1/32 B24-D... Quite large

[Suddensky]

Well that was not actually too traumatic. Although still a pain, clearly. 

 

I removed the four spars (carefully marked them) and cleaned up. 

 

It turns out that the main spar (the solid bit) is definitely handed, as when I mated the wings to the fuselage I was left with this gap:

 

I forsee a future involving plasticard strips, putty, and a lot of sanding. On the plus side, the worn paint finish I'm going for lends itself to such remedial work. 

 

Joined the severed spars back to the main bit, in their new positions, with steel rod and epoxy.

 

After a bit of thinking about it, I decided to not use the locating pins on the wings, meaning I didn't have to mark up and drill out corresponding holes on the spar. In part this was because the new holes would have been perilously close to the old ones, but also - and perhaps mainly - becuse I'd always been a bit suspicious of the notion of sandwiching the wings around the spar and then doing all the clean up work, masking, touching up and weathering. That's fine with a single engined fighter, but this thing is big, and I felt that swinging it around the workbench fully constructed was a recipe for disaster. 

 

The removal of the locator pins means I can now slide the finished wings into place at a later date. Not quite sure how I'm going to secure them properly, but I'm sure something will come to mind. 

 

Went ahead with the wings. Inserted the wheel wells, stuck everything together, cleaned up the seams, touched up the de-icing boots and joins in the nacelles. All of which meant a lot of masking and faffing about, which would have been far trickier if the wings had been joined to the fuselage. At this point, I'd recommend this as the preferred method to anyone building this kit, but we still need to wait and see how it pans out!

 

I marked up the empty cowels with their corresponding engines and taped them in place to get a good paint match, then removed them and inserted the engines. 

 

Hit a bit of a snag when I went for the dry fit, as they now don't want to fit flush onto the nacelles. I think it might be that the engines need to sit further forward in the cowels, you can see the gap here:

 

The kit parts definitely don't want me to do that though. It might be that I separate the parts, remove the locator pins and their holes (which are the only fixing points), then glue the engines to the nacelles and then put the cowels over the top. I'll have to think this through properly... most unlike me.

 

Many thanks, and more soon I hope!

 

Peter

[arfa1983]

Glad to see you're put of the woods Peter 

[81-er]

Good progress, Peter, even if it has thrown up some other issues. I'm sure you'll overcome it though

 

James

[Suddensky]

Many thanks for the kind words, although I think we can all agree that any issues are not so much down to the kit, but rather the blithering idiot sitting in front of it!

 

Having said that, I did have to adjust the engine mounting parts to ensure a good fit. You can see the sticky out bit on the inside of the cowling which is where the locator pin on the front of the engine part should go. The white bit in the centre of it is where I've glued and then remove the engine parts. 

 

These were all snipped off:

 

Which meant that I could stick the engine bits directly into the nacelles:

 

Which ensured a good fit for the cowlings at the front:

 

Would definitely recommend this process to anyone building the kit. 

 

Paused for some rehydration - very important in this weather:

 

And made a start on adding brake lines and clips to the main undercarriage, taking it from this:

 

To this:

 

It's a bit over scale, but it was the only black wiring I had to hand! Only managed one this evening as I had one eye on the football. I'm away on social duties until the middle of next week, so will make a bit more progress then. Looking at what I've got left to do, I think the finishing post is almost in sight...

 

Many thanks,

 

Peter

[Col.]

11 hours ago, Suddensky said:

Paused for some rehydration - very important in this weather:

That's an odd glass for your Guinness

[Suddensky]

Well that was a long summer. Busy, fun, but with not much time for plastic.

 

A small amount of progress has been made though, to the point where I thought I might get it finished this evening, but there are just too many little bits to do, and I dont want to rush it. 

 

I took the plunge and had a go at using oils properly for the first time. Don't think I've overdone it too much as I seem to recall reading that these engines and their associated plumbing were pretty leaky; I think the phrase was something like 'If there's no oil, then there's no oil'. Really enjoyed doing it, and the slow drying time lends itself well to messing it up, wiping it off, and going again. 

 

 

 

 

Got the tail assembly and turrets on:

 

And unmasked the clear parts, nice to see all that cockpit detail again after so long.

 

Had a slight panic today when my compressor gave up the ghost, but YouTube proved to be as useful as ever, and I now know how to strip, clean and reassemble a (now working) compressor. Every day's a school day!

 

One thing I'm unsure about is the bombsight. There's no mention of it in the instructions, although one is provided on the sprue for the later version of the aircraft. It's pretty prominent, so I'd like to include it if it's legitimate. I'm pretty sure they were in use throughout the war (please do let me know), but fitting it in is the problem. There's plenty of space at the front edge of the floor (which needs sweeping):

 

But I can see that it'll clash with the lower gun in the nose:

 

Do I lose the lower gun? Should the bombsight even be there? 

 

Any ideas would be more than welcome!!

 

So this is where we are for now:

 

 

A few more hours and we'll be done, so hopefully by the end of the month. 

 

Thanks for looking in, 

 

Peter

 

 

 

[81-er]

Very neat and tidy work overall, Peter, and I love the oil work  No idea about the bomb sight I'm afraid.

 

James

[Col.]

