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HK B-17...C 11/2 progress resumes!


brahman104

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So here's this week's effort. I guess it doesn't look like much but there's quite a few hours of work in there :)

 

First of all, after two attempts at making the "pull box" I decided the only way I was going to be able to solder together multiple bits of brass in close proximity to one another was to build a jig.

 

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It was essential that everything was straight, as the pullies were going in between the slots and the grand plan was to drill three sets of holes running right the way through and mount them all on brass rod (much easier said then done, unless of course you are Peter, and are clever enough to photo etch everything including alignment holes before you build it!).

 

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Anyway, it didn't end up coming out too shabby and I managed to indeed get rods through from one end to the other and mount all the  pullies. Yay!

 

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And here it is mounted under where the centre control pedestal will go.

 

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View from the top...

 

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With that in place it was time to start running control cables, or I'd never get them in.

 

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As these pullies were not in line with each other, I didn't bother making them out of brass as it would have take all weekend just to make the extras!

 

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So this is where it's at overall at the moment. As I said, doesn't look like much, but there is lot's of fiddly bits, especially when it comes to running the control cables around the place. It's not 100% accurate, but hopefully it'll give a good impression through the forward entry door :)

 

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The rest of the weekend was taken up with playing with my new Up mini 3D printer. At the moment I'm puddling around trying to work out the limitations of the printer and of the design program I'm using (google Sketchup - make). It's okay, but Rhino 3D is looking ever more appealing. This machine is heaps of fun, although to me I feel that I will use it to supplement traditional techniques and materials, not replace them. There's no substitute for brass!After a few failures, I made a boat anchor. Just because I could :)

 

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii532/brahman104/IMG_0959_zps330b2991.jpg

 

Oh yes and I have finally cut the iPhone away and am using a proper camera to take photos. I have a lot to learn at the moment, but these today are my first ever playing with macro/white balance/aperture/iso. 

 

Craig

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Hi Craig,

Just love the amount of detail you are doing here :yahoo: , nice to see the use of brass in your build, it does bring another dimension to the model  :goodjob: and I know what you mean when you say it gets addictive, will be waiting for your next update  :popcorn:  :popcorn:  :popcorn:

 

Regards

Richard

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Please excuse me while I go retrieve my jaw from the floor. The conversion to a D model is spectacular enough, now this scratch-building just raises this level to something even better. Beautiful work, can't wait to see what's next.

 

 

 

Matt  :frantic:

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Hi Craig,

Just love the amount of detail you are doing here :yahoo: , nice to see the use of brass in your build, it does bring another dimension to the model  :goodjob: and I know what you mean when you say it gets addictive, will be waiting for your next update  :popcorn:  :popcorn:  :popcorn:

 

Regards

Richard

 

Thanks Richard. I've still got a looong way to go to be near your level, but it's great fun and I'm learning lots at the same time. Hopefully I can get most of the floor details done soon to a point where I can put a little paint on them.

 

Wow Craig, I'm absolutely impressed with this kind of building. I'm afraid I'll forever be more of an assembler as I wouldn't know where to start in doing this kind of work! Amazing!

 

Cheers,

Wolf

Thanks Wolf, although I'm not really sure you can confine yourself to merely an "assembler." I've seen your spit and other builds, I know that sort of magic doesn't just happen out of the box........ :)

 

Please excuse me while I go retrieve my jaw from the floor. The conversion to a D model is spectacular enough, now this scratch-building just raises this level to something even better. Beautiful work, can't wait to see what's next.

 

 

 

Matt  :frantic:

Many thanks Matt. Once I get my head around this design software, hopefully there'll be some 3D parts making some guest appearances in the build. It shouldn't be too much longer and I'll move onto the bomb bay, but I do need to get those fuselage masters ready for vac forming too. Not enough hours in the day I'm afraid!

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Thanks for the interest and comments guys! Glad you're all approving of my amateurish efforts so far! :)

 

Well I figured I couldn't really go any further without putting some paint on. Tommy P informed me that the early model B-17's would most likely have been natural metal in most of the interior, apart from those parts covered in soundproofing of course. 

 

Now I am absolutely rubbish at metal finishes, I think a large part of it has to do with poor choices in undercoats. For this I chose Alclad black primer, which I will never do again. It came out very dusty, which was almost impossible to remove and so easily showed through onto the silver surfaces. I used Alclad duralumin, which I know works, as I've seen other people achieve great things with, so I put this one down to operator error. In the end it's probably not the end of the world, as this area will have a floodlight, but its positioning will cast some rather large shadows, so hopefully it will hide my shoddy paintwork. I'm also going for the "hard pressed" look, so I played around with some washes and the like.

 

So here is before:

 

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And after:

 

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I still had to add another 5 control cables on each side running from the pulley box. Instead of making actual pullies on the outside, I just used styrene rod to create a 90 degree bend for the cable runs as this area will be covered anyway.

 

Having never built a Biplane model, I can only imagine how sporting running rigging is after dealing with this lot....

 

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.... yes I'm still working out camera settings :)

 

So the underfloor area is almost finished, tomorrow I'll be able to paint the flight deck floor and make a start on the centre pedestal and instrument panel, which of course will have to be scratch built as it will now be a different shape. This will be my first foray into using the air scale etched instruments and I must say I'm looking forward to it!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

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I think that looks pretty good, Craig! But let me recommend to you Tamiya's AS-12 Bare Metal Silver rattle can paint. Personally, I decant it for airbrushing, but it's workable straight out of the can. It's bulletproof, foolproof and a lot less hassle than Alclad. I wouldn't use it for a polished metal finish, but for a lot of applications, it's ideal. Here are some examples:

 

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And for good measure, here's Hasegawa's 1/48 Mustang, with the wings done in AS-12, and the fuselage done in Alclad's Polished Aluminium:

 

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Here you can see the difference between the two paints, but you wouldn't want to be using polished aluminium on interiors and other working areas anyway, so AS-12 really comes into it's own for that application. You can shade it with other metallic colours, apply washes (oil, acrylic or clay), and generally get away with murder.

 

Go get some!

 

Kev

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Guest Peterpools

Craig

Spectacular work and your craftsmanship is amazing. Kev and Ron's suggestions on using Taamiya rattle cans is excellent and will produced a nice aluminum finish. AS-12 is also excellent for reproducing painted aluminum/glossed finises as on the Meteor for example. I've also become a huge fan of Tamiya Fine Gray Primer from the rattle can and have been using it more and more with each build.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

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Thanks very much Ron and Peter! I've been using their grey primer for quite a few years now (no idea what possessed me to NOT use it in this case?) and I certainly agree with you that it's a top quality product. Looks like I'm off to go see what the LHS has in stock tomorrow......

 

Craig

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