It might. If I can identify them, I can re-upload to my new pic hoster and fill in the gaps. I'm willing to do that.

Well,
I may have spoken too soon.

I can't seem to find them. I have however been able to get some off of photobucket.

Cheers Rob.

Some? If you have all the photos of the build in one album, you can use the 'download album' tool to download all pictures in one go. It's under "Actions" on the right size of each page. The only downside is that at the moment it works very unreliably, no doubt due to high traffic due to people leaving a sinking ship.

Bryan, sorry for my absence. I'm catching up just now.
I've seen you beat all adversities and getting close! Good job, my old man, and I have to tip my hat in front of your tenacity.

Cheers!
Gabriel

Brian,
As Eetu says you can download the whole album I just did and if you use chrome as your browser it's not too much trouble to find out what pic belongs where.

Cheers Rob.

Brian,

I'm getting close to finishing my 1/72 Luscious Lady build. I'm having trouble determining what gun configuration she had in her nose cone. You might have covered this earlier, but all the pictures are gone. Any help would be appreciated.

I'll post a picture later today.

Let me see if this will work:

Thanks guys! I've noticed hardly any of the 303rd B-17Fs had the dual guns in the nose (like Memphis Belle). I haven't done any research on other bomb groups, though, so that might be the norm.

It's with some trepidation that I return to posting on the Luscious Lady build, after a long hiatus.

My extended absence was caused by a few things.

1. A bad case of AMS (Advanced Modeler's Syndrome) and complete burnout after getting the fuselage together, followed by a lingering dissatisfaction with the exterior. The thought of re-scribing all of the lost surface detail and purtying (prettying) the thing up was just too daunting, plus there were some things I was just plain unhappy about. (You'll see later.)

My B-29 build took multiple years and there was about a year between closing the fuselage on that one up, and taking the next steps. So there's that, too.

2. My day job. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I'm a private immigration lawyer. It's a second career for me after corporate law for Curtiss-Wright Corp for 20 years, and I do like the work. However, in the current era the workload has increased exponentially, and in many ways it's been all consuming. But I've decided to get my life back, and that means a return to the basement work table.

3. The big cleanup. One's work table is frequently a reflection of one's inner state of mind. Let's just say the below shows just how "out of control" the build had gotten for me.





Easy to see one's not going to get much done here!

A big clean-up and reorganization of everything was in order, and that took a long time.



So, now I have started again.



I WILL be posting regularly, if not at the prior pace, from here on out.

Let me close with a previously undiscovered picture of "the Lady" that I'm happy to share.



She's looking good.

Glad you are back!

I hear you on the scribing that is what has kept me from starting one of mine.

Cheers Rob.

Brian,
Welcome back to the fold As you already know from our back and forth emails, no one here is happier to see you once again posting and just as importantly, working on the Luscious Lady then me.

Your 1st picture of your workbench is what my son's 3 rooms usually looked like. The 2nd picture is how it now looks since he moved out and I cleaned the 3 rooms in the basement he "lived in".

Rescribing is the one aspect of modeling that I truly dislike, and will do almost anything to avoid it. For me it's usually 1 step forward and two steps backwards, and that's on a good day.

From what I can see, your rescribing looks darn good.

Looking forward to your next post.

Joel

Brian, I'm really glad you're back in business! And I am happy for you that you found the motivation to continue with the build.
Maybe your build will restart my appetite too! (My Chow Hound is in a very deplorable state after Hurricane Irma passing).
Yup, She looked awesome, as your picture demonstrates! No argument here!
Nice work on the panel lines - again, I feel the same as you do regarding those.

And, as Joel said, I am eagerly anticipating your next post...

Gabriel

Brian - What a happy surprise! Welcome back !

Richard

Glad to see you have returned!!!!

Karl,
Glad to see you on the forums as well.
Joel

Good news.
I was wondering what happened...

Whoa, Gabriel. What happened?! You were almost done and the build looked fantastic, especially with that under-wing national insignia. More than once I said to myself, "What a fool you are. He got one built and you are still mired in your madness."

What happened, I ask again?

D'oh, I said I was back, and meant it. The below pictures aren't meant to "show my stuff" so much as to document that work is, in fact, continuing.

I'm almost done with the "first cut" (pun intended) at rescribing the obliterated panel lines. The plan is to use light coats of primer to see where the flaws really stand out and to try to fix those with thickened primer and gentle rescribing.

I am NOT going to rescribe the whole thing. I'm OK with raised panel lines and countersunk corrections. I don't feel one can really tell. Rescribing the whole airframe is too OCD, even for me.

My attitude towards modeling detail generally has also undergone an evolution during this interminable build. I'll talk about that as I go along. These days I feel it's "OK" not to detail "to the nines" and in-passing I'll post some of the "degenerate sh*t" mods I've on various, commercial diecast models I've purchased during this hiatus.

Consider them comic relief.

I mentioned before I was really unhappy with one aspect of the completed exterior, and I'll show you what happened and how I'm going to fix it. Those who have followed this blog from the get-go already know the area I refer to, I think.

Here it is.



You will recall all the time and care my NC friend put into the cockpit glass and the open windows. Well, I just had to clean it up by removing some of the Future that I felt distorted the view inside.

I followed his recommendation and used warm water on a Q-tip to scrub the windshields, but wasn't getting it clear and translucent. So, for some idiotic reason I tried rubbing with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol.

I succeeded in fogging up the clear parts and, as you can see, messed it up. I was desperate enough to think that maybe the problem was on the INSIDE of the glass, so stuck the Q-tip through the open windows and made it even worse there.

