B-17 Flying Fortress/44-83735 ~ the Duxford resto thread

[The Inspector]

That's the great thing about modern paint formulation. Now that computers can do exact tint and shade and tone matching vs the old Mk.1 Vulcan squinty and a chip, if you have a small piece or part you can hand over to the counter person you can get any amount from a shotglass full to a swimming pool full and it will be exactly identical batch after batch (and if the paint is from a sun or UV protected area like a door jamb then the computer will give you that exact 65 year old color, a great help if you are trying to reproduce the sun faded metallic paint on a late 50's car). Look @ the photos of the areas when just painted and are wet against a few days later after the paint has gassed out and dried the color and intensity shift is very dramatic, the painted wing tip is a very good example.

Up until recently when the environmental laws got tougher in Washington State and the chemicals changed to comply, (Boeing treats around 1 million gallons of waste water per day, 60,000+ gallons of it to wash, rinse,and water break to do a 747 paint job) polished skin aircraft built by Boeing like AMERICAN AIRLINES and other bare metal finished aircraft got a treatment coating of ALODINE 1000 which is clear not tinted, and application soak time is very short, like in some cases 30 seconds. The entire exterior was ALODINED to keep it shining like the proverbial diamond under a goats tail (actually a bit more specific, but I don't want to upset anyone over semantics ) as a friend used to say. Another chemical is used now but does the same thing as ALODINE 1000.

[bomberflight]

Here's a bunch of new pix taken today ........

First up is a shot of an outer wing section which has been treated with Alochrome ......



While all the panel has been treated ~ one area has darkened significantly ~ the rest of it still looks untreated.

Treating all the exterior skin with this preventative treatment is one of the reasons why it's being returned to an olive drab and grey
color scheme

Talking of color ~ let's dive into the paint area ......

It's been a busy day today and I've been minding the paint can and lines ~ so no pix of the painting process this time .....



For just a brief period of time ( during tea break actually ) the fuselage was "Half n Half"





The garish green on the left of this next shot is cause by the over head lights



Just a couple more .....





And then we move down to the tail section .....







And lastly for today ~ a brief look at the people beavering away on other parts of the air frame

This is the fairing that fits behind the chin turret ....





Final cleaning of what I think is a wing fillet panel ~ I should have asked what it was !



And let's not forget the trim tabs .....





Another update soon

[ZRX61]

Up until recently when the environmental laws got tougher in Washington State and the chemicals changed to comply.....

The upside of that deal was that lots of people got pallet loads of that bright green epoxy primer for free when Boeing threw it out.

I'm looking at the photo over and over and I see only a change in lighting, not a change in actual color. Looking at other photos of the area supports that it's a lighting change, not a paint color inconsistency.

It's still visible in todays photos...

[The Inspector]

OK! Looks like you are using ALODINE (Chromic Acid, what you know as Alochrome) before priming, my OOPS! or your concentrations are fairly weak, the 'golden toast' color is more what I'm used to seeing, the trick is not to leave it on until the part looks like dark toasted Whole Wheat, followed by really good bath in water to stop the reaction. Remember the stuff IS deadly poison so wear chemically impervious gloves (no Latex as they are porous and the stuff goes right through gloves and then through your skin and to your liver and Kidneys, nasty way to die liver failure).
Looks better every time! didn't you say the airplane showed up in England and was painted there? a bit of shade differential is OK because you can't see the whole elephant from 5 feet away and after it's done, it's not going in the Oakland Roadster Show now is it?


By the way, that red head is a cutie-

[bomberflight]

I'm still baffled about this question about a difference in paint ~ I'll have one last try to see what I've obviously missed so far .......

Here the image full frame from the camera



Here's a crop into that same picture



I know there's a vertical line of indentation damage in the skin behind the nose windows ....... but given this section was painted
in one go from the paint can ~ I can't see anything else .....

[B-17 guy]

By the way, that red head is a cutie-

darn, ya beat me to it!

"HellooO nurse! er....airplane restoration girl.....

[The Inspector]

Compound surfaces, light difused and from behind, and the really curved surfaces are in deeper shade, just your eye pans and brain messin' with you, 'nothing to see here, keep truckin'.

[cooper9411]

Thats what I like to see, a woman getting her hands "dirty" and smiling!!!

[ZRX61]

I'm still baffled about this question about a difference in paint ~ I'll have one last try to see what I've obviously missed so far .......

I know there's a vertical line of indentation damage in the skin behind the nose windows ....... but given this section was painted in one go from the paint can ~ I can't see anything else .....

It's about 1ft or so aft of the row of dents, I think it's a case of *dry edge* causing it to alter the shade of the paint.

Incidently, are the dents from prop ice coming off?

[shrike]

Wait until all of the masking is off and it's been given a bit of a tidy. the color variation will be far less than the variations from different subcontractors or even different ends of the factory.

Now lets see more pictures of the redheaded answer to the "Women and Warbirds" thread <G>

[Bomberboy]

Now lets see more pictures of the redheaded answer to the "Women and Warbirds" thread <G>

She looks even better in the flesh!!!!!!!!!

Dream on, she's far too busy working on a lovely B-17 to worry about things like that, so don't distract her!

[bomberflight]

Just a quick update with a couple of snaps taken today ......



The stage is set ( pun intended ) for the last section of the fuselage to be primed and painted !



All being well ~ pictures of this milestone event will follow in the next 24 hours

[the330thbg]

She is looking really, really fine!

[bomberflight]

Doh ! I forgot to answer the question about the "dimples" on the nose ...... Yes it sure looks like ice damage to me !

Today's pictures a a tad different from the norm ~ I've used a slow shutter speed to minimize digital noise ......

Let's start with the primer going on the last unpainted fuselage section







The same ghostly apparition appeared to apply grey to the undersides



And the top coat of olive drab followed soon afterwards

This next pic was taken at ISO 1000 and is just full of digital noise



Cleanup after lunch was very rewarding with our first glimpse of the whole fuselage painted.
And that's when it seems I left a fingerprint smudge on the lens ~ so I can only tease you with this final picture today .....



I'll see if I can get some less blurry pix to share tomorrow ~ they might even be in color !

[The Inspector]

Now you know why really really old 'tin types' photographers used head and neck braces so in the 15 minutes it took the silvered plate to record your image, you didn't blur it by moving.
It's suspected that's one reason Matthew Brady took so many pictures of Civil War dead combatants not only to record the carnage, but also because he recognised that the subjects wouldn't move and ruin the composition, it's also suspected he may have 'improved' the compositions in some cases.
Your photos do make for an interesting demo of who's hitting it and who's holding the corner of the ladder down the 1000 shot looks like they'd painted a hunk of 'ASTROTURF'