brahman104 Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Another succesfull first for you Craig ! Dońt know if it really would work, but pasta machines (for making fresh pasta) could be used to roll thin metal. I need to try with mine, one day... Hubert Thanks Hubert! Another excellent suggestion from you and it did get me thinking. I could find a cheap one somewhere and modify the rollers which would take out a fair bit of the building process for sure. I shall look into it. Thanks! Just really amazing work bro!! Thanks mate! She's coming along slowly but surely.... that really is something else Craig it looks amazing and for me was well worth the extra effort and all the mental gymnastics involved. You also look to have already mastered these cool new skills where metal can seriously compliment plastic modelling - the end results I think speak for themselves brilliant to watch - are you going for an NMF finish overall? hope so, it would look stunning as one of those early ones with the striped rudder more please! Peter Thank you Peter Always a pleasure having the master stop by.... and to your question the answer is a resounding "I'm certainly going to give it a crack!" To me the early model B-17's were really in that era of the calm before the storm, so I've always thought it appropriate that it should be natural metal with a nice bright tail. This also means that it won't be the swoose, as I believe it spent most of its life either in that really beaten up black or olive drab paint. That and one day (far far away), when I do an E model, I'll have a nice olive drab one for the D to stand next to anyway! Believe me, I certainly trying to learn as much as I can from you about the skinning process, which will be something all in itself. I really want to go for a raised rivet look too (once again appropriate for the B-17) which will add another level of complexity, but I feel as you do, that the results will be worth the pain and effort! I'm sure you've mentioned it but do/can you anneal that aluminium to get it to work a bit easier? Cheers, Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 looks fantastic! believe me (and peter) that adding metal panelling is well worth it in terms of realism. To answer your question re: annealing la - I can only speak for pewter, which in my opinion is softer and more malleable. Unfortunately twice the price of an alum sheet but it's good stuff.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Craig Looking mighty good and all the hard work is paying off. Sure glad you will be cutting the ZZZZZ's at night and now sleeping soundly Keep 'e, coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 looks fantastic! believe me (and peter) that adding metal panelling is well worth it in terms of realism. To answer your question re: annealing la - I can only speak for pewter, which in my opinion is softer and more malleable. Unfortunately twice the price of an alum sheet but it's good stuff.. Thanks as always for the input Rich! Yes I have to agree, once you get into it this metal stuff is really quite addictive isn't it? I think for some parts, I'm definitely going to have to go down the Pewter road, may I ask where you obtain yours from? In the meantime, I'm looking to see how far I can push the boundaries of the aluminium sheet...... Craig Looking mighty good and all the hard work is paying off. Sure glad you will be cutting the ZZZZZ's at night and now sleeping soundly Keep 'e, coming Peter Thanks Peter! haha, yeah something like that! I probably wasn't in any danger of losing sleep over it, I guess it was all going to come down to how many new words I would teach myself if it didn't fit later on! I am finding this aluminium work thoroughly enjoyable, although it does consume a large amount of time I find it a really good way to clear the mind! Cheers, Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 (edited) try http://www.sylmasta.com Edited October 24, 2015 by richdlc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thanks mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ron Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I admire your ambition, it's looking great Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKB Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Craig, Trust me, I follow your build to "check out" your progress, but not to check your work. If I mention/suggest something, it's because In past years I have learned the hard way ----- major mistakes that I could have avoided. I'd certainly go with what you have with the bomb bay. Hard to tell from the photos: A) Is your bulkhead/truss assemble too wide for the fuselage to close up? a) Can you grind down the offending plastic on fuselage halves to get a perfect fit Are the truss lower edges keeping the fuselage halves from closing up? Can you simply widen the kit bomb bay open. Looks like some plastic strip along the truss edge and some adjustments to the bomb bay door hinge slots would be an easy fix. Once doors are hung, I'm sure any opening difference would be undiscernable ----- unless you are planning on surprising us with positionable bomb bay doors. When you made your bulkhead pieces it was based on your RTV mold, so your left half was a mirror image of the right half, right? I'll lay you odds that yours is symetrical and the HK fuselage halves are not. Once you have the bomb bay done, do you plan on: 1) Inserting the "skeleton" and using the kit plastic as the fuselage skin. OR 2) "Skinning" (thin plastic, brass or litho) the exterior of you skeleton, from the lower edge of one side truss, over the top and down the the lower end of the other truss.Seems this would give you the tightest fit to the ribs and a total "drop-in" assemble.. a) Would that compound the fit issue? More grinding on fuselage plastic? I know I keep saying "grind fuselage plastic", but once you get the bomb bay assembly in place, you should regain strength in this area, don't