B-17 G Turrets

I seem to be recovering from the various illnesses and injuries I have suffered this year. I'm casting about with various ideas, trying to get back into the swing of things. At the moment I'm currently considering building a Revell 1/48 scale B-17. I haven't build an airplane since I was in Junior High School so there is much I have forgotten about them.

This particular models of the B-17 has engravings on the turrets representing the metal frames. I'm at a loss how to represent the metal frames. I have tried sharpy type pens and fingernail tape that women use to decorate their nails. Neither has been satisfactory. The pens do not cover the surface of the plastic and the tape does not remain in place. I really want to finishe the turrets properly, but as I said, I'm at a loss how to finish the frames.

Anybody have any Ideas??

Might be kinda small for this technique....put Tamiya tape on the turrets and x-acto off the frame areas, then spray.  That's how I've done the last bunch of canopys.  But I got a little heavy handed on this one and broke it.

i have heard of people using bmf as a mask, not tried it myself

Good to see you back at the bench John. Can you post up a picture?

beowulf wrote:i have heard of people using bmf as a mask, not tried it myself

John, I'd recommend the "Black Chrome" BMF as a masking medium. It's thicker than regular BMF and harder to tear.
Regular BMF works too, but both will leave a residue which alcohol & a Q tip will remove.

I like BMF as a mask, since I can burnish it down and get no 'bleed through' under it.

Another tip is to use PVA wood glue. Brush it on the areas you want masked, paint as usual. Let dry thoroughly and then either soak it in water to remove the PVA, or use a fine scalpel to lift one corner of the PVA, and gently peel it off.

HTH,
Chris

John, IMHO Black BMF is terrible stuff to work with. Unlike Chris I find it tears very easily.

Here is my way with canopies:

Get yourself some 50mm (2" to you) wide Tamiya masking tape. Cut off a length of about 6" and stick it to a sheet of styrene.

With a steel rule, cut into appropriately wide strips for the canopy metal work leaving just half a width between each one. When done remove the narrow strips and discard. The reason for this is so that the edges of the strips you are going to use gets painted.

Next spray a light coat of appropriate colour primer and let it dry overnight. Next day spray two or three light coats of the colour coat and again let it dry overnight.

Now all you have to do is to cut a strip of the length required plus about 1", lift it and apply it to the metal work on the canopy and burnish down like you would with BMF. Then, using a fresh exacto blade, cut to length. Continue until finished. Being so narrow, it bends quite easily too.

If, when burnishing, you remove a tad of paint, simply touch up with a fine brush or remove and lay another strip.

The end result, although slightly 'chunkier' is perfectly acceptable. To me at least. I know the die hard aircraft guys  would be horrified though but what the hell!! LOL

Some say that the tape shrinks. Well, yes it will, as when you lift the strips off the styrene the tape stretches a little and then contracts if you lay it straight away. The trick is to lift the strips and stick them to the edge of a shelf for a few hours to contract. If you do this you should not have any shrinkage problems.

This is how I did this one and the tape is still in place after two years eight months.

Some great tips here. I especially like the wood glue idea, never tried that one.