Biggles87 Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Hi Peter, that's a real PITA. Have a look at www.scalespot.com where Gary is building the same kit, it might give you some ideas. I think your second suggestion is the better, perhaps it would be less risky using a wide bladed razor saw if you have one. Good luck John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Hi John, I think you might be right. Wide bladed razor saw with the cut a few mill in front of the rear bulkhead. This means I can remove and work on that without constantly manhandling the cockpit and bomb bay assemble. I forsee a very interesting evening ahead of me... Many Thanks, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted November 21, 2014 Author Share Posted November 21, 2014 (edited) Well that was a fun couple of weeks... with, unfortunately very little time for hacking at plastic. However, this weekend and the following week should be very good indeed in terms of B-17 production. So, progess since the mis-fit debacle. Well, the bomb bay had the rear bulkhead removed and was cut through the walls and walkway with a razor saw, it was then rebuilt to fit correctly, all traces of the offending locator pins were removed too. I had to shave quite a bit from two of the main spars to get them located correctly in the fuselage slots but in the end it all went together OK. I taped it all up and tried the roof for size too, there will need to be a little adjustment to the tops of the bulkheads to get them snugly in to the roof recesses but that's pretty minor and will be done at a later stage. The havoc I caused in the bomb bay I have repaired as best as possible by means of covering up the mess with some bits of sheeting painted aluminium, lets call it BDR from a flak hit over the target in the tiny window between the bombs being dropped and the bay doors closing. I'll probably end up having the bay doors closed now, but that's not really a big deal. So, apart from that my small amount of time at the bench has mostly been taken up by etch... lots and lots of lovely etch... There's the instrument panel: And the reverse face of that is the rear bulkhead of the nose compartment, made some oxygen hoses out of guitar wire, pretty pleased with the result for a first time effort: Still need to add the headsets and wires to this, I found from experience with the cockpit that they are easily disturbed and best left until as late as possible. Same with the waist gunners' stations, they'll also be getting oxygen hoses too. You will notice that the walkaround oxygen bottles have been removed for filling and maintenance... in other words, I was required to scratch build them and really didn't feel up to the task given their inherently curvy nature. Also: REALLY wish I'd elected to do something about those EP marks, thay have become more and more visible as I've gone on, and now they are pretty much all I see when I look at the fuselage interior. The APU was far from my finest work but won't be majorly visible... In my defence there was a particularly nice claret involved that evening... So that's where we're up to. still plenty to do before the fuselage gets buttoned up, so I'd better get on with it. More to follow soon... (I hope) Regards, and thanks for looking, Peter Edited November 21, 2014 by Suddensky 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
logical Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 That's amazing. Have you been stealing Fozzy's shrinkerator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Glad I caught up before you finished. It's looking very nice. There's just something about the 'Fort'. I'll just be sitting quietly at the back. God speed. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Hi Peter, Glad you resoved the bomb bay problem, great etch, looking forward to seeing more. Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick32 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Looking good, this will be stunning when it's done! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Love the B17...wish I had decided to plum for the bigger scale...... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 Many thanks for the kind words folks, much appreciated! Although TBH most of 'my' work so far has been done by Monsieur Eduard and his army of tiny, tiny etch-painting elves! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) Well, that was all a bit traumatic... but I think I'm pretty much there for the main fuselage. I suspected that there would be some fit issues, mainly due to my messing up previously in the bomb bay area, and I didn't fail to disappoint. Fortunately it wasn't too major and only required a little fettling and some gentle persuasion here and there. On the plus side I've done so many test fits that I can pretty much strip and re-assemble the main components blindfolded, in the dark, upside down and underwater. I'll finally glue the two halves together tomorrow, but here is where we are now: I've added a few bits and bobs; Scratched a headset from spare etch frame and plastic sprue for the wireless operator and added leads for his and everyone else's, plus oxygen hoses for him and the waist gunners. I'd seen pictures of these both hanging from the ceiling and also coiled on to a hook below the window, so decided to do one of each. Drilled out some holes in the bulkheads and added control cables made from brass wire, painted and washed. I know they are supposed to go through the bomb bay and link up with the moulded wire and pulley detail on the rear of the flight deck bulkhead, but I only decided to do it on impulse, and there was no way that was all coming apart again so I put them up through the roof. Also made two more seats for the wireless room. There's absolutely no mention or indication made of these in the kit instructions but from what I've read and the pictures I've seen I think I'm not too far wrong in adding them. In addition the instructions for the HGW seatbelt set gives details for them, as do those of the Eduard radio room set. I used the two spare driver's seats from the four identical J sprues, with a bit of scrap to support them. To be honest, I think I was just playing for time so I could put off tackling the guns. First of all, I think it's a fantastic idea that the gun barrels can be added at the very end of the construction process. However, I had grave reservations for the waist guns. The problem is that they are supposed to be held in place by just two tiny fixing points: the ammo feed belt, and the window pivot. I could forsee a situation where