you think? Your litho plate work certainly speaks for itself. Glad you're going with silver/natural metal in the bomb bay and not going down the road of "everything in the bomb bay zinc chromate green" Speaking of colors, when you get around to your B-17E, while there's always exceptions to the rule, I'd use B-17E "My Gal Sal" as the best general reference on B-17 interior colors. When I talk with Bob Ready (owner, before he donated it to the WW II Museum) a few years ago, he said all paint used was color matched to original paint colors that remained on interior and exterior parts. As usual, "experts" keep coming out of the woodwork, saying the exterior colors a wrong, based on what "they read"! Lookin forward to your next installment. Terry brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Hahaha, all good Terry! I do appreciate your questions and comments. They keep my head in the game so to speak with so many little things to think about. I'm not really that worried about the gap at the bottom where the trusses sit (sorry rubbish photo I know and hard to make out anything) but with the 3d printed parts, especially the nose section, there is larger gaps that I have to fill anyway so that's a future Craig problem! I think you know which way I'm going to go with the roof . It does mean I will have to grind off probably a bit more plastic from the bay but I'm not worried, the fuselage thickness is almost 2mm in this part so there is plenty of meat to support the weight and when it's all in there, the bay itself should carry some of the load too Stay tuned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 So after many bouncing many ideas around in my head about how to attack the ribs in the roof of the bay, one concept in particular has shown some promise..... I thought about the idea of creating a master pattern that I could press form the aluminium over. This was good for two reasons, repeatability and the final product is already aluminium anyway, so no need for reskinning I didn't want to make the master out of brass, aluminium or plastic as I felt it would distort over repeated use, rummaging around in the workshop I found some steel plates which I had left over from building a garage. I traced the outline onto the surface with a scribe and then chucked it in the mill, gradually reducing the overall thickness except the rib shape, which was proud by about 1/16." Being steel, it took forever (last night and most of the morning today) and I think it was a bit much for my little machine vice, also trying to mill a curve by hand working two wheels at the same time was quite a challenge. I am not the greatest machinist in the world so it needed a lot of clean up from the turbo carver, but as long as the shape was higher than the rest of the material I was in business... Just for the sake of it I tried a quick pressing of some litho sheet.... Looks good and that's before I'd properly cleaned up all the edges.... With it separated from the sheet... Cleaning up, I also came across this little gem! I can't remember what it is, but I have a lot of it and it seems softer than the litho. I did just order two sheets of pewter from the UK this morning though! Another pic of the trial section That part is pretty rough, but now that the pattern is cleaned up properly and I take much better care in cutting it out and probably using that new metal, everything should go swimmingly! Cheers, Craig Ripaman and Rdrunner 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Cleaning up, I also came across this little gem! I can't remember what it is, but I have a lot of it and it seems softer than the litho. I did just order two sheets of pewter from the UK this morning though! Is that not a roll of roof flashing? Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I thought initially it was, but I think it's thinner and I'm pretty sure it was model related.... I think I found it when I was doing a search for that "tri-foil" stuff that comes with that tool you can punch different shaped rivets out of. I think it was called "the nutter" and I'm pretty sure I got it from UMM-USA. Could of course be totally making this up and it is in fact roof flashing, but it is very shiny and will hopefully serve my purposes well Craig P_Aybara 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicas Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Hello That stuff is what is sold here in Portugal as "tin foil". It is sold in rolls and one metter costs around 20€. I send some to Peter (of the Tigercat) for him to give it a try. Bought one roll at a craft shop and I think it is really pewter, If it is not, well it is very similar. Regards JL Edited October 25, 2015 by dicas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Ah! That's it! I don't think it's pewter, as it certainly didn't cost the exhorbatant price I paid for the genuine article, but it is certainly softer that the litho plate. I don't know if it has some kind of coating on it too, but it will certainly be useful in the coming months! Cheers Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKB Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Craig, Not to many would (could!) mill out a pattern --- to use as a tool ---- to build a model in itself --- that is going into a model! With the learning cure, techniques and tools you've developed for this build, you can start your own assemble line for 1/32 B-17s! As I've said, I hope you don't get "B-17 burn-out" with this one. Once you get the fuselage done, the wings should be a walk in the park for you. Fill some inlets, make some air scoops etc. You won't know what to do with yourself! As someone alreadyb stated, this is really going to be a one-of-a-kind and I might add ---for a long time to come. Sure you're not Guillermo Rojas-Bazan (1/15 B-17G) using a different name? You're certainly giving him a run for his money. Terry brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now