25 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Very neat and tidy work overall, Peter, and I love the oil work  No idea about the bomb sight I'm afraid.

 

James

I can only echo what James says; amazing work. As for the bombsight - was it removable and could be fixed in place when required once the gun was shifted?

[Suddensky]

I'm calling this one done. There are still a couple of little bits I might add; I'm not sure about if there should be any antennae wires, or where they should go, and I might do some shading and dirt with oils and pastels on the fuselage, which looks a bit clean when compared to the wings, and I should clean up the join between the nose glass and the fuselage. We'll see. 

 

Overall, pretty happy with it, excepting the foul-up with putting the main spar in backwards; if only we were provided with an instruction booklet to follow. I think something a little smaller might be in order next, which admittedly doesn't narrow it down much. Anyway, pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping in and being part of this, much appreciated, and stay tuned for the next victim.

 

Many thanks,

 

Peter

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very impressed with the detail in this build. My local has this and the 1/32 B-17 but waaaaay out of my price range. If I could they’d already be here. 

[81-er]

That's a seriously impressive model you've built there, Peter, very well done indeed!  The wooden display base is excellent as well 

 

James

[Col.]

Delighted to see you bring this one to fruition Peter and to such a fine result.

What have you planned for the next project?

[Pete in Lincs]

Wow! Very impressive. I think pictures on a sandy base would look even more realistic.

[Suddensky]

13 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Very impressed with the detail in this build. My local has this and the 1/32 B-17 but waaaaay out of my price range. If I could they’d already be here. 

Thanks! They're not the cheapest, but I think this one in particular does offer excellent value for money - in terms of modelling hours per pound (or dollar) - given how long it takes to stick together.

[Suddensky]

12 hours ago, 81-er said:

That's a seriously impressive model you've built there, Peter, very well done indeed!  The wooden display base is excellent as well 

 

James

Thanks, glad to have it done. Any kit's time on that display base is strictly limited and for photo shoots only!

[Suddensky]

6 hours ago, Col. said:

Delighted to see you bring this one to fruition Peter and to such a fine result.

What have you planned for the next project?

Many thanks. Next up is this, the old Revell Hunter. Straightforward, no extras and displyed in flight.

[Suddensky]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Wow! Very impressive. I think pictures on a sandy base would look even more realistic.

Many thanks! I really love the bases, backgroungs and vignettes I see on here, it's a whole new skillset which I hope one day to learn. Soon!

[Col.]

5 minutes ago, Suddensky said:

Many thanks. Next up is this, the old Revell Hunter. Straightforward, no extras and displyed in flight.

Excellent! I do like the Hunter so looking forward to your progress on this one. I hope you're adding a pilot at least?

[Suddensky]

13 minutes ago, Col. said:

Excellent! I do like the Hunter so looking forward to your progress on this one. I hope you're adding a pilot at least?

Indeed I am, although I've just been to my box labelled 'Stands and figures' to discover it contains exactly zero number stands, and five number WWII era figures, so a certain amount of jiggery pokery might be needed.

[81-er]

I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for the Hunter thread, should be a good one

 

@Col., I'll have to remember you like the Hunter and give you a nod when I build mine. Hopefully early in the new year.

 

James

[Col.]

15 hours ago, Suddensky said:

Indeed I am, although I've just been to my box labelled 'Stands and figures' to discover it contains exactly zero number stands, and five number WWII era figures, so a certain amount of jiggery pokery might be needed.

What type of stand did you have in mind for it?

[Suddensky]

2 minutes ago, Col. said:

What type of stand did you have in mind for it?

There are a few Tamiya kits in the stash, I'm pretty sure they have the traditional style of stand included, so I'd just hack a hole in the underside at the centre of gravity. Although I've seen plenty of jets with one up the tailpipe (if you'll pardon the expression) which looks good. I will investigate the internet as to how to do that, I've a feeling it would involve a sturdy wooden base, some sort of rod I could bend. Metal? Heated resin? And some careful balancing.

[Col.]

2 minutes ago, Suddensky said:

There are a few Tamiya kits in the stash, I'm pretty sure they have the traditional style of stand included, so I'd just hack a hole in the underside at the centre of gravity. Although I've seen plenty of jets with one up the tailpipe (if you'll pardon the expression) which looks good. I will investigate the internet as to how to do that, I've a feeling it would involve a sturdy wooden base, some sort of rod I could bend. Metal? Heated resin? And some careful balancing.

I've used clear rod, metal tubes, and bicycle/motorcycle spokes set in wodden or metal bases in the past. The advantage of the spoke is the threaded end can be set into thick plastic or the spoke nipple if it's bonded into the model. For a larger kit the motorcycle spoke is a sturdier option.

[Suddensky]

1 minute ago, Col. said:

I've used clear rod, metal tubes, and bicycle/motorcycle spokes set in wodden or metal bases in the past. The advantage of the spoke is the threaded end can be set into thick plastic or the spoke nipple if it's bonded into the model. For a larger kit the motorcycle spoke is a sturdier option.

I like the spoke idea, pretty sure I've got something suitable in the shed. In the past I've affixed a block of plastic to the inside of the kit with a nut set into it and threaded into that. There's always a way right!