fozzy

Already done!....will post pics soon!

Hi there So this is the 1:24 scale Airfix kit. All the parts that are not in your kit as you say , are scratch built using various materials , such as .. plastic card , electrical wire, Coca Cola can aluminium, and any other materials I see that look the part. None of the detail that you see are aftermarket products as I personally don't believe in buying them and never have or will! Any details that I scratch build are reproduced by looking at thousands of photographs off Google Images and then replicated to 1:24 scale. To see photos of the way I build my models go to ....... https://www.facebook.com/martinfostersscratchbuiltmodels I hope this answers your question Cheers Fozzy

Cheers, Yes its good to be back Kev!

Thank you Bobster!....the yellow balls are oxygen cylinders

Good morning to all I would like to share with you my super detailed cutaway of the old Airfix 1:24 scale Ju87B. I just love this kit and decided that I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to make a cutaway of the Starboard side plus the wing. After searching dear old Google for hours to get some sort of info I started. I built this many years ago and sold it on, so the photos are from way back! ....so apologies for the quality of them! I haven't been active on here for a long time as I have moved back to the UK from Bulgaria.. so I do hope I remember how to load the photos! Cheers...................... Thanks a lot for taking a look! Cheers Fozzy

Cheers guys!.....I'll be back!

Hi there..... Just when you thought you had seen the last of my B17....another post comes along! Well it's more of an update on the packing method I have done ready for the first leg of getting it to the Museum in California! On Tuesday I am flying back to the UK from where I live in Bulgaria and then in February I will take the B17G on a flight to L.A ......Its all in the lap of the Gods on if it gets there in one piece! I feel pretty certain that it will be OK but not looking forward to opening the box at the other end!......after 10 years of work it needs to get there without any breakages! I have shipped models before using the hold of an aircraft without any problems so far...touch wood! The trick is to suspend the model away from the sides/top/bottom of the box its in. I made the boxes out of MDF and the front and rear sections are held in suspension using polystyrene packing.....if its not suspended then vibrations during transportation can damage the model. When the sides and top of the box is screwed down the polystyrene clamps the model in position.....well that's the plan! Here are a few photos of the boxes to give you an idea and also to show some of you that might want to try it with one of your models one day...if you haven't already........ Here is the front section placed in the box.......... This next photo shows the side screwed on and the polystyrene clamping the model in place........ I placed some bubble wrap over the top of the fuselage and then screwed the lid on...... Here 's the rear section in the second box...packed the same way..... All I had to do then is find a big enough suitcase to place these boxes in........ That's it really!......just got to hope and pray that the baggage handlers don't kick the bag about too much!.....(I do know how they treat baggage as I worked Airside at Gatwick Airport many years ago and I'm guessing they haven't changed!!).....forgot to mention....never put fragile stickers on the case....red flag to a bull! So there you go! I promise this is the last of the B17G "Fuddy Duddy" story here!..........except to say that I am really really pleased that one of the editors of the FLYPAST magazine saw my model on my Scratch built models facebook page .........https://www.facebook.com/martinfostersscratchbuiltmodels..... and asked if they could do a piece on it in their January 2022 issue!...of course I was delighted and said yes......its out in the shops now! Thanks once again for those of you that followed this build. All the best and Happy Xmas and New Year to you all! Fozzy

Thank you so much every one for all your great comments! Who Knows whats next Tom....other than a rest! Cheers Kev.....what's next?....really not sure. A few years back I was toying with the idea of scratch building a Scout AH1 Helicopter because I was air crew in the left seat back in the day in the Army Air Corps.......I also had an idea of super super detailing the Airfix 1:24 scale Hurricane MK1....do a cutaway job on it!....so many projects ...so little time!

