Wulfe Hound - captured B 17 - 1:72 scale by Popeye the Sailor - finished

[popeye the sailor]

when I get to the Memphis Belle,  you will see them........the kit has some very nice detail in this area.  the kit is loaded with detail......I've never seen a 1:72 like this...........as I mentioned,  it has over 230 parts!  when I was a lad building the balsa planes,  I did a lot of reading.......I may need a refresher from time to time    I do have a couple more pictures to show.........like the wings after the clamps were removed.

....still a bit more painting to do.   I plan to have her on a stand.......as can be seen,  gear down.   where the belly turret would have been located,  the hole is still there.  there is a part that would join the stabilizer ailerons together,  so they would move simultaneously,  but they will be cemented in place too,  so I won't need that part.  so I cemented it where the hole is,  and when the two halves are joined together,  the hole will be drilled out to remove ant dries glue blocking the holes.  it will act as a guide for the pin that will attach it to the stand.

I posted a picture of the stand earlier.......

haven't tested it yet {of course}........if it doesn't work,  I can easily fill in the hole,  and curse Icarus  

[mtaylor]

My father and his brothers were all in the Air Corps during WWII and in B24's.  Except for one.. he was odd ball and joined the Marines, but I digress.  The stories those brothers told when I was kid, made me wonder how any of them came back.  The uncle was squadron CO and (according to the story) took his men and planes out on a training mission in England.  He had them follow him while and do what he did, loops, rolls.... etc.  When they got back the manufacturer reps and the overall CO had a fit as "heavy bombers aren't supposed to be able to do that".   During one mission, flak flipped his plane upside down and they couldn't re-right it do to damage.  So they flew it back towards England that way.  Once over the Channel, everyone bailed out.

 

According to the legend, some B-17's also pulled the same thing with much angst amongst the brass.

 

Both the B-17 and the B-24 were tough birds and could take a lot of damage.  The heavies didn't have dive brakes and I don't think the mediums did either.  

[lmagna]

Great look Denis. Are you going to paint the superchargers another color, or leave them yellow?

[Canute]

I believe only the Germans put dive brakes on some of their medium bombers (Ju-88, Do-217). They wasted a lot of time trying to qualify the Me-262 jet as a dive bomber. Adolph was enamored with that tactic.

 

Paint job is looking good, Denis. Nice stand, hope it works as intended.

[popeye the sailor]

right Mark....that's not a dive brake to say,  but it does perform the same task while landing and taking off.  can't imaging flying one of these upside down.......or what the gunners were uttering    a good example of dive brakes would be the Stuka.

 

the turbos will be painted another color Lou.........part of the additional painting I need to do.  of course I'll need to spruce up the cowls and fix my little pho-par on top of the wings.  I love that color yellow...didn't think it would fit the bill,  but it does quite well.   that paint is like milk.......airbrush would be better than the brush using it.

 

I hope so too.......first time I've made one.  I should find a way to reinforce the tube I put in the fuselage........I fear that over time it might break or distort.  for the Nine o Nine model,  the stand uses a soft rod to support the plane.  I still have some,  but it is too large a diameter to use on this one.  I'll be using a stiff brass rod......I should have figured out what size before I fitted the tube.  on well........feel as I go   

 

 

[popeye the sailor]

more was done on the Wulfe Hound's wings.......I started with the underside first.   I've been dying to get the decals on,  so I went there first.

the tires are on as well.   I will need to check......don't believe I saw it,  but I was unsure about the hub color.  the backside I left flat black,  but the front usually is painted the color of the plane....the color of the underbelly,  or some sort of decoration.   I have decals for the decoration aspect,  but I simply left them the same color as the plane.

the turbos will be painted later.....for more decal fun,  the wings were flipped over.  I noticed there the fuel covers are not detailed on the wings.  I will refer to the Memphis Bell wings for this detail,  because I have decals for them.  I have some repair work to do first though.......those touch ups I made when I did the deicing panels.

    first was to lessen the color difference of my black touch ups.  I also think I did the touch up too soon and the flat black mixed into the drab,  causing it.......but I still believe I used the wrong color green.  that's what happens when too many of these colors are on the table      it still makes me feel like an idiot for not thinking of the white ensign and Humbrol colors.   masking up the deicing panel,  I was able to dab some of the bomber tan over the offending blotches.

in retrospect,  I could have left them,  as an addition to the color hue and fading.  but I needed to fade the nacelles too,  so I did it    it looks better........I was thinking of doing it.........now I need to do the rest of the plane!  with the insignia decals.........it looks even cooler!  

