1/48 Revell B-17F to E (Part 1)

Coastal Command Conversion

by Matt Swan

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    I’ve pretty much covered the developmental history of both the “E” and the “F” models in the previous kit reviews so I'm going to get straight to the model. This project has been in the planning mode for quite some time now. It was more than a year ago when I saw an Academy 1/72 B-17E done in Coastal Command colors that I decided I wanted to do one in 1/48. First I had to acquire a suitable starting kit since there was no “E” model B-17 produced in 1/48. The Revell “F” was 90% of what I needed and I went to e-bay for that. Actually I acquired two kits, one nearly mint and one that had been started by a kid or novice modeler with a tube of Testors glue. I chose the started kit as my base for the conversion and proceeded to disassemble it and strip the brush painted layers off of it with Chameleon Paint Stripper.

     This is only a starting point, I still needed a Paragon conversion set and Paragon had already ceased production. I connected with another modeler in Florida who had several Paragon kits in storage and was kind enough to part with one. Things were moving ahead. I had to give some thought to final display and long term storage for the model. Most of my shelf space is already filled with single and twin engine aircraft and even if it were not, finding a piece of shelf large enough to handle a 1/48 B-17 is always a challenge. Considering that the interior of the Revell kit is already sparse I decided that this was going to be built in flight, gear up. This definitely took the burden of scratch building interior detail off my shoulders but replaced that with crew considerations. I figured I would need at least six crewmembers on board: pilot and copilot, both waist gunners, bombardier and tail gunner. These would be the visible figures. From what I understand if you are so lucky as to acquire a Pro-Modeler kit there are plenty of crewmembers included. This is not the case so I will have to get creative. I’ll get back to the crew in a little while.

    Decals are another consideration. I have plenty of British markings in my spare decal stash but these are nearly all Spitfire or Hurricane related, not nearly large enough for the heavy bomber. While I do have a Lancaster in the stash I do not want to scavenge those decals. I searched Great Models web store, Squadron.com and Eagle Strike Productions looking for appropriate decals. Items of concern where obviously getting roundels of the correct size but also a Scottish Coastal Command emblem. Not an easy combination to acquire. Another question that has yet to be answered is whether or not the roundel appears on the bottom side of the wing. I know that bombers operating over the main continent do not carry these markings but that home defense aircraft do. This aircraft fits into the home defense category so it may carry them but I have not been able to verify it yet.

    That search continues. I finally settled on a set from Aero Master,  Lancaster Bombers Part 2, to provide my primary markings. I found a rough, black and white image of the Scottish Coastal Command unit on-line that I’ve sent off to Mike Grant Designs for a quote.

     Although I do not have 100% of my materials gathered I feel that I have enough on hand and enough in progress to start the kit. I’m really anxious to play with those Paragon parts so that is where I’ll start. The engine cowlings have a large casting block right on the nose. I used my Dremel with a cut-off wheel to take off the majority of the material then shifted to a sanding barrel to get down to the basic shape. From there an emery board followed by a round diamond file and a few successively finer grades of sandpaper finished off the cowlings.

     Resin dust is toxic so it is important to wear the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) while sanding and sawing this stuff. Pictured is the respirator that I’m using. I said “respirator” not “mask”. A dust mask has a single elastic band to secure it to your face while a respirator has two. This ensures that the equipment is secure to your face and toxic particles are not slipping around the edges and making their way into your lungs – a very important feature!

    Now that I have satisfied (for the moment) the urge to play with Paragon pieces maybe I can do some work on the kit parts. The conversion directions call for installing the kit clear parts in both sides of the nose then masking over them to create a third standard size window. This does not look to be a good idea as the large window has a very pronounce rivet pattern around it plus the window has a big freaking hole in it for a Browning machine gun. I think that I will try a different approach. First, using a Xacto Leaf blade I carefully trim off the rivet pattern. Next I cut pieces of Evergreen stock sheet to fit the window openings and secure it with Tenex 7R. I putty the inside to bring it to the same level as the rest of the fuselage and some putty on the outside to cover any seams.

    After my putty has dried overnight I sand both sides smooth. When I applied my putty I used a Q-tip and acetone based fingernail polish to smooth it out so the amount of sanding is minimal and there has been virtually no damage to the raised panel lines. Now I will lay down some strips of masking tape to outline the dimensions of the new window. I use an archival pen to trace the window edges then remove the tape. Next I use a small burr bit in my Dremel to open up the window center. Once that is done I trim it close to the pen line with a razor knife then shift to a small flat diamond file to finish it off. This is done to both sides.

