popeye the sailor

I got some interesting news about the Nine O Nine.........the plane that the Collins Foundation flew, was not the original 9 0 9. the original 9 0 9 was built in 1943, and after the war, was delivered to kingsman Arizona, where it was eventually scrapped. a fellow modeler friend on mine at work told me about all this.........he is quite heavy into aircraft. I looked into this new revelation, and this is what I found........wiki is very quick to add the updated info about the plane's demise. Nine-O-Nine - Wikipedia

OMG Lou........too funny I clicked on some of the pages in the first link........the last one had me rolling on the floor! I never could Mark........not rationally anyway

great start Kevin........I've seen that kit around love the colors too!

....a few more additions on the paint. frankly, I might as well shot myself in the foot........it might have been more productive getting my bearings on the orientation of the wing flaps, I tried to correct them with a brush.......it might have worked, but I used the paint that was used for the airbrush {of course it's too thin for this}. I only did one of the flaps - green side........ it can be seen through the green, that terrible sheen........the paint is persistent, just to be mean..........I should have known this, the scry bowl foreseen I did one of the gray sides, just to be stupid. though not shown here....it does look cool though in between all this, I was working on the fuselage, making progress to get it to close up the gaps. the stabilizer wing(s) are fairing better than the rest of the plane.........the only thing left is the black on the leading edges. <------top <------bottom the gray was sprayed on the flaps.......the green will be next, once they are dry enough. then the process was begun to add the red wing tips, top and bottom. yes.......this is a very colorful plane. masking the wing halves up was easy enough. one must be mindful of the dreaded over spray though...it's one of Murphy's best weapons. they sprayed fine........but then I noticed the faint over spray on the side of the outer nacelle the gray and green muddled with red was a very unwelcome sight. tearing away some of the paper I used for masking, a spritz was all that was needed to erase away the red tint. first the gray......... then the green...........care was taken not to ruin the walkways. you can tell where I had to hit them. I should think myself lucky that it wasn't any worse. I thought back through the numerous planes I've built..........I don't recall going to the extreme that I am with this one. I've done camo before, but most of them were done freehand. should look really neat when I'm done

you mean this Ron... Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress - Wikipedia these are one of the variants.........there were even some that were converted to transport carriers - C 108's. I wonder if there is a kit out on this variant........would make a great looking model I never knew there was a manual out on planes either......surprised me to find it

thanks Lou.........yet another goof I'm ashamed to say.........I painted the wing flaps upside down I was going to say the heck with it and paint both sides green, but looking at the pictures again, I can't. so, I'm in the process of correcting it. not real pleased with the way they have the wing gears.......very hard not to get glue on the gear tabs while cementing on the hold downs. not a big deal, since I plan on having the wheels up. one thing I did notice too, is that the B 17 doesn't have as much of a rudder crown, as this kit has. if I had a revell kit, I could compare.......but looking at the real aircraft, there is just enough of a crown to allow for the upper rudder attachment. the kit has the crown arching across the whole upper rudder surface the kit is like this..... ...spans the upper surface of the rudder. as I mentioned, there are 15 variants of this airship. perhaps one of them has this shape. a quick look through internet pictures show that not all kits are designed like this. Revell is normal.....this is a 1:48 kit Airfix does too.......this is 1:72.. at this scale though, some don't even go there........Academy has the rudder molded on the tail. it's a split hair kind of thing, I guess........it boils down to kits having their inaccuracies. to some it might not matter.......but for those who want an authentic model, this might not be the kit for them. rest assured gents...there is a manual out there you know........this is probably a decent book to have. it likely has the most detail oriented pictures, one will ever find

interesting story Ron. the B 17 has several gun placements.......only a couple more places where a gun could be placed. there were 15 variants of this aircraft. more painting today.......I started the day with the Ghost gray. first the stabilizer underside... ...then the underbelly....... the belly paint was supposed to curve upward at the tail and follow along the stabilizer, but I decided to keep it simple. the under wings was next. the paint is still a little wet. some parts will be done with a brush........the small stuff.....I made sure I got where the wheel wells are. other small parts were being done as well....... .........and also some assembly for parts that are ready. as for the cowls.......I decided to go without underbelly paint on them. I still need to paint the engine detail. now.......ya gotta have at least one revelation in any given project, or it wouldn't be normal. I was unsure how the red played into the mix, so I browsed through pictures I have of the plane. at first I though that only the top surface of the stabilizer was painted.......and only a portion at best. I was surprised to find that the complete top surface.........as well as the complete bottom surface was painted red...only the flaps bore the green and gray. I saw how much of the rudder was painted and masked it up. the stabilizer was done {again}......as well. after some minor touch ups.........only the flat black is left to do....and the turbo chargers. I did notice that there will be a few gaps I'll need to take care of when the fuselage is finally joined together. more to come soon. thanks for look'in in and the likes

very nice progress Michael.......your well into the rigging stage

that's right Sam....it's not a race nice work on the yard! looks good

second that!

superb job!

hi Harley.....wonderful progress since I last looked in your paint work and use of PE is awesome.......lots of real nice detail!