 

[Old Collingwood]

Looking great denis,  the shading/highlighting really makes a difference.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks OC and those who hit the like button.........added more decals to the top of the wings.   there are to be five fuel inlets..apparently this model had none.......no molded detail at all.  I pulled out the M.B. wings to see what they had for detail.......jackpot!

I reserved ten of them for the model,  along with black striping for the wing walks.  the fuel inlets went Ok.......

....but the black striping didn't go so well.  losing a section,  it spelled the end for the striping    I even started to mask the wings to spray them on.....but I'd never get them that thin.  so,  I took what was left and cobbled some of it together.

then the stabilizers and ailerons were set up for the second round of shading....

faded 

the nacelles and props are next.......gotta paint on the white stripe on the props.  I thought of using a paint pen,  but but they fail to tell you that repeated use blunts the tip...it only made of felt. so that process is in the works at the moment

[lmagna]

I must admit that I am still a little surprised at seeing the Iron Cross on a B-17, but the faded OD combined with the bright yellow is a killer combination and your ability to reproduce them amazing. Keep it up, it is getting better and better!

[popeye the sailor]

it was quite a draw Lou........at first I though it wasn't real.  then I looked it up   I don't do a lot of this kind of stuff.........I hardly weather anything.  I'm just glad that it's working out.  the white striping I mentioned turned out to be an easy problem to solve.......I'm painting the whole tip white and then I'll cut the stripe with the flat black.  I'm waiting for them to dry at the moment.  thanx for the kind comment  

 

the fuselage will be the next tricky part   

[popeye the sailor]

what a scare I got last night.........I put all my pictures and projects on memory sticks.  I don't use photo sites.....if I lose 'em,  I rather it be MY fault    I have 16 GB scandisk,  that I've had since 2009.......got at least 15 or so projects in folders and pictures.   my Nordkap.....the Cux 87.......the cutty........just to name a few.  I have another larger one that houses all the instructions I've downloaded and sent to me from Billing Boats.  I use them to follow folks with their builds,  back when I used to do customer service for Billing USA.  here on the site,  I read a comment from a gent who recently bough a Colin Archer model,  asking how the planking runs.  reaching for the right memory stick,  I grabbed the wrong one,  and it fell into my glass of Pepsi which was just below where I keep them.  I was horrified!....to say the least........the thought of all that content lost..........the admiral recently lost one to some glitch....I could revive it    now it's MY turn!   of course it sunk to the bottom....I quickly ran to the kitchen to pour the Pepsi into another glass,  so I could retrieve the stick before it became totally Pepsilogged!........the feeling of dread......I was too late,  I fear.  I'm shaking the stick against a paper towel to drive out the moisture.........the admiral looking up remedies for sunken disks.  she was reading them to me as I got the idea to take it apart,  which was relatively easy to do.  some had gotten in there and I patted the electronics dry.......swabbing the interior with rolled up paper towel.  it was read that it should be left to air dry for 24 hours,  but I reassembled it this morning,  after leaving it apart overnight.   impatient.......I plugged it in..........the light in the disk came on,  but the computer didn't recognize it    I pulled it back out,  and back in again....and it came up immediately!  clicking out of the program,  pulling it back out and then back in again,  brought it right back up.............I was relieved!  happy that it still lives  

 

  so this morning,  I got back to work on 'Wulfie',  adding the detail to the cowls...highlights to the engines.

last night I had tipped all the props with flat white,  not having a better way to paint the stripes on the blades

this morning I defined the stripes.......had to redo one blade though....

added them to the cowls,  cementing the retainer caps in the back.

before the assemblies can go on,  the turbos and exhaust needed to be painted

to me it looks sloppy,  but no different that what I did on the Nine o Nine........on the M. B. this detail will be much better....you'll see    the cowl assemblies were added to the wing at this point.

there's my scan disk all apart.  one saddened note...... as I worked on the wing,  a section of the wing walk came off,  leaving a break in the walk.  couldn't find it anywhere.  looking at the other wing,  the same area had the walk lifting.  I was going to get the decal set to lay it back down,  but without any striping left to fix the other wing,  I removed the lifted walk.  they both look the same now.

not quite in the same place,  but when fully assembled,  it won't be that noticeable.   more soon  

[lmagna]

Glad about the thumb drive Denis.

If you have some Isopropyl alcohol, (Rubbing alcohol) you can use that and a toothbrush to clean the circuit board and contacts. 99% is best, but 70% will do. It cleans and dries better and quicker than plain water. 

[Roger Pellett]

Dennis,

 

If you are going to continue submerging your memory sticks, maybe you should store your data on one of these.

 

Roger

[lmagna]

Is that the stick you use to store all of your Nautical data Roger?

