Jump to content

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


brahman104

Recommended Posts

Hi Craig,

Don't know how  I missed this build but ... MY GOD! .. I hear words thrown around Like "Epic' , 'Awesome' ' Outstanding' and the like ... you are one serious modelling Artisan - who's  dedicated , talented, experimental , willing to take risks, push the envelope... just WOW!

I like how you turned it from a basic plastic assembly kit to an engineering resin/plastic/metal-miracle!

I wished I came in on this earlier... 

I applaud you no end Craig for your Go-for-it approaches ( whether it works or not)  and your obvious Brilliantly Talented efforts here!

Phil :clap2:

Edited by Piprm
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Craig,

 

That's some beautiful looking skin work! A lot of work, but the overlapping panels and raised rivets beat the hell out of engraved panels lines and rivets. Your original rivets looked good, but had a "soft' look to them compared these sharp, distinct rivets in nice straight rows! Outstanding work ... you just keep raising the bar!

 

You wanted a "gleaming" B-17C and your going to get it!

 

Don't forget about those 5 fore/aft "external stiffener strips" on the outboard and feeder fuel tank access panels on the lower wing.

 

Terry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Piprm said:

Hi Craig,

Don't know how  I missed this build but ... MY GOD! .. I hear words thrown around Like "Epic' , 'Awesome' ' Outstanding' and the like ... you are one serious modelling Artisan - who's  dedicated , talented, experimental , willing to take risks, push the envelope... just WOW!

I like how you turned it from a basic plastic assembly kit to an engineering resin/plastic/metal-miracle!

I wished I came in on this earlier... 

I applaud you no end Craig for your Go-for-it approaches ( whether it works or not)  and your obvious Brilliantly Talented efforts here!

Phil :clap2:

 

G'day Phil! Thanks for checking in on the build! I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey so far....it's certainly been a challenge. But then, with the work I've seen you do on your Canberra, I feel you're just as worthy of the artisan title ;) There's plenty more to do here yet, so keep an eye out :) 

 

1 hour ago, TKB said:

Craig,

 

That's some beautiful looking skin work! A lot of work, but the overlapping panels and raised rivets beat the hell out of engraved panels lines and rivets. Your original rivets looked good, but had a "soft' look to them compared these sharp, distinct rivets in nice straight rows! Outstanding work ... you just keep raising the bar!

 

You wanted a "gleaming" B-17C and your going to get it!

 

Don't forget about those 5 fore/aft "external stiffener strips" on the outboard and feeder fuel tank access panels on the lower wing.

 

Terry

 

Thanks Terry! As I keep saying in this build, even if I do something 4 or 5 times, the end result always justifies the extra time and effort! :) It certainly helps having your and so many others encouragement to motivate me along the way too. 

 

Thanks for the reminder, I'll have to go back through our correspondence to brush up on the details when I get there. For now I'll get the top of the wing done.

 

24 minutes ago, MikeMaben said:

 

           That's the ticket ! ...  

 

cEVRNLT.jpg?1

 

Thanks Mike! Always appreciate your comments!! :)

 

Got the inner aft wing section finished off just now. Very happy with how things have turned out! It's time to make a new template ;)

 

Here's where it's at so far.....

 

7JhtUCC.jpg

 

60AxhXA.jpg

 

kArChf9.jpg

 

k9HD96z.jpg

 

Till next time B)

 

Craig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/12/2020 at 9:41 AM, tomprobert said:

With the skinning on it’s really starting to come to life now, Craig. You’ll need a decent set of shades when viewing the model outside in a sunny day - the glare!

 

 

Thanks Tom! It's great to finally be getting something akin to some finished surfaces somewhere on the model! Slowly but surely, the challenge is going to be the compound curves when they pop up!

 

Started on the inner forward panels. It took a while to work out where the fuel filler caps and the access ports for checking the quantities in each tank went. There's also even MORE rivets on each panel in this section. First one is down though, with the rest through the curio and waiting to be cut out.

 

N14fvyj.jpg

 

I7MBQRh.jpg

 

f56XGPa.jpg

 

The likelihood of stuffing one of these panels up is enormous (probably about 3 hours of work at least in this one alone)..... gotta go slow, double check everything! 

 

Cheers

 

Craig

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am speechless...

 

I always wondered how you would do this Craig as raised rivets are sooooo much harder to do than recessed in litho, but this... I could never have conceived it

 

the results are incredible - you sir, are an unmitigated genius :)

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/21/2020 at 7:03 PM, TKB said:

Craig,

 

You are keeping a running tally of your rivets --- so you can give us a "final count" when she's done, right?

 

 

Terry

 

Well the HK box says over 800,000..... and they don't really depict the double rows, sooooo....:whistle::whistle::whistle:

 

On 10/21/2020 at 7:27 PM, Robthepom said:

thats so........erm...ho...errrr

 

I'm lost for words

 

 

 

Hahahaha!!

