Neal Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Incredible and inspirational, thanks for the update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted March 25, 2013 Author Share Posted March 25, 2013 Thanks a lot for the comments guys! Appreciate it... That is amazing scratch work! And please, please dont paint the whole interior of the nose all interior green!! The fuselage walls during the war were all natural metal unless covered by the sound proof padding. The interior green thrown all over the inside of the restored warbirds is not accurate, and bad examples to follow for color refference. did that extend to the nose section too? I've replicated that effect in the fuselage (bar one or two panels) but I thought the nose section would be dark bronze green... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Wow, love the progress. Detail is mouth watering ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmick Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Rich, you so HAVE to combine all info and pics into an e book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 OMG absolutely amazing work, hats off to you this is awesome. Keep up the good work All the bestChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 The detail in this build is incredible. Hats off to you and thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 now thats what i call modelling AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted March 26, 2013 Author Share Posted March 26, 2013 (voice of Chunk from the Goonies) HEY YOU GUUUYS! thanks for the nice comments! regarding the nose interior colour - I've been doing a little research. It apparently varied according to who you ask - I've read statements from WWII veterans who maintain that it was painted bronze green, whilst others say natural metal. As I've already given the thing a coat of bronze green I guess I'm stuck with it! One thing I have learned is that there was so much variation between squadrons / machines that to say one thing is 100% 'correct' for the period is just conjecture - I'll make the interior as accurate as possible within the limits of the information available... once more thanks for checking it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 regarding the nose interior colour - I've been doing a little research. It apparently varied according to who you ask - I've read statements from WWII veterans who maintain that it was painted bronze green, whilst others say natural metal. As I've already given the thing a coat of bronze green I guess I'm stuck with it! It probably has something to do with production batches, and possibly also which company produced which aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybert Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Well done Rich, what a corker this is.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Truly remarkable put me down for a copy of the ebook when it's finished Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Have you checked to see if you worked at Boeing in a former life? Love it! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 Incredible detail.....Has to be one of the most intricate builds I've seen. simply amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark 64 Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Stunning work. I really dig your work on the B17 Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 *update 14/04/13* Hey everyone, here's my latest update. I've been working away at the nose interior & it's 99% completed. First up, here's some random bits I needed to make - oxygen hoses, instrument panel coaming and the pulley / wire tension system that keep the 0.50 cals in position when not in use. Oxy hoses are made from the usual method of winding smaller gauge fuse wire around slightly larger gauge, with plastic accoutrements. Here's the instrument panel coaming - there's a big gap when the nose / fuselage halves are joined, and this slips into the gap. There's some more stuff to add to it, but it's important to consider which bits must be added before I join the nose to the fuselage and this is one of them: I also decided to tackle the system of pulleys and wires that keep the cheek guns in place. Although not strictly necessary (they are barely visible once the nose is on) it bugged me and I just had to make them... You can see the right hand side one on a real Fortress here - it starts with a coiled spring... then develops into a system of wires and pulleys - here's the left hand one: To make mine I started out with an ancient set of Verlinden metal radio antenna mounts (essentially they are guitar strings of the appropriate size and I could have easily used these instead) and added the wires and pulleys - here's the right hand one: Next up I made the glide and climb data plate, located in the right hand side of the nose next to the bomber's seat. Here's the real one (top image - from the Wings & Wheels book): To make mine I made a composite of bits from a Verlinden 1/35 Map set - there's a couple that are very similar to what I needed: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 Next, I finished up the bulkhead at the rear of the nose compartment - again, I had to consider everything that I had to attach before the nose section is glued on permanently - the oxy hoses are glued firmly in place with the requisite sag and angles (they are hooked up to the ceiling on the real plane) - once the nose is on, I'll have to carefully reach in with the tweezers and glue the top bits to the ceiling. Now, finally, we can get to the meat of this update, which is the nose interior. I am happy that it is 99% completed - as I alluded to earlier, debate rages on as to whether it would be natural metal, or bronze green. I did some research, and actual veterans have confirmed that in some aircraft, the nose was green, in some it was natural metal. As I'd already painted the whole thing green by the time I found this information, I decided to leave it! Everything that should be in place, is in place - I had no choice but to glue all of this stuff in permanently as it would be impossible to do it after the nose is on... OK enough chat, here's some pics: Some things to note... the wooden walkways in the real plane were made of plywood - I've used thin