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


brahman104

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19 hours ago, TorbenD said:

Delightful! Mightily impressive work Craig

 

What plastic and thickness did you use to Vac the windows? Regarding polishing out, I’d love to see how you go about that when the time comes. :popcorn:

 

Torben

 

Thanks Torben!

 

I used 0.8mm acrylic sheet. Probably the thickest you'd want to go for vac forming, as you have a window of literally seconds between the sheet being soft enough to form and it getting too hot it bubbles. I've timed it to 1 minute and 50 seconds from cold. At 1.52 the bubbles start!

 

In regards to polishing it out, so would I! :frantic:

 

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19 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Superb work, Craig! Glad to hear you came out of the floods unscathed, too.

 

Kev

 

Thanks Kev, yep pretty lucky. There's plenty of places that went under!

 

18 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Inspired work for sure Craig!

 

Thanks Brian! :)

 

16 hours ago, Shawn M said:

wow, excellent work and problem solving, you're knocking this outta the park!

 

Thanks Shawn! I am really enjoying working with acrylic.

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Craig,

 

 C or D --- rough choice. Your reasoning for going with the C does indeed have it's merits.

 

You work in acrylic (well, any material really) like a scultor works in marble --- your usual astonding work! The dome came out great as did the waist windows --- especially how you incorporated the aft depressions! She's really starting to take on personality!

Just curious. Once you finesse your final fit and skin the waist gun area, what are your plans to prevent the removable portion from slipping into the interior? Slight matching bevels along the inside perimeter of the fuselage frame and removable portion?

 

With all your interior work, making the waist windows removable was a gimme. You do know,  you've now committed yourself to making the early type "vee" swivel gun mounts "functional", so you can swing the .50s in and out of postion.

 

Just a heads up --- don't forget about those wind deflectors between the opening and the front window portion. Just don't want you to have to deal with an "aw, ?@#%" moment!

 

This build is pretty hard to categorize. The basic wings, to a degree, will be HK. The entire fuselage, except for the HK  bomb bay "shell", is scratchbuilt, so you could hardly call it a conversion. Throw in all the different types of material being used. When finished, I'd have to call her a hybrid --- paralleling Swoose herself!

 

Always look forward to your updates, but they are always cliffhangers --- "What's next!"

 

 

Terry

 

 

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Craig,

 

Forgot to include earlier.

 

When she's finished and displayed, you'll need a disclaimer accompanying her;

 

"Blink at your own risk --- you may miss the HK!"

 

Terry

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3 hours ago, TKB said:

Craig,

 

 C or D --- rough choice. Your reasoning for going with the C does indeed have it's merits.

 

You work in acrylic (well, any material really) like a scultor works in marble --- your usual astonding work! The dome came out great as did the waist windows --- especially how you incorporated the aft depressions! She's really starting to take on personality!

Just curious. Once you finesse your final fit and skin the waist gun area, what are your plans to prevent the removable portion from slipping into the interior? Slight matching bevels along the inside perimeter of the fuselage frame and removable portion?

 

With all your interior work, making the waist windows removable was a gimme. You do know,  you've now committed yourself to making the early type "vee" swivel gun mounts "functional", so you can swing the .50s in and out of postion.

 

Just a heads up --- don't forget about those wind deflectors between the opening and the front window portion. Just don't want you to have to deal with an "aw, ?@#%" moment!

 

This build is pretty hard to categorize. The basic wings, to a degree, will be HK. The entire fuselage, except for the HK  bomb bay "shell", is scratchbuilt, so you could hardly call it a conversion. Throw in all the different types of material being used. When finished, I'd have to call her a hybrid --- paralleling Swoose herself!

 

Always look forward to your updates, but they are always cliffhangers --- "What's next!"

 

 

Terry

 

 

 

Hahaha, another challenge laid down Terry? Sounds do-able with the .50 mounts though, should be fun! About the windows, my thinking is a slight lip on the interior that will hold the window in place - a slight concession from the real thing I know but I think it's the practical solution! I still have to shape the other side yet, and yes, include the wind deflectors! Thanks for the reminder! :)

 

2 hours ago, TKB said:

Craig,

 

Forgot to include earlier.

 

When she's finished and displayed, you'll need a disclaimer accompanying her;

 

"Blink at your own risk --- you may miss the HK!"