Click on images below to see larger images

    There is yet one more modification that has to be made to the fuselage. I will be modeling an aircraft manufactured prior to the introduction of the Sperry Ball turret. I will be installing a remotely controlled turret and will need to install the sighting windows for the turret operator. There are four small rectangular windows and a single dome window that must be placed in the lower fuselage behind the belly turret position. The belly gunner’s position is very close to the waist gunners’ positions, which must have made this an extremely crowded area.

     I’m starting with the right side fuselage and place my rectangular windows per the Paragon instructions. I used strips of tape to outline them and followed the same procedure as with the nose windows. Once the right side windows were complete I taped the fuselage halves together and used more strips of tape to place the left side windows. I also traced a 10mm circle on the belly with a scribe in a compass for the dome window. I colored this area with a marker to aid in cutting it out. The left side windows were cut out then I used a cylindrical cutting burr to cut out the dome window then used some sandpaper to clean it up.

    As I said before, this has been in the planning stages for some time. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to build this “in flight” with gear up and now I must consider the changes that will be needed to accomplish this. The gear bays are devoid of detail, which for my purposes is a good thing, less stuff to get in the way. First thing I need to do is to get rid of the retraction arm on the front of the gear strut. This would normally fold up and just a small part would be visible from beneath the aircraft.
    Folding the strut and laying it in the bay would consume too much room however putting a piece of Evergreen rod in the bay for just the visible portion works okay. With the retraction arm removed I’ve placed the assembled wheel on the axel and test fit it into the bay. Guess what, it does not fit. I have to open up the hole in the interior bulkhead and trim the end of the axle to get it to fit into the bay properly. The exterior opening needed a little sanding to allow the tire to slide into position and I think it looks pretty good. The second bay is treated in the same manner and now I can glue the bay bulkhead in place and paint the interior Model Master Green Drab. 
I know that a lot of B-17 instructions tell you to paint the interior chromate green but the truth of the matter is that they were painted a variety of colors. Some were chromate green, some were O.D. while others were dark olive, natural metal and in one case black with messages written in white chalk from the production crew to the ultimate flight crew. The bottom line was that the lack of the correct shade of paint was not going to slow down bomber production by one second.
     Moving back to the fuselage, once again I have to consider “in flight” options. Let’s take a look at that crew I mentioned earlier. The kit does not include any crew so it’s scavenge time! I have an old Monogram B-24J junker kit that I got as an add-on to another deal and the seated pilot figure is still inside the assembled fuselage as well as one standing figure – rip that thing apart and salvage those two. I have a B-24D kit in the stash and steal the seated pilot from that one. Now I have the pilot and copilot covered. Both figures needed to have their butts shaved down a little with my trusty Dremel and the bottoms of the boots had to be trimmed along with just a little off the back to sit correctly. For the copilot I used a very small cutting burr and removed the clipboard from his lap and rebuild his leg structure to give them a little variety. They get mounted on toothpicks and painted for the job.

   The interior of the fuselage gets a few coats of Green Drab also. The cockpit assembly was completed per the instructions with the exception of the dash. I found a spare B-17 dash decal in the spares bag (can you believe my luck?) and put that on the dash. I glued the cockpit assembly in place on the right fuselage half and then test fit the cabin roof with a pilot in place – nope, not happening. The seats sit up way too high with the top of the headrest nearly on the cabin roof and the pilots cap will not let the roof settle into place. I check some in flight photos of real aircraft looking at pilots head position and seat backs and my opinion is confirmed. I now cut out the seat assemblies, cut about 1/16 of an inch off each seat leg and reinstall them. Now the pilots head sits in the correct position.

    That's two covered, four more to go. The next four are going to be more difficult as they cannot stand upright nor be in a sitting position. I have to look for some figures that I can cut up and reassemble into various crouched positions. The tail gunner will be easy because I just need a bust for him. I would like to have a least one waist gunner peering out the window and the other moving about inside but still visible. I think I want the bombardier moving forward into the nose position. Definitely have some work ahead of me.

     Hold everything, change in plans. While I was searching for adequate figures to slice up I got an email from modeling comrade Derwin who has 90% of a Pro-Modeler B-17 crew set that he is not going to use. Well, I wasted no time in letting him know I wanted those figures and he is mailing them to me so while I wait for the arrival of the crew I will work on some other aspects of the kit. I think I heard a collective sigh of relief from the spare figures box.

