OzH Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 One word.... Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmcclure Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Just astounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murdo Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Absolutely incredible work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Shumsky Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Not my subject matter nor my scale, but outstanding work that you should be mighty pleased with. I'll be watching the rest of your progress with interest. Cheers, Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 I just checked in & noticed all the comments - thanks a lot for the positive vibes! Your feedback means a lot & helps me keep going with this mammoth project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Will have to see this when this is done, looks great. Makes me want to dig mine out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Keep up the excellent work! Absolutely stunning build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders154 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 very good work, I cannot wait to see the completed project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xw302 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 In the words of V.M. "I just don't believe it". Great stuff Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 4, 2012 Author Share Posted June 4, 2012 (edited) *update 4th June 2012* thanks for the kind words gents! Hello everyone - I've been working on the next part of the build, the upper turret. The vacform kit provides a one piece transparent moulding of dubious quality. It's not terrible, but there are lots of little trapped air bubbles and the moulded on framework is speculative at best, being offcentre in more than one case. I had a spare turret as a backup, so I decided to try and remove the 'clear' bits & leave an accurate skeleton framework. I could then detail that & attempt to make each window individually from thin, clear sheet plastic. I experimented beforehand & discovered that the sheet is quite flexible and (to an extent) can be rolled-up, bent and curved without it distorting. Of course attaching it will be another matter, and TBH if it doesn't work I'll have to abandon the idea....but I'm hoping it will be OK. Back to the framework: Here's some images from the net of a turret under restoration, showing the shape of the frame and the interior detail (the mountings for the guns and the gun troughs) Here's what you get in the kit - unfortunately virtually unusable - distorted and off-centered Using a new scalpel blade I removed the windows. Then using plastic card I built up the internal detail. I left the backing plastic on whilst I was working otherwise it would have been extremely difficult to keep everything from flexing and warping all over the place as I filed & sanded it down. Where necessary I lengthened, shortened, replaced & re-positioned the various bits of the frame: It's hard to see the details without a coat of paint so here's what it looks like with a coat of primer. It still needs tweaking - a few gaps here and there need filling. But essentially this is the finished frame - I now need to measure & cut out the windows from thin clear sheet & attach them. I will probably use formula 500 canopy glue, wish me luck! More updates as and when Rich Edited June 4, 2012 by richdlc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbru1 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Not my scale at all, but this is an awesome demonstration of research, attention to detail and skill. Brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Looking good Rich, I was down at my parents at the weekend. Fished out my B-17F (Revell) and brought it back up with me. It's got the Monogram paper work in it for that dio you mentioned before, Seems like I started this kit in 2001 as I have printed paper work in there too.. Your inspiring me to get mine back on the go! Keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 hey thanks a lot guys! It's tricky work, but very rewarding more updates soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Rich, I love the detail you are putting into this and may borrow some of your ideas when trying to detail my 72nd scale kit (not to this level though). I do have a couple questions for you though. Since you are planning to depict just the fuselage on a truck, is the plane in question one that bellied in? If so, two things to consider, the nose turret would more than likely get jammed up into the nose of the plane causing a fair amount of damage. See the pic of Little Miss Mischief. Also, if the crew knew they were going to make a belly landing, they would drop the ball turret so that the yoke would not smash through the fuselage top. This would probably also have been done to lighten the load depending on the damage suffered on the mission. If they did not have time to drop it or it was jammed, the resultant landing would smash the turret and damage the fuselage. However, if you are depicting a fuselage being carted away due to too much damage, then please ignore my comments above. Looking forward to the top turret detail. I had the privilege to fly on Aluminum Overcast last year and took me a couple seconds to realize that they had taken out the innards of the top turret so there was more room to move around in it. A photo opportunity lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Rich,I love the detail you are putting into this and may borrow some of your ideas when trying to detail my 72nd scale kit (not to this level though). I do have a couple questions for you though. Since you are planning to depict just the fuselage on a truck, is the plane in question one that bellied in? If so, two things to consider, the nose turret would more than likely get jammed up into the nose of the plane causing a fair amount of damage. See the pic of Little Miss Mischief. Also, if the crew knew they were going to make a belly landing, they would drop the ball turret so that the yoke would not smash through the fuselage top. This would probably also have been done to lighten the load depending on the damage suffered on the mission. If they did not have