popeye the sailor

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!

the last picture is interesting.......I'd be proud of the table. most I've done of late is hang a picture nice table as well Matrim.........that top certainly won't buckle

no need to apologize Lou mixed reviews on the movie angle though. most movies made during the era, reflected men who were proud to do their duty and to promote respect from the masses. movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Hacksaw Ridge show other retrospectives. some went 'cuz they wanted to, and some went under invitation. not everyone was 'John Wayne'...or even 'animal mother'........cripe......even Hitler shot anyone who wasn't for the 'motherland'. Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam.......these conflicts were probably the most grueling.......nasty weather and terrain, coupled with a country that didn't want our help to begin with. anyway....just say'in that there are some movies out there that aren't propaganda. next showing.........The Blue Max ....maybe even a following of Bat 21 { I love Gene Hackman}

I love the interest..........it's feeding my "bomber Frankenstein" in my younger days, I built many planes.......LOL......they were bigger than my car fetish, which I built a plethora of them when that took hold. of course, that later led to the larger scale kits...something that took more than a week to build fighter planes were good too........don't get me wrong........I do recall a large scale kit of a Stuka, that I was particularly fond of. just to get a sense of how large this kit is, I taped the wings and fuselage together....the wings lock into place on this model, which is kinda neat. 1:64 is a fair size scale........it's too bad that it didn't stay with the plastic model. I think it related more to the model train medium. it also made me reminisce to my younger days, when I was so eager to build the model, not having any glue at the time. I'd do this as I was cleaning up the parts, so the halves would meet together evenly when I did finally get some. clean the flash out of the windows............and off of the edges to round them off.........I wished the engines were independent of the cowls. paint will be meticulous in those areas. the paint will be easy on me with this one......... ....the interior is the same color as the exterior.......green. weighing out my paints, I don't have enough Olive Drab for both planes. since the Revell kit is a much better kit, I chose a Forest Green for this one. it's close enough, and it will reflect the box art...not that I use that as a barometer , but it will complement the red and black quite well. as mentioned, I wasn't able to find a place to buy the caps separately for my Testor's EZ airbrush....I will keep looking....but I saw that Hobby Lobby had one on the shelf. ......think I paid 29.99 for it. luckily, it's the camo one.........it comes with five colors of flat paint. it only shows four, as well as four caps, but the fifth one for each are in a bag under the tray, along with the tubes and cleaning rods for the caps. I'm not impressed with the way the tail section goes together.........not as much with the assembly, but the absence of tabs to position the stabilizer wings properly. there's no guess work.....the parts are the same......top and bottom. one side will be green, and the other, I think a Ghost gray is in order......as long as it's not too gray. the conversation here drives me..........I won't lie. I wasn't going to do much....but I set up the airbrush and I was eager to try it out. lately, I have been using a brush, so this should be a treat! I was also eager to put glue to her......first order of business was to add all of the bulkheads to one side of the fuselage. I realized a bit later that adding the partition between the pilots and what I believe is the Navigator's section, that it will be harder to install the side windows. I'll cross that swamp when I get to it I really should have tested the airbrush first.......not for it's operation, but for my technique......I'm a little rusty. I think I thinned the paint too much as well which resulted in a waste of paint. it's a good thing I began with the interior........it won't show as much the mix was adjusted.......... we're undergoing a season change now.........not to the point that we need to use the heat. the house is cool........a bit chilly at times with the rain.....it's been an ongoing occurrence of late. anyone who is experiencing the heat wave can send some up this way..........I won't complain! this lends for a longer drying time........it was a while before I could do the exterior. flaps and rudder done too.......the paint is still wet. we did chicken out at nightfall........the chill became too much for the courageous admiral. the welcomed heat hastened the drying time. the wasted paint was detrimental.......I still have the wings to do. Medium green is not a close match........but I have a flat green that is. I may have to highlight the rest of the exterior to even it out. this has always been one of my biggest fears when painting. I guess it's better to have too much than too little.......touch up paint is a must. it looks good to my eyes.......I think the infusion will make it look better though.

