Great to see LL on the apron to the taxi way … And it looks good !!
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A Brief Teaser
Marks’ enthusiasm for the project is very heartening. You can see it in this post-meeting photo he sent me regarding a possible diorama presentation of the exposed #4 engine.
To channel an old ad, “Is it real or is it Memorex?”
He has also been prepping to replace the national insignia decal on the lower right wing, which got damaged in Edmonton before shipment.
There’s other B-17 aftermarket stuff I have to gather and mail to him that escaped the big delivery but is needed now that we know what we have and don’t.
I suppose I should finally make an effort to see a famous 1944 movie, which I only know by the title:
More to follow!
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Already leaving his mark … (no punn intended) love the engine scaffolding — very precise and neat work.
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Marks should be here to show his handywork!
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When visiting your new builder it might not be a bad idea to visit Peter Luger’s for a NY Strip Sirloin - medium rare - just sayin’ …
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Well, I listened, been lurking here for a while so I figured why not hop in.
All things Lucious Lady related I leave to Redhand to curate, but I love chaos and hate waiting for things to dry so I’ll share some of my simultaneous builds that are one the bench.
(A-20G, Lancaster Grand Slam, Brewster F2A-3, SB2U, Brewster Buccaneer, F-51/FW190-A “what if” Star Wars crossover and I’m sure something’s missing)
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Happy to see you make an apppearance!
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Nice to see you join the community Marks. Really looking forward to seeing those builds you mention!
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A very warm – positively toasty – welcome to you Marks, I’m sure everyone who’s been following this extraordinary project is as pleased as I am that you’ve taken it on. I/we wish you the very best - nice avatar btw! 
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Welcome aboard Mark!
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Joined 7 hours ago… Nice to see you don’t let things slumber but jump on the bandwagon at a minute’s notice… 
And pleased to (virtually) meet you… From what I’ve seen, the lady is in good hands.
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Welcome Marks ! I hope we will see more of your work along with LL .
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Cleaning, Corrections, and Creation
Cleaning.
Marks is going to clean and touch up the obviously worn cockpit.
It’s had a lot of handling over the years!
Then the roof will FINALLY go on.
PERMANENTLY!!
He will position open windows on both sides, taking advantage of H.G.'s excellent work opening up the main windows. The rear of the cockpit will be visible because the top turret will be removable.
Corrections.
The area aft of the bomb bay split apart, and was covered with crazy glue by H.G. prior to repair.
Marks has put his own sealer on and is now rescribing the area.
Go up to the first picture, and you will see the turbocharger turbine on the right is damaged.
As if by magic, it is corrected, “like it never even happened.”
Edit: Oops, my bad. That’s the outboard engine!
Creation.
I save the best for last.
As you know, I lamented the loss of all three crew doors, and the fact that they were now OOP by Resin2Detail.
Well, guess what? It’s-a-no-problem. For real! Wudja-lookit-dis!
I was absolutely astonished. This is making a beautiful scale part out of pure, stock copper sheet and some form of paste or styrene. And look at the separate door latches inside and out and the door hinges.
I have never seen anything like it!
I can only hope my work on the interior, including the open hatch leading up to the cockpit, oxygen bottles and all the other stuff meets expectations.
More to follow.
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Happy to see this project back on track!
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Ah yes, a man after my own heart! Welcome to the Kitmaker family Marks, I’m definitely following along closely and looking forward to updates!
Cheers, D
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Planning and Logistics
Consider this a planning hiatus as Marks gets ready to start in earnest on the final push to get LL done. He informed me a few days ago that he had gotten a supply of paint in for the touch-up work on LL, which was something I hadn’t really thought about. But yes, that’s a research effort in and of itself.
I just stumbled across this site, which looks like a new and excellent source on the whole subject of paint for WWII USAAF aircraft.
The major tasks ahead of us are coming up with solutions for the lost components. These are:
Lost details in the nose, including the wooden bombardier floor and the gun braces in the cheek windows.
I believe I gave Marks the floorboards for the bombadier station during the “unboxing,” and that the framework underneath remains in the model. See below.
For those not following from, ah, 2016, I got the blueprints from Karl Hauffe,
and if we need to fabricate everything from scratch, I’ve been in touch with him recently, and he’s offered to re-send anything we need.