     As I said before, this kit had been started by someone way back when and while they had only done stuff to the fuselage as far as paint and glue the wings had been removed from the sprue and when placed back in the box took some warpage. I spent about an hour slowly stressing and gluing the wing halves together to take the warp out of them and another hour after the glue (Tenex 7R) had dried cleaning up the seam line on the leading edge. The fit at the engine nacelles is not very good and there was a lot of carving and filling done around those points. I still have to fill the exterior bomb rack mounting holes as those were not present on the “E” model.

I feel that it’s time to play with some resin again and I’m taking a look at the propellers. The conversion directions call for the “F” model paddle blades to be cut off the hubs and for the “E” model blades to be mounted in their place. With four propellers to do and considering how fragile a prop is once the blade has been removed and reglued I have some concerns about this. I wonder if I would not be better off to simply try to sand down the kit blades. I take out a set of the Paragon blades and look them over, it’s difficult to compare them on the casting block so I slice one set of three apart for examination. Look at the picture to the left and you can see what I’m talking about. On the far left is the original cast of three blades from Paragon, central is the kit propeller and on the right are the individual blades. They look to be very nice castings so I will go to the trouble of removing them from the block and replacing them.

    Haul out the dust respirator and the Dremel and I’m ready to get busy. I’m using the cut-off wheel to remove the majority of the casting block from each blade leaving just a fine line of excess on each one. Once this has been done to the first set of three I shift to a piece of 400 grit automotive emery cloth and sand the excess material down until there is just the finest line left. Now I change to a flat diamond file and finish the removal. From here I use some very fine (800) sanding paper to polish the blade. One set of blades equals about one hour of modeling time but the end result is three very nice looking blades. Still have to cut the kit blades off and drill the hubs for reattachment.

     On the next set I change over from the cut-off wheel to a sanding drum and this speeds up the process quite a bit. Now I am down to about a half an hour per blade set. I still have to get these new blades on the old hubs. To achieve this and maintain proper blade alignment for four sets I need a jig. I’m using a block of modeling clay formed into a solid square, which I’ve gently pressed a propeller into until the lower edges of the blades make contact with the clay. The clay has pressed up into the shaft-mounting hole giving me a good alignment point. Now I take some small pieces of clay and roll them between my fingers to warm it and make it more pliable. This is gently worked under the blades with my dental pick to form angled wedges that will hold the alignment for the new blades. I also work a little clay up around the hub itself so that I can align it when there are no blades on it.

Click on images below to see larger images

     Whenever I am not actually assembling a propeller I will keep an old kit propeller in the jig so the clay cannot take damage accidentally. Now I remove the first set of old blades using a set of Xeron Sprue cutters with the flat side to the hub. Each paddle blade is cut off and stored in the spare parts box. It never hurts to have an extra dozen Hamilton Standard paddle blades. The hub surface is carefully trimmed with an Xacto blade and then I create a dimple in the center of each attachment area with the tip of an Xacto leaf blade. Note on the replacement blades that there is a small node that will be inserted into the old hub. I then drill out the dimple with my Welders Tip Drill.

     The stand-by propeller is removed from the jig and the drilled hub is inserted. The lump of clay that aligns the hub is really useful now. I drop a good glob of medium super-glue onto a post-it note and dip the node of the new propeller blade into it and put the blade into position, gently pressing it onto the alignment wedge with my fingertip. I don’t want to apply so much pressure as to change the shape of the clay but I do want the blade to lie flat on the wedge. All three blades are placed in the same manner and a little accelerator is applied using a paintbrush.

     The propeller is removed from the jig, the stand-by propeller is placed back into the jig and one assembly is now complete. The other three are done in the same fashion and set aside to allow the super-glue to fully cure.

     I’m moving back to the wing assemblies now. As I fill the exterior bomb rack mounting holes I regret that I did not glue some scrap sheet stock over the insides of the holes. The putty wants to press right through to the inside and there is not a lot of structure for it to bond to. While the first coat of putty is drying I start working on the engines. Each engine face is trimmed up and mounted on a toothpick for painting. A little masking tape is wrapped around the ends of the toothpicks to ensure a secure fit into the engine face.