I felt bad for the way they treated all those who were in the Nam war, that they didn't have anything to do with {only serve}. what you folks must have seen.........probably wasn't meant for mortal eyes the most memorable line in any movie......"War is hell.....Ain't it?!?!?" it was made worse since half the time, it was hard to know who the enemy was. major respect to anyone who served.......I didn't get to, since they stopped the draft, and that I was an in between war kid. I would have gone to the Air Force if I had to chose.......I had plans as a pilot I ended up moving to Florida instead, and lived the dream that was awarded to me........by you folks, and those who paid the price. somewhere in the community forums, I told how I used to wear my brother's Army "hand me downs"........I had the entire private's garb........boots, belt and everything. I had plans to go.........and yea, there were times I was made fun of.......but I didn't care I thought I looked cool.......I was in fashion for the time. I met Sargent Steel at a function at school, and I guess he liked me.........enough to give me a complete dress uniform that he had outgrown........complete with stripes and brass! I was very proud to wear it to school one day, hat and all..........my world history teacher was very impressed with my attire, since we were talking about the second world war. he even saluted me, being a vet himself! of course, I saluted back the only thing........was the hair..........I has shoulder length hair....RED hair I think it was "the duality of man", Sir............ ...and I totally agree Lou........pilots had a reason for flying as well as they did.......their very life depended on it! they had a very dangerous landscape to fly through

I'll bet if they took the Wright Bros. plane out and flew it, it would fly. I'm pretty sure these folks knew what they were doing when they refurbished the B 17....no doubt that it was a solid plane considering how pilots brought their planes home, with as much damage as they received from flak and enemy fire..........there has to be more to this plane's story, as to why. there's no news yet on the direct cause. I read an article today about the Germans flying captured B 17 during WWII.........they had about 40 of 'em.......all decked out in Luftwaffe markings. almost 31,000 B 17 were built........best guess is that around 50 of them still exist. the rest were scrapped. other countries still have a few as well

thanks for the pictures Turangi........great shot through the nose glass listening to a report on the 'Google' this morning, the person interviewed called the plane 'ancient'. what......is that grounds that it shouldn't have been in the air? the Foundation totally rebuilt the plane............and yes, engine failure in #4 brought her down. newer planes have met the same fate dunno.....just miffed me, that's all. the latest report list seven that died, which includes both the pilot and the co pilot. I did find a photo of the Memphis Belle......but for some reason, it's messed up?!?! guess my computer camera is out of focus I've also been on the look out for decal sets for her.......hard to find in 1:64 scale.

have you run the top through a planer to even it out, or are you just going to sand it?

https://www.flyingmag.com/nine-o-nine-b17-crash/ confirmed Jack..........it was indeed the Nine o Nine

sad.......haven't looked in for further news as mentioned..........I have the nose art......perhaps....... https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vintage-b-17-plane-crashes-erupts-flames-bradley-international-airport-n1061161 it doesn't say, nor does it say how many died.......just that there are fatalities. in the article link that Lou gave, the markings on the plane shown are the same as the wreckage.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/world-war-ii-plane-crash-connecticut/index.html I heard about this earlier today. agreed.....don't think they'll put this one back together very sad and heartfelt for those who died.............. the admiral got a news notification about it....I went online and it wasn't hard to find. thanks Steve......no progress at the moment, although I did tape the fuselage and the wings together and fitted them. 1:64th does amount to a fair sized model. I compared the fuselage to the B 25, which is 1:48, and the B 17 is about 3/4 of an inch longer. even though it's not a detailed model of not as many parts, proper paint will create a nice looking model. I will try and do my best

they must have looked cool...........I've yet to build one that large {they are large kits }. during my time in Florida, I built a Curtis P 40 Warhawk......but sadly it wasn't a good flier. it kissed a palm tree and that was the end of it last year I built a Spitfire MK 1....haven't had the heart to try and fly it. in the Closet, I have a Fokker Dr 1, 1:14 scale. have started the sanding phase yet.

you've got your work cut out for you! >pardon the pun< off to a nice start