I'd finish the build, try to add the barrels and end up pushing the gun free from its fixings and into the depths of the fuselage, never to be seen again. In the end I decided to take a risk and attach the barrels now, thus giving a pretty secure fix. I'll just have to remember to be careful... please do remind me. Oh, and by the way, the Master barrels are absolutely stunning. Just a small query about the guns, on the port side the ammo feeds in to the right of the gun and on the stbd side it feeds in to the left. Is this right? Were these guns ever handed? Seems a bit odd to me, but seeing as I couldn't fathom a way to make the feed belt bend, then I've gone with it. TBH the pics I've seen tend to have the chute looped under the gun and coming in to the right hand side, but I really couldn't see how to do it. And one of the IP: So then it was time to build up one half of the fuselage and take some pics... what could possibly go wrong? Well I went to get the completed interior compartments, everything from the instrument panel back to the surround for the ball turret, picked it all up, and remembered, as the radio room tumbled to the floor (in slow motion, obviously) that I had only dry fitted that bit... It landed on the dog, who didn't really seem to mind... Lots of bits broke off... I said some words... Picked everything up... Said some more words... And stuck it all back together again. And now, I think, it is time for wine... Thanks for looking, Regards, Peter Edited November 23, 2014 by Suddensky 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStig Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 This is looking awesome, loving your work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Well that was a slightly longer hiatus than I'd hoped for. Work, Christmas, and just general stuff have all conspired to keep me away from the bench. But now I'm back with a vengeance... (no, not the Vultee type...) and I notice that it's two months to the day since my last post. So here we go...I've got the fuselage buttoned up but have got a pretty bad seam on the undersides, more on that in the next post I think, for now I'll put up what I've managed to get done over the last couple of days, which is mostly turrets. They are all great little kits in themselves which build up completely seperately from the main body of the aircraft and can be fitted later, which is exactly what I'll be doing, given my propensity for knocking off any fiddly bits at range of anything less then ten yards. As before, the gun barrells can be added later to avoid this happening but the Master barrels require just enough adjustment and fitting to make that difficult (for me at any rate) so I'll just leave the whole things off until the end. They're all finished in ModelAir Aluminium with dirt wash. I'll finish the airframe in various Alclads but am not too concerned about the colour differences given the natural shade variations over different panels on the real thing. So... Ball Turret, for which I seem to have misplaced the oxygen cylinder, pretty sure it'll turn up though... .. I mean seriously, how can you not look at that and think 'Tie Fighter'... Every. Single. Time? No? Just me then... So moving swiftly on to the dorsal... (keep wanting to call it the Mid-Upper...) The pics aren't really too good I'm afraid, but Susan's in Singapore at the moment and she's the camera whizz... And lastly the chin: As you can see I tried to scribe a roughly jagged zipper down the length of the boots, one side came out OK, the other... not so much Well that's about it for now, I'm currently working on the nose section and will put up another post when there's a bit more progress. Oh, and does anyone know how to turn the spell checker on for these posts? I really don't want to have to start thinking for myself... Thanks for looking, Regards, Peter Edited January 23, 2015 by Suddensky 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Excellent progression. One thing about the ball turret ammo cans 'growing' out of the rear radio room wall , the turret would be unable to rotate 360 degrees. The one thing even model forum members can agree upon that needs addressing for sure on this kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 I know, but it was a case of me making more of a hash trying to change it, than living with it as it is. In a way I can kind of see why they've done it like that, if the cans were fixed to the top of the ball or the mounting shaft then it would make it pretty hard to assemble it completely out of the fuselage and then insert it later. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Ball turret = Tie Fighter. I thought it was just me too! There must be a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Looking good sir, sure is a big beast. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Good to see that you're still at it. The turrets look great, as does everything else. Cheers John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 Evening, Don't be alarmed but there's another update! Amazing what can be achieved when you don't have a pretty wife distracting you... So I moved on with the nose section, really glad I got the etch for this as it's pretty visible through all that plexiglass and having looked at it I must say that the kit parts would leave the whole thing looking pretty bare. Started off with the floor, bombadier's chair, chin turret remote and the bomb sight. The coloumn for the remote control has a spur for the turret cable so I thought I'd add that too, it should by rights go in to some gubbins under the chair, but there were no gubbins provided and I couldn't find a decent shot of what they looked like from the front, so I left the cable unattached (although it now looks like it's stuck into the port side panels...): All good so far, or so I thought... It should be noted here that any set of instructions are only as effective as the idiot following them, and that a quick glance ahead a couple of stages could prevent something pretty silly happening... Such as this... Have a look at the ammo box where it sits on the floor. