SMALL STEPS

A shot of the "open" pilots' cockpit with a new fire extinguisher on the aft bulkhead. (It matches the one in the bomb/nav compartment.)



The bulkhead next to the pilot before addition of the oxygen hose



and after



You will note that I had to saw off the oxygen bottle brackets on the left of this piece. An original "True Details" part is shown below. The reason for this is because the fit is so tight that there is no way oxygen bottles can be installed because of interference with the side of the pilot's seat. You can see the cut pieces below as well as bracket scraps from another piece that I will be cleaning up and installing. I'm hoping that there will be room for the 5 bottles that the aircraft had. If not, the ends of 2 of the bottles aft will have to be sawed off. It won't really matter because only the front part of the 2 aft oxygen bottles will be visible once this is closed up.

This is moving at a snail's pace, but I entertain hopes of getting these parts of the cockpit completed during the evenings of this week so that I can move back to the nose over the weekend. Hope springs eternal and all that.

Nice looking panel! The one true shame about styrene models is that the thickness of styrene required steals from the details we might add. Still, your efforts are commendable.

Gary

Awesome work Brian. I have learned a vast amount watching your build here and some of your others. Absolutely master class skills on display as always!

Ernest

Thank you Ernest, though I don't pretend to be a "master" at this by any stretch. If the build shows anything, it is that I am still learning as I go. That's the scary part.

Brian,
Just an incredible view of your super detailed cockpit. That side wall Panel really does look good with all the extra details you've added.

Joel

BOTTLED UP

If you go back to page 12 of the blog you will see why I am feeling a Myth of Sisyphus vibe tonight.



Okay, okay! French existential philosophy is a bit

So, in my quest to do it right this time I offer the following:

The first bank of 3 bottles immediately following the pilot seat



Here installed so that these suckers will not fall out:


I am also happy to say that there are no clearance problems whatsoever between the edge of the pilot seat and the bottles, particularly near the top, which is where friction caused that seat to come loose in an earlier attempt at this.



Another nice shot showing a look-down view into the tunnel. Yeah, some of this will be visible through the roof windows. I have decided not to touch up some of this armor because I rather like the chipped, worn look.



Finally, I can tell you that it looks like the after 2 bottles will fit, though just barely. Installing them in the rest of the after port bulkhead is the last fun task here before I move back to the bombardier/navigator compartment.

French existentionalism aside... It's amazing how devoted to this thing you are. Keep it up! I want to see it finished.

Best wishes,

Gary

Brian, very nice work on the bottles, and top marks for persistence!

Brian,
I've been modeling on and off for most of my life, and I can honestly say that this is the 1st time that I can ever recall someone including anything remotely referring to French existential philosophy in a build post. Your build has certainly reached new heights of pushing the bar of personal skilled detailing, and now deep inner soul searching to keep ones Mojo flowing. And here I've been fooled all these years into thinking that model building is just a relaxing hobby from the stresses of work and family.

Can't say much about French existential philosophy, as it's certainly not one of my areas of expertise, or even of understanding the basic concepts, but your progress on the cockpit is truly 1ste class work. It's starting to approach a miniature museum scene that everywhere one looks, one discovers more details.

I'm just hoping that at my somewhat advanced years, I'll still be here on Aeroscale to witness the completion post and pictures.

Joel

Joel,

Believe me, I get you on the advanced years part. I share your desire to get this done before the actuarial factor kicks in. Plus, there are so many others in my stash to build! However, I will never detail another one to this level.

The French existential stuff goes back to my pseudo-intellectual days as a college student. I read a lot of Albert Camus back then, and liked him. The Greek myth about the man the gods condemned to roll a big boulder up the hill, only to have it tumble down again just before he reached the top, forever, always stuck with me.

A lot of people like the Luftwaffe because of the "romance" of the lost cause. I actually think the French experience in World War II is far more interesting because of what that nation had to do to reconstitute its identity after defeat at the hands of the Third Reich. The stories of their aces during the Battle of France are fascinating. Pierre Le Gloan's inspired me to pull Tamiya's D.520 out of my stash and do his aircraft in the only other online piece I have ever done.