Hi everyone The B-17 Flying Fortress, “Fuddy Duddy,” was used as a VIP transport in the Pacific at the end of World War II. It once carried General Dwight D. Eisenhower who later became the 34th President of the United States. In civilian life, it worked as a fire bomber and was occasionally used for motion picture filming, flying on screen in movies such as the 1962 Steve McQueen movie, “The War Lover” and the 1970 blockbuster, “Tora Tora Tora.” Here then is my replication of the fuselage and all the internal detail of the WarBird "Fuddy Duddy" B17G which is at present stationed at The Lyon Air Museum in California. I built it to 1:20 scale and from nose to tail the model measures out at 3 feet 8 inches! ...right from the start I had no intention of building the wings for this model as I wanted to concentrate on the internal detail of all the crew areas. The fuselage was constructed out of balsa wood and plastic and all the internal and external detail was built from plastic card ,wire,card ,aluminium sheets,paper and anything lying around that was useful! I designed the top part of the fuselage as a cutaway so the detail can be seen. No CAD programmes were used to build any part of this model. This project has been a big part of my life as it took me 10 years to complete!....I hope you like the photos! Thank you for taking a look! Cheers Fozzy

A BIG thank you everyone for all your comments and indeed for sticking with me through the months/years!!!! Even though there were a few ups and downs...a few tears before bed time ...I have to say that the journey was most enjoyable ...all though not sure if I would take on such a huge project again! Not sure whats next other than a rest....probably a little OOB kit ! Thanks again and cheers!....Fozzy

Hi everyone This is it!...............the absolute FINAL post I will make on this 10 year project! After I have done this post I will put a few photos in the RFI section. In my last post I was talking about the display aspect of this model and what was the best way to display this B17G ....I gave it considerable thought and finally decided that the best way would be to make it as simple as possible. I came up with a simple idea of just placing the ball turret on a clear plastic stand (actually its a small plastic cup!)....it sort of gives it a floating kind of look!...ish!....I didn't place it underneath the fuselage because it just obscured the 9 months of work I did scratch building it! I wanted to place both bomb bay doors on so I had to be sure the fuselage sat high enough off the ground to clear the very large bomb bay doors! So to that end I had to revamp the display stands. There are 4 in total...2 on the front section and 2 at the rear. The rear section stands had to be way higher as the tail lifts up towards the rear...I built these out of reinforced balsa wood (plastic covering) and cocktail sticks! I have left an 8 inch gap between the front and rear sections so that you can peer down into the fuselage both front and back and of course as you probably know the top half of the fuselage along its entire length has viewing points to see the interior. So that is what I did......but first......something was really bothering me about the aluminum skin on the front section back to the radio room. It seemed to be a tad wrinkly here and there. I know exactly why...its because 10 years ago I constructed the front fuselage section completely in a different way to how I built the rear section 8 years down the line!......plus the joins on each section were showing through!.......no it was no good!.....I just had to re skin the front section. ............. Here are the display stands that I built......... You can see more photos in RFI...... So it just leaves me to say a HUGE thank you for all your input I have had over the years.........I guess its time to move on now and start thinking of my next project! ....................................and No.....I'M NOT BUILDING THE WINGS! Cheers! Fozzy

Oh my oh my!.....incredible project!

Hi guys Just a quick post showing the very last detail that I shall be doing on this B17. Of course they is still a lot more thought and scratch building to be done to finally display the model but I am going to take a bit of time out whilst I think about it! I have made a decision about the two halves of the fuselage (front section and rear section). Right from the start of this project it was important for me to show all the interior detail and the actual outer fuselage came second in the importance of this project and so to that end the two sections will be apart. I am thinking of a gap about 8 inches between the front and the rear.This will allow you peer down into the fuselage as well as seeing the detail from the missing panels in the top. I am also steering towards actually keeping the ball turret displayed on a little stand in the 8 inch gap between the two halves......I know it sounds crazy but I am also thinking of taking out the ball turret hanging frame which holds the ammo chutes from the fuselage and attaching it to the top of the turret as a complete unit. I have seen a photo of this of a turret from a B24 and I think it might work for my display but as I said I am going to take time out and think about it! In the mean time here is the last of the detail which I will do on the actual fuselage.... and that is the rear crew door. Made in the same way I built the tail turret door....here it is before painting... ...and here it is painted.... ....here's a couple of photos of the door attached to the fuselage... So that's all the internal and external scratch building done for this B17G. Of course you won't get rid of me that easy after these past 10 years!......I am going to try to photo the 2 fuselage sections before starting on the display work ,so I will be back soon! Cheers as always for looking in and see you on the next post! Fozzy

