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Total Scratch build of the front end of a B17G!


fozzy

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Cheers Loic !...and hello to all!

 

Here is a small update on a wee bit of progress.

 

The vacuum bottles/flask for the crew to have their fix of caffeine and to keep them warm during those long cold sorties!

 

The hardest part was the paper cups........made from paper! rolleyes.gif

 

Here's the photos............................

 

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Next up will be the biggy!!!...scratching the top turret !!.....so see you in about a year! wink.png

 

Fozzy

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Haven't you finished it yet.. :)

 

It's a wonderful piece of work, love the flasks and cups. I thought it was looking a bit spacious in there... the turret will clutter it up a lot I imagine.

 

Matt

 

Not kidding Matt!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there chaps

 

Slow ...slow ...and slow progress!! sad.png .........but never the less ...progress!

 

It took me some time to get the plug ready for vac forming the upper turret .....as always I used Balsa wood for the plug.....not very exciting photos but shows the small progress I have made wink.png ..................

 

The blocks of Balsa were glued and clamped to dry for a couple of days....

 

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Here it is sanded to shape...........

 

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.....and placed into the aperture to see what it looks like...........

 

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Now the hard parts commences!!! unsure.png ...vac forming the part!....I need to find a piece of clear food packaging....time to raid the kitchen trash bin!! wink.png

 

Will get back when the vac forming has been completed.............

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Fozzy

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Hi all

 

Time for some fun and games with my "Henry hoover"!!

 

Yep...I bought this hoover many years ago and I have had more fun Vac forming than hoovering the chuffing house....no surprise there then wink.png

 

In my last post I had shaped the plug for the top turret out of balsa wood....it was now time to vac form it.

 

1. First off I had to seal the plug before vac forming else all the wood grain would show up on the finished article. I went with my usual method of a coat of wood sealant and then a couple of coats of aircraft dope....this toughened and smoothed over all the wood grain..............and made me very high from the fumes!!! wacko.gif

 

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2. Next up....get my home built vac forming kit out. This consists basically of a sealed wooden box with holes in and a hoover attachment on the side...see pic............

 

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3. The other part of the kit is a wooden frame where the plastic sheet has to be attached...again see the photo of a piece of clear food packaging fastened to the frame.........

 

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4. Method of vac forming to those of you who don't know..(and I am sure most of you do ...so apologies to the ones in the know!)...is........place the plug you have made onto the vac box...raising it a few inches off the box with something first..........

 

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5. Next up switch on your kitchen oven to the highest temp...making sure you take out any pre prepared Sunday dinner that the wife might have prepared earlier ohmy.png ....an error I nearly made!!..attach your hoover to the vac box and switch on ....now its time to place the frame with the sheet attached onto the top shelve in the oven , just for a few seconds until you see the plastic wave up and down as it starts to slowly melt!...remember ....A FEW SECONDS ELSE IT WILL MELT!!....as soon as you see the plastic waving at you take it out of the oven (trying not to burn your self ) and push the frame over the plug until the frame touches the vac box...and the hoover does the rest of the job for you!....great fun!!...........

 

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6. It should end up looking like this...........

 

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7. Next up take the frame off the vac box and carefully cut the excess plastic off and prize the plug out.....(be very careful...hardest part)......

 

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8. And here is the end result!!....you might be able to see a hole in the top of the turret glass...this is where I made a small hole to get the plug off!...luckily a bigger hole will be cut later in this area to accommodate the guns in any case..........

 

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So there you have it!

 

It is great fun vac forming and to build a vac forming kit is dead easy and cost bugger all!!.....depending on the thickness of the plastic sheet you are using depends on how many attempts at getting the it done first time.....my turret worked the second attempt because I used the wrong thickness plastic...I just couldn't seem to get it hot enough to vac form properly...(that's the last time I use my shaving blade plastic packaging!!).....but it doesn't matter how many times you have a go...you will get it in the end.

 

Now to start work on scratching the top turret.....

 

Thanks for looking in chaps....

 

Fozzy

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Guest Peterpools

Fozzy

Terrific work on the top turret and thanks you so much for the vacuform tutorial - very much appreciated

Keep 'em coming

Peter

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