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1/48 Hph B-36 SAC Part1


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10 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

That photo showing it front of your monitor shows just how scary big this thing is. 

Don't worry, its just a pigment of your imagination. It's just all a Grand Illusion, that I keep knocking into stuff every time I move it around.😫

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Success! After about 45 min cutting with a dremel I finally got 1 weight disk cut.

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I know its not much, but for me big deal, At one point using a low profile hacksaw I was listening to the Great Escape, and it felt like that.

Oh well, 250g down 250g to go. The the forward section is done.

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On 08/07/2019 at 21:54, LorenSharp said:

One unfortunate thing about this resin, which is more like a brittle vinyl. when a piece gets warped,it doesn't want to return to shape not matter how much hot water id used to soften.

But... I leave some of my unplayable vinyls staying on the shelf for about a two years et... voilà - a far better than before! I haven’t messed with a distorted resin parts yet (fortunately) but looks like it’s no way back - or needs a years of fixation in the warm environment.

 

I’m running out of likes with your excellent progress on these beasts - keep up the good work, @LorenSharp! Watching with an interest! :popcorn:

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's been a while since I sent a report from the Front. But there is good news! FInally got the nose weights cut in half.

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Used some CA to make them easier to insert into the lower part of the fuselage.

Built the upper turret pit and glued to the back of the Forward bulkhead.

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Installed the cockpit and the lower Bombardier/Navigator stations.

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Added the railing from the upper to lower decks and the Upper Turret Gun Sights.

After that Shoved the BIG block O' weight in it's spot and made a bulkhead with the Bomb bay Access door.

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Edited by LorenSharp
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Now the fun begins..... The bomb bay. Scale wise a little over 24m. You'll see why I haven't posted in a few weeks.. One thing though,looking at the frames to the bay it looks like they were moulded then glued to a backing plates to keep from breaking. which makes it a bit of a bother because now they have to be sawn off carefully.

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I could be wrong ,but that does look like glue to me.

Edited by LorenSharp
Image replacement
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But anyways, after sweating bullets separating them from their backing and detaching the bulkheads and strengthening frames a lot of cleanup ensued.

4 Long frames,24 braces, and 24 outer bulkheads = a lot of cleaning. I noticed they forgot to  design in the catwalk, there is space for it,actually a big gap. So I searched around to see if I had anything that might work. Found some nylon window screening that is close. smaller mesh would have been better but this works in a pinch. Added some framing and crossmembers.

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Did a simple test fit and the frame underneath the wing spar cover was slightly too small,so I added some narrow strip to fill the gap.

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So far so good.Then I looked at all this wonderful space said to myself...Self, it's too empty it just begs for stuff. And I had to agree. sooooo

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I came up with an incredibly bright or  stupid idea, just depends on how you look at it. I used various colours of sewing thread to make the electrical cabling that runs the length of the visible bay. Also added duct work to these parts, I'll add more when they are in place in the fuselage. then for the heck of it I used some thin rod for the control cables

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I also added the divider bulkhead between bays 1 &2. along with the first of the oxygen bottles.

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So far this is 1/4 of the total bomb bay. the forward starboard side. Once I get the rear side finished i'll tie all the cabling together then start the  Port side

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Have you looked at the 360* view cameras on the NMUSAF website ? 

 

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197636/convair-b-36j-peacemaker/

 

They can give you a pretty good view of all the cabins. They're down at the bottom of the page. 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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On 8/8/2019 at 6:17 AM, bar side said:

looking good Loren.  scary prospect facing something that big with a foil solution no doubt aimed at much smaller models

Not so bad yet barside,only the front cockpit area and the tail section are foil. I do have to have careful with the edges. they don't always want to snuggle down and adhere well. I have found that a few good coats of clear varnish or Kleer/Future 

will alleviate 90-95% of that problem. My worry at this stage is now that I have the nose weight plates in I have to be extra cautious while handling. I'm used to 20-30g at most., this has 500g and that's more than most models I've built and I've a few close calls with it wanting to get out of control and wanting to put a divot in the floor. I'm glad I can build the fuselage and the wings as 3 separate components. I'm beginning to think I may need a crane and piano wire to hang it on the ceiling.

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  • 2 months later...

Its been a while since my last update, but never fear Smith is here... I think.No matter,when last we saw our intrepid behemoth builder I was getting ready to install the starboard side bombbay was an 1/8" too deep.  Made it stick way too far out into the open bay. That just wouldn't do.Stopped and placed the fuselage on the shelf and focused on my business and a couple projects that needed finishing before having to go out of town on business. Time away has allowed me to ponder next steps and see what other mischief I can get into. I concluded that after experimentation. the easiest way out was to disassemble the frame work and create new from rod stock. THis I have ordered because I didn't have any the right diameter. Should be here monday. While waiting for that to arrive thought I would fiddle around with one of the wings after the fuselage it should be a piece of cake.

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I finished cutting out the holes for the various vents . Resin /fibreglass is not the easiest material to cut through.Tidied up the seams with some white glazing putty. this will require more sanding with finer grit emory cloth before applying the aluminium finish.

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From there since I wanted to drop the flaps, I cut those from the wing early on. Unfortunately it left a bit of a hole on each side of the nacelle. Some thin card as a backing and some MIlliput to fill in.

 

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I discovered another slight error from the folks that created this model. See if you can catch it. Here is a photo from our own walkaround archives,

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And heres the models wing

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Seems the designers were a tad off on their moulds. Not worried about the flow dividers I can come up with something for that.  Adjusting the lower intakes will require a little bit of milliput and a lot of fiddly sanding in tight places. Seems to be my lot in life.

Just a little note of caution should anyone decide to be a bit bonkers to build one of these.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well news from the Front as it were, I sanded down all the intakes and closed in the wings for the flaps. from there add all the photoetch bits and bobs.

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Once I get enough dry weather I can give it a coat of primer then I can see what else needs sanding.  So while that is resting....

 

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Time to trek back to the onerous bomb bays.

After realizing a lot more resin had to be removed than the instructions give notice to, I finally got the wiring done for the front bay on both sides.

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I t was a lot of shaving back and rebuilding the inner bracing in a few spots from scratch

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The person responsible for prepping this for shipment had cut out the fuselage bomb bays. Instructions called for me to do it but cool, something I didn't have to mess with. Unfortunately, they trimmed too much off of the port side. give or take 4 cm.So, broke out the plastic strip and did a fill in so the bulkhead would fit better . just didn't look right with that big old gap staring back at me. Starboard side wen in like a charm.

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Now, to add some more goodies. The kit comes with the bomb racks for the 10,000 Kilo bunker busters. I'll save one set for the rear Bomb bay. For the front since I want to use a "Special Use" ordinance I made a Universal Bomb System out of plastic card and some rods

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Edited by LorenSharp
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And I still have room at the back of the bay for a set of standard bomb racks. The kit didn't have them so I built my own.

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I tried using some .010 fine rod to do the plumbing on the side but it didn't want to cooperate, so I used some gray thread instead.

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