 

Terry

 

Yep, you are right! In fact I ended up selling most of the remainder of the kit as parts to another Gentleman in England a while ago, so I'm definitely committed to that! :)

 

Very small update:

 

Got some successful pulls on the left and right hand clear tailcone sections yesterday. They don't look like too much now but once they're shaped, they should be a pretty close representation of the original...... I suppose I'd better have some working LED bombing signals to go in there too!

 

sFZyRZK.jpg

 

eTYr9jR.jpg

 

Pretty happy that they line up with the existing tail piece almost perfectly, considering I made that piece about 4 years ago!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

 

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Craig,

 

Nosepiece, cockpit windshield/windows/dome, waist windows and tailcone; each presented their own unique challenge. You took a pragmatic approach with each hurdle and threw in a whole lot of determination. Even in their "rough" stages, your tenacity yielded some mighty fine results. You mentioned you "dreaded" the ever problematic tranparencies, but I think it's safe to say you are over the hump. Once refined and polished, your "clear" parts --- usually the bane of B-17 models --- are really going to be one of the numerous standout features of your C.

 

Great work!

 

Terry

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20 hours ago, TKB said:

Craig,

 

Nosepiece, cockpit windshield/windows/dome, waist windows and tailcone; each presented their own unique challenge. You took a pragmatic approach with each hurdle and threw in a whole lot of determination. Even in their "rough" stages, your tenacity yielded some mighty fine results. You mentioned you "dreaded" the ever problematic tranparencies, but I think it's safe to say you are over the hump. Once refined and polished, your "clear" parts --- usually the bane of B-17 models --- are really going to be one of the numerous standout features of your C.

 

Great work!

 

Terry

 

This has definitely been a build of innumerable firsts Terry, but at the end, what have I got to lose? If I stuff up a part, I make a new one :) and hopefully learn from the mistake and not repeat it! Hahaha

 

12 hours ago, airscale said:

My word - very impressive Craig

 

I have an allergy to transparencies so I get scared watching what you are doing

 

that said. you are making it look easy so maybe I need to man up when the time comes :)

 

I love every minute of this build..

 

Peter

 

Many thanks Peter!

 

I remember all the "fun" you had with your Spit, but you DID nail it in the end! I feel I have come to an understanding with Acrylic, and it seems to be working for me, so I'd very much imagine that you'll be able to coax it to your will with your magician-like skills :) Acrylic definitely is the way to go my friend!

 

6 hours ago, Wolf Buddee said:

Wow Craig!

 

This is such an amazing build and impressive scratch building of the highest order. Best of all, when she's done, you'll have something that no one else will have with a "C" model. Damn that is unbelievable cool.

 

Cheers,

Wolf

 

Thanks Wolf! Great to hear from you!

 

Hahaha, yes you're right! I'll have not very much of a HK B-17 that took an awful long time! ;) But it will be worth it! I can't wait to get the fuselage all closed up, and get working on that beautiful aluminium finish!

 

Mid-week mini update before things get hectic for about a month again! 

 

I thought you guys would be keen to see what the tail cone looks like with the rest of the tail in place (I know I was!)

 

Kj2dEHM.jpg

 

Not bad... line-up looks good, but how does it measure up with the rudder in play?:hmmm:

 

lKEhEPt.jpg

 

Not too shabby at all! For those that are familiar, the tail cone does stick out a little further than the edge of the fin. For a while I was worried I was going to come up short!

 

FhtHPk9.jpg

 

I'd love nothing more than to fit it to the fuselage now, but there's some hoops to jump through first....

 

Hoop 1. Polishing.....

I think it was Torben who was asking about how I was going to polish the acrylic, the answer is SLOWLY and WET. Only done a little tonight on one half, but it seems to be working so far. Both inside faces had a fair amount of distortion due to imperfections in my hydrocal casts (Should have had a better finish on these!), but patient sanding with a 400 grit sanding stick, followed by progressive grades of 3M sanding sponges, up to microfine, seems to be going well. I haven't use any form of polish or micromesh yet, so it should look even better after that, if the one on the right is anything to go by!

 

1aWG80H.jpg

 

Hoop 2. The tailcone needs to be one piece prior to final fitment onto the fuselage. This can't happen without Step 1, so each side needs to be internally as flawless as I can make them, as I won't be able to get inside once they're joined together.....

