I'm making a 1/48 scale Revell B17 for my wife. It's supposed to represent the plane her Step Father flew in WWII. This is the first thing with wings I've made in 30 years and I'd like some help in weathering it. I've painted it, applied one coat of future, and started to apply the decals. What do I do next?

Here is another question. Since this is for my wife I suppose I should follow her wishes. She really liked it when she saw it after the coat of future. How totally unrealistic is it if I leave it shiney?

All the reference photos I have of B17s are in olive drab camoflage. They are all well weathered and show a lot of dirty exhaust stains from the engines running back over the wings. They appear to have a matt finish, however presumably they had seen a lot of flying both in combat and whilst training in our horrible British weather so they would hardly be factory fresh. The latest technique I'm using to show the panel lines is to run a wash of black/brown with a fine paintbrush into the panel lines after decal application is complete but before applying matt varnish, this allows the wash to run freely and makes wiping off any overspills easy. If I've used enamels for the aircraft paint I use acrylic for the wash and vice versa. The more reference photos I can get of the subject I'm modelling the better as far as weathering goes.

Hi Rodger,
This is what I do; after the decals are on, give her another coat of Future, the model not the wife. This will protect the decals from the next step, the paints already protected...................
I've just realised, the 1/48 B17 has raised panel lines and my method wont work on them, or at least I would scribe them first, so that it would......................................................................
Just thinking out loud now, so you might wany to wait for other replies before doing anything that I come up with here. To accentuate the panel lines you could run a pencil over them. You might need to matt coat first, so the pencil "grips" it will just slide over a gloss serface. I was going to say that I use a wash, you could still do that. If you don't darken the panel lines in some way though a wash on it's own, on raised lines, will look odd. The lines will be lighter. For a wash I use artist oil paints but you can use enamals. Thin the paint heavily with thinner, I use white spirit, apply it by touching it to the panel lines and let capillary action wick it along. Wait a few hours then wipe it off, in the direction of the air flow. You may or may not need to dampen your rag with thinner. What you are looking for is for streaks and or a film of the wash over the plane (on a model with engraved panel lines it would accentuate them and the streaks would eminate from them) You can adjust the effect using thinner dampened or soacked cotton buds or rag. If it's not to your liking you can remove it with a rag and thinner. A word of caution do NOT use rubbing alcahol for the wash, it eats Future.
A personal opinion don't have your B17 gloss, particularly if it's to be presented. A woman thinks it looks pretty, as some men might. A WWII bomber ain't pretty it's a war machine designed to kill people (the enemy) a model dosen't represent this though (well it does to a certain degree) it represents the brave men who sacrificed their lives for us. Off soap box. If you are going to weather it, it will look odd if it's gloss.
However it is your model and your wife.
Hope I have been of some help, if you want to discuss weathering further no problem. I hop I haven't offended the wife. :-)
Mal

You could look into all the references and apply some snazzy weathering using some pastels or some post-shading. In the end, though, this is a gift from your wife to her step-father and I think you should finish it the way she wants.

:-) Tin_Can,
Didn't think of it like that, your brobably right, but I think the idea might be to please the step father? I do know that the most pleasure I have got from building a model is the 1/24 Airfix Spitfire Mk I that I built and was presented to the Sgts mess at RAF Wildenrath, a 92 Sqn BoB with air brushed markings, and of course weathered. At the presentation was a veteran of the battle, his comments about the authenticity of the model made my year. Most of what I know about BoB Spits comes from him. :-)
Mal

I agree with that point too mal. I was also trying to think of a tactful way to try and explain to his wife why it might please her step-father more if it was weathered and made to look a little more realistic. I wonder if it would be possible for her (being his wife) to get a picture of the actual plane her step-father flew in. This might make it easier for her to understand the weathering of the aircrfaft.

:-) Yeah I suppose tactful would be good, just know what its like when someone that was there comments favourably on you model but more importantly they feel good about it too.
I would be very interested to know which B17 her step father flew in, I'm looking for a good scheme for mine. Rodger, is it the F or the G model?
Mal :-)

Thanks to all.

I should have mentioned that Bill, my Father in Law passed away several years ago. This is really for Ronda, and my two daughters, to have something to remember him by. It's a B17F. The kit I'm using is the Memphis Bell although that isn't the plane Bill was in. I haven't found 1/48 scale decals that I can use on this kit to model his plane, and frankly I've done a lousy job on it, so I've already promised my wife that I'll get her a good 1/72 scale kit in the future to do it right. A real gentleman from www.armyaircorps.com sent me a very large pgf file representing the unit Bill flew in.

Sorry to hear this Rodger, Of course if you are building for a "client" then their wishes are paramount.
When you get the 1/72 model come back and we can help with the weathering, if that's what you want. I have an article about to be published that will give you my angle on this.
Mal