Wings unlevel Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 18 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: You’ll find that plastic is good for all sorts of gap filling. I have plenty to practice with now! But seriously, thank you for the very timely advice. 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 Wings and horizontal tail now attached and filling and sanding has begun! Think it will clean up ok in fact. (How lovely is that wing by the way? High aspect ratio so efficient, with I’m guessing a low wing loading which helps manoeuvrability.) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 3 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: I have the wisdom of the (BM) crowd to thank! You have all our previous mistakes experience to learn from Your Boston has taken shape nicely. That latest photo made me smile. Nice progress Gerard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 6 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: I have plenty to practice with now! But seriously, thank you for the very timely advice. 👍 Always happy to help 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81-er Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Nice progress there and a good save on the fuselage gap. I have to say, the head-on shot of the nose glazing going on reminds me a lot of an Ar-234 James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 21 hours ago, 81-er said: have to say, the head-on shot of the nose glazing going on reminds me a lot of an Ar-234 Some big radials and three blade props should fix that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 19, 2022 Author Share Posted March 19, 2022 Oooof… I put some primer down to check the gaps and to see what needs remedial work (still a bit to do before painting proper). I am actually quite happy with the major joins, including the gap I filled in the nose. Even the awkward panels on the wing uppers that go where the superchargers would be on the A-20G look decent. But I did nowhere near as neat a job as I thought I did aligning the nose with the forward fuselage. Think this is both kit design and operator error. But the other MPM/Special Hobby Boston/Havoc builds I could find on BM look to have done a better job. Bummer. Tomorrow the fiddly job of the main undercarriage structure which needs to be fitted before the equally fiddly engine cowls go on. Least the engines are ready after a bit of Mr Weathering magic. Gerard 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 Gosh there is a step between nose and fuselage Gerard. All fixable I'm sure though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.T.Dolby Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 On 3/13/2022 at 12:20 PM, Wings unlevel said: Wings and horizontal tail now attached and filling and sanding has begun! Think it will clean up ok in fact. (How lovely is that wing by the way? High aspect ratio so efficient, with I’m guessing a low wing loading which helps manoeuvrability.) I’m so glad you posted this photo. It made me realise that I incorrectly built my Boston III with the supercharger covers on 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ No idea how I got that wrong in the instructions and never picked up on it!! I’ve just managed to pop them off without too much effort (luckily I only completed it in January) so I can go back and hopefully fit the right covers and blend it all in without too much drama!! Thank you for doing this build and correctly so I realised!!!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 54 minutes ago, M.T.Dolby said: Thank you for doing this build and correctly so I realised!!!! Perhaps the only thing I’ve done correctly! But glad my build thread has been useful, I know innumerable others on BM have been to me! How did you get on with the nose joins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.T.Dolby Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 It looked exactly like yours does and took a fair bit of sanding to get flush with the fuselage, even after the 2/3mm plasticard plug! I would have put my progress on here but the hotlinking confuses me too much! If you use Instagram I’m on there as modelsbymatthew if you want to see my build on there for any reference! So far you’re doing far better than me as I had a lot of sanding around the wing fuselage join but you seem to have got a much better result than I did!!! I also needed some work filling and sanding both the canopy and rear glazing joins to get them smooth to the fuselage! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 (edited) On 20/03/2022 at 06:16, Col. said: Gosh there is a step between nose and fuselage Gerard. All fixable I'm sure though Thanks Col, still contemplating how best to… Actually, looking at @M.T.Dolby’s build on Insta it looks like it sanding back and filling will work ok. Wish me luck! Edited March 22, 2022 by Wings unlevel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 On 21/03/2022 at 02:06, M.T.Dolby said: It looked exactly like yours does and took a fair bit of sanding to get flush with the fuselage I am both relieved and deflated to read that! Relieved I haven’t made a complete hash of it, deflated at the prospect of much sanding to come! Best crack on! Nice looking build on Instagram by the way! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydhuey Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Your getting there, couple of points , the tropical cowls have 8 holes in them no more , these were a bit of a grey area a couple of years ago and some thought it was 12 , (6 in each lower cowl) in fact it is 8 , 6 in lower outer cowl and 2 in the inner lower cowl, I found a picture of the cowls in an old manual that confirmed 8 holes. The inner cowl only has 2 holes and they are below the oil cooler intake , if there was 6 in the cowl hot air from round the engine would exit the upper holes and put hot air down the oil cooler intake. Also the intakes on the top of the wing on the A-20G these are late flow thru particle separator intakes not supercharger cowls, Early A-20's up to the early G had tropical intakes that go down to the leading edge of the engine cowl these slightly reduce performance , the A-20G introduced a multiuse intake incorporating a particle separator with no decrease to performance in these intakes a door on top towards the rear is opened on the ground allowing air to flow thru being forced thru by propeller wash , once off the ground the door closes forcing all air into the carburetor . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 23, 2022 Author Share Posted March 23, 2022 Thanks @Sydhuey, very useful and timely to know about the cowl vent holes - on the resin cowls with the kit there are 12 holes, so I will fill in the inner top four. First round of sanding back the nose join has been pretty successful actually, the nose and forward fuselage are fairing in together quite nicely. More to do but I think I’ll get a respectable result… …Except in taking this photo I can see now I’ve also sanded back part of the nose glazing framework. 😱 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 24, 2022 Share Posted March 24, 2022 On 3/23/2022 at 12:01 PM, Wings unlevel said: …Except in taking this photo I can see now I’ve also sanded back part of the nose glazing framework. 😱 Straight edges so easy to mask and restore 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted March 29, 2022 Author Share Posted March 29, 2022 Just about there cleaning up the nose I think. 🤞 Not perfect, with more to do, but much better. Am keen to move on - I can’t put the engines and cowls on until I attach the rather complicated main undercarriage assemblies, and I didn’t want to do that until the heavy duty filling and sanding was done to minimise the potential for damaging the gear. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 Good work getting the nose faired in smoothly Gerard and sounds as if you've a solid plan for working forward 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 2, 2022 Author Share Posted April 2, 2022 So a little bit more filler, and a little bit more sanding and I was quite happy with how I had the nose join cleaned up and was faired in. Right, I’ll just tidy up a few of those panel lines that had been sanded back and … …pop…. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfa1983 Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 Bummer! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 Well Dang thats no good ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Oh. What happened to cause the nose to seperate? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 On 03/04/2022 at 19:06, Col. said: Oh. What happened to cause the nose to seperate? Evidently too much pressure on the joint holding the nose while scribing. 😪 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 You might recall Australia's first 22 Bostons were in fact built for the Dutch Navy for service in the Netherlands East Indies and were diverted to Australia after the fall of Java. The allies formally surrendered on Java on 12 March 1942 and the first ship with Bostons diverted to Australia arrived in Melbourne at the end of that month. I've been able to download the official service card for A28-9 from the National Archives of Australia. It shows A8-9 was received by the RAAF's 1AD (No 1 Aircraft Depot) at Laverton on 2.4.42. So 80 years ago pretty much to the day A28-9 was being assembled in preparation for service with 22SQN. In such a short time frame 1AD (and plus 2AD in Richmond) did an impressive job assembling these Bostons, despite little warning they were coming, unfamiliarity with US aircraft types, and a lack of the correct tooling and manuals. Me, I'm doing a rather less impressive job despite correct tools and adequate manuals! A28-9 was allocated to 22SQN on 27.4.42. But I'll be lucky to get this done by the GB deadline! But I'm pushing on. So I have now reattached the nose, but, frustratingly, it's not as well aligned as I had it before it popped off. I did take advantage of having the nose of to pack some lead sinkers into it (I had added weights behind the cockpit but thought that might not have been enough). So that was a plus! But while the nose was off I also decided that was a good time to drill the holes for the four .50 machine guns - which I mucked up and they're not properly aligned with each other. Not a plus! Not sure I have it in me to spend another week filling and sanding to fix the nose up to where I had it again. So I thought I'd push on with the rest of the build, so first I assembled the fiddly main undercarriage frameworks, which are almost straight and (thanks to judicious use of CA) seem sturdy... These had to be in place before fitting the engines and engine cowls. But what a PITA this was. They don't look too bad here I guess. But they look pretty bad up close. The fit is awful, to be frank. A lot of it will be operator error, and I do appreciate this is a low run kit, but assembly was overly complicated, I wasn't sure how the different parts were meant to align with each other. and I was left with some ugly gaps seams and big gaps, including a fair step where the top rear of the cowl joins the wing. The end result might not be too pretty, but I'll get there. And at least I don't have a tail-sitter! Gerard 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 18 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: You might recall Australia's first 22 Bostons were in fact built for the Dutch Navy for service in the Netherlands East Indies and were diverted to Australia after the fall of Java. The allies formally surrendered on Java on 12 March 1942 and the first ship with Bostons diverted to Australia arrived in Melbourne at the end of that month. I've been able to download the official service card for A28-9 from the National Archives of Australia. It shows A8-9 was received by the RAAF's 1AD (No 1 Aircraft Depot) at Laverton on 2.4.42. So 80 years ago pretty much to the day A28-9 was being assembled in preparation for service with 22SQN. Always find information of this type interesting so thank you for sharing it Gerard 18 hours ago, Wings unlevel said: In such a short time frame 1AD (and plus 2AD in Richmond) did an impressive job assembling these Bostons, despite little warning they were coming, unfamiliarity with US aircraft types, and a lack of the correct tooling and manuals. Me, I'm doing a rather less impressive job despite correct tools and adequate manuals! A28-9 was allocated to 22SQN on 27.4.42. But I'll be lucky to get this done by the GB deadline! I suspect both 1 & 2AD had the advantage of the parts they were given fitting together considerably better than the ones you're working with Keep up the good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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