popeye the sailor

really nice job on her Craig.......did you need to put any weight in ? I recall mine being sort of a tail dragger. I made up a base and painted it flat black...cemented it to it

I've seen so many pictures of B 17 damage....the movie was no exception. Imagining being in the three most vulnerable { I changed the two to a three due to the belly turret....wouldn't want to be in that position either} areas of the plane...............I'm sure it was a sick feeling. the ability of these planes to stay in the air, in spite of heavy damage was astounding. when I built the Nine o Nine, I watched a documentary on the 452nd Bomber Group.......even though the Nine was with the 303rd, I watched anyway.........horrific footage in that one too.

yea........I must have a book mark list that's over three feet long I've not tried toothpaste though........simple light rubbing with a soft cloth usually does the trick for me {my hulls love me for it}. in my younger days, I enjoyed listening to stories the residents had about their normal lives.......I worked at a nursing home while in school. there were fewer brands to choose from and most of the things they bought, were drawn from bulk barrels and made fresh {pre invention of the refrigerator}. your list Lou is a sterling example of having too many brands to choose from. my teen years were the 70's mostly.......even back then, life was simpler. but we won't go into all that.............I'm not a confirmed 'tree hugger' or anything......but one can't help but think of the implications. this knowledge makes one think by now, the yellow paint has had ample time to cure. it will need to undergo another round of masking. I've run into a slight problem concerning 'mixing bottles'.......I'm running out of them. usually, I'll buy the 1/4 oz bottles of thinner, along with the 3/4 oz bottles and airbrush tins {larger size}........empty out the 1/4 oz and I have the bottles I need. I can buy them empty and ready to use, but I think it's more economical this way. I'm going to look into Amazon and the like, to see if I can acquire the 1/4 & 1/2 size bottles. been meaning to do it....but now I'm finding myself backed into a corner

there is the confusion between the movie and the army versions.........the movie was about the 25th mission. John Lithgow is the PR guy in the movie. the army version, which was released during the war, was about the every day life of the B 17 and her crew. that was a compilation of missions and places. the Memphis Belle was front and center in that piece as well. there were a couple of other B 17's that were flown in and altered to look like F's to Co star in the movie version........the Swoose was one of them........the Sally B was another. we had more than one flyable B 17...........sadly we lost one of them Memphis Belle (aircraft) - Wikipedia Memphis Belle (film) - Wikipedia the movie did point out one thing......that the fighters weren't carrying a belly tank during this period.

not crazy at all..........it makes for an awesome display! very museum quality

wow John.........you've made some really good progress since I last checked in. superb job on the hull frame and stern!

really nice

I'm sure they are........as your video attests. not having knowledge of Huey blades or any other types, I can only go by the story as told to me.

the weather played in my favor yesterday.........I think it will be good for today too {hurray}. for the underbelly, I picked out a Humbrol color. when I got all those paints from Lou, I looked up a color chart for the Humbrol paints.......came up with a gloss and matte chart. I picked out Humbrol matte #24, which is Trainer Yellow according to the chart. as I though further, I began to think it was too much of a mustard color, so I almost chose another color........but I stuck with it. as mentioned, the Olive is really good, although it looks a bit grainy on the parts. I think adding colors relating to the fading might smooth things out......I though about rubbing down the parts lightly, but I am concerned about scratching. I may not do it. when I did the olive color, the parts that I had painted flat white {primer} was too close to where I was working, and they got some over spray.....I though I might need to repaint them. at this time, I sprayed the trainer yellow, crossing my fingers that this wouldn't be an issue. to my relief, it wasn't I am not at all disappointed with the color either. opening the tin, I found that this was new.........it had never been opened! took a bit to mix it........made a bit of a mess transferring it to a Testor's bottle. I wish I could get hold of some 1/2 oz bottles.......shame that the airbrush I'm using depends on the 1/4 oz bottle. the caps fit on them alone.......I might look into that other siphon feed that I have. they are still a bit wet. I misjudged the lines on the fuselage halves and did some adjustments with the 'yellow line' light seemed to hinder the true color shown.......I used very little thinner in the yellow. this morning I took this picture to show the true color....I hope....

I believe the plane had a couple close calls before the Bradley crash. the original Nine o Nine went to scrap after the war.......the plane that was to be the Nine, was not as old, and was a transport plane before the transformation. chances are, you read about an earlier crash.......understandable I got to watch the movie "Memphis Belle". it was pretty good........but the air force video included in the DVD debunks the movie.......the waist gunner wasn't injured, no dead engines, no landing gear problems. the plane landed without incident to celebrate their 25th mission. I did see a few small details that I hope to add.

