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1/48th Boeing B-52H Stratofortress


tomprobert

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Man that sucks. Trim the left side so it matches the top and then add strip to the right so they match. Reinforce from the inside for strength.

 

Sounds like a cunning plan - I'll keep you posted on my progress...

 

One of the reasons I would recommend using the matt white primer Tom, is not only can it be buffed up to a gloss or semi-gloss sheen where required, but it can also be locally weathered by rubbing in graphite and weathering powders to break up the uniformity. Much easier than spraying tints of white I find, especially for 1960s white Finningley Vulcans which attracted all sorts of brownish and greyish discolouration when subjected to the carried smoke and grime from what used to be industrial heartlands of Sheffield and Scunthorpe.

 

You might also like to look at this Flickr collection  which from about halfway down has a fairly comprehensive, hi-res B-52H walkaround, including flaps and flapwells, outriggers and their bays and other bits and pieces you could find useful..

 

Those pictures are fantastic - thanks for sharing. I hadn't realised that the out-rigger bays were zinc-chromate as presumed they'd be white like the main gear bays.

 

I'm amazed at how 'new' the pictures make the airframe look - it looks pristine and as if it's just rolled off of the production line and not having been in service for 50+ years.

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  • 1 month later...

Anything New Tom? Been waiting for an update on this big BUFF =-)

Not much to report I'm afraid, Paul.

 

Being a teacher during term time means late nights marking books and not much modelling. Most of the spare time I do have I like to spend with my daughter and wife rather than being locked away upstairs and tinkering with plastic.

 

However, I had made a start on the internal sparring of the wing, but I've not touched the BUFF for a few weeks now. I've been tinkering with a couple of other projects too but nothing much of late.

 

I do have a week off now for half term, so am itching to get back at it!

 

All the best,

 

Tom

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time for an update on the big BUFF  :)

 

I haven't had a lot of time for modelling of late due to work commitments, but the end of term reports are almost done so I've had a few free evenings to work on the internal spars in the wings. As you can imagine, such large pieces made from vacformed plastic don't have a great deal of strength, so it's essential to make a series of spars so the wing can support it's own weight. I've followed a similar structure to the real aircraft, and made two spars which run the length of the wing from double-thickness 1mm plastic card, supported by internal bracing to keep it all rigid:

 

42954387661_784a6791e5_z.jpg

 

I then repeated the process for the other wing, having used the previous spars as a pattern so the process was a lot quicker and also ensured both sides are identical:

 

42954386551_2bf22e419c_z.jpg

 

I've also been working on how to securely attach the wings to the fuselage so have made a series of slotted inserts from plastic card which either thick plastic card or perhaps steel spars will run through (via the fuselage) when the time comes to stick the wings on:

 

41143796380_948957dc98_z.jpg

 

The spars pictures are just temporary, but you get the idea:

 

29081589618_c772c5b5d9_z.jpg

 

I think the next task will be to make the out-rigger bays as well as the flap aperture detail that will not be accessible when the wings are joined. Stay tuned...

 

Tom

 

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Guest Maxim

Nice work! Have you made sure the wings will not be to rigid and the outriggers will touch the ground? Last thing you want is for the wings to look like the aircraft is in flight.

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Very impressive, Tom! How did you work out the internal dimensions of the wing cavities, so that you could get the spars are the right height?

 

Kev

 

I took a lot of time when sanding the wing halves down to ensure that both top and bottom halves were exactly the same depth. Therefore, it was relatively easy to measure the depth of the lower half wing root, and then to the same at the tip. With those measurements, it's just a case of doubling them and drawing the spars on the plastic card sheet before cutting them out. You then get a nicely tapered spar from root to tip which should, all being well, fit beautifully into a relatively straight wing like this. I usually add an extra mm to my measurements as it's easier to remove excess card than try to add it back later if you've under-measured!

 

Nice work! Have you made sure the wings will not be to rigid and the outriggers will touch the ground? Last thing you want is for the wings to look like the aircraft is in flight.

 

I'm not too worried about that to be honest. I was at the Fairford airshow last year and one of these was sitting there with one outrigger on the ground, and the other a good couple of feet off the deck. It was obviously unfuelled as it was rocking all over the place as the wind blew. Therefore, this is one of the few builds where I won't need to worry too much about not having the wings perfectly level, but you're right in the fact they'll need to droop to a certain degree when not in flight.

 

Tom

Edited by tomprobert
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  • 3 weeks later...

Afternoon lads and lasses...

 

I've been doing some detailing of the wings recently. I have decided to tackle the out-rigger bays, so the initial task was work out their exact location and box in the bays using plastic card:

 

43363498241_0d8d27fc52_z.jpg

 

The bay roofs were left separate so that they could be detailed without the wing obstructing access. I must stress I've gone for representation over accuracy here, so don't shoot me for making it up a little as I went along:

 

41554714630_e553935fae_z.jpg

 

When in-situ they will look ok to my eye:

 

43363500531_6ffed14995_z.jpg

 

The same process of course had to be repeated twice:

 

41554711920_c165635059_z.jpg

 

I've also cut out and boxed in the chaff dispensers on the lower side of the wings:

 

41554717080_3550bfb211_z.jpg

 

Still lots to do before the wings can be joined, but they're starting to take shape:

 

43363499431_2aa64f1fc2_z.jpg

 

Now for the flaps... more plastic card at the ready!

 

All the best,

 

Tom

Edited by tomprobert
Removal of long Flckr links
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