Holy Cow Oliver!....for some reason I have only just seen this post of yours!...I remember seeing your models years ago and was mighty impressed!....this is no exception!...Fantastic!

Hi there This post will be all about painting and adding the markings to the rear of this fuselage. I thought that this would be the last post before i actually finish all the work on the fuselage but then I remembered that I had to make the rear crew door! I have made the rear gunners door that I will show you now. Because the door is the shape of the fuselage I had to use the bulk head formers as a template to get the shape right. I made it from plastic card and here is the inside of the door... The out side was then covered in a sheet of aluminum and a handle was made from a piece of sanded plastic sprue... Then I painted the inside of the door with interior green.... I made a couple of hinges from plastic, (covered in pieces of aluminum from a Coca Cola can to strengthen them)... and then dry fitted the completed door to the fuselage. Its now time to paint the markings on the fuselage but first I had to mask up the areas I didn't want the airbrush to cover....for some reason I hate this job of masking ....you miss a bit and the blasted spray gets it!! Before I fired up my Paasche....I spent a LOT of time marking out the USAF Insignia I needed for both sides of the fuselage. This wasn't as easy as I thought as not only did I have to get the scale correct but actually drawing out the insignia meant I had to dabble into geometry....which I totally ignored in my schooling years!....72 degrees spacing for each star point ...the bars are the radius x a half.... etc etc...luckily I found a great little page on the internet explaining how to actually draw the Insignia! I drew the insignia onto some sticky back silver paper I have...which if all goes well I can literally just place them on the fuselage! After drawing another extra insignia , I cut out the star and the bars.....sprayed the original white and then replaced the star and bars over the white as a mask for the dark blue paint!.....did you get all that??? !!! So first off....here are the green bands I sprayed that are on "Fuddy Duddy"... ....and here is the USAF insignia on the starboard side....I have to say I am pleased in how they have turned out!.... The next 6 photos show the overall completed paint scheme for the rear of this B17... It seems such a long time ago that I had the tail wheel in place!... The reason it isn't fixed at the moment is the fact that this whole model has to be transported to USA at some point and the less sticky out bits for packing the better!!...but as a reminder for myself and you guys...here it is.... Well that's it for this week! Next week some time will be the final post of this rear section showing the rear crew door that I have yet to build and a good few photos of the rear section completed! Until then ....take care and thanks for looking in! Cheers Fozzy

Cheers Kev! Yes ...the temperatures here are like this most years in the summer months....getting worse now because of global warming!...and in the winter the temps can drop to -6C /21.2F most days...I have been here when it was -20C/-4F.....don't think you get that in your neck of the woods! Yep getting close now.....but then I realized that I have to make a couple of doors and of course the display items!....so will be around a bit longer to annoy everyone!!

