B-17 Going Down in Flames

[Immelmann]

Not really flames. The pilots have had time to fire the extinguishers. Or something.

So, I just finished up FG's B-17 and 163 and thought they would make a nice diorama of sorts as they hung from my ceiling, so down came the 'Fortress and I added a nice little something. I'm rather proud of how it turned out, especially in 1:60 :)

Not sure if you can see them, but there are some (close to) scale 20mm holes in the wing, nacelle, and tail.

Constructive criticism always welcome! :)

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/StG-Immelmann/be7b5ff4.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/StG-Immelmann/31f5b8a9.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/StG-Immelmann/d129ca39.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/StG-Immelmann/4d997944.jpg

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i402/StG-Immelmann/3b45d397.jpg

Yes, I built it without the top turret. I'm not sure why, but I have just never liked the look of it.

[legion]

No wonder it got shot down! Awesome diorama and wonderfull builds!

[charleswlkr54]

You left the upper turrent off that B-17

[willygoat]

that's great! Nice smoke effect.

[Immelmann]

No wonder it got shot down! Awesome diorama and wonderfull builds!

Thanks!

You left the upper turrent off that B-17

Cheeky bugger. ;)

that's great! Nice smoke effect.

Thanks! If anyone's interested I can go into how I did it; it was a pain in the butt until I found a solid technique.

[richkat]

Very cool....Rich

[zeawolves77]

great build, nice effect.
overall composition is very dramatic.

[twinslet]

No wonder they got shot down, they're missing all their top defensive armament. Any reason why? These pictures remind me of building and hanging some for my kids many years ago. I had made a carrier "bookcase" in 1.144th scale and was building Gulf War jets in the same scale to populate the deck. My oldest wanted to hang some over the carrier which resolved into an enemy shoot-down. I had a Hornet firing a missle at a MiG-23. I put the MiG about 40 feet away, in another room, to represent the correct scale distance for a Sidewinder shot. I thought it was a cool effect; the kids never got it.

Very neat diorama and the trailing smoke is a nice effect!

[Inky]

Looks great and nice smoke effect. Has any one mentioned you are missing the top turrent? HAHAHA

Try using 6 lb fishing line to hang planes with, it is strong and when taking pictures it is hard to see. Other than that, damn good job.

[spaceagent-9]

that is really cool!
have you ever heard of frankennazi comix?
i cant find it anywhere but i heard that instead of hilter, frankenstien was the leader of the nazi party.

[MrMidwayMan]

Haha. You just game me some good ideas...

I finnally have a use for that FG B-17 i got in there free giviaway >:D

[mbauer]

Nice models!

Sure how'd you do the smoke?

Ever get bored looking at it, you can use the ME163 as the next target when it tries to land. P51 Mustang got one in front of everyone of the pilots, ground crew etc., when they were commited to landing...Not much smoke though, they pretty much disappeared parts wise. (Rocketfighter by Mano Ziegler).

Mike

[Immelmann]

No wonder they got shot down, they're missing all their top defensive armament. Any reason why? These pictures remind me of building and hanging some for my kids many years ago. I had made a carrier "bookcase" in 1.144th scale and was building Gulf War jets in the same scale to populate the deck. My oldest wanted to hang some over the carrier which resolved into an enemy shoot-down. I had a Hornet firing a missle at a MiG-23. I put the MiG about 40 feet away, in another room, to represent the correct scale distance for a Sidewinder shot. I thought it was a cool effect; the kids never got it.

Very neat diorama and the trailing smoke is a nice effect!

Haha, I was actually thinking of doing something similar. My thought was to run some fishing line from the guns on the Komet to the B-17, then to put little red marks at whatever interval to make it look like you could see the tracer rounds going into it, but I'm still undecided.

Nice models!

Sure how'd you do the smoke?

Ever get bored looking at it, you can use the ME163 as the next target when it tries to land. P51 Mustang got one in front of everyone of the pilots, ground crew etc., when they were commited to landing...Not much smoke though, they pretty much disappeared parts wise. (Rocketfighter by Mano Ziegler).

Mike

I joined two chopsticks end-to-end with a totally unnecessary and rather irritating-to-cut finger joint, then went at it with cotton. The cotton balls I have are basically little 1"/1.5" rectangles rolled up, so it was easy to use a pen to open up a nice hole to threat them onto the sticks with.

What made this smoke different was that I tried something new! I sprayed the now-poofy sticks with some Elmer's spray glue to stiffen it a bit and make it easier to mark, then used a wide-tip sharpie with a frayed and split end to get the uneven ink spread.

Very cool....Rich

great build, nice effect.
overall composition is very dramatic.

Looks great and nice smoke effect. Has any one mentioned you are missing the top turrent? HAHAHA

Try using 6 lb fishing line to hang planes with, it is strong and when taking pictures it is hard to see. Other than that, damn good job.

Thanks guys! :)

that is really cool!
have you ever heard of frankennazi comix?
i cant find it anywhere but i heard that instead of hilter, frankenstien was the leader of the nazi party.

Nope... :eek: :p

Haha. You just game me some good ideas...

I finnally have a use for that FG B-17 i got in there free giviaway >:D

[cdavenport]

Cool airborne dio! Next time, try balancing the models and using just a couple of strands of 5lb monofiliment fishing line. You will be amazed at the effect!

