Out2gtcha Posted November 24, 2020 Share Posted November 24, 2020 Lovely work Craig! Really starting to come together now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted December 14, 2020 Author Share Posted December 14, 2020 On 11/24/2020 at 4:23 AM, JayW said: Are you kidding me? Just so you know, physics is not going to allow this thing to fly with to-scale propellers. You will have to be happy that it looks like a shrink-ray real thing. That's probably a good thing Jay! I wouldn't want to risk it crashing On 11/24/2020 at 4:51 AM, tomprobert said: Your metal work is so good - it's hard to tell your creations apart from the real thing. You can't be far away from joining the fuselage now as at least you don't have to worry about detailing a tail gunner's compartment! Tom I'd like to agree with you Tom, but there's a little clear piece and an open tail wheel well that have a lot of details hanging around in there..... you wouldn't want me to skimp on that now would you? On 11/24/2020 at 7:01 AM, Brett M said: Wow wow wow. Really great work! Thanks Brett! Your Dauntless is looking pretty darn top notch too! On 11/24/2020 at 7:16 AM, aircommando130 said: Awesome work so far! Think I'll take my "F" model that was going to be "KNOCKOUT DROPPER" and just toss it in the trash! Not really..... Cheers...Ron Thanks Ron! Be sure to start a thread for your build when you do start working on it. I'll be following for sure! On 11/25/2020 at 4:48 AM, TKB said: Craig, Everything in the waist looks porportional. The only way it might possibly be off is if someone in 1/32 scale was to climb in and nit-pick! The "cavernous" waist section is really starting to "fill out." Since your going to start on the gun mounts, don't forget about that "beam" that ran below the waist gun openings that was added to the C and D. Just one of my friendly reminders. Those would be a nice candidate for a "splash" of bronze green. Terry Well what can I say, I do loooove a good proportioned waist . Thanks for the reminder, I've temporarily skipped the area, but I'll be sure to come back to it. On 11/25/2020 at 9:23 AM, Out2gtcha said: Lovely work Craig! Really starting to come together now Thanks Brian! Little by little...... As long term followers of this build will know, I like to jump around a bit. This is mainly due to whatever piece takes my interest at the time, but it does mean that in 6 years running, I have not had to consign the big girl to the SOD or start another build (excepting the nose work on my unbuilt F model....). Anyway, I needed to work out what to do with the tail wheel. Obviously, #9 bulkhead is completely different from the big ass birds, which meant that the tail wheel assembly or "treadle" had to be redone. Not a bad thing anyway as I wanted to build it out of brass to ensure it could hold the weight. Firstly I set upon making three little clevises to mount onto the #9 bulkhead... After a bit of fine work, this is one of the three clevises. The rod going through it is simply for show..... I had to grind the slot using an abrasive disc in my proxxon, so it's wider than I would have like. Anyone know of any really thin (>1mm) slotting wheels or processes? I also replaced the kit "spindle" with brass as a base... I then needed to come up with a jig to hold everything together while it was soldered. It's a pretty complex affair and it took a while to work out the jig. This included a 10 degree angled hole to mount the spindle in relation to the remainder of the treadle. Lots of shaping and grinding later, I then had this.... Measured up against the bulkhead, everything looked pretty good! I still had to be able to join the treadle through the clevises. Very, very gently, I ground off the ends to flats, marked the location of the holes and drilled..... It seemed the odds of me lining this all up without being distorted were about a million to one, however....... Well I'll be damned.... Turns out I can actually make a straight part!!!! Pretty happy with that! I know it's not finished yet but I wanted to share it with you guys since it took so long to make and came out so well! For those of you wondering, I won't be making the shock absorber functional (sorry!) This is because I have no idea of the finished weight, and I'd rather have the tail sit where I want it than too high or low when I can't get back inside to fix it!!! Hopefully I'll be back soon with the retraction mechanism in place, stay tuned.... Craig Anthony in NZ, Landrotten Highlander, dodgem37 and 20 others 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Amazing stuff! brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayW Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 Craig - you KNOW I love that landing gear work. Right up my ally. Tools and fixtures. An absolute must for scratch building! Well done. brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 18, 2020 Share Posted December 18, 2020 LOVELY! I love brass, and use it quite frequently actually. Looking the business! brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted December 23, 2020 Author Share Posted December 23, 2020 On 12/19/2020 at 6:15 AM, JayW said: Craig - you KNOW I love that landing gear work. Right up my ally. Tools and fixtures. An absolute must for scratch building! Well done. You and me both Jay! I've learnt a lot already, learning more as I go! On 12/19/2020 at 6:18 AM, Out2gtcha said: LOVELY! I love brass, and use it quite frequently actually. Looking the business! Absolutely Brian! Brass is just so versatile! A little more for you. I've finished most of the retraction mechanism, apart from the gearbox and motor mount. Still lots of little pulleys and control cables to add as well but the bulkhead is looking pretty busy now. This is super fiddly even to put together.... at the moment all the parts are being held in place by brass pins that are bent over at one end (they will be replaced!). Once I get my scale hardware I can assemble it for good. For now, here's now it's looking..... For the retraction jack I soldered three 10mm threaded bolts (with heads cut off) together. Ask me how fun that was to try and get straight!!!!! I've learnt a lot in the process of making this piece. Sometimes you have to drill the bolt holes, sometimes you can solder a piece of tube onto the end to do the same. I estimate there's about 4 and a half days of work in the tailwheel assembly alone! All good fun........can't wait to attack the main gear Craig dodgem37, Cicciuzzo, Landrotten Highlander and 16 others 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKB Posted December 24, 2020 Share Posted December 24, 2020 Craig, I have to pick my jaw up off the floor with your every post! Unbelievable detailed work on the tail wheel assembly! The "Craig" tail wheel assembly really makes the kit parts look awfully sad. The only way to descibe your "C" is numerous individual scale models coming together into a masterpiece! Terry brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted December 25, 2020 Share Posted December 25, 2020 Should certainly be sturdy with all of that brass for the gear. Looks excellent! Matt brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 This continues to amaze and inspire, Craig - outstanding metal work and something I must try one day! Tom brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 Boy, does this look like fun! Sincerely, Mark brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 12/24/2020 at 9:22 PM, TKB said: Craig, I have to pick my jaw up off the floor with your every post! Unbelievable detailed work on the tail wheel assembly! The "Craig" tail wheel assembly really makes the kit parts look awfully sad. The only way to descibe your "C" is numerous individual scale models coming together into a masterpiece! Terry Thanks Terry! I'd put off doing the tail wheel for a long time as I wasn't really sure how to do it, but eventually it came together Agreed, there's lot of little sub projects going here, the question is: Will this year be the year we see them all come together? I sure hope so! On 12/25/2020 at 6:45 PM, scvrobeson said: Should certainly be sturdy with all of that brass for the gear. Looks excellent! Matt That's certainly the plan Matt, she's putting on weight at a rapid pace these days! On 12/29/2020 at 4:32 AM, tomprobert said: This continues to amaze and inspire, Craig - outstanding metal work and something I must try one day! Tom Thanks Tom! I really love working with brass, and parts can be as simple or as complex as you choose to make them. Give it a go, you won't regret it! On 12/29/2020 at 5:00 AM, dodgem37 said: Boy, does this look like fun! Sincerely, Mark It certainly is Mark! Another small update, but one I'm happy to have done. My order of scale hardware arrived from the States, so I disassembled the gear in preparation for painting. Nothing fancy here, just primed and painted aluminium, with a little bare metal foil for the strut and some DDG to break up the colour on one of the links. My retract screw looks much better with a wash. I also found a resin electric motor from a verlinden workshop set so that became my retract motor, with a little more creative painting and some wiring, it should look the part! Here's how it looks so far: I've also been working away at the shroud that sits partially around the tail wheel. A couple of years ago Tim (Wunwinglow) sent me an assortment of resin-machinable blocks. I always thought I'd find a use for them one day and today was it. Taking the fuselage contours from the tail wheel cutout in the fuselage, I cut, sanded and filed a male profile to form some litho plate over. In hindsight, I should have just used this to vacuum form the piece over, but I'd been reading Gerald Wingrove's "The Complete Car Modeller" over Christmas and wanted to have a go at forming a complex shape in metal. Firstly, here's the "buck" I then took two roughed out pieces of annealed litho and, working one side at a time, firstly creating folds with pliers, then working out those kinks with the hammer, started to coax the metal to my will.... After a few hours, I had something that looked pretty close. Still needs work, but you get the basic idea! At least the #8 bulkhead is back in place. Time to make that toilet I think! Cheers, Craig Harrison90, Scotsman, Greg W and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKB Posted January 26, 2021 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Craig, You'd think by now your modeling skills would be the accepted norm. Far from it! Every update continually takes it up a notch! The whole "C" project has gone beyond modeling to, more accurately, building a minature replica! And educational as well --- how many are familar with the inner workings of the early Fortress tail wheel! You're not going to find the amount of detail you've incorporated into your tail wheel assembly, in you everyday 1/32 B-17 build -- down to an appropriately shaped retraction motor/gearbox! Amazing how, sooner or later, digarded parts in the "spares box" become just what you were looking for. You're right about the shroud ... a vac'ed one would have been the logical way to go ... and easier, but there;s something about a "handcrafted" part that makes it better! You know, if you weren't such a "stickler," you probably would have pulled off this "G" to "C" conversion years ago --- with a pretty decent looking model to show for it. I for one am glad you're a glutton for punishment and took the road you did. I'm sure though, after you complete each "sub-model" assemble, the punishment becomes satisfaction, doesn't it. Terry brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 26, 2021 Author Share Posted January 26, 2021 Thanks Terry! Your constant encouragement and assistance in research has been one of the main reasons this build has become what it has! I would probably never have been able to decipher the construction of the tail motor assembly without your labelled and interpreted overlays Still got a lot of clean up to do on the shroud, but it was definitely a good exercise in metal shaping which I'm sure will come in handy later on. Believe me, this is as educational for me as it is for everyone reading this thread. Now, off to Aircorps library to have another look at a few drawings of the rear fuselage equipment installation. Did you get that E model flight manual I emailed you? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 Thanks Maru! Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted March 23, 2021 Author Share Posted March 23, 2021 Been a while, but there's still progress happening (as slow as it is!) When I drew and printed the stabiliser and elevator, I didn't think ahead enough to shape the leading edge of the elevator to seat inside the stab. I ended up printing a flat mating surface between the two which is woefully unacceptable It took much thinking, but I finally decided I didn't need the acrylic spar I made to run through the fuselage (more on that in the future). So it was down to a lot of grinding, shaping and generally making a mess. For the uninitiated, neither acrylic or 3D prints are very easy to sand or shape post production, so it pays to get it right the first time! This is what I started with... I then slowly ground out the rear of the stab And inserted some styrene rod to shape the leading edge of the elevator With much reference to drawings and Boeing pictures, I separated and the trim tabs and then covered them in very soft foil. By my estimation, the tabs on the original B299 had flush rivets, so surely the C/Ds would have them too? Doesn't look like much, but there's been a huge amount of work just to get the one elevator to this point so far. One down, one to go! I'll get there one day Cheers, Craig Looks much better though! Starfighter, Greg W, USMC Herc and 13 others 16 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