Sooooooooooooo

Here's the fix. Yeah, parts I got from a kit on the cheap off of e-Bay.



It's not glued on, but the fit is good and I think it will be fine. The lesson for me: "Less is more" sometimes.

Do note the rescribing forward of the windshield. Not perfect but getting there.

And here is the bottom of the nose.



Again, it's a first cut.

Here is the aft bottom fuselage.



This is better IMO.

Finally for tonight, the stbd. radio room area, not yet finished, but it's a start.

Hi again, Bryan!

Well, Irma The Hurricane (probably you are familiar from the news that it was the strongest ever hurricane registered, exceptionally categorized at 5+) blew thru my living room after breaking a window and forced open the other from inside, on the opposite side of the room. Normally I store my models to be kept in boxes in my bedroom, but because its size, Chow Hound got a place under the above mentioned window... Well, it flew for real for once across the room and crash-landed on the opposite side.
You can evaluate the damage for yourself:





I know, it looks like regular dust but is not. It is full of salt pulverized a crazy speed in wet air. Here you can see better:


Minuscule grains of salt are literally embedded in the soft acrylic top coat...

Now let's move to your build.
I agree with you that re-scribing all the panels lines is not a must (arguably, of course). When I do rivering on my model planes, I'm not going crazy with all the lines, but with the main lines. As Verlinden once put it: it doesn't need to be right, it does need to look right. And your scribing looks about right; corrections needed, but right.

The windows: for many years I was shying away of even touching the clear parts other than installing them, until I run into a problem without escape: the windows of this truck. As you can see: warped surfaces, dubious clarity, seam line around and plenty scratches...


I had to bite the bullet and sanded progressively from grit 600 to grit 2000:


Novus #2 at work:


A dip into Pledge. They are so clear now that they're almost shadowless


As said on my previous post: I'm almightly glad you came back with this build because you really motivated me into not giving up in my Chow Hound!



Don't be so harsh on yourself! We entered this build at complete different levels. While I didn't managed (yet) to finish it OOB, you basically rebuilt it rivet by rivet!

Cheers!
Gabriel

Brian,
I've already said this before, but it's sure nice to see the LL back on the bench, and you working on it.

Your re-scribing looks tremendous, both in quantity and quality. Some goofs, but easy enough to fix. One thing I've learned that has helped me with the little bit of re-scribing I force myself to do, is that once I've knocked down the raised lips and cleaned the recessed lines with water shot from my AB, I give all the lines a coat of Tamiya Extra Thin, then polish. Makes a huge difference as the panel lines loose that cut look.

Nice save on the glass. I've removed Future with Windex on a Qtip without any issues.


Joel

Really nice to "be back," Joel.

I will include a pic of the "Trumpeter" scribing tool I'm using. My NC friend recommended it and he claims it does not create "raised lips," unlike a #11 blade.

More tonight, I hope.

Brian

Brian,
I've got the UMM-USA one and the Tamiya one I only use for flying surface demarcations. I've never used the Trumpeter one, so I'm looking forward to your assessment.
Joel

Gabriel,

That's some really mind-blowing damage. It does look like it's been through a hurricane!

How are you even going to begin? (1) Testing an area of wing to see if the salt-in-acrylic can be corrected or stripped? (2) Then gluing the fuselage back together?

No wonder it's been sitting there for a while. Good luck and revive your build blog when you start, please.

Brian

Well, well, Brian: the story is complicated. The reason I stopped in the first place it was because I lost contact with the commissioner and I lost my drive with it too.
I intended at some point to donate it to the Chow Hound association in US... but it was obvious I lost the tide and I fundered with this project... Then Irma... now I am engaged on multiple modeling fronts with a building schedule stretching until September or so... I just don't know yet - maybe one day I go ballistic, shake the dust on it and keep going.

I have a restoration plan though:
Before anything else, scrub with wet scrubbing pad the salt / dust deposit and such, and then:
1. Split it completely in halves - fortunately the glue gave way (bad Testors glue) and there is no damage to the fuselage proper.
2. The tail wheel bulkhead is collapsed and needs re-arranging; same goes for the bomb bay: by the rattling sound inside I guess a bomb went loose
3. The putty (lots of it) around the rear gunner canopy is gone and needs to be scraped / redone.
4. Remove all windows (providentially I glued them with white glue), clean, reinstall.
5. Close the fuselage again and deal with joining line (needless to say, damage to the paint down to bare plastic)
6. Respray OD and gray (the initial ones were custom mixed and I'm not sure I can match the shade again - I even changed the brand I use meanwhile).
7. Maybe I can save the decals by masking; if not I can buy a new set.
8. Donate it to Chow Hound society.

Fortunately all the exterior details (MGs, nose window, ball turret, propellers) were safely stored in their box with my stash and nothing is lost.
The bad thing is I have to go all the way down to the stage before joining the fuselage and virtually only the inside painting can be preserved as is.
The good thing is that now I am much better equipped than I was then and perhaps my painting task easier (provided I can restore the surface to an acceptable level).

My main problem is the lack of motivation and busy schedule (now even busier after I launched my YT channel as well).

There is no question: if I decide to continue the build, even if I need to change decals and so the aircraft name, the build will be blogged as a continuation of the original one.

And perhaps the best thing in this business is that you decided to go back to Luscious Lady and really shaked up my inertia. And I would like to thank you very much for that.

Thanks!
Gabriel