I’ve made more progress, one of the two D models is very close to the prep paint stage, the other is is close behind. I’m airbrushing the wheels, insteed of hand painting them, they just look better that way. One the green 52 I don’t know what happen, the right wing is really low. Now when I was glueing on the wings, I taped on the wheels, so to give that look of the shape of the wings on the ground.
Now the main thing I having trouble with the H model, I can’t get the landing gear in the right way were both are even.
(I made a stand out of lego’s, it helps in turning the plane around to do work on)
(My way of painting the wheels, on both sides at the same time, with out getting none on your hands.)
Daniel, your quite welcome my friend! As to one wing being lower, take into consideration that on the ground with low fuel, it will “tilt” to one side or the other to the point one wing tip wheel will touch the ground…Harv
I’ve tried to sell that explanation to judges before (especially on WWI a/c that are never really straight) and have failed every time. You can rationalize why the wing would be low in real life but when it comes to evaluating craftsmanship the judges will be looking for symmetry. Not my opinion just painful experience.
Well when I was glueing on the wings, I had taped the main landing wheels on, and taped the wing tip wheels on so the glue was set and dry with the plane sitting on a level table. Only one of the two B-52’s has one of the wings really low, so I guess it would make it really look like its loaded it fuel. [;)] I have gotten to the point of prepeping both D models for painting, I don’t know if I want to paint both the same or paint them different. If I paint them both the same it would look like there from the wing group.
I used the same technik I used with my first B-52 that I made four or five years ago, of fitting the strip of tape in the area I want it, and then marking were from point to point of how long I want it to be, then placing the tape on the cutting mat, then using a maker and drawing out the cammo lines on it. After that using a sharp hobby knife to cut the pattern out, then placing it on the area of the plane you want. I think It’s very simple and easy to do.
Long time no see my friend…Your B.U.F.F’s are turning out beautiful…well big and bad as well! I can’t wait to see how the paint turns out. Have you had a chance to work on you B-17 at all?
Interesting! I’ve recently learned from a B-47 pilot that it had the same issue. (not being able to jettison fuel) They’d just cruise around to burn it off. He also said there was no way to pump fuel out except for manually hooking up a pump while on the ground with ground handlers working many hours to do the task.
Nice work so far Field Marshall! The eight motored beasts will be a mighty addition to your collection!
Did’ya know that the B-52s wing is formulated from World War Two German research on swept wings? The degree of sweep and wing loading specifications match formulas right off the drawing board from captured research. Also, the construction of it is of German World War Two design too. It has a “clean wing”. It’s entire structure is uninterrupted. No wheel wheels or engine nacelles to weaken the structure. That’s the secret to it’s immense strength. The Boeing 707 shares the same attributes! The pylon idea for motors was real breakthrough for strength and easy maintenance.
Thanks to you all, I can’t wait to get some paint on these two.
Tiny, I have done some work on my B-17. I’ll post an update Monday.
Tonight I’ve finished masking both D models for paint, just some last min things to do before painting. This is how I’ve done my masking, using painters tape for the egde’s.
First I make out the lenght of the area I’m going to do, and then make the end points on the tape. And if need be draw a straight line to get the curve’s level, which helps on long peices that that.
And then draw with a marker the curve’s you want.
Then after that placing the tape in the area you want.
I’ve done this both on both D models, the fuel tanks, engines. And after the color you just painted, you can use the other side of tape to mask that same area, to mask the painted area you just did.
Looking great my friend…I still can’t believe you’re tackling two of these beasts at once…ambitious! I can’t wait to start on mine…but I have to wait. My Tupolev Tu-95 Bear-H will be built first…once my B-17 is done.
Thanks Tiny, It was a headache getting both filled and sanded. My B-52H still has some more to do on it, I still can belive if Italeri is using the same molds as AMT, it has no real detail. And the wings have the inflight look to them. Oh and on one of the pictures above some areas don’t have paint on them, I ran out of paint. I used up three of the model masters flat black, and that’s just one coat.
Well sorry for this long update, the flat black on the bottom of my 52’s were going great till I found out that the air brush I was using was made for detailing, small area’s, so I can see streaks in the flat black. So I’m still looking for a good air brush that can spray in wide area, like three to five inchs. And I orderd a bottle of Ambroid Pro Weld, so that will help out my other Big Birds projects.
