CANicoll

Oh Mike,
 
I am so sorry to hear of Mariana's passing.  You are such a wonderful person I am sure you brought so much joy and love to her life.  I can only imagine the wonderful memories you two share of your life together, and I hope these special memories keep you well in the coming days and weeks.  Take care of yourself and family, mate.
 
Warmest and most heartfelt wishes,
Chris
 
 

Thanks my friend: one has to really, I suppose.  Thanks to everyone else too for your support, it means a lot.
 
She had a rather high pain threshold, and with hindsight had clearly been in a great deal of pain for a long time, but had never admitted it.  She was severely anaemic, had no balance, and slept a lot, all of which was a consequence of this filthy disease. 
 
Two days before, she was still exercising her wit.  Picture a junior doctor (who btw was wonderful, I bet he will go far in the profession) kneeling by her bed, trying to find a vein to stick yet another needle in the back of her left hand: she just looked him in the eye as much as she could, and said, "I didn't know you cared, but I'm married already."  And could have added "He's the one standing in the corner over there."
 
Wonder what she said to St Peter when she got there ...
 
But I still have a large part of her around as my lovely step-daughter is literally just up the road, which makes it easier; and mine are rallying round as well - for example my daughter just jumped in the car on Sunday and came for the day, a two-hour drive on a mixture of roads, certainly not motorway (aka freeway/autobahn/etc) all the way. And as I said, thanks to you all too.
 

Mike,
 
I am so sorry to hear about Mrs C's ills and am hopeful the surgery is successful. Definitely keeping you and the Mrs in my thoughts.  
 
Chris

Difficult times at the moment.  My wife Mariana - MrsC - has been unwell for some time, and at the end of last month was diagnosed with bowel cancer.  She had a date later this month fixed for surgery, but recently deteriorated and was taken into hospital early Monday morning.  So the op's being brought forward, in the meantime she's hanging in there, she's a "tough old bird" (her words not mine). 
 
If I'm ever unfortunate enough to be in her position, I hope I can face it with the same courage and positive attiitude she's showing.
 
So that's why I suddenly broke off a WIP thread and haven't been around much lately.
 
 

Well if you do Cambridge then your only 15 minutes from IWM Duxford.......  looks like your spending a night in Cambridge LOL
 
It truly is a nice town, easy to get around in.

Hi Woody!  Of course there are different ways to use the HGW belts.  I like to crumple my belts first, before attaching the hardware.

 
I then cut the buckles off the PE sprue using an x-acto blade and trim the stubs with a coarse sanding stick.  The hardware is attached.  During this stage, I use Roket Card Glue to glued down the folded ends of the fabric material.

 
I then attach the belts to the seats using CA glue.  The seats are given a gloss coat (Alclad Aqua Gloss).  I then use a pastel wash over the belts to bring out some of the stitching detail.  Because the HGW belt material is porous, there may be some staining that occurs with the wash.  You can reduce that with a thicker coat of gloss but you also run the risk of filling in the stitching detail.

 

Like @LSP_Kevin, I think the XURON photo-etch cutter is a game-changer.

Same here, Woody. Nice and small and mine haven't even started losing their edge after 4 years. Plus, the handles are a nice, bright blue...ha!
 
As for the gloss coat, I don't think that I did that on either my Corsair or the Dauntless when I dirtied them up. Crumple, assemble, wash. At least for me 

HIGHLY recommend if you are planning on using the Tube to get yourself some Oyster cards - Tube passes basically that work on the busses and the tube, and the water taxi on the Thames... Beats carrying around those bloody tickets!  Oh, and download the Mapway apps for the London Underground.  The free app is terrific - you tell it where you are and where you want to go and it tells you what line to take, which Tube car to take and where to stand on the platforms.  VERY useful.  There are a LOT of apps, of course, look for the MAPWAY one. 
 
Also suggest a trip to Cambridge (about 45min by train).  The US Cemetery and museum there is worth the trip, plus Cambridge is cool with the Universities there.
 
Chris

HIGHLY recommend if you are planning on using the Tube to get yourself some Oyster cards - Tube passes basically that work on the busses and the tube, and the water taxi on the Thames... Beats carrying around those bloody tickets!  Oh, and download the Mapway apps for the London Underground.  The free app is terrific - you tell it where you are and where you want to go and it tells you what line to take, which Tube car to take and where to stand on the platforms.  VERY useful.  There are a LOT of apps, of course, look for the MAPWAY one. 
 
Also suggest a trip to Cambridge (about 45min by train).  The US Cemetery and museum there is worth the trip, plus Cambridge is cool with the Universities there.
 
Chris

+1 for Belfast .......or if you can taxi / uber to Shenfield the De Havilland Museum (3 mosquitoes under one roof ) plus the museum was refurbed recently . Lot of Dh goodness, plus it's volunteer not institution run so they need your cash ....I went twice last year 
 
 
Linky
 
 

Mine usually says "Goodbye".

I realize this can be sort of a contentious subject and the OP I'm sure did not intend to kick off another debate of 32nd VS 35th, however like all modeling the way to get more of what we want, is to use our money to purchase the things we want to continue, and withhold our money for things we don't.
 
I realize this is a bit of an oversimplification, but if 1/35th is going to become a new aircraft scale then people are going to have to buy it, thus allowing Border and any other companies wanting to do this to make more aircraft in 1/35th. However, If they don't want any more 1/35th aircraft then the way forward is to withhold your hard earned money even if its a subject you very much like (like this one for me).
 