time to drop it or it was jammed, the resultant landing would smash the turret and damage the fuselage. However, if you are depicting a fuselage being carted away due to too much damage, then please ignore my comments above. Looking forward to the top turret detail. I had the privilege to fly on Aluminum Overcast last year and took me a couple seconds to realize that they had taken out the innards of the top turret so there was more room to move around in it. A photo opportunity lost. thanks a lot for your input phil - I have been asked this on other forums! I plan to do the fuselage on a truck - the aircraft won't have bellied in, but rather landed. I do plan to have extensive battle damage though, ie large flak/rocket damage holes in the fuselage side to show the interior - that also means not only scratching the interior, but scratching some of it damaged! So it's going to be a real challenge but I'm up for it. I have numerous pics of forts that made it back with horrendous damage, but also managed to land wheels down so let's assume these guys knew their undercart was OK & managed to make it home & land! Thanks for your comments Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philp Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 thanks a lot for your input phil - I have been asked this on other forums!I plan to do the fuselage on a truck - the aircraft won't have bellied in, but rather landed. I do plan to have extensive battle damage though, ie large flak/rocket damage holes in the fuselage side to show the interior - that also means not only scratching the interior, but scratching some of it damaged! So it's going to be a real challenge but I'm up for it. I have numerous pics of forts that made it back with horrendous damage, but also managed to land wheels down so let's assume these guys knew their undercart was OK & managed to make it home & land! Thanks for your comments Rich Works for me, now finish up that upper turret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybert Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Wonderful project Rich! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 (edited) Hi everyone I've been cracking on with the top turret interior - there's a hell of a lot of stuff crammed in there. Here are some images of the real thing - as always these are strictly for illustrative purposes only. Here's the rear of the inside of the turret, looking towards the nose of the plane - the 'V' shaped part is the rail that holds the ammo cans (3 on each side) - they slide on between the inner & outer rails. On either side of the outer rails are the supporting arms that connect to the baseplate. The bags hanging down come from the shell ejection ports of the .50 cals & are used to catch spent shell casings. In the centre of the pic are the hand controls. Above the hand controls is the mounting plate for the gunsight. The navigator/gunner would stand on the base plate with his head poking up into the turret - the entire turret moves around as he manipulates the hand controls. A different turret (with ammo boxes): Hand controls - below them is the oxygen regulator & hose: Here's the hand controls under construction: and the inner rails for the ammo boxes: the turret was powered by a 2 V motor. There's a load of stuff directly behind the hand controls - I replicated what I could see & made an educated guess at the rest....at least it looks' busy' back there & will no doubt all be hidden haha: The view directly in front of the gunner (you can see the feet of the photographer in this shot as he stands inside the turret) Here's where I'm up to so far. The yellow things are Aires resin .50 cals which I bought in bulk ( I'll need 13 eventually !!! ) close up: also started on the gunsight. Identical to the one I made for the ball turret (seen in this pic) except it is mounted the other (right) way up: The gunsight sits on a complicated hinged platform affair. Here's a view of a turret from head on. You can see the platform clearly. The part in the foreground is a mounting piece for the part in the background. It has holes in it through which the belted .50 cal ammo passes. The part in the background has the gunsight attached to it. Here's my turret from above (turret is facing forward). I have dry fitted the rear platform. I will build the attaching arms & then attach the gunsight: Edited June 17, 2012 by richdlc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Wow this is impressive, I wouldn't know where to start. Some very nice engineering going on. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Outstanding work! You put me to shame Sir! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z Aviator Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Absolutely unbelievable build! Stunning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 This is all rather amazing. Wonderful concept too, smashed up on a truck. Have you any idea how long you will spend on this project? (It would be far too much for me to finish.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 madness! or genius? you decide, this looks facinating. good luck, have you a hanger to store it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnieraaf Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Awesome work!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 thanks very much for the nice comments guys :-) I would probably class myself as 'insane' in answer to the query This is all rather amazing. Wonderful concept too, smashed up on a truck. Have you any idea how long you will spend on this project? (It would be far too much for me to finish.) well the Corsair I built last year (click on the link in my sig) took at least 400 hours. Given that this project is 90% scratchbuilt, I'm estimating about 600 or 700 hours. Still got to source & build a wrecker, not to mention probably scratchbuild a trailer, then there's figures etc to consider - I plan to have a large diorama with plenty of figures. Either the fort being pulled through an English village with a crowd of curious onlookers, or recovered in France after D-Day with a load of GIs or USAAF personnel looking on either way, see you in 10 years lol thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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