crobinsonh Posted July 20, 2019 Share Posted July 20, 2019 Fantastic work as usual. I love the B-52 and yours is a monster! tomprobert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 I spent a great day yesterday at RIAT at RAF Fairford, and one of the star exhibits in the static display (at least for me) was this fine specimen of USAF heavy metal: IMG_1319 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr As well as taking lots of reference shots for the current aerial fit and other various lumps and bumps, what really struck me was the state of the thing. I'm used to seeing pictures of the current BUFF fleet in reasonably good condition in terms of paint finish, but this one was really heavily weathered and was showing lots of zinc-chromate primer. It looks like it had flown through a heavy hail storm or the like, as it almost has sand-blasted effect on the leading edges. It was a mess! IMG_1325 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1309 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1311 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1305 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr It looks like I can get creative with my paint job when the time comes, and although heavily-weathered finishes are not my thing, it'd certainly add some interest to an otherwise rather bland all over grey if I go down that route. Now - back to the bench... Tom Gazzas, Tony T, D.B. Andrus and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rigor Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Them lazy air force guys lol wonder how many guys it tAkes to paint that monster Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radders Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Tom, it had gone through a really bad storm.. thought it looked great though! Good to bump into you too! Out2gtcha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted July 25, 2019 Author Share Posted July 25, 2019 (edited) 19 hours ago, Radders said: Tom, it had gone through a really bad storm.. thought it looked great though! Good to bump into you too! I thought it must have been something like that - on another thread I’m posting this build on someone said that it apparently it hit an epic hail storm as it was coming out of Guam. Someone needs to get their paint brush out... Good to see you too - glad you found the chopper in the forest too! Edited July 25, 2019 by tomprobert Typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 Afternoon all, Since my last update I've been working on the stabilisers of the B-52. They were first removed from the backing sheet and sanded to the correct thickness, with extra attention being paid to the trailing edges to ensure they were as thin as possible. The stabilisers are very large on this model, and therefore needed a substantial spar structure in order to keep them rigid: IMG_E1266 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1267 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr They were then secured to the fuselage and the joins made good, before they received a coat of primer. I have also made the swivel plates from thin plastic card and added these to the correct locations on the fuselage sides: DSC_0216 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0214 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0211 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr We now have a model that is, more or less, structurally complete: DSC_0218 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0227 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0222 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr As you can see from the images above I've also been working on attaching the wing fuel tanks. These didn't fit well to the wing, as the shape of the pylon doesn't match the curvature of the wing. I did consider removing parts from the pylon and trimming it so that it followed the wing's curve, but this meant the tank sat too close to the wing. Therefore, I've instead opted to modify and build up the pylon and blend it in with Milliput. The image below shows what I mean - sanding and final blending still to be done: DSC_0225 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr In other news, designing of some soon-to-be printed 3D wheels is progressing well: IMG_E1386 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Until next time, Tom Greg W, Starfighter, Tony T and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 Awesome sauce! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 This build is really taking on some good shape Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 That’s very impressive and inspiring work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 Beautiful work ! I keep coming back wondering what you are up to next... and it's always amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Where are you going to display this lovely Buff? Every update is awesome. Can’t wait for the finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted December 13, 2019 Author Share Posted December 13, 2019 Evening all With the Xmas holidays here it's time to get this monster back on the bench... IMG_1693 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1694 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I'm making slow in-roads in scratch-building the flap apertures and associated structures at the moment - more soon hopefully! Tom F-4Phanwell, daveculp, Starfighter and 12 others 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted December 13, 2019 Share Posted December 13, 2019 We’ve all been waiting! nice to see it back in progress tomprobert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 And waiting......so great to see this one back on the massive table of your whim. tomprobert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted December 15, 2019 Author Share Posted December 15, 2019 A little more progress to update you on this evening... I've been busy making the individual ribs for the wings - each one has been made from plastic card and then glued to the inner wing surfaces. Making each one identical was tedious to say the least, but the effect is what I was after. I've also been adding some Evergreen stiffeners too, and I'll now need to make the stringers that sit between the ribs and add those. Plenty to keep me busy over the next few sessions! IMG_1702 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1699 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Until next time, Tom D.B. Andrus, Lothar, Trak-Tor and 18 others 21 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