[popeye the sailor]

just what I need Roger......a yellow submarine   

 

no Lou....I just patted everything down and left it to dry.   15 or so model subject's worth of pictures is a lot to lose....probably have room for one more completed model file.   good thing it wasn't my 32 GB.....double stored with room for much more.    there I also have all my stored instruction files...all on PDF.   quite a cry if that one went south  

[CDW]

4 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

just what I need Roger......a yellow submarine   

 

no Lou....I just patted everything down and left it to dry.   15 or so model subject's worth of pictures is a lot to lose....probably have room for one more completed model file.   good thing it wasn't my 32 GB.....double stored with room for much more.    there I also have all my stored instruction files...all on PDF.   quite a cry if that one went south  

Don't ever assume you're good with a hard drive because they can fail without any notice whatsoever. I learned that lesson the hard way when I lost everything stored on two separate hard drives. 1.5 terabytes in total. I lost pictures, documents and plans I had stored for many years. Only way to give yourself some confidence is to have redundant backup systems including the cloud. Costs money so that's something to keep in mind.

[CDW]

Your Wulfhound is looking beautiful Denis. It's going to be a very unique piece when you're through with it. Keep up the great work. 

[mtaylor]

2 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

just what I need Roger......a yellow submarine   

 

no Lou....I just patted everything down and left it to dry.   15 or so model subject's worth of pictures is a lot to lose....probably have room for one more completed model file.   good thing it wasn't my 32 GB.....double stored with room for much more.    there I also have all my stored instruction files...all on PDF.   quite a cry if that one went south  

Hmm... a submarine is just a presunk ship.  Right?

 

Denis, get a couple of memory sticks.... label one "main" and one "back up".   Then load the stuff on both so that if one dies you'll still have it.   I got burned last year.  HDD died, and corrupted my backup drive (not all of it but enough to irritate me).  I'm now running two back up drives.  One stays plugged in and the other gets the back up run on it twice a week.   Paranoid I am.

[thibaultron]

Denis: Download all the info from that thumb drive, now! Soak it as recomended, above. However, never trust it again. The Pepsi will have already started to damage the circuit board. 34 years of experience as a digital engineer speaking. Thumb drives are cheap, lost data is not.

[lmagna]

3 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

no Lou....I just patted everything down and left it to dry. 

The reason I said to use IPA in cleaning the electronics is that a form of IPA is what is used to clean circuit boards at the factory when they are built to clean off residue from being built. When the board is not powered it is just a bunch of plastic, metal, and resin, and IPA is perfectly safe. If it is 99% then it also leaves virtually no residue when it evaporates. Over the years i have seen many circuit boards revived this way from dunkings much worse than soda.

 

Hard drives are another matter as they involve moving parts, unless they are SSD drives. Also if the part is dunked while it is powered up it can get fried from the electrical conduction properties of the liquid.

 

Either way, at this point while you know that the original thumb drive is working, make a copy onto a new drive, just in case.

[popeye the sailor]

good advice to be sure..... thanks everyone    I have some stuff on DVD's as well....are they any better?         

 

thanks also for look'in in and the kind comments on Wulfie.   I still have the other wing to do,  and then I can get to the fuselage......bunch of stuff to do there.   then it can all some together    can't wait to see her in the flesh                          

[mtaylor]

Depending on who made the disk... DVD's can be quite good or really bad.  Average lifetime is supposedly 10+ years. 

[CapnMac82]

On 2/14/2020 at 7:21 PM, popeye the sailor said:

just what I need Roger......a yellow submarine 

I did not need a Beatle's earworm . . .

[popeye the sailor]

....and here's another update on Wulfie!  well....after faring on "the frame that tries men's souls",  I though I'd put equal time on her.   tackling the other wing,  I got the painting done on the turbos,  touch up paint,  the prop assemblies,  and both lights done.......they are pretty much complete now.

the stand got a coat of paint.......need to make a name tag decal for it now

I got back to obliterating those B decals on the tail fin.........I was beginning to think I should have painted them on in the first place.  using a Q tip,  a German light gray was dabbed on.......any other method would have torn the decal to shreds....flecks had already started to break away.  as in the picture I showed earlier,  they were bordered with a darker gray........I used a darker color German gray {I have such an array or gray tints now.....it's disgusting}.  I didn't dare go any further........

as you might have noticed,  I also went over the fuselage with bomber tan,  making the fading more pronounce.

from here,  I went onto the windows......cementing them in place with the window maker.

getting most of the windows in place,  I happened on one that is not in the kit.......I have nothing for it.

