Right now I'm working up a B-47E Stratojet in 1/144 scale. This is my test unit, as I also have a B-47 - 1/72 scale unit and a B-52 - 1/72 scale kit sitting in the wings awaiting building, if my building ideas or this first unit work out the way I hope. Trying out pre-painting all parts while they are still on the sprue trees, then just hope to do touch ups on seam repair and putty filled joints when assembled. Have large number of non-powder latex gloves to wear when doing assembly work to try to eliminate finger prints on silver paint. Both B-47 kits have very good detail, and well molded, so far I have found no flaws in any of the pieces. Photos to follow when compleated.

The grossly underated B-47 is not only one of the most beautiful planes ever built, it is also probably the most important plane built in the last 60 years. That's a heck of a claim about a plane that most people have forgotten. But the B-47 set the pattern for almost every commercial passenger jet and freighter built since 1954. The sharply swept, thin wings with underslung engines would have seem otherwordly radical when the plane was new...when the standard U.S. heavy bomber was still the B-29!

I gotta' say, give some more thought to your idea of painting all the parts while still on the sprue. Planes like the B-47 and B-52 have a lot of very long seams. Honestly, I think you'll end doing so much touch up work that you will probably discover you haven't saved yourself any work. I'm not really sure I see the benefit of painting the parts on the sprue, even if the idea works perfectly. After all, the whole plane is silver (natural metal) so it's not like your saving any time on masking :).

One of my favorite movies Jimmy Stuart in I think the title was Strategic Air Command started out using the propeller driven 6 engine Peacekeepers, then moved into the B-47's lots of great views of the bird inside and out. My painting idea may not work out as planned, but my version also has the under belly, wing flaps and tail stabilizers are white. So there is some masking to be done.

Painting major components on the sprue never works, take my word for it. Every single assembly creates seams, and every seam has to be sanded, puttied, sanded, and repainted. You're just going to end up painting the whole thing all over again.

"Strategic Air Command" is a great flick. For the longest time, I hated Jimmy Stewart, based on the fact that I can't stand "It's a Wonderful Life." As I have seen a lot more classic cinema, I can't help feeling sad that Stewart and Frank Capra are best remembered for that pile of dung... :cry:

Bonus fact - In "Strategic Air Command," Stewart's character is a pitcher for my favorite baseball team! :thumbsup:

John P is most likely correct, but this little bird is so small it woun't matter that much, just playing around with the idea, and see what happens I know there will be touch up work, but trying to limit the area. The kit measures about 11 maybe 12 inches in length and width, the 1/72 unit is moving into the 2 foot range. Thats why this is my test project.

Bonus fact#2:
Strategic Air Command was filmed at McDill AFB in Tampa Flroida and the Baseball feild Jimmy Stewart Plays At is Al Lang feild which was destroyed When They Built the new Stadium for the Buccaneers.I love that movie.espescialy for the fact that we get to see Tampa as it was in the 50s

That first shot of the B-47 in the hagar, when Stewart sees it for the first time, is gorgeous. Makes it look like a mythical creature of great power.

I once saw footage of a 47 doing the atomic bomb "lob" maneuver on Discovery Channel. It's amazing to see a plane that size do a half-loop!

Imagine what this would have looked like to the average bomber pilot of the era.

1944: You do basic training in a Stearman biplane followed by multi-engine qualification in a Cessna Bobcat.

1945: You're assigned to pilot a B-17G.

Early 1947: Your B-17 is struck off strength.

Late 1947: You witness the first flight of your new aircraft...a B-47 with six jet engines, service ceiling over 45,000 feet, capable of 630 mph.

That must have been like stepping into a time machine and leaping five generations into the future.

Now if you could only stick your head out the window and feel the wind rushing over your face, for the few seconds before your head is torn off and falling behind the plane anyway.... Wow what a ride that must have been, besides the 6 jet engines the 2 rockets in the side launching you off the runway at take off, working in very cramp conditions for countless hours on end. My hats off to those pilots, I want to kill everyone within 10 feet of me when I fly on a commercial jet. Sitting in those small seats, no elbow room, my shoulders being above the headrest, can't even sit back and try to relax or I put my head in the persons face behind me, Hellllloooooo. And thats just a 3 hour hop to go see family, these guys were there for hours and hours.

The Colonel I mentioned down in the B-58 thread DID experiece the wind in the face in a B-47.

http://www.b-47.com/Stories/Obie/Obenauf.htm

Couple of good cockpit photos in there.

I always wanted to make a 47 into a slope soarer. Just isn't enough wing.

What an incredible story...!