 

On 10/21/2020 at 8:05 PM, dodgem37 said:

You, Peter Castle (Airscale), and Pete Fleischmann, You B Mates.

 

Great!  Looking forward to more.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

Bit like that isn't it Mark!

 

On 10/22/2020 at 11:15 AM, airscale said:

I am speechless...

 

I always wondered how you would do this Craig as raised rivets are sooooo much harder to do than recessed in litho, but this... I could never have conceived it

 

the results are incredible - you sir, are an unmitigated genius :)

 

Peter

 

Thanks so much Peter! I'd love to say I pioneered this technique, but there are many others out there that I've learned from along the way. Of course, as you know, one has to try it for themselves and make their own mistakes too! And there's plennnnnty of those! :)

 

On 10/22/2020 at 10:19 PM, Starfighter said:

Wow, wow, wow and wow - this is pretty much what I initially planned to do to skiny ma MH-53E, but I don't think I can get close to a result like this - absolutely mind boggling! 

 

I reckon you could Ben, just depends how many years you want to extend you build by!!! :rofl:

 

On 10/23/2020 at 12:32 AM, Rainer Hoffmann said:

Wow, more metal work! That seems to be contagious.

 

Great work, Craig!

 

Cheers

Rainer

 

Absolutely Rainer! Now how about yours....... ;)

 

On 10/23/2020 at 4:15 AM, Derek B said:

Amazing Craig...what else can I say!

 

Derek

 

Thanks Derek! I appreciate the comments! :)

 

So, the top side of one inner wing is done!

 

Qv0XsxU.jpg

S5C1CVg.jpg

QE1fP7V.jpg

 

Very happy thus far, it does take an awfully long time though! :)

 

The last six months or so has been focussing on the wings, mainly because I was at a stumbling block with the fuselage lighting. I really couldn't decide how I was going to run the wires, where I was going to put the power source, or exactly how I wanted the lighting to be placed. As that needed to be solved before anything else could happen, I took a break from that knowing that I generally get to point later on where I have a revelation and the path ahead becomes clear......

 

This is what keeps me going on a big project like this; focussing on doing a few bits and pieces here and there then moving to something else once I figure it out. It's almost the same a starting a new model, but because it's so big there's always mini-projects to do....

 

Back to the lighting. I actually hadn't tested the lighting since the move and didn't even know if everything still worked. The "magnet wire" I use for the LEDs is so fine a couple of repeated wiggles in the same direction can snap it, which causes major headaches if you've just permanently installed a light or tubing. Happily, the four existing LEDs seemed to work just fine.

 

L2LZOlI.jpg

KrquxPJ.jpg

 

I had installed a power distribution board made by a company called ngineering. They make all sorts of cool stuff for model railways. The board I had was supposed to do up to 8 LEDs, and I'd already connected 4, but when I went back to the instruction guide I couldn't work out how to wire up the additional 4 off the same board. I was worried about the prospect of creating short which might damage what I had already done, so I used another board and ran power to each one in parallel off a mini "bus bar."

 

JgwNnTG.jpg

 

The "Bus Bar" was simply the solder pads for some self adhesive LED strip lighting, so it worked well to sit in the void that is the wing root area. You can see the original board at the top in the life raft area, and the second one I am working on now which will live under the radio room floor. The red and black wires running to the left will be the main power wires which will run through the gear legs, seeing as I need an 18V power source to run the boards. The mountain of tape you see here looks absolutely awful, but I'll tidy it up once everything is working (and it'll be hidden anyway :) ).

 

A while ago I'd 3D printed some little lamps for the radio operator and navigator. I'd already connected one of these up, but needed to run a piece of tube from the light to mount it above the radio operator's table like in the real thing. The problem I had was that while magnet wire runs nicely through a 0.18" inch stainless tube, this LED was pre wired with something a bit bigger. The wires were more hardy, but they wouldn't fit in the stainless tube.

 

After some rummaging around I found a piece of brass tube that seemed to do the trick, but for some reason the two wires on the LED would just not fit, so began the painful process of trying to ream out the brass tube....

 

PcjIHIq.jpg

 

Eventually, I had to temporarily solder the tube to a piece of brass flat because I couldn't stop it from spinning in my fingers when using a drill bit. The other bit of fun happened (and I knew it would) when the tip of my 0.6mm drill snapped off inside :blowup::BANGHEAD2:. Nothing for it, I managed to very carefully tap another drill in and dislodge it. After two hours worth of work, by the time I'd reconnected the light, everything was back in place....

 

LIgrkQ7.jpg

CqMFvnO.jpg

 

I sure hope my radio operator appreciates the effort!!!!

 

You can see on the right of the photo the other two wire running down bulkhead #6. These run through the wall and into some tube to make the dome light over the main cabin entry door. There's another to go down near bulkhead #8, one to the cockpit and one for the navigator. It'll be a big relief once they're all in a working!!

 

It's good to be back working on the fuselage again.......See you next time :)

 

Craig

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • brahman104 changed the title to HK B-17...C 11/2 Seeing the light

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...