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the only wooden ammo box in USAAF history to have been knawed at by rats whilst in storeage in exactly the right places to allow it to fit over a carelessley placed remote cable... It was either that or remove everything, sand back the floor, repaint etc... Honestly, sometimes I'm surprised that I make it through the day in one piece... So having got over that bout of idiocy I moved on to the port side wall: And the Starboard: The Norden came out OK: And included in the Eduard set are some bits and bobs for doing hard sums... the instructions call for them to be put on the wireless operator's table but I thought they'd be better off here where they can be seen. They are an absolute joy! Didn't add too much out of the ordinary, just the ill fated remote cable, an oxygen hose for the bombadier and radio wires to the headsets for him and the navigator. The etch was toned down with humbrol 02 Clear Matt and the dials were filled with a drop or two of Klear as appropriate. Also painted on an 'aluminium strip' around the edge of the table, I don't know why but for some reason this seems to add an awful lot to the cabin. You will no doubt be aware of the noticeable absence of guns. I'm still pondering what to do with those. The instructions call for the ammo chutes to be glued on to the ammo boxes (on the floor) and then the guns glued to the other end of the chutes (sans barrels). At which point the two nose section fuselage sides are glued to the floor and then the barrels are poked through the forward appertures and by some miracle line up exactly with the breeches and slide nicely in to position... Somehow I just can't see it happening, so any thoughts would be welcome. So that's about it for today, I did tape it all together to see how it looked (because yes I am a child...) and took some pics, but unfortunately they were rubbish. At that point I would normally get Susan and she would shake her head, mutter something about 'depth of field' and take some good ones, but alas I am alone with the dog, an ample supply of Margaux and thanks to Spotify, Dire Straits ('On Every Street' 1991? Really? I still think of it as their 'new; album...). Sad times... More tomorrow as I will be strenuously ignoring any chores... Thanks for looking, Regards, Peter 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Right, where were we... Having taken the plunge and buttoned up the fusealage there was still the matter of the irritating seam. The only problems I've encountered with this kit have all been down to one mistake I made pretty much at the beginning of the build. I think that I didn't do a good enough job of mating the rear wall of the driver's cabin to the back of the flight deck floor and that this has just caused me petty little irritations ever since, it's been a right PITA and I wish I'd taken more care, but not much I can do about it now, so on we go... All zipped up: And with a good dose of Mr Surfacer down the line... It's not come out too badly to be honest, and fortunately it is on the underside. Thought I'd have a bit of a break from the insides, so made a start on the propellers. I've always struggled with getting the yellow tips a consistent width, but have now found a great way to do it! The only problem is that I can't remember where I read it, might have been on BM, or might have been elswhere, so for the moment all I can do is credit 'The Internet' After spraying the tips yellow, you cut pieces of tape to the length required, starting from a base point and ending where you want the tips to start, if all the bits of tape are of identical length then they will all finish at the same point on the blade and you can then mask off the tip, remove the guide tape and spray on the black. I've not done a very good job of explaining that, so her's a picture: They didn't come out too badly either, and given that there are a dozen of these, I thought it might be nice for them to all match: Made a start on the tail and rear gunner's station, the etch for this is included in the waist gunner's pack, a nice little bonus! You know the score by now, the usual mix of guitar and Rioja wire for oxygen and intercom cables. The gunsight gubbins is really fiddly...but looks OK in the end to my eye: And the guns and ammo... Built up the roof of the flight deck: And finally got the nose joined and finished. Had some issues with ammo belts, so huge thanks to Tom Probert for the advice and for pointing me in the direction of these excellent flexible ammo chutes from MDC. Also invaluable was the help form the lovely Susan who showed me how our camera works and enabled me to get a good depth of field using the aperture priority settings and high f-stops... I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about there, but don't worry, it's all just bluffing. So here's the nose cone all finished, pretty pleased with it and I think it looks suitable busy: Right, enough of that, and on with some more actual modelling. Honestly, If I spent a fraction of the time actually building kits that I do reading BM and looking at other people's work, I'd have whizzed through the stash in no time at all! More later, and thanks for looking. Regards, Peter Edited February 8, 2015 by Suddensky 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Brilliant progress - it sure does look busy in the nose! One thing if I may - the chin turret gunsight should be positioned dead centre on the roof of the compartment (in between the small upper window in front of the astrodome) and the lip for the nose transparency. It appears it's off to one side a little on yours. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Nice work Peter, getting there sir. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweeky Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Doing the same lit at the moment so watching with intrest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Brilliant progress - it sure does look busy in the nose! One thing if I may - the chin turret gunsight should be positioned dead centre on the roof of the compartment (in between the small upper window in front of the astrodome) and the lip for the nose transparency. It appears it's off to one side a little on yours. Tom Damn... I thought it looked a bit odd being stuck to one side, should've gone with my gut. Having just revisited the instructions I think I got a bit confused with the positioning when I replaced the kit part with the etch. Must. Pay. More. Attention. I've glazed everything now so that'll take some fixing! Thanks though, good to know as now it's all I can see when I look at it! Doing the same lit at the moment so watching with intrest It's a beast isn't it? Where are you up to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Erm, You forgot a pencil for the Nav. Maybe the carpet monster got it? Excellent build. I Love B 17's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krow113 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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