 Cologne mission. So far, so good... Merry Christmas everyone. Blue skies, Wiggy Edited December 24, 2005 by Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raptor16 Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 That looks amazing! Great job!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kelly Quirk Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 Very effective start! Looking forward to seeing your progress. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted December 24, 2005 Author Share Posted December 24, 2005 Hey thanks fellas. I'm looking forward to the finished product also! I made a map of the mission flight path and put it on the navagator's bench... Happy Holidays, Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted December 24, 2005 Share Posted December 24, 2005 That looks amazing. Great work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Holeshot Posted December 25, 2005 Share Posted December 25, 2005 Reminds of the famous poem by Randall Jarrell, Death of the Ball Turret Gunner": From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. Curtis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted December 25, 2005 Author Share Posted December 25, 2005 Hey Curtis, boy that poem sorta' puts a face on the war our men fought. Regarding "Little Miss Mischief's" ball turret gunner: He lost his little toe in the blast and suffered some frost bite. The AA shell knocked-out the turret drive making it impossible for the gunner to get out. Kind of a tickelish situation to be in. Pray you don't bleed to death, pray the aircraft stays together, and pray the gear doesn't collapse upon landing. Makes me weak to think about it. Thanks for your post... Merry Christmas, Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 After the tail gunner they certainly had the loneliest role, even more so if they were stuck in there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted December 26, 2005 Author Share Posted December 26, 2005 (edited) I met a former ball turret gunner. This guy still had the fire in his eyes. He was with the 15th Air Force flying out of Italy. He told me during a flight, the crew would sometimes change positions in the aircraft. He said that no one would ever trade for his position! These guys saw the war from a completely different prospective. Blue skies, Wiggy Edited December 26, 2005 by Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Holeshot Posted December 26, 2005 Share Posted December 26, 2005 Hey Curtis, boy that poem sorta' puts a face on the war our men fought.Regarding "Little Miss Mischief's" ball turret gunner: He lost his little toe in the blast and suffered some frost bite. The AA shell knocked-out the turret drive making it impossible for the gunner to get out. Kind of a tickelish situation to be in. Pray you don't bleed to death, pray the aircraft stays together, and pray the gear doesn't collapse upon landing. Makes me weak to think about it. Thanks for your post... Merry Christmas, Wiggy Yeah, it's not exactly a feel-good poem! Little Miss Mischeif's story sounds kinda like an episode of "Amazing Stories" (a 1980s Twilight Zone knockoff produced by IIRC Steven Spielberg) where a B-17 has a midair with a peice of an ME109 it shot down, the landing gear won't come down, and the ball turret won't turn to allow the gunner to get out. After trying various plans to get him out, they almost shoot him in the back of the head so he doesn't get crushed to death in the belly landing. But the ball turret gunner was kinda the crew cartoonist so he asks for a pad and pens, and draws a cartoon of the plane landing on these big cartoony balloon tires, goes into a sort of trance, and low and behold, the gear comes down--big cartoony balloon tires and all! The plane lands safely, they drag the unconscious ball turret gunner out of the turret, and when he wakes up, poof! The cartoon landing gear disappears and the plane falls onto its belly, crushing the ball turret! Cheers! Curtis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted December 26, 2005 Author Share Posted December 26, 2005 Yah, I remember that one. I thought the ending was hokey. Kind of like eating your way through a box of cerial to get the prize at the bottom and its somebody's toe nail! Thanks everyone for your posts. More to follow... Blue skies, Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Greetings friends. OK, had some time in the model room! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Nother' one... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Nother' unn... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Last one. I couldn't believe I got so much done in one day! Its all down hill from here... Blue skies, Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hey Colin, how ya been? OK, the battle damage. After I took the time to really study the "blast zone", I mapped-out where I wanted the damaged area to be. I used my dremmel tool to thin the plastic from behind. I kept holding the fuselage up to the light to see where it was getting thin. Just kept working the key areas I was trying to recreate. When the plastic was nearly transparent, I went to the hot knife. Nothing special, just held an old #11 blade over a candle and opened her up. To finish-out, I heated the plastic enough to just begin to distort the plastic. I just used the chrome portion of the lighter to shape the blast contours to show the stretched aluminum over the stringers. Simple! More to follow... Blue skies, Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dknights Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Very nice work. IMHO, realistic battle damage on aircraft is one of the hardest things to do in modeling. I can't wait to see it complete. David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
James Arnold Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 Hi what scale is your 'Little miss mischief'? James Quote Link to post Share on other sites
klimmer Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 I have followed this build with great interest, and to say the least - amazing work. I am planning on starting a B-17G for the heavies GB, and would like to know what you are using in the openings during painting? I am presently working on a B-25 Mitchell, and I masked all the canopies and installed them for my paint job. This looks like a neat way of painting without installing the glass. Thanks Ted Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted March 1, 2006 Share Posted March 1, 2006 FANTASTIC work! I love the battle damage and the NMF looks great! Nice job and please keep us posted. Regards. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted March 1, 2006 Author Share Posted March 1, 2006 (edited) Boy! Thanks a lot fellas for your interest! James, I'm using the Monogram 1/48th scale kit. Ted, don't know if I'm the one who came-up with the idea but it works well for me. I use sterofoam rubber to fill-in the holes. Its easy to work with. I simply cut the stuff a little larger than the hole I'm trying to fill. You just crush it down to slip it into position and let it expand back to shape. It stays put until you remove it. I never liked masking-off all those little panes: its a pain- get it? :lol: Hope this helps. Good luck with your Mitchell- one of my favorites! Thank you all for your interest in this project. I must admit you guys are responsible for this receint surge of activity in the model room. I gotta' get more done so I can share more with my friends here on the mighty ARC! More to follow... Blue skies, Wiggy Edited March 1, 2006 by Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 WOW, more pics! So if you can believe it, not only am I building this model for the copilot's son, I'm also in contact with the ball turret gunner's son! I was looking at the grainy B&W image of the combat damage when I spotted "EVE" painted on the ball turret. I ask the fella if he knew anything about it. Turns out, the previous ball turret gunner had "Steve" painted over the right 50 and "Agnes" painted over the left. The blast took-out "Agnes". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 So here's my ball turret... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 (edited) Number four... Pay no attention to the frickin' hair! Edited March 2, 2006 by Wiggy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wiggy Posted March 2, 2006 Author Share Posted March 2, 2006 Another shot of the progressing battle damage. After the decal had set, I removed anything that wasn't sticking/laying down. Kinda' gives that blast effect. Looking forward to the airbrush work... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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