brahman104

Thanks Matt! I've definitely learned a lot about the early model B-17s from this experience . Somedays though I feel like the real life Desert Rat rebuild will be finished before mine is!

Thanks Jim!

Agreed! Craig

Hi Pete, That's an awesome patina you've achieved on the underside there. This is truly a build of epic proportions; your tenacity to keep it moving is execeptional! Craig

Thanks Tom! The more I do, the more I am looking forward to doing more. The success of the stainless has really energised me to push on...... just need to find that time to do it! You found it! Like railway modellers put a random Gorilla in their settings, I intentionally did that just to see how long it would take someone to find it . Hahaha, in all seriousness, don't look too hard, there's many more where that came from!!!!! That is very high praise coming from such a B-17 buff as yourself! It's hard to imagine even for me what it's going to look like once it's all together, but I can't wait for that day! Thanks for sticking with me on the journey! Cheers, Craig

Thanks Kev!

With the success of the inboard nacelle, I was committed. I got a few hours on the outboard one last night and all the offending material has been replaced. And a view of the overall result: Much better methinks!!!! Now onto the top of the inboard nacelle and some more stainless near the firewalls....... edging ever close to getting those cyclones fitted! Cheers, Craig

Ye gods........

Brilliant stuff going on here Iain! Seeing your printed nose section takes me back to when I was blending the new front end onto the B-17...... very thankful to have some pretty thick sidewalls! . I'm really looking forward to your canopy corrective work and the results they will yield. Always learning as I read! Great work, looking forward to the next update! Craig

Thanks Kev! If I was to ever to write a book on this build, it'd be called "How to build the HK B-17 in the most difficult and time consuming way possible"

Thanks Martin! How's Wolf going these days? Haven't seen him on the forums for a long time. Craig

Thanks mate! I had thought about it briefly, but there's no way I'm taking a blow torch anywhere near the panels once they're on, given how how well the thin sheet conducts heat! Definitely something to experiment with on future projects before application Cheers, Craig

Thank you Sir!

Thanks Matt! As much as the old material was okay, I just couldn't let it go without trying something else. In the end I'm glad I did; it turns out the stainless is actually more malleable than the plasticated sheet! Thank you for your continued support and encouragement over the years mate, I promise I'll finish it one day. Hopefully while the puppy's still around! Craig

Thanks Paul! I think if I was at this every day I might potentially lose a bit of interest, but as real life only lets me get to the bench in a limited capacity I'm generally chomping at the bit to get into it again. Having said that, I still look at the completely bare right wing and sigh!!!!! As you know, this whole build has been an experiment, with no results guaranteed!!! All part of the fun though Craig

Thanks Jay! You're making so much progress on that mustang of yours I can't keep up! After my initial reservations with the stainless, once you get around cutting it okay it's not too bad, although I can probably get away with panels being a little less precise than you in your scale. I'd definitely recommend giving it a go at some point. As to your worries Jay; you might have worries but wow, do you ever come up with some amazing solutions! I love seeing your R&D work just as much as the build itself! Craig

Thanks Iain! Yeah can't stay mad at that face......

Thanks Matt! Yep, it's definitely an acquired skill and as long as you're not in a hurry, it's a pretty good way to go. Been absent for a while with the addition of a new puppy, just to add more complexity and less free time into our lives . He's a 7 month old German short-haired pointer and if he knows what's good for him, he'll stay away from the bench....... He's actually pretty good, and spends approximately 90% of his day upside-down asleep. That being said, I finally got a bit more time on the B-17 this evening. The "stainless steel" material I'd used around the turbos had always bothered me...... It was a crafting material that was a kind of malleable plastic, and just didn't look right. I had to do something about it, but what? I thought about experimenting with trying to darken some litho sheet. I vaguely remember something about boiling aluminium foil with egg shells, but that seemed like a pretty inconsistent approach. I know the real panels were stainless steel to withstand the heat, but actual stainless is an incredibly hard material to work with (nowhere near as friendly as litho and not to mention can't be annealed to make it softer for compound curves), so what to do? I eventually came across some very thin stainless steel sheet (read heavy "foil") from Hobby Tools Australia https://www.hobbytools.com.au/k-s-stainless-steel-foil-roll-300mm-x-760mm-x-05mm/ and decided to give it a go. When I got it the first thing that was readily apparent is that it couldn't be scored and snapped like litho, so I then had to some some jeweller's shears in order to cut it. Cutting very small diameter inside curves is an absolute nightmare (like around the back end of the turbos, but can be achieved with great care. To remind you of what I had: Wow it really does look horrible doesn't it? Not even knowing if contact cement was going to be enough to hold each piece against the slight compound curves, I did what I always do, threw caution to the wind and jumped straight in..... Initial tests with a rivet wheel showed the the stainless actually took and held rivet detail exceptionally well, and despite my fears, there was actually just enough "flex" to coax the panels I needed into shape. Thankfully the contact cement worked perfectly. And so after a few hours, I actually had it looking much, much, more B-17 like The photos don't really do it justice, but the colour change is noticeable, as is the sharpness of the rivets as opposed to the much softer litho plate..... Can't say I'd want to do a cowling in it, but for the (mostly) flattish panels around the turbos, I am super happy! Not too bad at all! And it was even malleable/thin enough to carefully fold over the lip and into the exhaust/supercharger recesses with a bit of gentle tapping from a hammer. Compare the inboard nacelle to the outboard...... absolute chalk and cheese! It was of course, only after I stuck the panels down it occured to me that I could have got some lovely heat staining by using the blow torch, but there's no way I'm pulling those new panels off to try it! The good news is that I feel confident enough with it now to try and do the area just aft of the firewalls with it too. Definitely much more work than litho, but well and truely worth it! Cheers, Craig

Absolutely fascinating to see how you are increasingly incorporating 3D printing into your builds and the effect that has on the progress of your builds. Definitely not taking anything away from the effort it takes to think of the the processes required and the skill it takes to drawing them in CAD, but the way you are taking advantage of the technology for guaranteeing complex angles is pure genius! It also makes me realise how much I suck at Rhino So you'll be finished by next week then? Craig

That is insanely good Tom! Can you use any of the original canopy to make the "glass" in the new frame? Craig

Go Tom!!!!! When two great minds get together............ Looks brilliant mate. Craig

Absolutely top notch Jay! Craig

I love this Pat! You are a CAD/printing machine!!!! Craig

Thanks Kev! I hope you've plenty of popcorn Jay Thanks Matt! It's good to be back at it. Thanks Pat! Would love to get this one over the line this year...... we'll see how we go! Thanks very much Tom! Always appreciate you stopping by! Well there's little else to do but settle in to the long hard slog that is skinning the wings. And boy oh boy do the undersides have a lot of rivets!!!! This next effort focuses on the inboard fuel tank access panel, with a blistered fairing for the fuel boost pump. Many a conversation with my late friend Terry (TKB), centred around the presence (or absence) of boost pump fairings for the outboard cells, such as on the E model and later. After scouring many photos we concluded that there wasn't, and so the outer one has been deleted. I used the spare kit I have to shape the blister.... The panel has a complex rivet pattern on the border, so I decided to make the panel up from 3 separate pieces. Disregard the initial rivetting around the outside..... And finally the panel is in place..... Not entirely terrible, although I think there is a hinge on the front of the blister I'll have to add, and there may be a little drain hole as well..... Sooooo many rivets!!!!! Onto the outboard tank access panels next, and they have their own challenges...... Thanks as always for looking in! Craig

This is pure magic Pat! Craig