   The engines are airbrushed with Model Master Steel then the crankshaft bodies and outside edges are done with Gunze-Sangyo Burnt Iron. The front gear housing is painted dark gray and individual details are picked out the flat red, brass and black enamels. Once the paint has dried the entire assembly is washed with a black sludge wash. The insides of the cowlings are painted Model Master Drab Green on the front half and flat black on the back half. The engine faces are a little snug fitting into place so I sand the outside edge of each facing a little to smooth out the fit. Each facing is secured with drops of medium superglue placed on the backside.

    Back to the wings. The face of each nacelle where and engine will be mounted is painted flat black. The engine mounting stubs are trimmed up and the engine faces were test fit before being inserted into the cowlings. A second coat of putty is applied to the exterior bomb rack mounting holes and this goes back to the drying shelf.

 Let’s take a look at some landing gear for a few minutes. I’ve already cut off the retraction arms and cleaned up those connection points and the seams on the tires have been sanded down. The tires are airbrushed flat black and the struts are done in flat aluminum. Once the black has dried I mask the tires off with regular masking tape, cut out the center sections with an Xacto and airbrush the hubs flat aluminum. There is an odd tank on the gear strut, I don’t know what it’s supposed to be but what the heck, let’s paint it red. The wheels are glued to the struts and everything gets sludge washed and these get set aside. There are lots of subassemblies starting to accumulate now. I think it's time to go back to the wing/engine assembly again.

    Each shaft stub gets trimmed and sanded so it will spin freely then the first engine/cowling assembly is test fit. It doesn’t fit. The flap area on the resin cowling is too thick to fit over the nacelle fairing. I use my Dremel with the sanding drum in place to grind a 45 degree angle around the perimeter of the nacelle and test fit the cowling again, much better

 

While test fitting the cowlings I check the fit of each propeller shaft also. The outboard shafts fit wonderfully but the inboard shafts on each wing feel sloppy and I think this will allow the propeller to droop when complete so for these two positions a .01 piece of sheet styrene is glued to the front of each mounting stub to tighten the fit. A heavy bead of medium super-glue is laid around the beveled edge of the nacelle and around the lower area of the engine-face mounting stub. Care is taken to not get any glue where the propeller shaft will ride. There is a little slop in the cowling fit as far as rotation is concerned which is good because as I look at the cowling from the front it needs to be twisted a little to line the engine up correctly. The cowling assembly is held in place and a drop of accelerator is placed into the cowl flaps and allowed to run down the glue bead.

Click on image below to see larger image

    Each engine assembly is now packed with tissue paper and the wings get a coat of Model Master gray primer. A few spots show up around the sides of the cowlings that will need a little more sanding but overall they look pretty good. When I built the “Impatient Virgin” from the Monogram B-24J kit I had a similar problem in the exact same area.

    The crew figures have arrived from Derwin and he did me real nice. He sent me four of the original Pro-Modelers figures and a couple other various seated pilots. I’m using both of the waist gunner figures, the standing gunner is fine as designed but the crouched gunner needs a little adjustment. I want this guy looking out the waist window rather than holding a gun so one arm is raised, the gloved hand is cut off and repositioned. I’m using another standing figure from the B-24J kit for the navigator. This one is too tall but I can cut off his feet and it will not matter for the interior placement I have in mind. All the crew are done with Flat Sea Blue with details done in flat yellow, light gray, silver, black, dark gray, and olive drab. After the basic paint job is finished they are washed with a black wash then dry brushed with a medium flat blue then dull coated with Polly Scale clear flat.

     To get the waist gunner positioned properly I hold the crouched crewmember in place and mark the inside of the fuselage with a pen where their feet make contact then hit each mark with a burr bit in the Dremel to make a slight notch. The standing gunner will be manning a browning but I do not want to install the guns until the final stages of assembly. I take one browning assembly and secure it in place with a thin strip of masking tape then position the crewmember and make mounting notches for him in the same manner as the other gunner. Now the browning can be removed for later installation.

Matt

Photos and text © by Matt Swan

Below are links to all 5 article relating to this B-17 project.

Model Kit

Resin

Feature Feature Feature

1/48 Revell B-17F

1/48 Paragon Designs B-17E Conversion kit #4851

1/48 Revell B-17F to E (Part 1) Coastal Command Conversion

1/48 Revell B-17F to E (Part 2) Coastal Command Conversion

1/48 Revell B-17F to E (Part 3) Coastal Command Conversion

Review by Matt Swan

Review by Matt Swan

by Matt Swan

by Matt Swan

by Matt Swan