1:72 seems to be the perfect scale for the window maker......I filled in the missing window.  this morning I took a look to see how it had progressed.

looks a bit different than the plastic glass,  but it will have to do.  at least there is glass there.  the rest of the tail fin decals are in place........I wish Warbirds did the B decal the way they did the call numbers

the two together 

still the guns and tail gear to put in place,  and then I can close up the fuselage.  there are two bit of glass to go on the top of the nose...........but there's one bit of detail that I forgot.......I just thought of it.  I will add them today.   actually........there's a few more details,  but the last ones I can't add til the wings are in place.  one more update I think,  and this project will be finished.

[Old Collingwood]

Looking good denis,  the weathering sure helps to change it from a plastic model into a realistic  work horse.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

wulfie's getting there OC......a bit premature on the last log.......still quite a bit more to be done,  so I have found     the tail gear finally got painted.........now that it's had time to dry,  it's time to cement in in place.  the side that the assembly has focused on,  was the recipient of the gear.   I use the other half to keep it aligned with the other side,  which has a location hole for it as well.

the bit of detail that I almost for got about,  was the blotted out nose art.   there was one on both sides as I have seen,  so I did this to both sides.

this continued into Friday..........................

[popeye the sailor]

Friday morning was the decider.......the guns that Mark sent me are really nice.   but the big factor here is that the guns in this model have a thicker barrel.   they would look like toothpicks compared to them.  the guns I have for the nose.........I came up short 1 gun.   don't know why or how.......all I know is.......I am.   since I wasn't using the guns for the belly turret,  I took the pair and split them in half.

they were very floppy and hard to manage like this,  so I went into my spare parts box and found the part you see above....some rod that went to the F 15 Eagle.  I chopped a piece off of it and I'll use it to join the two together,  spaced enough to fit in the holes provided.   if that wasn't enough,  the hollow guide tube I added to the fuselage for the stand,  had broken off and gone to parts unknown.   I needed to find a replacement......and the turret button became the solution.  as can be seen,  I drilled it out larger,  having selected the size pin for the stand....the original guide tube would not have sufficed.

glued together,  the guns were lined up and left to dry.   I had a chance to look at the guns in the Memphis belle kit.  the barrels are almost the same size...much closer than this kit.   so I will hold them over for the Memphis Belle,  a much more worthy recipient in my view   

the new pin for the stand......and a review of my painting skills 

I brought it right over to the booth and gave it another shot of paint {it's a sort of green}.   the two last window parts were cemented into place.......this will be a good test for the window maker.   I'll see if they stay there when I put the two halves together.

given time to dry........the big moment has arrived!  the two fuselage halves are glued together.

these are some of my weaker clamps......didn't want to use the larger ones for fear of crushing the model.   that took time to dry.........just as well,  we went on our errands.   after we got back and had supper,  I was able to continue with the model.   it was time to use up the rest of the decals.

the other side was done as well.   the nose guns were painted and when dry,  glued into the nose glass.   for all the gluing that had to do with the glass,  window maker was used.  the nose was then glued on the fuselage.  here is the the worst of the fuselage union.......the gap along the top of the nose.  I think the pilot floor didn't fall into the slots on the opposite side..........I had it held together with scotch tape.  at any rate........all that can be done now is fill it.

the next problem to arise,  was the stabilizer wings....they were a tough fit.  I had glued the tail guns in place a short while before attaching them.  as I was pressing them in place {one in particular},  somehow I got the idea to use my chest to steady the fuselage.........you guessed it............the guns were bent!  there was a saving grace though.........they had come unglued and shifted in a way that they did not break.  I was later able to straighten them and reuse them the rudder was easy to install....I used the stand for that.

 

it's also a good thing I'm using a stand for it.......the tail gear broke as well.   of course I fixed it,  but as a stand alone model,  I don't think it would hold out for very long.  so until the wings are on,  I won't know just how good the stand is.

Edited February 23, 2020 by popeye the sailor

[popeye the sailor]

these are just random photos.   the wings are on and the stand seems to work well with the model.

 

no.....not on the stand yet.........but it has been on it    you can see I'm protecting the tail gear.   the deice panel on the tail fin has been painted.......the glass at the tail end of the cockpit bulge has yet to be installed.   here she is on the stand....

 

as mentioned,  she is not at her center........that is up around the bomb bay doors.   I think the feet of the stand should be splayed out more for better stability......but it works.   the glass is installed at this time......the plane is pretty much complete.   I do need to do some touching up,  and then the final pictures in a less cluttered environment.  the gap along the top of the nose has been repaired to my liking.  I used the window maker to do it.

  

it's still a little wet.......I touched it up with the olive green,  and then muddled it with the bomber tan.  the final pictures to come soon.......I found that the pin on the stand is loose...........more glue!!!!! 

one more bit of detail to go  

[Old Collingwood]

Looking great  denis   "wow our modeling sure gives us  shake of the head moments  when things dont go to plan".

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

Nice saves on the "Oops", Denis.  Well done, sir.