Help... RAF "Fortress III" B-17

[Quixoticish]

I'm mid-way through a repaint in the coastal command colours that they seemed to wear but I can't find any decent source material to use. I don't mind releasing them as semi-fictional ones if required but I'd like to find proper reference material beforehand if possible.

I can't find any real pictures to paint from other than these:

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Cold-war/17.gif

http://www.tommystoys.co.za/images/AA33303.jpg

http://www.rafweb.org/Markings/220sqn3.jpg

I really need pictures of both sides of the same airframe (there are issues with things like roundel placement due to the shifting waist gunners position) and a proper registration number and code to use. Other than that it's all lined up and ready to go.

[Techy111]

Chris i was doing this ages ago and switched to the Coastal command B24......Remember...?

I'll dig some stuff out for you...

Tony

Heres my early WIP

[Techy111]

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17Ebuild.html

Heres good reference for starters....i'll add more here as i find them...

Tony

http://www.coastalcommand206.com/page7.htm

[Quixoticish]

Interesting. There appear to be umpteen different subtle variations around certain parts of the scheme, for instance how much of the engines are grey/green rather than white and how the white joins up with the grey/green area on the tail.

Does anyone know if the Fortress III ever flew with a completely grey top, or were they always grey/green?

Also did camoflauge patterns vary much or were they all based around the one pattern and repeated from aircraft to aircraft?

[Quixoticish]

In lieu of any hard and fast information I'll probably release this as part of a pack of RAF Fortress III's. I'll do a white/grey/green camo one, white/grey one (not sure if it's factual but it looks nice) and probably a black/brown/green night bomber version as well.

They will all be as accurate as can be with the exception of codes and registrations and I'll probably do a modern "clean" and older more weathered version of each.

[Quixoticish]

Okay, I'm all but finished apart from a few rough edges. I couldn't find any decent information anywhere so I've gone with fictional registrations and codes for the time being. I may address this at a later date if time allows but I'm getting sick of these repaints now and want to enjoy the aircraft, the mapping was a bit of a nightmare in a number of small but rather annoying places and some compromises had to be made, most notably at the wing root (it is mirrored from one texture so the camouflage won't line up so it was left white or black dependant on the scheme) and also with regards to the mapping on the engines.

I know it's semi-fictional but it was all inspired by the white-grey-green camouflage coastal command one, just view the other two as simple bonuses that may or may not be accurate.

Oh yes, incidentally these are for the FS Cast B-17 sold through Sky Unlimited. I was tempted by the A2A one but in the end my wallet won out and I was smitten with the moveable turrets and the fact that you could move around the aircraft a bit more in the FS Cast one.

Each of the three textures has been done completely clean (like a modern warbird shiny and polished) and dirtied up as it may have been in service. If there is any interest I'll make them all available as a pack together, unless anyone else knows of any other interesting B-17 schemes when it was in RAF service? (As long as it doesn't involve re-drawing all of the camouflage again!)

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-1C.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-1W.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-2C.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-2W.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-3C.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-3W.jpg[/img]

[Garry Russell]

Good job there Chris

Like you say...get them out oan enjoy them you can always revisit if you want

Since it's a rare subject as far as repaints are concerned a pack would be a good idea..in my opinion ....as folks will want a few extras

Garry

[Quixoticish]

I've just stumbled across this:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nxN_vjldtng/S ... ess_II.jpg

It appears to show exactly the same layout as far as markings are concerned, but with a dark-ish blue underside and two tone brown topside. Does anyone have any ideas exactly what the colours are? If I can figure that one out I'll include it as well as a fictional bare metal one (the Fortress I and II came with a metal finish from what I can gather but never the Fortress III).

[Quixoticish]

A couple more and the pack is done I think:

[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-4C.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-4W.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-5C.jpg[/img]
[img]http://link%20suspended/flight_simulator/B17-5W.jpg[/img]

Clean and weathered for both. The silver one is pure fiction as the RAF B-17G (Fortress III) never ever flew without paint, only the earlier models did and even then it was a very brushed finish without nose art and with older style roundels and fin flash.

The blue and camouflage scheme is, to be quite frank, a monstrosity that never looks right. From what I can gather about the picture I posted in the thread above it is actually a scheme on an earlier model of B-17 designed by Boeing that they specified should be used on the aircraft in RAF service. Of course they never flew with that scheme so consider this a hypothetical if the RAF would have adopted it and continued to use it when they received B-17G's.

So, in a nutshell, there are five schemes in the package. Scheme one is the most accurate, the coastal command camouflage/white, albeit with fictional registration numbers. Scheme two is also accurate but for a post-war coastal command B-17G, scheme three is quite accurate again apart from the fictional numbering, scheme four is a hypothetical what if and scheme five is pure fantasy (but it looks oh-so-pretty).

Incidentally I did the nose art many moons ago for a fictional RAF AC-130 that I never released and I decided to re-use that. It was done a long time before the film came out and as I was re-reading the graphic novel at the time and she seemed a good subject for some nose art! Of course if there ever was a decent FSX B-29 I'm sure I'd be first in the line to paint "Miss Jupiter".

[Motormouse]

fancy another one.......---------> http://www.214squadron.org.uk/Aircraft_ ... rtress.htm

214 Sqn (100 group special ops)

ttfn

Pete