[Immelmann]

Thanks! How thick would that be? I've got some stretchy ~0.8mm stuff kicking around meant for kid's necklaces and other crafts, so would that be similar to what you're describing?

Also, I try to avoid balancing just in case I want to reposition them later.

[cdavenport]

Thanks! How thick would that be? I've got some stretchy ~0.8mm stuff kicking around meant for kid's necklaces and other crafts, so would that be similar to what you're describing?

Also, I try to avoid balancing just in case I want to reposition them later.

That stuff is HUGE! THat's the equivalent of 95kg strength. I'll switch to metric since that seems to be more convenient to you. I'm here in the States, so we use pounds.

Regardless, you want to go to a store that sells fishing products and purchase 5kg test line. Its diameter is .1mm, barely visible at a distance to the naked eye.

I don't know how concerned you are about puncturing the skin of your models, but I tie a piece of line to a needle. The needle has a slight bend in it to ensure the line always stays centered on the needle. Insert the needle into a small hole directly adjacent to a bulkhead or frame piece on the area of the skin that will be closest to the ceiling.

You should restring your B-17/Me-262 and marvel at the effect!

[ultra]

okay that is cool really really cool

you also gave me some ideas of the airplanes i have collecting dust on the shelves

ultra stone

[avro202]

That sure is kool lookin.

Have you thought about doing something similar to the Me-163? You could stick a bit of yellow-red highlighted fluff into the rear of the rocket motor.

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear List folks:
Go look in the clothes dryer for lint especily from gray clothes to use for the smoke.
thanks
MILES

[rbeach84]

Hmmm! Yes, I see that - even with random bits involved, lint would seem to be perfect for the job...

[avro202]

Wouldnt it be a bit dense?

I have used the stuffing my wife puts into cushions to achieve the same sort of look. You can kind of squeeze the stuffing or pull it appart and mold it a bit. Its one big piece so you can just tear off how much you need. Its probably easier to use than individual cotton balls. I dont have any models using it anymore, but here is a old picture to show you what it looks like.

[peter taft]

This is a really cool diorama - Gives inspiration to others to have a go. You made a very good effect.

[jimkrauzlis]

Dear List folks:
Go look in the clothes dryer for lint especily from gray clothes to use for the smoke.
thanks
MILES

Good tip, Miles...that's what I use for smoke puffing out of ship's stacks in my models...Avro, you just pull it apart with tweezers, and insert a very thin wire for support if you need a long smoke trail...it's already colored so that's not a concern, and you can alter how light or dense it is depending on the type of smoke you want.

Superb looking diorama! Love the way you set it up, quite impressive!

Cheers!
Jim

[Immelmann]

That sure is kool lookin.

Have you thought about doing something similar to the Me-163? You could stick a bit of yellow-red highlighted fluff into the rear of the rocket motor.

I'd considered it, but decided against it because the 163 only carried ~7.5 minutes of fuel, meaning that it spent the majority of its time gliding in between bursts of power. Besides, two smoke trails would look to cluttered.


Nice Lippisch though! Does that one go together nicely? I've been trying to decide whether or not to add it to the stack. Then again, maybe it will be in the next batch of FG freebies...

[mbauer]

[QUOTE=Immelmann;277966]I'd considered it, but decided against it because the 163 only carried ~7.5 minutes of fuel, meaning that it spent the majority of its time gliding in between bursts of power. Besides, two smoke trails would look to cluttered.
QUOTE]

Rocket Fighter by Mano Ziegler says they flew stright up to 10,000 -12,000 meters before engine quit. Then they wer supposed to dive on bomber formations as gliders.

Good book!!!!! They even tried using ten 50-mm high explosive cannons mounted verticaly (slight oblique angle for shotgun like spread) in the wing roots. Light sensitve cell for each cannon would set cannons off (delayed timer of sorts) once under a shadow.

tested idea by using two poles 20 meters high and some canvas 30-meters long tied between the poles at 900km per hour. Canvas was shreded. (8 of 10 rounds hit usually)

Each high explosive cannon was supposed to equal one 88-mm flak round, in other words only one of the ten had to hit the target!

Mike

[Immelmann]

I'd not heard of that armament consideration, but it sounds really interesting! Thanks for posting, I'll definitely have to check that book out :)

I wonder how they accounted for positions in relation to the sun though (or flying upside-down :P)

[mbauer]

I'd not heard of that armament consideration, but it sounds really interesting! Thanks for posting, I'll definitely have to check that book out :)

I wonder how they accounted for positions in relation to the sun though (or flying upside-down :P)

Actually one of the very first tests went wrong, the pilot flew under a cloud, someone forgot to install the delay and every cannon fired at once. Canopy disenergrated and pilot was almost killed.

Reading the book will make the way the USA tested rocket planes look like kind of wimpy...Nobody shooting at you, a long runway, no cannons onboard, and copying what others had done.

Don't get me wrong, it still took guts and plenty of nerve.

A couple of other books about flying Rocket Planes:

In the book The Fastest Man Alive by Bri. Gen Frank Everest, he claims many firsts, but some of them were done by the pilots who flew the ME163. Now if he had clarified and said, "first in the USA", it would've been true.

One of my favorites is The Lonely Sky by William Bridgeman. Douglass D558-II Skyrocket (jet and rocket at first from the ground, eventually air launch like the X-1).
Mike