WOW! you've made some excellent progress! look'in really good very nice work!

sad to hear you need to backtrack........I know what that's like. great progress since I last looked in.......she looks superb

wish these upgrades were around when I was a kid........the experience would have done me good you've done so much with them, I can see your enthusiasm about them. not only that, so many models are made from the original molds...half the time they see no updates or modifications, to reflect newly discovered details about the subjects. then there's the detail that gets molded to the parts, without the thought of embellishment. I look forward to your new adventure.......I enjoy your work

hello Tom.....superb progress since I last looked in the barrels look great.........as well as the chain plates and the bow spirit installation. what is the reason for capping the deck end of the spirit like that?...something I've not seen before. I'm with ya on cutting into something that took a while to make beautiful........modifications are and will always be 'nail biters' no need to thank for the tip.......for hundreds of years, man has been on the quest to test all materials to find their breaking point. modelers tend to relish the latter happening

Big Beautiful Doll........or Miss Marilyn II {I have decals}...........I think 1:72, but I don't recall the scale {I did my own thing} hmmmmmm....classified information........DAMN!.......I saw it! now I'll have to go have my eyes poked out!!! Nawwwww.........I'll just have 'em scramble my eggs '49..........that's an old piece of paper!!! thanks for the good word anyway..........didn't do the painting last night....I had vision problems {couldn't see myself doing it} old joke.........but nawww......was too pooped to pop! since I had the day off today, I figured I'd wait. so the first order of business was to mask up all the windows and do the fuselage and upper tail surface. when dry, I pulled off all the maskings.........and this is what I have now. I'll be doing the underside a bit later........but first, some of the other markings. I noticed this on the Nine O Nine........there are black walkways on the wings. I was going to do them as decals, but I decided to go another route. I'm going to paint them on. rather than go through all the trouble to make stencils for them, since the nacelles are involved, I'd just mask 'em out. I did these by eye......a few measurements to help me out. to make the center masking area, I took some wax paper and laid a couple pieces of tape on it. then I cut out the shape I needed.......peeled it off the wax paper and centered it in the middle of the rectangular area. then came the flat black...... what I ended up with after removing the masking, was these...... they look a little wonky, port wing is a bit off........... heck.......it passes muster I'm going to try and do the Nine O Nine........I ordered some decals for it. the supplied decal sheet isn't very detailed anyway.........no markings for the props, or hatch labels. I think the only thing I won't have, are the swastikas for the nose art........but I've seen pictures of the plane without them, so I don't feel so bad in weighing out the scale difference, I decided to go with 1:72.........I have some spare decals, and there isn't too much of a difference between them. we'll see when I get them........I have plenty of things to do in the meantime.

that's why I have spare pilots........I usually don't use 'em either

hi everyone!.........minor report on the progress. I'm almost halfway with the inner truss cables.........one more will put me at the halfway point. they are as tedious as I thought they would be......I also have to wait till the CA dries, which is surprising, given that I'm cementing two different materials together. had a close call too........one of the young munchkin kind. Sunday, our oldest son Brandon came over...he got laid off from his job and now is working towards putting a business off the ground, that he has been doing as a side job. the state has a program that he is able to take advantage of. he's getting unemployment, but that money only goes so far. the admiral asked them if they needed stuff.........we have an overstocked freezer at the moment. so he came over........along with the rest of the family. usually they are too busy to come over.....we usually make the trek to save them from bundling the kids up. but........it's not winter at the moment the bad part of all this.......is that a number of my projects are out on the tables.........that includes the lighthouse. I was told { I was at work at the time} that the two older boys {Chase and Tripp} made the rounds and saw all on my models.......even the ones that are out in the hallway. Ari is a three year old......doesn't talk much, but is very active and curious. they don't know how he did it, but he was able to snatch the screw pile off the jig and run off with it! Brandon noticed it quickly and got it away from him.. when I got home, I was told the story and that I need to inspect it, to see if there was any damage. it must be pretty solid, because I found no damage done to it I'll inspect it closer when I get back to working on it.......which had better be very soon! I wonder what Chase and Tripp thought of the General? those two are a thousand questions............each! so sad I missed all this....I love my boys!

what scale is the model........I have a couple of figures. your welcome to them if you'd like blurry......but looks good!

you noticed the light refraction too, eh Ken..........when I saw the photos ( I turned on the crane light to take 'em), I knew this would be a better color. now, if I was doing a "toy story" B 17, the other color would have worked I have the time available, so I'm taking tomorrow off ........I'm trying to get up the gusto to paint the other parts tonight. the stabilizer top is still the forest green......it and the fuselage halves need to be painted. I hope to have more to show tomorrow thanks for the kind word gents!

thanks for the good word gents........I know it should have an Olive drab exterior. as a matter of fact, in a lot of the pictures, the paint appears to be somewhat faded......more detectable in the color photos. the green I began with is a Forest green.......glad that it does take on the chromite green, but agreed that it has a green apple look. I'm using a medium green here.....I've done the wings, rudder, and flaps for the moment. the wingspan of the model is 19 1/2 inches. the green is more subdued....not as vibrant. adding a touch of black may give it the drab quality, but I think adding the other colors will make it look better. I'll mask the openings so it don't get on the interior......I have no more Forest green. it was a hard movie to find Mark.......I looked every where, short of ordering it {which I never checked}. one day I found it at Wal mart......two movie combo. if I recall, as a coincidence.....the other movie was the Blue Max the light refraction gives it a bit of a drab look

I just did the remix and shot the wings. yea......I will have to repaint the fuselage and top stabilizer. the admiral took a look at what I was doing.........she likes the new color! I I wonder if I can get away with a couple more..........as long as I paint 'em green........hmmmmmmmmm {I could be onto something }.

looking good so far Doug! glad to see you back at the table!

just think.......it saves you money at the nail salon ....you have all the necessary tools at your disposal same goes here kiddo.........I'm a member of the "what the hell is that thing" club too. I sometimes find out what things are and write them down on the instructions. then I try to use the word whenever I can....but not in the real world {folks tend to look at ya funny}. as mentioned by others and before...........your doing a swell job! keep going!