Foiled HKM B-25J Strafer - 345th BG Air Apaches - Lady LiL

[blackbetty]

just read the whole thread - unbelievable work, brian!

[Neo]

Great progress!

 

so with that wheit in the doors and firewall im guessing that your not leaving the gun bay open?

[JRutman]

Nice solution for the tail dragger problem, Better to have and not need than need and not have.

J

[Out2gtcha]

just read the whole thread - unbelievable work, brian!

 

 

 

 

Thanks Karl. Im hoping this one will go as smoothly as your F-84 did..................and I think it will.............its a lovely kit so far, and besides any of my boo-boos along the way I dont expect any major difficulty.

 

Im just anxious to get to the foiling!

 

Great progress!

 

so with that wheit in the doors and firewall im guessing that your not leaving the gun bay open?

 

Thanks Neo..........

 

It doesnt seem that exiting...........all these pics of lead weight, but in this case its so crucial to the sit of the bird, I just needed to get it taken care of before moving on with the rest of the wings and what not.

 

Yeah Neo, Im a "closed panels" kind of guy. I usually like to depict my aircraft as if they were sitting on the tarmac just waiting to take off on a sortie............or have just returned from one. In the case of the Lady, Im more-or-less trying to replicate how she looked in the pics i have.........which is bomb bay open (ventilation) and gun and crew hatches closed.

 

 

 

 

Nice solution for the tail dragger problem, Better to have and not need than need and not have.

J

 

 

Thanks Jerry. I think its more of a problem on a bomber like the 25 with the way the trike gear is situated, with the CG being so far back.

 

As you said, better safe than sorry, and have it when you need it there VS, not and being REAL pissed off in the end when shes setting on her arse.

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

I just can't imagine finding any additional space for more weight if needed. Truly some out of the box thinking and engineering to work out the logistics.

Way to go!

Keep 'em coming

:popcorn:

[Shawn M]

great work on sneaking the lead in there AND the build as a whole

[Vandy 1 VX 4]

Hi Brian

Do they still sell lead shot in NE? Do you buy it or do you buy Pheasant loads and take the shot out.?

Here in CA It's hard to get lead shot. They have Bismuth and Tungsten or somethin of that nature. Also thats if you can find shells!!!!

 

Cheers,

Vandy

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys!

 

Yeah Vandy................several gun shops around town..............most all sell #5, #7 & #9 shot. Only problem is they dont sell it by the pound, and you can only buy it by the 35lb burlap sack. Which btw is only about the size of a very small loaf of bread.

[LSP_Ron]

Brian,

 

How did you open up the intakes in the nacelles? I am just facing that challenge now and don't want to mess them up therefore the Dremel is out.

[Out2gtcha]

Brian,

 

How did you open up the intakes in the nacelles? I am just facing that challenge now and don't want to mess them up therefore the Dremel is out.

 

 

Veeeeeeeery carefully! I tried the dremel myself and without a speed reducer on it or one of the cordless hand held jobbies Id stay away from the Dremel.

 

When I tried the Dremel the bit heated the plastic up so quickly with any hard pushes that it encased the bit in molten plastic and melted the sides a bit. Nothing that some filler and sanding stix couldnt fix but he ho..........those in the know will probably put that bit in a hand chuck or pin vise.

 

 

 

I wish I had some great progress pics to show but the new ones I have are more like a part of an update rather than an update by themselves. Ive be really struggling to keep the seem on the bottom of the fuselage clean and 100% irradiated. I seem to be squeezing the fuselage in such a manor that puts a bit of pressure in certain spots and little hairline mark will re-appear. Ive RE-filled the fuselage seems 4 or 5 times now in certain spots. fortunately the parts that keep coming back are on the bottom. Ive been using some Tamiya super thin cement on these in hopes of melting the joint completely shut then filling and smoothing from there.

 

This last weeks efforts have been mainly concentrated on the previous and getting the engines knocked out. Ive got them both all cut out and cleaned up (which was a big job unto itself!) and now have paint on Harald's housing and props, as well as the engine cylinders and internals.

