A.Wolf Grant Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 (edited) Tremendous stuff Rich, if you're taking this much time and effort on the turret then what's the rest going to be like? Well, I for one am looking forward to it. Grant. Edited June 23, 2012 by Obant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaced Marine Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Magnificent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Yu Da Bomb, Rich! Great stuff. Sincerely, Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRutman Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Always a treat to check in on your B-17. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) *update 16 July 2012* Hi everyone, Welcome to my latest update. I have been pretty busy over the last few weeks trying to decide what to build...and what not to. I always intended to show a gaping hole in the fuselage side, maybe from a flak burst or rocket attack, which would show off the interior. I decided to cut a large hole in the port side, just behind the radio room - mainly because I knew from photographs that the bulkhead just in front of the ball turret (ie bulkhead 6 - the radio room bulkhead) acted as a kind of blast-wall - ripped metal from an explosion stopped abruptly at this point - here's an image from the 'daveswarbirds' website for illustrative purposes only - this is actually the starboard side - you can see on the left that the damage stops at the fifth bulkhead. I am going to apply the same principal to the port side damage: And here's a picture from the net of the backside of bulkhead 6, just in front of the ball turret & looking forward towards the cockpit - it has been stripped bare in this image - I have replicated the details here only (for now) until I can find more images: Here are a couple of shots of the port side fuselage. At first I removed the 'battle damaged' area in a haphazard way. Later I realised that for realism' sake I should have followed the panel lines, which I duly did. In order to replicate the damage, I will wait until the final stages of the build when I am skinning the model with pewter sheet - I can then fashion some ribs and some damaged panels, and attach them in the correct place - the end result will look like the picture I posted above of the damaged aircraft. The plastic of the vacform fuselage is also way thicker than is realistic, and would require an age to sand down - this way I can blend the pewter panels in and have the exposed torn edges a realistic thickness. To make the bulkheads themselves, I used a piece of wire & trial and error / sanding. Curl the wire around inside the fuselage, bend to shape & then draw roughly around the wire, which holds its shape. Pretty crude, and takes a while, but do-able with some patience. I made a start of the ribs by layering 0.75 x 0.75 plastic strip three deep for each rib. Notice how the 'damage' stops abruptly at the bulkhead, as previously described - I also decided to add a little damage just behind the cockpit, so you can see the workings of the top turret. You can see that I have cut a rough, jagged hole but I will probably enlarge it along the panel lines later... In the last image you can see that I cut the door opening - this leads through to the radio room. So....here is another image I found on the net. This is the front of bulkhead 6 (ie inside the radio room, looking rearwards). Here is found a bank of tuning units on the left. Above that there are stored some tools - the emergency crank extensions for the bomb bay doors (x2), and the manual engine starter crank extension rod. On the right are the antenna tuning unit (top),the transmitter (centre) and transmitter tuning unit (bottom) - in this image there is a modern fire extinguisher where the transmitter tuning unit should be - the transmitter itself is also a slightly different model to the one in my aircraft. note that the layout varied greatly according to the machine, and there was no 'standard' configuration. Here's what I built according to my sources - the three pencilled circles on the transmitter are where I need to fit some instrument bezels later. Edited July 16, 2012 by richdlc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 I also made a start on the opposite corner, which is the radio operator's station. So far I've made only the chair and the table. Here's an image I found from the net for illustrative purposes only - these views are looking forward towards the bomb bay. The radio operator sits on the port side behind bulkhead 5: and some images of what I've made so far: the two little gadgets above the table mounted on the bulkhead wall are (left to right) the warning bell, and the ASH receiver. Finally, an overview of the compartment - very small but very busy: lots still to build, will post an update ASAP but it's slow going! Comments welcomed stay tuned Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeroenpeters Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Stop raising that bar!! I can't keep up Seriously lovely work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.Wolf Grant Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Good grief, what an update ! Seriously good work Rich. Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 This looks great! We can only hope the eventual HK Models kit will have this kind of detail in it. That would be great, since you're doing such a good job scratch-building. I know I don't have the talent for it, so I'll just have to be in awe of your build. Can't wait to see where it goes, your idea is very ambitious. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Great work Rich! You're putting some fabulous details inside this beast, and it should pay off handsomely at the end. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ron Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Wow, that's about all that can be said, just wow. Rp Micke D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 thanks a lot guys! It's great to get nice feedback, it keeps me going. I'm going a little bit crazy I must admit. I think I will stop short at doing the bomb bay though - it would be totally invisible on the finished model. It's very tempting as I have a complete photographic record of it! But no - radio room, fuselage and cockpit is what I'm aiming for... As for the HK Models kit, I can only hope that it doesn't get released any time soon haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 OK, yea, your crazy ! But man, the stuff you come up with. This is a joy to watch ! The song thats in my head when I look here is Black Sabath "CRAZY TRAIN" ! LOL..............Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon P Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Great work! Almost a shame to have to crash it! Edited July 17, 2012 by Simon P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hey Rich, I gave you Thread of the Week for this one. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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