 

Hoop 3. Both fuselage halves need to be joined. 

Well hoop 3 is going to take a while to sort out for obvious reasons, but in the meantime there's plenty of polishing practice for me!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

 

 

Edited by brahman104
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Craig,

 

Quoting you from Post #1, 12/22/14 --- "turn it into something resembling a D." The aft fuselage is the most defining characteristic of the C/D and your "taped together, in the rough" photos bear out that you have gone beyond simply "resembling!"  I certainly hope your arm was long enough to reach back and give yourself a pat on the back!

 

Good thing you've taken photos from the beginning. Once you've skinned her into a gleaming B-17C, no one will believe the meld of different materials you brought together to achieve the end result.

 

You've plainly mastered utilizing acrylic to fabricate parts as well as vacuforming it. Compared to the frailty of other vacuform mediums, acrylic does offer substantial solidity and workability. I can only imagine the nightmare of attempting to join the tailcone halves pulled from the usual materials. Judging from how nicely the tailcone is polishing out, the tail lights will certainly not be "lost" in distortion.

 

Keep astounding us --- MAESTRO!

 

Terry

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/7/2019 at 10:55 PM, Out2gtcha said:

Good show man!

 

Many thanks Brian!

 

On 2/8/2019 at 2:18 AM, TKB said:

Craig,

 

Quoting you from Post #1, 12/22/14 --- "turn it into something resembling a D." The aft fuselage is the most defining characteristic of the C/D and your "taped together, in the rough" photos bear out that you have gone beyond simply "resembling!"  I certainly hope your arm was long enough to reach back and give yourself a pat on the back!

 

Good thing you've taken photos from the beginning. Once you've skinned her into a gleaming B-17C, no one will believe the meld of different materials you brought together to achieve the end result.

 

You've plainly mastered utilizing acrylic to fabricate parts as well as vacuforming it. Compared to the frailty of other vacuform mediums, acrylic does offer substantial solidity and workability. I can only imagine the nightmare of attempting to join the tailcone halves pulled from the usual materials. Judging from how nicely the tailcone is polishing out, the tail lights will certainly not be "lost" in distortion.

 

Keep astounding us --- MAESTRO!

 

Terry

 

 

Thanks Terry! Yours and everyone else's ceaseless words of encouragement are what keeps a build like this going, especially after all this time!

 

Well now, where did that last month go? Oh yeah that's right, I was in NZ for a week, then two days at home, then down to Avalon with work. Oh how times flies - literally!!!!!

 

I finally had a quietish weekend (notwithstanding getting my house broken into and laptop stolen) and I really wanted to have a crack at covering the waist windows with aluminium. As these are riveted over the top of the existing skin, I can get them all ready to go now, then place them on at a later date (about June, 2035 at my rate!).

 

This like many other aspects of this build, promised to be highly challenging, especially as there is a formed depression in the metal to meet the rear of the window, as well as the openings for the wind deflectors and the forward observation window. Have a look below at how the adventure unfolded......

 

KkBGyOT.jpg

 

First up was to cut the piece oversize and anneal if for forming the depression. I did this over the "inside" of the acrylic frame I had already made. The unfortunate by-product being that the metal was now very soft, so removing the three apertures for the windows was quite tricky and very time consuming....

 

00dfXCw.jpg

 

Slowly, I began to make headway, but I really needed a solid support so I didn't unnecessarily distort the shape. I vac formed another piece of the fuselage section and taped the piece inside so as to keep the curvature....

 

qtv7WgX.jpg

 

rv4rpA8.jpg

 

Trying to get a nice shape to the front window was extremely difficult, and took a lot of filing then rechecking against the reference pics...

 

9THdH0L.jpg

 

I finally got there though, and with rivets applied (heaps of fun!) it was glued in place on the acrylic window sill....

 

nP42nE7.jpg

 

A close up of the front showing the rivets to good effect.

 

A little more shaping of the wind deflector port there and it's not looking too bad!

 

LdfiPuU.jpg

 

Yet a bit more whittling and the previously shaped waist window fits nicely!

 

dbY5JGK.jpg

 

Still got to line the windows with aluminium, but it does fit! Yay!