Up until last night my idea of painting the main parts on the sprue trees was working as well as I had expected. Then I went to apply the White to the underbelly, flaps and tail fins. When removing the masking tape it pulled off layers of the Silver main body color, it did not remove the entire layer of silver it just left it looking like a Leopard with spots, you may be able to see the results in the photo attached. Do I need to seal the silver with Future, or Crystal Cote before I apply masking or is something else wrong? :confused: Never had this problem before with any other color, but then I've never masked off silver before. Also I was wrong on the measurement for the 1 / 144 kit, its only 10 inches in length.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1294/b47e11ca.jpg

Yep! silver will do that to ya.......Last time something like that happened to me I repainted and waited a week befor atempting it again after that it was fine....i think but its only my opinion that it takes metallic paint longer to cure....perhaps we should ask His higness John P....if anyone will have the correct answer it will be him....All Hail John P!!! :)

My favorite B-47:

http://www.kaap.purpleglen.com/images/orendab47.jpg

From an ex USAF firefighters perspective, THAT is a creepy picture Brent. Story?



Another silver dilema- I was corraled into airbrushing Tamiya flat alum over scratches in anodized aluminum at work. I can match the color, sheen and texture, but the paint has no durability. ???

When Canada was developing the Avro Arrow fighter in the mid 1950's, the Orenda Gas Turbine Division of Avro also developed a special engine. The first five Arrows flew with off-the-shelf J-75's but Arrow number 6 and the subsequently planned versions of the plane were to fly with the Orenda Iroquois which developed 26,000 lbs of thrust with afterburner.

In 1957, there was no plane in Canada that was large enough to support the Iroquois for flight testing. The nacelle was 30 feet long and 6 feet in diameter. The USAF offerred a B-47 to Canada and a crew was sent to a SAC training base in Wichita. After 10 weeks, they returned to Canada with a B-47 which was modified by Canadair and carried the Canadian designation "CL-52".

In late November of 1957, the Iroquois was first flight tested in the B-47. This required the B-47 number 1 engine to be run at full thrust to offest the assymetric thrust of the right side mounted Iroquois while the other 5 engines had to be lowered to idle.

Actually the master of the Silver is Brent Gair. He has long advocated using automotive touch up paint for silver due to it's durablility. I took that recomendation and haven't had a problem with tape lifting or fingerprints since.

Right off the top thanks Just Plain Al, for pointing me in the direction Of Brent Gair. And to Brent Gair. What a great idea.... I have read that automotive paint is to thick to be used in airbrushes for hobby use saying the pigments were not as fine a material. So my first attempt at painting the B-47E using Testors hobby paints failed when masking tape pulled up layers of paint as it was removed. I then gave the body and wings a light sanding with a fine grade of sand paper, and again painted it, this time using Dupli-color Automotive touchup paint, color Silver Frost that I picked up at my local Checker Auto store. My first application had mixed results, most of the paint went on very smooth and looked great. But a few areas crazed, and after a day of drying I went back and again sanded the areas with a fine grade of sand paper. Then applied a second coat of Dupli-color this time with near perfect results, and a good looking color. Now I'm not a great painter, but if I can get good results using this method anyone should be able to get the hang of this type of painting. I'm going to try and figure out a better color to use for painting my other 2 military jet projects, then check out getting my hands on a pint or maybe a quart of the color, instead of working with the small bottles. I know when my brother ran his body shop many years ago, he had many of those pints of automotive paint sitting around. So I figure they still sell them. Find out when I go to build the other two kits. Again thanks Brent.

Silver lacquer is great for those applications where it's appropriate. I do like metalizers for MOST of those aircraft models that have a natural metal finish. But metalizers can be real delicate and they are a b#$&c on larger planes with lots of "shapes"...like the B-47. I have a 1/72 scale B-52 in primer right now and I'm going to lacquer it because I'm in no mood to use metalizer on such a complicated model.

Lacquer is tough, dries very fast and can be polished nicely.

Here's a picture my MARS-1. It's about 19" tall and all wood. This is painted with the SAME silver lacquer paint that I use to touch up my 1976 Trans Am:

http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/7449/marsfini8lx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

All the painting is finished on my project kit, and the Automotive scratch repair paints worked great. After masking off the body to apply the black and white for the under belly not one spot came off when the masking tape was removed. I'm now working on the wheels and motors, hope to be finished soon.

Here she is, painting is done, still have motors and drop tanks to install along with the canopy. But its looking good.

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9871/b47e21ni.jpg

Looks pretty good Robert

The engiens are all in place, last items to be installed are the canopy, and the landing wheels and doors on both main engiens. Then she's off to get a nice gloss coat, and decals.

The painting is finished

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/1219/b47e36pr.jpg

Shiny.

The painting is finished

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/1219/b47e36pr.jpg


Looks great so far. The decals and details will really bring her out! :thumbsup: rr

The decals are almost all applied to the kit. Thought I'd show it off, the project as a whole turned out well. Here are my thoughts on the kit itself. The company is Academy the kit a 1:144 scale B-47 B/E can be built as either a B or E version, mine is the E version. During the building of the kit all parts went together very well with little to no modifications needed. Details were very good, the instructions sheet could use a little work with more English information. The decals were very sharp, and came off the backing sheet very easy with a short soaking time, also each decal is individually placed on the backing paper and requires very little trim work. The down side of the decals is they are very thick and do not seat well around raised objects.

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/9130/b47e48id.jpg