mahogany veneer, simply because that's what I had to hand, so it's probably a little too dark to be totally realistic, but I'm happy with how it looks. You should be able to see the wire & pulley system hooked up to the guns - I knew all along that it would be nearly impossible to glue it all in place after the nose was on, so I compromised - I attached the front (ie nose opening) ends and the pulleys that are on the ceiling, and the rear ends I cut notches in the fuselage rim and pulled the wire taut, like this: I then cut off the excess, sacrificing the rearmost pulleys in the process. Fortunately, when looking rearward through the front opening, you can barely see this. Also - the astrodome (kindly supplied by Tom Probert - thanks Tom!) was way too crude for my tastes - full of little air bubbles and quite opaque. I decided to leave it off - on the real plane, it could be removed completely (and at airshows you'll often see a crew member popping his head out to wave at the crowd as the plane taxis down the runway!) - I scratched the details - mount for the navigators compass to the rear, and locking handles. As far as I know this is accurate - please let me know if the locking handles are actually attached to the astrodme's mounting ring, in which case I'll remove them... The hole which the omission of the astrodome leaves also provides another much needed way to view the interior, most of which is very hard to see once the nose is attached to the fuselage... In the previous photo you'll also see that I have taken an important step forwards and begun to 'skin' the aircraft - this was done with pewter sheet and a simple riveting tool. Mine is made by Trumpeter, and I picked it up at Telford last time for less than a tenner. It does the job perfectly well, and comes with several different sizes of riveting wheel. I think the effect is good, and will look really nice under a coat of paint. Here's me measuring up some panels - it was sometimes necessary to make individual panels, other times to cover large areas at once. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 It was necessary to complete all the panels surrounding the windows before I attached the nose to the fuselage... Speaking of windows, I made them all from Squadron clear thermaform. I did my best, but it was sometimes tricky. For curved windows (waist guns etc) I dunked the preformed shapes in boiling water for 10 seconds whilst using a wooden peg to force them around the 'curve' of a metal bowl. This took several attempts - if you try and bend thermaform too much manually, it crazes. If you leave it is boiling water too long, it fogs. After several attempts (and several new swear words I seemed to spontaneously invent) I had what I wanted. I attached all clear parts with Formula 500 canopy glue. Even this was tricky as I kept getting residue on them...the result is that the transparencies aren't 100% clear and dirt free - once they were in place it was nigh on impossible to clean some of them from the inside, due to the fact that I'd already added all interior details.... so what you see is as good as it's going to get. I added a coat of Future to each one, which helped....I guess you can't win them all! So here's some pics of all transparencies in place, with appropriate metal skinning. Notice I have left a gap towards the rear of the nose - I'll need clear areas of plastic to fill any gaps and sand smooth once the nose is attached. Skinning these areas now will save me a big headache later. I can see those nose guns getting bashed if I'm not careful though!! There are a few gaps to fill but you can get a general idea of what this will be like when done... So that's where I'm up to as of last night. Things still to add: Norden bombsight, nose transparency, Norden hot air system. A note on the latter - modern restorations do not have this feature, but it's an important one - hot air was diverted from the engines to heat the windscreen, and the nose transparency glass directly under the Norden - on this picture you can see what I mean - on the right with the orange arrow is the flex chute for the cheek gun. On the left with the yellow arrow is the hot air pipe. At a later date I'll add the nose transparency - I'll depict it smashed - firstly because again, unfortunately, it isn't clear enough to be of use. Secondly, it'll show off more of the interior. Once it's on, I'll be able to figure out where the heating pipe should go for a natural 'sit' And that's it for now! Next step is to glue the nose on, and continue with the metal skinning. Thanks for reading, sorry for the massive update... comments and feedback welcomed as always Rich. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Once again Rich this is in a class of its own... truly amazing work! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthemodeller Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Superb - even Mrs BtM is impressed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 STUNNED your attention to detail is second to none Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 cheers guys, glad you like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Ogilvie Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Brilliant Rich - looking forward to seeing at Telford! Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyramone Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 This is some of the most phenomenal modelling I have ever seen. Sorry I have nothing more constructive to say, but I am absolutely blown away. Kudos to you sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinja Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Seriously impressed with this build. Your attention to detail is awesome..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skull Leader Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 It's people like you that turn this into a damned scary hobby Your attention to detail is phenominal, and I don't think you could've picked a better subject! Naturally if it were me, I'd want to build the entire plane and in working order, but crash dioramas really provide opportunities for extra attention to the little details. This thing is really coming alive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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