 

I also redid the top cap on the tail cone to make it look a bit neater..... not entirely how they did it in real life but this piece is small!!!!!

 

9As2YHz.jpg

 

MQBgRHs.jpg

 

I promise I'll start the tail wheel soon!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

 

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Craig,

It's an understatment, but ----- AMAZING!

On its own, without your support piece, it looks to be very delicate. Once it's permanently in place in the fuselage opening hopefully that won't be an issue.

The fit of the window shows a lot of patience and skill on your part! For sure you have to make the gun mount totally functional so you can "pop" the windows and swing the .50s inward and then out into firing position. Sounds daunting, but I'm sure with some brass tubing, plastic and a whole lot of Craig --- you'd pull it off! Hmmmm? Maybe a couple of spare windows so you can have them setting near Blk#8 and be seen when you "pop" the windows! Yeah, ideas --- I have a million of them!

Your tail cone may not be exactly as the original was fabricated, but in the end it will impossible to see the difference and will "look the part." If it weren't for you pointing it out, believe me, no one here would be calling you out on it!

 

Terry

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/11/2019 at 4:58 PM, TKB said:

Craig,

It's an understatment, but ----- AMAZING!

On its own, without your support piece, it looks to be very delicate. Once it's permanently in place in the fuselage opening hopefully that won't be an issue.

The fit of the window shows a lot of patience and skill on your part! For sure you have to make the gun mount totally functional so you can "pop" the windows and swing the .50s inward and then out into firing position. Sounds daunting, but I'm sure with some brass tubing, plastic and a whole lot of Craig --- you'd pull it off! Hmmmm? Maybe a couple of spare windows so you can have them setting near Blk#8 and be seen when you "pop" the windows! Yeah, ideas --- I have a million of them!

Your tail cone may not be exactly as the original was fabricated, but in the end it will impossible to see the difference and will "look the part." If it weren't for you pointing it out, believe me, no one here would be calling you out on it!

 

Terry

 

Sure thing Terry; and a little "Tripoli" in an oxygen mask too! :)

 

Well the last two months have been absolute chaos, but I did finally manage to slip in a few days at Easter to regain my sanity and do a little work on the Fort.


I was at a classic procrastination point. The bathtub needed the internal walls so I could start detailing the gunner's station but the internal walls also formed the basis for the floor near the entry-way into the rear fuselage. The internal walls needed to be positioned so I could make the gunner's cushion, but the bathtub couldn't be positioned permanently because I hadn't closed up the fuselage, and wouldn't be doing so for a long time....... :hmmm:

 

After much dry fitting and fettling, I made the two internal "walls." These were painstakingly shaped to fit and lined with litho. They also had lightning holes which also had to line up with the outer observation window when everything was together..... No pressure.......total chicken and egg scenario!  :frantic:

 

2dbUT8U.jpg

 

Like the radio room, I made a slot of the gun ring to slide in and did my best at trying to simulate a cushion (sculpture is clearly not my strong point!)

 

vQhDCdG.jpg

 

x908OxL.jpg

 

Each side, once lined and detailed had to be glued in place using the bathtub taped in position to ensure alignment.... never have I wanted another hand and smaller fingers than now!!!! After a fair amount of effort, I had both sides in and glued. Surprisingly, both the bathtub AND the left hand fuselage could still be removed! Win!!!!

 

bV6SKy5.jpg

 

ivvx59S.jpg

 

Now for a few shots to show you how it all fits together....

 

2P0h5qs.jpg

 

dvmECfm.jpg

 

jqKd978.jpg

Note: Bathtub position can still be adjusted to line up the holes better :)

 

MUkBndx.jpg

 

qeO4J3b.jpg

 

S2QdW4h.jpg

 

CzTZY55.jpg

 

This one is from the radio room hatch looking down....

ak3Bbtv.jpg

 

And it's still all removable!

S8J0WUL.jpg

 

HaZBtJt.jpg

 

5xJCWnQ.jpg

 

 

Pretty happy with that! Now I can finally get to grips with that floor, which will led to gun mounts and all the other details that I've been needing to do but couldn't until I sorted this!

 

I'm taking some time off work soon, so hopefully I can get a good run on this and edge her a bit closer to the end!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by brahman104
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