Hi there to all! OMG! I really can see the finishing post now!...In this last week I have been at this B17 every day trying to move it along! Of course here in Bulgaria we are experiencing dangerous weather warnings of extreme high temperatures....like most of Europe I guess...most days 42C plus /107F...and so I had to vacate my workshop as it was far too hot in there and move into the bedroom as I have aircon there!...So I had to find an old table and take some tools from my workshop to the house (workshop is in another building from the house) and get on with the job at hand! The end result being that I have completely finished all the internal detail , joined the top and bottom halves together and managed to skin the entire rear section!....so all in all I am really pleased! Last post had me fitting the waist guns into the perspex windows but the very last detail after 10 years is to make the ammunition belts that feed the guns....so here are a few photos... The ammo belts have to be able to twist and turn from the ammo boxes to the guns so I had to scrap the belt I had previously made as they wouldn't bend without snapping in half!.....so I decided to use slivers of aluminum from a Coca Cola can to make up the shape I needed to go from the ammo boxes to the guns!....you follow me?...probably not!....so here is a photo!...... In this way I have it bent to shape before I super glue all the hundreds of rounds...(cut pieces of wire...took all afternoon!!) This next photo shows some of the rounds on the belt. All I had to do then was enclose the rounds in the belts using strips of paper which when painted will hopefully look the part! Here you see I have attached the belts to the ammo boxes and to the guns.....starting with the starboard MG Here is the port MG ....and a couple of shots looking at both Waist guns from the rear.... Now came the part that I had been dreading for months and months and that was gluing the top and bottom halves together! It had to be a strong setting glue that would be permanent and since the fuselage is constructed out of balsa wood I thought wood glue was the way to go....nope!...it's no good.....it will have to be super glue!....but I had to work fast and be accurate as if it didn't line up it would be impossible to take it apart without destroying the fuselage!.....so working from the rear to the front I super glued a few inches at a time....remembering to make sure all the internal detail was in line from the top to the bottom! Finally after a few nerve racking minutes it was complete!....all lined up and secure!... That for me was a huge worrying part of this build.....it was as well for the front section ,Bomb bay ,radio room!...still all done now! Skinning!.......I kind of enjoy it!....very slow process but if I can get it right then worth the effort! First of all I had to mark the entire fuselage with a marker of where all the rivet lines go....that took a day!....and then all the separate panels had to be cut out of a sticky back aluminum sheet used on real aircraft kindly donated by my good modelling friend Finn and marked up for rivets and then placed onto the fuselage.....here are a couple of photos I took during the process... So here we have in the next batch of photos the fuselage all skinned. To finish off the rear section , all I have to do now is spray some markings including the USAF insignias.....and that will be that! Of course I say that will be that but then its buckle down to the display ideas I'm thinking of...which will involve more scratch building! So until then....I will see you all on the next post when she's all marked up and sprayed! Cheers for looking in Fozzy

Cheers guys!

Hi all! Another few weeks have passed and time for another post!....done quite a bit so it will be a big post! I have finished both waist guns except for the ammunition belt which I will have to think about as it won't be easy! First off I had to make the swivel mechanism that holds the gun in the perspex....so this first photo shows the wooden stick I will use!....just thought you might like to see the stick!!!! After sawing a piece off and drilling a hole and sanding....this is how it looked.... Next photo shows the 2 plates that the swivel mechanisms are bolted to... here we have it glued to one of the window frames.... The next photo shows a dry run of the fitting of the MG....and looking at it I must remember to take the sight post off the end of the barrel as that's for the MGs without the compensating sights on! I rummaged through my collection of clear plastic packaging and found a suitable piece to make the perspex for both windows apertures. I already half built the guns a few weeks back and now it was time to finish them off.... ....and here they are completed .... I had to do a little research on the K-13 Sperry Compensating sights that I wanted to add to these guns....so after searching the internet and gathering the photos together I started out on the sights... The sights took me a week to make as they are tiny and quite complicated but got there in the end....here are both the guns with the sights attached and all painted and ready to fit into the fuselage...... I glued both guns onto their mounts through the perspex and added a little more detail ..like the control cables (that I haven't a clue what they actually operate.....something to do with.... adjusting ...something!!) .... Any how here they are in the fuselage...... Going to have to rack my brains now for a solution on how to make the ammunition belts bend and twist from the ammo boxes to the guns.....so see you next year! All the best and thanks for looking in! Fozzy

