B-17 Flying Fortress

[John Dell]

Thank you, YankeeBoy. That's two votes for "Tuffy".

[John Dell]

I’ve been digging around and found a couple more photos of “Tuffy” and “Friday the 13th” A book I have has a color profile of “Tuffy” that I now see is incorrect. In the photo below you can see she had the medium green splotches of paint around the edges of the flight surfaces. This was a common camouflage scheme for early production block B-17Fs. “Memphis Belle” wore this paint scheme. The color profile I have doesn’t portray this camo. I’ve also found an overall side view of “Friday the 13th”. She has an interesting set of markings. The individual aircraft letter “B” is painted on the fuselage as well as a letter “X”. I’ll have to see what this was supposed to represent. She also had the red surround to the national insignia. Both would make interesting models.

[Swampfox]

I made a contribution to the kitty cat, hope you can get enough donations John, best of luck.

Swampfox

[John Dell]

Thanks Swampfox, I hope to keep everyone up to date as to Goldberg's progress. My wife and I have had a several blind cats over the years and they are remarkably resistant. Once Goldberg gets over this initial misery and gets into a home, I'm sure he will do well.

[John Dell]

It looks like “Tuffy” is the winner! I’ve started working on the nose art. I’m also going to continue finish up the B-17Ds.

Goldberg went to the vet on Monday. He is doing alright, all things considered. The doctor still wants to wait for him to gain some more weight before doing the surgery. He is now getting antibiotics and pain killers. I’ve attached a photo of him with his canine buddy.

Some of the comments in Dan’s build thread of the RAF Fortress I (B-17C) got me to thinking. For some time I’ve been considering doing the engine face as a layered piece to add some dimension, see attached. The way I see this going together is to first glue the cylinders on to the engine face, then the reduction gear housing and then the part with the spark plug wires and other gadgets. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, the printer is down. Hopefully today it will get fixed. I also have a main landing gear wheel experiment going on.

If this works alright I’ll make up a sheet of detail parts that Ecardmodels can offer as an add on.

[umtutsut]

"Layered" engines are a great idea!

I've wondered for some time why an intrepid designer hasn't already come up with a series of stand-alone powerplants. IMO, two-dimensional engines are the biggest weakness of card prop plane models.

Les (The Voice of Authority)

[Burning Beard]

I've been thinking of using this approach for layered engines on Fiddlers Green B24 of yours (Gramper) that I am currently building. There is a model of a radial done this way to fit the Allan Rose DC3 which I was thinking of adapting.

Beard

[Don Boose]

I like the layered engine approach, and am glad to see that Baby Goldenberg is doing okay.

Don

[John Dell]

The printer is working again. I was able to do a quick test build of the engine parts on my lunch break and I think this is going to work rather well. I want to do another one over the weekend and I'll take some photos to post.

I'm going to have to do a redraw of the Pratt & Whitney engines for the B-24.

[John Dell]

Time for an update. I’ve been making progress with the engine detailing set as well as an alternate main landing gear wheel set. The engines are finished and I still have some adjustments to make to the wheels. Once those are done I have to do a selection of several tire treads and wheel hubs. I’ve attached a couple of photos showing the old engines and wheels compared to the new. My plan is to start including these sheets with future B-17 releases as well as have Ecardmodels offer them as free addendum.

I’m also finishing up the fund raiser B-17F for the kitten who has to have his eyes removed. I’m in the process of starting the final build. I’ve attached a photo of a fuselage test build I did.

The B-17D kit should be ready to send to Ecardmodels by the end of this week or the beginning of next.