This is my personal plan. We each have to assess if this kind of thing bothers us or not, and spend our money accordingly to promote more of, or less of whatever we want produced, in this case 1/35th aircraft. Purchasing/not purchasing the Border Models Kate, even though its a subject I personally very much like, is just as just as much about sending a message (albeit a very small one) as to what kind of models we want in the future, as it is about how many like the subject itself.
 

Someone needs to explain exactly why 1/35. 

Just sold my first LSP on EBay.
 

 
Despite the ton of effort in packaging...  I don't feel confident.  I worry most about the open canopy.  For the life of me I couldn't think of a way to secure it that wouldn't harm either the paintwork or another frail piece. 
 
I used similar packaging taking it to our annual Queensland Model Hobby Expo.  (it got Silver)  It survived the stiff suspension of my Hilux and the bumpy roads of Ipswich.  I hope it arrives safely.
 

I can’t see anything ‘rough’ about that whatsoever, Craig - it’s a masterpiece of micro-engineering. This is going to be the ultimate model of a B-17 in any scale, that’s for sure. 
 
Now you need to brace yourself for the main gear bays - when you get there 
 
All the best,
Tom

Thanks very much for your kind words and unending encouragement on this build Peter! The rivets are still very much a skill in development (as is the metal work in general as I'm sure you'd agree!). It's definitely your work which inspires me to push my skills further  
 
Grumman Duck you say? Yes please! The raised rivets are perhaps a little less forgiving than the recessed ones, but I certainly can't imagine you shying away from a challenge like that!
 
 "I am seriously envious of what you will have on the shelf at the end of this!"
 
But will you be envious of the size of the shelf I'll need to put it on? 
 
Well I think I've just about succeeded in my personal "mission impossible." I never would have dreamed when I made the bay those years ago that it would fight me this hard, but I guess that's what you get for not having the best forward plan  
 
It may not be perfect, but I've managed to hide the butchery of the bays, while preserving the operation of the doors.
 
As you'll recall, this is what I had to try and hide...
 
And on the inside....
 
 
To this.....
 
And on the other side....
 
 
Due to the uneven grinding on this side, I ended up having to cut the "Z" cap into 3 pieces, but still not bad when you consider what it looked like before. For the record, the "Z" cap on this side alone took about 2 hours to get right........ a lot of nervous test fitting of a very delicate part! You can see where I still had to grind some relief into the cap....... that's how tight the fit is in there!
 
And from the outside. This.....
 
To this....
 
It may still be a little rough, but I'll take it!
 
The battle of the bay is over. I still need to put a few more details inside, but I can now happily move onto something else (there's a right waist window that is screaming out for me to finish!).
 
Till next time,
 
Craig
 
 
 
 

The journey continues  
 
After the battle of the bay it was time to look at a few things I'd been avoiding meaning to do for a while. The first was to get the other waist window done. I did the first one in 2019, so only three years later....
 
Luckily, I still had the "blank" that I'd vac formed. It just needed a bit of fine adjusting to sit nicely in the hole.
 
 
 
I then did the exterior metal work which is oversize and give me a surface to stick the window back in without fear of it falling into the fuselage, like a random hydraulic reservoir........
 
 
Fiddly and slow going, but, got there in the end. It needed a partial anneal to get the indent at the rear, and then a full anneal once all the rivets were added...
I also reinstalled the .50 that had been dislodged during one of my many inversions of the fuselage during the bay work.
 
The waist window is now a happy little vegimite and looking much more complete, save for the wind deflector....
 
 
I also wanted to get the fin on, and faired in, so I could move toward getting some paint on the big girl finally! But first I needed to attach the clear tail cone, which also needed the bombing signal lights added. I thought they were meant to be red and white, but I've seen a photo were it looks distinctly more "orange," although that could just be the lens and the colouring in the photograph too.....
 
 
And in position...
 
 
Not perfect, but definitely visible!  
 
I added the fin, and then worked on making a nice smooth base of putty to support the fairing, which I hope to do next bench session..
 
 
 
There's a bit of a gap under the rudder at the moment, but I'll just extend the surface down to close it. I just wanted to make sure the rudder would clear so I can position it slightly offset later...
 
 
 
And an overall glamour shot for you  
 
 
 
She's starting to look less like a tadpole and more like a plane now! And she's almost full length now (just needs the nose piece).
 
Cheers,
 
Craig
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Members
 
I'll be going in the hospital for cancer surgery on Friday, 19 Aug. Will be away from the business for about a week during recovery. A notice will be posted when all is back to normal.
 
Damian

Excellent job!  Looks amazing - love the weathered finish.
 
Chris

Ghost seams are my modelling nemesis! But this is looking great otherwise, Andy.
 
Kev

Thanks Kev. Finally sitting on it's wheels. All that's left to do is the gun sight, canopy, and decals.
 

Did some painting of the gear doors last night. I think they came out pretty good. Got word yesterday that I will be headed back out of town for the next few weeks, so I'm going to try and do a marathon this weekend to try and finish things up on this build. 
 

I mentioned I was planning on doing this same aircraft again, and have another kit (same one) waiting on the sidelines. I forgot to drill out the locations for the centerline sway braces the first time around, so I drilled out the holes on the new kit, and will measure to locate on this one. I also did some playing around trying to get fuel stains and streaks on the drop tank at the fill cap.
 
 

 

 

 
 

I think I'm calling this one done. I'll get some better pics next weekend when I get back in town.