Again, the long-term followers will recall that the blueprint components were scaled down and printed on wood by the late Art T. Babiarz, Jr., a modeling friend of mine from the 1980s who helped with many areas of the build.
Art was very helpful in scaling down and reproducing on card stock the window brackets for the cheek guns in the nose.
This is something else that has to be redone. At the time of his death, H.G. was working on custom-made brass substitutes.
Of course, we need decent guns to go along with these parts, and I have on hand resin gun stocks and brass barrels.
Also, we need replacements for exhaust piping on the inner engine nacelles, specifically the two in the middle, below.
Those I have now as well.
Marks and I are discussing approaches to the turrets, and I’ll discuss that in due course.
“To be continued.”
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Touch-up Begins
So, back at it! Marks began the touch-up work by trying to find matches for H.G.'s “neutral grey” on the undersurfaces. He emailed me that:
my ak color neutral grey was no good. Way dark. I custom mixed some Vallejo neutral grey with usaf light grey and found a close match at 5:1 (NG)
Attached is the method to madness plus results
I really like the prep work prior ro repainting the outer wing panel where the national insignia will be re-applied.
Next he tackled the area where the fuselage split aft of the bomb bay, and the sanding plus rescribing plus paint looks damn good!
I also have to say that my “vision” for the finished model is in sharper focus now that I see how the expert exterior work by H.G, and Marks compliments my work on the bomb bay.
Hot damn, that looks lavish! I see some things that may have gone missing in the front near the catwalk, but this looks good!
I’ll close this short post with a look at the top of the nose, and the OD color.
I’ll be sending Marks some parts this week, we will carry on. He is close to a solution to the missing top turret, but he and I still have some things to discuss about it.
Later!
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I sought a theme and sought for it in vain
I fall back on one of my favorite Irish poems to say this post will be all over the place. If you’re looking for a simple build progress update, this might be one to skip, though it will have some of that for sure.
First and foremost, let me talk about my planned obit for H.G., and some developments there. I’m still processing the early death of a man who considered me his best friend, and who invested an enormous amount of work and emotional capital into this build. As yuz know, it has turned out to be as much about people and human endeavor (and loss) as it is about plastic, and loss is as untidy as life. But to honor my friend, I’m ready to cross that fine line, without getting into “way too much information.”
Some of you referenced Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” when we got to H.G.'s work on that, but there’s another poem just as good about the death of a B-17 crewman. It’s called “The Lost Pilot” and it’s definitely worth a look:
I feel as if I were
the residue of a stranger’s life,
that I should pursue you.
Anyway, I think this will be worth the effort. With Frank’s help, I’ve been put in touch with H.G.'s sister, and spoke on the phone with her today. She emphatically confirmed that he was a genius, or at least “teetered on the edge” of it. That’s enough for me to write about him, “lest we forget.”
OK, quick transition from people to plastic!
Today I mailed a package of B-17 aftermarket parts from my stash, and feel I’ve given most all of the parts I have for Marks to complete the build. Those include the proper top turret cover
but not everything! Here you can see that he’s scratch building the missing rear crew door, just as he did with the forward crew door under the nose.
Before we leave the subject of doors, let me return to the forward hatch area. Here’s a shot of the door opening seeing part of the interior.
Man, I want to see that door hanging down on the finished model, so the penlight afficionadoes can light it up and look inside!
I believe Marks also told me he affixed the second bomb bay door.
That leaves the delicate job of creating door actuators to mate to the actuator connectors and motors I did years ago on the forward and rear bulkheads. Comme ça!
This is another area where I want to see the exterior segue into the interior. (And yes, the illustration is of an early B-17 with a gun tub aft, but the actuators are right.)
That’s enough for now. In the next post I’ll show pictures of the nose compartment as I built it and as it appears now, while I ruminate on what’s possible to get it where it needs to be, before the nose and forward .50 cal. go on.
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Excellent update and LL certainly looks in safe hands with Marks now, he is leaving his stamp already. That crew hatch looks neat
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LL certainly looks in safe hands with Marks now, he is leaving his stamp already.
You won’t get an argument from me on this one! I’ve been extremely fortunate in finding someone of H.G.'s calibre to put his own stamp on LL. He’s a pleasure to work with!
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