brahman104 Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 How did I miss this? Incredible work here. And more metal... Where is our hobby headed? Wasn't it called "plastic modelling" once? Brilliant, Craig! Cheers Rainer Thanks Rainer! I'm pretty sure you're guilty here too The metal bug is quite contagious these days isn't it. Rest assured though, there's still plenty of room in the build for plastic shaping up to be a masterpiece Going slowly but surely Rich, and seeing as I seem to build everything about 3 times, you'd think I'd get it right eventually Who needs styrene? THIS IS AWESOME!!! Hahaha, thanks Chuk While I probably could one day ditch styrene altogether, sometimes things are just a little too convenient to do in plastic.... see below This build is absolutely STAGGERING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Incredible talent..... I am in awe.....exquisite..... Many thanks Jeff, glad you're enjoying the build. Incredible stuff, Craig! Kev Thanks as always Kev, the same can be said for your P-39 Sweet Jesus and all things holy! That is astonishing work! Can't wait to see it all with the plumbing installed too. Hahaha, that is a huge compliment coming from you Tom, I hope the rest of the bay passes your critical eye Uh.......wow? I think that about says it all. J Thank you so much Jerry! So with the formalities out of the way, it's onto the build Quick update: I've been working on a few of the little bits and pieces around the bay; it's amazing what comes out at you when you start looking! First up, I installed the light (still working on a plan of how I'm going to hook all these up...) The wiring was fun, in order to hide the super fine "magnet wire" from the light, I stole some not quite as small insulation from some other LED's I had and fed both wires back through it to make one, then made the clamps out of larger insulation. Ever play that game "operation?" This felt harder to do......... You may have also noticed the bomb door retract motor and drive shafting. I didn't actually until I had finished making the truss, then had cut back a few of the little gusset plates that hold the upper part of the catwalk to fit. Luckily, I could still get the trusty turbo carver in there See! I use plastic too....... I've still got to make a few of the little gearboxes that change the drive direction, but I think it's the little details like this that will give the bay that whole "busy and lived in" look. Another one for the road. Till next time Craig tucohoward, Fooesboy, Jan_G and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richdlc Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 absolutely awesome... are you going to display the a/c on a mirror? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 I think that will definitely have to happen Rich! Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Wow!!! Craig, this is proper modelling!!! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Buddee Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Me thinks "awesome" or "fantastic" may be something of an understatement! Way to go Craig! Absolutely freakin' brilliant. Cheers, Wolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKB Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Craig, All I can say is that I repeat every compliment you've gotten and deserve. Everytime you get into something, the area just gets more and more realistic looking! The lighting is a lot of work, but will be well worth it. The different areas are really going to be brought to life when you "flip the switch" and thankfully all your beautiful work can be appreciated. One thing for sure --- you have no need for anyone to put a challenge to you. There is definately a "little voice" already in your head that seems to continually "up the ante" for you! I once thought the wings were going to be pretty straight forward, aside from some slight modifications. I'm not so sure anymore. Once you get into them, I'm sure you will come up with ways to enhance the wheel wells and landing gear ---- and God knows what else! When finished, it wll be interesting to see just how much of the original kit remains part of her. Always a pleasure to see your updates on this "museum quality" build. Terry brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayW Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Man oh man - what a project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Hahaha! When this is finished it might be me who is of "museum quality" Thanks Terry as always for your kind words. I'm having great fun with the bomb bay and finally a new toy is on its way to me, which I hope, will become a game changer for the way I'm planning to attack a very critical area of the build. In any case, there will be many uses for it in the future. What is it? Stay tuned...... And Jay, whenever you'd like to make me some main gear, I'm fine with that. After what you pulled off with the 38, I couldn't imagine that would be too much of a challenge for you! Hopefully some more progress to show soon Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 And the bomb bay details continue. This time it was all about the control cables that enter from the rear of the #4 bulkhead and run across the roof of the bay. Remembering how much fun it was (still is...) doing the under cockpit runs, this was going to be an exercise in extreme patience and delicate handling. First up, I had to build some pulley blocks for the cables to run around. Each one is made up of six pieces, and the pulley diameters are 2.5 and 3mm. For attaching pretty much everything in here I've gone over to using alardite, a two part epoxy adhesive which is extremely strong, although the down side is every time I have to mix up more as the pot life is about 3 minutes.... Going through my tool box I found a neat little 0.2mm drill bit with an enlarged shank on it. This was pretty much the diameter of the thread I am using for the cables, so I marked out where they were going to go through the bulkhead on the outside and hoped like hell I'd put them in the right places when it broke though inside! Slowly, but surely, I started to thread each line around its run. Really fun when there are five per side and they like getting inexplicably tangled around each other, which you don't realise until you think you're finished. This happened three times in a row to me.... I also made a few "fairlead" blocks to keep everything looking parallel and untangled (as much as I could avoid it). These are still loose at the moment, and will be secured once I install the roof. These also required thread the cables through, in the correct order, without tangling. Because of the shape and structure of the bay, the all had to be done by carefully manoeuvring tweezers around inside to run each line. After a few hours of this, my head hurt! Happily, the second side for some reason was much easier, maybe I was just getting the hang of it.... Here's an in progress shot to show how much fun it was There's more, but for some reason photo bucket can't find them at the moment. Beside, you guys get the picture I'm sure. Nevertheless, I'm pretty confident I could now thread the world's smallest needle without much effort after doing this job! Looks like I might be to the point where I need to get the roof onto the bay soon. That done, then its onto the inner bomb racks and then maybe even an auxiliary fuel tank. In my mind, it's going to look awesome. Hopefully that will be at least partially the case in reality! Stay tuned Craig Hubert Boillot, Shawn M, Derek B and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Mr. Wizard. Over the top work, Craig. All truly remarkable. Ingenious skill-sets. Bravo! Sincerely, Mark brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 that is incredible - who would have thought rigging a B17 would be like rigging a Sopwith Camel ..love all that metal - just looks so real - this is going to be truly something to behold Peter Hubert Boillot and brahman104 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcollar Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 What an outstanding build!!! Al brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Fantastic work. These cables and pulleys really look the part. This is getting better and better, if that was possible. Hubert brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 wow, stunning work...im in awe brahman104 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 " After a few hours of this, my head hurt!" My head hurts just trying to get my head around it ! Top Shelf modeling to the 10th level.....Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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