I would imagine that bird shot does more damage...dunno.

throw a Gatling gun their way and they would be the angel of death

the mechanical part was really interesting.........amazing how they function. still pretty scary concerning the air frame........really not much that protects the pilot and crew. my brother and a few of his companions {when he was stationed in Korea} used to sneak out with one of the locals to go duck hunting. he told me one time when someone shot the rotor by accident.......no one got hurt, but it stung when they had to get the chopper out of the rice paddy

sad about the crash John.......refer to my earlier log for the whole story. it was the reason why I picked the Nine o Nine for the subject.......... I hope your doing well and welcome........I have the Wulfe Hound project in the works as well, if you'd like to look in hopefully I can get some paint done.......cold has put a damper on my ventilation system in the spare room {can't open a window }

that is what I call ghosting.........mostly due to the paint not being mixed enough, or too thin. simply give it another light coat and it will be alright. sometimes changing to a softer brush will produce different outcomes.

that's too bad.........I haven't had a problem so far in my dealings...counting my blessings. my only bad experience was in sending a fully built ship model to Wisconsin. double boxed and insulate with peanuts, it made it until the tail end of the journey, where it got jammed in the conveyor and partially crunched by another package. the gent on the other end sent me pictures......the damage was quite minor, and he was able to fix it in time for the model expo they were attending. as far as I know, he still has the model. I built another one for him......but for this one, he personally came by to pick it up {he and his wife were on a vacation trip }. I hope as well the decals fared.

a few spritz of compressed air would spruce 'er up nicely I leave the collectible stuff up to the admiral....the only things I collect are Budweiser memorabilia and models. the screw pile looks to be quite rugged, unlike what I've assembled here. so far, I had to re-cement a couple of the cables........I chalked it up to poor design of the attachment points. I backed off on an idea to put a compartment under the main deck.......I would have had to reconfigure how all the cables were run. would have been a good place for the circuit board. that had crossed my mind Capnmac....I had also planned to add a light or two inside. the post you see in the center may be removed, since I now plan to have the circuit board inside.........I can run the wires up through the center, wire it in, and then send it up into the beacon. I've adjusted the flash interval {may tweak it to be a bit faster}, but the wires are not coded, so I'll need to test it again to see the proper way to wire it up {it doesn't have any paper work to indicate this}. once I get the lighting in place, I can better get a sense of where to go with it.

good to see you finally got your stuff Lou. dry fits will be your best bet in seeing what will work together. I'll do some experimenting later today......took the day off. we had an disruption of the force in the family

there are quite a few of those text decals........planes look'in great!

my god! yes!! I just read something about her! I will have to dig up what I was reading and post it. I also bought the 1990 movie "Memphis Belle".........I think the description said something about her too. now this is gonna bug me until I find it........something about the Sally B and one other plane........some airshow or something........wish I could recall! I'll look it up. don't jog my memory too much.........it'll fall out

hello John.....always a pleasure to see you {post} finally I'm making some progress on this project.........and getting wood envy to get back to the Progress too I have been dabbling in wood a little her and there, every time the itch gets too great.....I'll get there eventually. I finally created a hull frame for those misfit parts I got a while ago. so......oh yes, I ain'ts done wit me ships yet ...a certain plastic ship build is starting to wake up........progress posted soon

I've probably seen pictures of her OC........never knew you folks had a mock up of her. I don't think the M.B. had the checkers on the cowl.....if she did, I'm in trouble {I don't have those decals}. great looking plane! there are many kits out there Kevin.......Lindberg alone had at least five. you can post a picture of it her if it's handy......love to see it eye candy eye candy eye candy

my Spraycraft doesn't have a tank, and it doesn't pulse. it does three different speeds and works reasonably well. out in the garage, I use my 25 gal Craftsman compressor. I made an adapter for the airbrush and can regulate the output down to where I need it. I buy those Testor's Easy air airbrushes........not good for fine stuff, but work well for large areas.....like hulls. I'm beginning to stockpile those compressed air cans......figure I'll come up with a use for them

well I'm a day late.......had to feed the camera.... it gave me a chance to touch up the second section of railings and install the last section. here is the second section......the boat winch will sit in between the posts. I haven't done any of the rocky stuff........I wanted to get the roof on before I did it. the last section is in place. the next things I thought should go on, were the out house and shed roofs. the boat winch is assembled........it need paint more soon!

so about 18 mm {won't add the frames I'll try some in a few different sizes and show ya what I come up with