1/72 B-18 Bolo - Complete!

[Steve Nelson]

Coming along nicely. Of course, the minute you finish it MPM will finally release the B-18 they've had on their "coming soon" list for the past decade (I hope.)

SN

[WIXerGreg]

That would definitely be my luck. I'd had this kit tucked away for a few years waiting for a promised injection molded kit to come out and I finally got tired of waiting. Of course if I drag this thing out any longer MPM will probably have theirs out first!

[Second Air Force]

Don't feel bad--I spent a long time building a Falcon Vacuform F-89. When I took the finished product down to the hobby shop to show it to the regulars the store owner told me that Revell had just announced a 1/48 Scorpion.

Keep up the good work, and I'm looking forward to the cowlings. I've got four of them to put that checkerboard on and I'm looking forward to hearing how you did yours.

[WIXerGreg]

I started by foiling the whole cowls and then masking off the back with frisket film, then painted the yellow. I cut thin strips of the film to mask off the checkered area and spray the black but had problems getting the film to stick to the yellow paint. I got a few strips on one cowl but got frustrated with it and set them aside for a while. To try to get the film to stick better I did hit the yellow with a thin coat of Dull Cote, let it sit for a few minutes and pulled the mask to let the edge lay down. I haven't gone back to it since laying the clear down, but I expect the mask to stick much better to that than the paint.

Last edited by WIXerGreg on Tue Apr 26, 2011 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Second Air Force]

I've been thinking about using foil to mask the checker pattern. It'll lay down nicely around the front curvature and is easy to cut and trim. Perhaps I'll finish the mods on one of my cowls this weekend and experiment a little.

Scott

[The Inspector]

PARAFILM M and a really steady hand? It's pretty good @ taking being pulled around corners and curved surfaces.

[WIXerGreg]

Using Foil to mask the checkers was one option I had considered but I didn't trust myself to cut all the squares straight. Last night I tried a couple different things with the frisket film again and had sort of the same problems. I abandoned that and layed one of the cowls out with Foil. I painted it last night and I'll peel it off when I get home, I'll have pictures up later if it wasn't a total failure!

[WIXerGreg]

Success!

Starting from the beginning...

I foiled the entire cowls, masked off the back and painted the yellow fronts. The yellow also got a coat of Dull Cote along the way.




Then I foiled over the yellow, overlapping back past where the yellow stopped.




The yellow area from front to back was 6mm, so I cut 3mm strips of frisket film. I put it around the cowl, starting at the separation line from yellow to bare metal. Then with a hobby knife I made a cut on each side of the film, cutting through the foil. On the front edge this is the line between the front and back row of squares, in the back of the film it's the separation between the checkers and bare metal.




Then I used a piece of the 3mm film to lay out the checkers on the front half. I layed it on the cowl squarely, made a cut through the Foil on each side, lifted the film and made my way around the whole cowl.




After cutting the front half.




Then I lifted the strip of frisket film off the rear and cut the back row of checkers free hand.




I masked off the bare metal back side again and shot the black, then obviously peeled off the remaining foil to reveal the yellow sections. I'm happy with it!

[Second Air Force]

Looks good! You've inspired me to give it a whirl on my cowls.

[the330thbg]

Wow.., I am very impressed with the end result!

Scott.., I think we have a winner. (in regards on how to do the checkerboard pattern!

[WIXerGreg]

I finally finished the thing this weekend.

[The Inspector]

Great job! Looks superb-

[Chris Brame]

Congrats on actually finishing the Bolo (which is more than I can say for myself!)

Got an idea for your leftover DC-2 fuselage - check out this page and note the two museum displays in Holland and Finland which are only the fuselage. Maybe you could build a diorama of one of them?

http://www.dc3pub.com/filename19.html

[Bear]

It looks fantastic Greg. Great job!

[The Inspector]

I like Chris' idea. Hit the spares box find other wings and engines and build a 'phantom' closed course racer. One that 'might' have competed in the mid 30's BENDIX after all, guys now are building cars that never existed like 37 FORD three window coupes so why not?