I agree on both your observations. I did add some hose forward -- retrofit -- and Kark answered the question about the pipe and the "driftmeter." At a much later point in the build, I am going to try to retrofit something to "represent" that.

STEP BY STEP

Putting the seats back in, preliminary steps starting with dynamotors:







I have decided to pin the outer seat legs to the inner using two long stainless steel pins at a couple of points and then glue a square "seat bottom" in place on which the armor plate and the actual seat bottom will rest. That's for each side of course.

Some reference diagrams follow.






Note the gap between seat back and armor plate and absence of shoulder harnesses.

Brian,
That seat frame looks fantastic. Lets hope that this time they stay wear you glue them.
Joel

Hi Brian, been away for awhile but I like your progress. The line hanging on the back of the copilots seat is for recharging portable oxygen bottles. On models where the top turret had its own O2 bottle, the recharging line was long enough to reach the turret bottle. There was a similar one for the ball. I have never seen a good photo of one of those, I will have to browse through my drawings and see if I can come up with anything better.

The items you are referring to as dynamotors are in fact inverters. They take 24 volt DC and put out AC current (115 volts IIRC). There are a few items run by AC but I can't recall which off the top of my head. Dynamotors are usually associated with radio gear. They change the 28 volt DC current to (usually) higher current. The dynamotors for the command and liaison equipment put out 1000 (yes, that is one THOUSAND)volts.

Here is the description of the Liaison dynamotor. I admit to being somewhat confused as in the description it says 1000 volts while the picture has a warning about 2000 volts. Whichever, not something you want to screw around with!

In this drawing you can almost make out the filler lines in the forward section. The one on the back of the copilots seat is not well shown.

And here is some information about the inverters:

Great progress so far Brian, can't wait to see more. And excellent reference material Karl! Thank you both fur such a wealth of information.

SEAT CONSTRUCTION

These few shots show how I'm fixing the outer seat legs to the main basement door/inner leg assembly.



The metal pins are flexible, and will stand twisting the outer legs to match the inner ones in positioning.

The thin sheet styrene adds stiffening and provides a firm surface for the seat bottoms.



Next step is to paint the seat bottoms and armor plate bronze green, then position the armor plate; and finally glue the seats to the legs.



Goes without saying that I made sure it would all fit where it is supposed to, though it's tight!! I'm pleased to report that the height with armor positioned exactly matches that of the kit parts on the old assembly.

More soon.

Looks great Brian. It definitely is a tight fit up in the cockpit, just went through the "Sentimental Journey" today. I forgot how tight it is in the forward half of a B-17.

Brian,
The new and much improved seats look great. What a relief knowing that they actually fit. If it was me doing all of this extra re-work, I can assure you that they wouldn't fit the allotted space.
Joel

SEATS INSTALLED!

Here are two pictures of the armor plate and seats installed. I am quite pleased with the "look" of the thing. The seats are not perfectly symmetrical to one another above the basement doors, but people aren't identical either, and there is no doubt that the seats were adjustable because of it. I think this conveys the sense nicely.





I remain tremendously grateful to my friend from NC for the armor plate. Boy does it look good IMHO!

Over the weekend I'll figure out what other seat bracing I'll add to the back, install the map cases on the backs and figure out what other gingerbread, if any, I'll add.

Then I will CAREFULLY position and glue the assembly back into the cockpit, where I pray I will NEVER have to touch it again.

I get "This person moved or deleted this image"...

Photobucket is having some problems. I will have to repost a bit later.

Just fixed it. I believe. They were there when I posted but Photobucket said they were undergoing "maintenance" of the site.

Now I just see little black boxes with "X" in the middle. I think it's haunted

Wow. It appears OK on my screen. Let me try again.

Just corrected the post with new Photobucket urls. Lemme know please.

Looks good to me. Can't wait to see it in the cockpit.

Brian,
Outstanding!!

Both seats look almost identical to me. Besides, they'll be in an enclosed cockpit, no one will ever notice any minor differences.

Joel

SEATING CHOICES

What I do with the seat backs will depend on how I interpret these photos:







More tonight.

SMALL SEAT BACK DETAILS BEFORE INSTALLATION OF MAP CASES



To be painted bronze green, of course. Map cases will go on after some paint dries.



Painted, a bit crudely, but "no one will ever see." The map cases will go on tomorrow, and then this B-17 will have pilots' seats in the cockpit again. Stay tuned tomorrow evening.

Hey, I can see the photos! Look very nice. In the wartime photo, there is a shelf on the back of the pilots seat and that canvas bag was for the flare gun. That was fairly common but those things got moved around both from the factory and I would imagine in the field as well. It appears the restored bird has it attached to the wiring diagram box although I can't make out the stenciling. Neat details. Like you say, they won't be seen but still very cool.

Brian,
The details just keep on coming. Just way better the 2nd time around.
Joel

SEATS BACK IN THE COCKPIT

First, a shot of the rear with the map cases attached:



A shot from "12 O'Clock High":



One from the 10 O'Clock:



One from 7 O'Clock:



From 9 O'Clock Before:



To 9 O'Clock After:



An idea of what one will actually see:



I should add that I am DEFINITELY positioning the pilot's and co-pilot's side cockpit windows open so one can see some of this directly. That won't be too hard to do with aftermarket parts.

Surveying all of this I'm OK with it, but ever mindful of the little imperfections, and very conscious that for me at least, "there is no perfect model."

Why do I do this hobby? What am I trying to reproduce in miniature? WHY am I doing this?

I suppose it's the same reason I wrote Half A Wing: trying to capture a bit of history that's important to me. [There is also another reason I'll mention briefly, but only when it's actually done!!]

The other thing I will say about an effort like this in this scale is that I agree with the master modeler who wrote that a build like this is never finished. The builder just stops work at a very advanced state of construction.

I have no clue how this is going to look when it's done. The exterior will present its own challenges. Basically I need to take it one small detail at a time and try not to think about that.

One thing I know for sure: Before closing this fuselage up, there's going to be a helluva review of what's inside and what needs to be repaired before it's closed up.

That'll be the day.

Wicked! Get a clear half!