Hi to all! I have been busy in the last week or so trying to get this project moving on to completion...even though I have had a few distractions like mowing oceans of grass in my garden and keeping the Tax man off me! However I did manage to start on what will be the very last of the interior detail of this fuselage.....and that is the waist gunners positions. I haven't done a lot but every little helps to get me closer to the end!...as I believe Mr Tesco's would say!...although it has got absolutely nothing to do with him! I started by cutting all the pieces of wire to represent the rounds that will go into the ammunition boxes (you can see the top layer in the box if you're wondering why I would do that!) The boxes were made out of plastic card and the rounds were placed in the top..... After painting them this is what they look like.... After looking at a few hundred photos I checked to see what equipment was needed for both gunners . ...oxygen bottles....oxygen regulators and their indicators...flying suit heater units ...intercom boxes...bail out alarm bell and a matchstick!!! The bottles were made from Milliput...which I always find difficult to use for some reason!...the rest was made from plastic and wire.....just to let you know I didn't scratch build the matchstick! The last 4 photos show the equipment in place.... That's all folks! Next up will be plexiglass and guns! Thanks for taking a peek Cheers Fozzy

Positive!

Thanks everyone for your support....as I have said I am beginning to really slow down on this project now....probably because it's nearing the end!....must say I can't wait!

Thanks a lot guys! Hi Mark....Mostly from Google images and a few reference books I have! .........And another bit done! I have to say I am flagging a bit!...finding it difficult to continue with this project. I guess I have been slogging at it for years now and really can't wait until it's all done! I am trying to get it complete before October comes as I am off to the UK and would like to try and take it with me on that trip....I don't know...we shall see!.....talking to myself here! OK ...so I managed to get the tail plane connection area complete...difficult shapes as the fuselage is round of course!....but I also added a bit of detailing as you can see in this first photo...... So I made the simple cartridge shoot for the Cheyenne turret and cut a slice of Coca Cola can for where the barrels go into the turret. Now onto the Tail plane connection. This was all scratch built with plastic card. If the elevators were off the fuselage this is what it would look like. The protruding sort of 4 bars you see would be connected to the Horizontal stabilizer and in the D shape there was a cog that operated the elevators........... After it all was painted and weathered a tad this is the end result!....I made little canvas bags out of tissue paper to go over the D shape....this was to protect dust and dirt from entering the fuselage ...and saved me making connection cogs! ...and here is the tail section so far!....... Right then.......the next part is actually the last internal detail that I will ever have to do on this project!....HOORAY!!! But that's the next post... Thanks for taking a look Cheers Fozzy

Cheers chaps!

Hi everyone Here then is the Cheyenne turret finished to the best of my abilities! The canopy for the turret wasn't as simple as I thought it might have been! A few months back I had made the canopy to fit over the turret detail but when I looked at it more closely I noticed that the small window apertures behind the main front perspex were way to small!....and so started the re designing of the frame....after a few attempts of dry fitting to the fuselage I think I cracked it! So the first 2 photos we have the modified canopy frame............ To make the perspex (glass) I raided my box of used food packaging and found a nice little piece that once covered a shaving stick package!.....it wasn't too thick luckily as I had to bend a piece around the front!....I cut them to the correct shape and then super glued the front wrap around piece first. DISASTER!.....when the glue set I noticed it warped the frame!...aaaggghh!.....the plastic was too thick after all and so I had to take it off and find some thinner plastic that would do the job!....this time the thinner plastic worked and I placed the remaining pieces on the frame. I then glued the entire frame over the turret and on to the fuselage. When it was set I placed a few of the aluminum pieces on parts of the frames as you can see in these next photos..... All I had to do now ...(which normally takes a couple of days)... place the rest of the Aluminum around the frame. Of course I have to do the entire rear fuselage section but I have to wait until the top and bottom halves are on! This now completes the Cheyenne turret at long last! This is what she looks like at the blunt end of the fuselage!!! I think my next task is to do the elevator connection detail....so that will be my next post! I can now definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel ...after 10 long years!...you must all be sick of the the sight of it!! ...I know I'm beginning to!.. ha ha! Thanks once again for looking in... Cheers Fozzy