 

Most of that time was spent figuring out a new attachment mechanism for the prop, as the OOB option seemed wobbly and not very quality feeling.

 

Ill be utilizing my Propmaster to assemble the prop. Pics soon.

 

Cheers,

[gomer]

Incredible work Brian.

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks gomer.

 

This past week and previous weekend have been taken up with the engines and props...............together two little kits by themselves. I stayed here with the common theory of clipping the inner ring of push rods off, and sanding those two rings smooth.

Getting Harald's front engine housing on straight was more of a bear than I had thought............none to the design of the product and more to the fact that I didnt plan ahead on how I was going to center and level them.

 

I also was not at all happy with the OOB connection of the prop hub to the engine. I decided that while I was dry fitting things, I would take that opportunity to mock up a new attachment system for the prop/hub mating.

 

I decided brass rod/brass tube would be the best solution to let the props turn nice and free and evenly. Harald's engine housings have much better detail IMHO than the OOB options and are actually larger and look more accurate to me.

 

I started off by center drilling out the cowl flap actuator openings -

 

 

Next I centered a piece of brass tube in each of the prop hubs and cut and sanded it off even -

 

 

Next I had to cut off the resin nub end of the engine housing that fits into the prop, then I got the corresponding sized brass rod that would slide inside the tube and glued it in the engine housing -

 

 

 

I then got to work putting some paint down, as there were several stages of painting that needed to dry in succession.

First up I laid down a coat of gloss black on everything that needed black, going over the stuff that needed flat with some flat clear later -

 

 

Next a coat of yellow on the tips and the prop decals -

 

 

 

MORE.........................

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

I tried a new technique for painting the engine cylinders this time around. Normally I would paint the entire engine cylinder housing flat black, and then dry brush aluminum paint on from there highlighting the cooling fins. Later, normally I would add a wash to further highlight this.

 

This time around I decided to try something new. This time I painted the engine cylinders gloss black as seen on the previous post, and painted things with a nice coat of Alclad Air Frame aluminum -

 

 

Things were QUITE shiny and bright at this point..............way too much so, but part of the plan. Next I got a little dish about twice the diameter of the engine cylinders and filled it with a black wash. I dunked the engine cylinders in it, let it dry and rubbed off the excess with a moist Q-tip. Then I sealed this with a coat of Model Master satin clear and ended up here -

 

 

I also sprayed the feathering mechanism of the props with MM steel, then a wash and satin clear also -

 

 

Im pleased as punch with the way this new cylinder painting technique worked out..........It went from way too bright and shiny to just shiny enough IMHO.

 

Got some paint, then a wash followed by a coat of flat clear on Haralds engine housings as well. I have to wait to finish these, as Im awaiting a shipment of Scale Hardware 0.5 brass hex nuts to cap off each of the spark plug ring ends -

 

 

I also got a start on putting some color on the multitudes of exhaust and manifold parts..............these later will get some dry brushing with burnt Iron and a treatment with some Tamiya weathering pallet colors -

 

 

 

Because of the vast number of exhaust stacks, and the fact that they are not all the same and individually molded to go in certain spots, I snipped them from the sprue at the top, then sanded and smoothed the exhaust opening and left them attached and numbered on the other end -

 

 

Lastly I got the flat coat put on the prob blades and got them glued on the prop hubs thanks to my all time favorite and most used AM tool, the Prop-Master. No clue what I did before this thing. I have yet to do any weather on these though -

 

 

 

I think Haralds prop shapes have a MUCH better profile than the OOB options -

 

Tiz all for now ladies!

 

Till your all older, and cheers,

[LSP_Kevin]

Very nice work Brian! This is coming along magnificently well. FWIW, your 'new' method of painting the engines is how I pretty much always do radials - though I don't dunk them, just brush on a liberal coat of wash and then tidy up.

 

Kev

[Uncarina]

Looking truly phenomenal! I especially like the idea of dunking the whole engine in the wash. Cheers, Tom