fozzy Posted February 14, 2018 Author Share Posted February 14, 2018 is a ping pong ball the right size for the ball turret? Use the ping pong ball to wrap the frames around it. Then the ball it's self to vac the clear pieces Some great ideas chaps!...so much so that I checked the internet for the dimensions of a ping pong ball and found out they are 40 mm...whereas the turret on my B17 is 65 mm ....but it has definitely given me food for thought! So thanks a lot for your help Shawn M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Great to see you back on this big chappy. Maybe vac around this or similar? https://www.firetoys.co.uk/65mm-chrome-finish-steel-contact-balls.html Torben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 14, 2018 Author Share Posted February 14, 2018 Great to see you back on this big chappy. Maybe vac around this or similar? https://www.firetoys.co.uk/65mm-chrome-finish-steel-contact-balls.html Torben Well its the right size Torben!.....thanks for the link!..will keep that in mind also...gonna check the shops here where I live for a few ideas! TorbenD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Is this a great place or what ??....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 (edited) Snooker ball? Good to see you're back to work... Edited February 14, 2018 by Tony C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 Snooker ball? Good to see you're back to work... Cheers Tony.........Snooker ball too small....comes in at 52.4 mm...there is a huge store here in Bulgaria full of bits and pieces....I am definitely going to check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 Is this a great place or what ??....Harv Absolutely Harvey!...it's great that you can pick up ideas from fellow modelers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 16, 2018 Author Share Posted February 16, 2018 (edited) Hi....its me again!Got to keep at this else I might run out of life! The last two days were taken up by constructing with Balsa wood the area for the camera hatch and the ball turret.I mapped out where each hole had to cut and then made a frame in said area!...for want of a better description!...here is the hole for the ball turret. ...and you can just see the frame work for the camera hatch on this next photo... After it was all sanded down and checked this is what we have.... Here is a view from the underneath of the radio room and turret location...the red arrow denotes the camera hatch aperture and the blue arrow the turret aperture.... So after the ideas about ping pong balls...snooker balls etc ...to help me build the ball turret.....that have been thrown out on this brill forum have started to look round for a sphere shape that is the same size as the ball turret which I can use for a kind of template for the turret...I thought it would be a tall order ...but this morning I went into a Lev shop (pound/dollar shop...depending where you come from!!) and found this kids rubber ball.....and it is just shy of 3mm in circumference.....which I am going to live with! I checked for fit even though the ball wasn't up for it judging the expression on its face!!! Bless him! Ok so that's it.....should have the initial skin on the inside and outside of the fuselage in preparation for some detailing this week end.... until then Thanks for looking in Fozzy Edited May 5, 2018 by fozzy Guyman1, Shawn M, Starfighter and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 excellent! fozzy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 Super work, Martin! Kev fozzy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) Hi chapsHere is a quick up date on the problem that shall be named......."The bl#@$y Sperry Ball Turret" :angry:I wasn't going to start this part yet because I knew that I would have problems with it!....just kept putting it on the back burner!....I thought that if I cant manage to scratch build the ball turret then the whole B17G project would come to a grinding halt!...so I started trying to think of ways how I can replicate it with the least amount of fuss and specialized tools...that I don't own!!That little yellow kids ball kept staring at me!...taunting me!...because it knew that it would be useless if I tried to use it for a mold for vac forming....not solid you see....rubbery little thing....but I just had to give it a go!I made a do it your self vac forming kit a few years back and I dusted it down ready for a trial run on the yellow ball. The Henry hoover was got out of storage....(I hate hoovering!!)...and was put to good use for once!!....all connected up and ready for the off.... I started on the first attempt to use some plastic food packaging......it was pinned to the frame and popped into the oven for a few seconds....hoover on for suction and.....................failure!...the little ball stood up to having very hot plastic wrapped around it but I reckon the plastic was too thick. So next attempt I used a sheet of plastic card.......no.....too thin!.....so in the end I tried a sheet of 0.5mm and hey presto a result!.......... Then I thought that the plastic would get stuck to the soft ball ,but I didn't have any problems extracting the ball!....so I re loaded another 0.5 mm sheet of plastic on the frame and popped it in the oven (making me feel hungry all this talk of ovens!)... So now I had the two halves ready for a trim up......but I decided that I needed to cut the ball horizontally as it would be easier for me to do all the detail inside the ball..... The next 2 photos show the two halves together......roughly!! So....so far I think so good.....the test will be later when I try to marry up the two halves......but first its down to a load of detailing...starting with the lower half of the ball....blue ink marks the spot! I am going to start trying to cut out all the glazing first....then on with all the detail....so I will be back when I have managed to do that! Cheers for looking in Fozzy Edited May 5, 2018 by fozzy Guyman1, LSP_Kevin, Shaka HI and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 very innovative! I assume you are going to pop the rubber ball back inside the halves when cutting out the windows, for strength fozzy and Shawn M 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 nice work foz' and great idea Rich! fozzy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fozzy Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 very innovative! I assume you are going to pop the rubber ball back inside the halves when cutting out the windows, for strength Thanks for reminding me Rich!...would be quite a disaster if I forget! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 My immediate thought, would it not be better to used clear plastic, probably easier to manufacture the framing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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