However, the real intersection between French aviation and intellectual life is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He wrote a really good book about flying with the French Air Force during the Battle of France, called Flight to Arras. One of these days I would like to do a model of the F-5B recce aircraft in which he disappeared on a reconnaissance mission over southern France in 1944.



However, color scheme details look like they will be controversial.







I had to shorten the 2 after oxygen bottles in left rear 17 cockpit tonight, but should have the last pieces in this week. Then it will be on to the nose, again.

Hey Brian,
Nice De-520! You've been on Luscious Lady for so long, that I hadn't ever considered that you might have done something else. Remember, I've only been here a year...


Gary

Gary,
Yeah, Brian's claim to fame for most of the Aeroscale clan is his 1/48 B-17F Build - 303rd BGs Luscious Lady, but for us old timers, he does have a modeling past. I do recall seeing somewhere a picture or two of his display case(s) with some really exquisite models. His Tamiya D.520 is certainly one of those, but I never saw the blog on ARC before, and took the time to read through it. As usual, and true to his writing and building style, it's a fascinating piece. The completed display model is exquisite and extremely well done.

Joel

Brian,
I realize that I'm in the minority here as to my preferences in WWII Aircraft. For me, it's all about USAAF, USN, US Marines, and then throw in the allies every once in a while with something along the lines of the just completed Canadian PV-1, or the Spitfire MK XIV.

My focus moving forward after all these years of drifting off track will be just that. I've never build a P-47, P-51, F4F, or even a F6F! Go figure. I really want to build as many of the Republic and Grumman WW11 aircraft as I can hobble together, as there is a personal relationship with those companies having grown up on LI when they were at their Zeniths.

As I previously mentioned to you, I also have a long and intertwined relationship with road racing cars, having actually won a regional Enduro Karting championship in 1970-1. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. I'm actually going to start to build a favorite or two per year, as there is such a strong personal relationship that exists within me.

Joel

PILOTS' COMPARTMENT FINISHED

Over the past few days I finally got this finished by installing the last 2 oxygen bottles in the port after section of the compartment. Here is a view from above:



The next view shows that, in order to accomplish this and make everything fit, I had to shorten the after 2 oxygen bottles.



This went much more smoothly than you might think. All I had to do was use my trusty razor saw to cut the bottle about three fourths down its length, and then sand the flat part of the rounded end that was cut off so that it would have a shorter but realistic fit against the back of the bottle. For my money, it worked.

The brackets holding these 2 bottles were "scratch built" my style, which means that I had to cut up parts from the True Details cockpit set so that they would fit. However, it was really just a matter of careful use of the little steel ruler and razor saw that I have.

How much of all of this is going to be visible once the model is finished? Well, if I glue the top turret in, next to nothing. However, I think I will simply have the top turret so constructed that it can be just dropped into the top without glue, and can be pulled out on those "special occasions" when I want to show this area off.

Below are some pictures that will give you some idea of the expected view.

Looking down through the turret opening to the starboard bulkhead:



Looking forward down into the tunnel between the pilot seats:



Looking down through the turret opening to the port bulkhead:



Now, I can finally return to the nose and start to detail that using Karl's invaluable data resources. Stay tuned! Work will start on that this weekend.

Congrats on getting that done. Looks awesome.

Brian,
In theory, that's an excellent idea to view that section of the interior, but I do have my reservations how it will work out in real time, and over an extended period. Just about all the turrets that I've dealt with in 1/48 scale are really made to be glued into one position, so they're really difficult to keep lined up in a non-glued configuration. And all that handling will increase the odds of breaking off and loosing to the carpet monster some of those little details.

Joel

You might be right. But, ah, it's not a decision I have to make right now.

Outstanding work Brian, the pilot's compartment looks the biz!

STEELING MYSELF FOR A NOSE JOB

Thanks to all for the many recent kind comments. The great progress seen on other 4 engine builds spurs me to get on with mine, especially in light of the "actuarial factor." There are a few hundred other kits in my stash that I would like to build! Ah, this was not intended to be a "life's work."

Anyway, I am returning to the nose at this point to "complete" it. Pretty much everything will be put in except the side guns and the bombsight, which I will leave for "final construction" after the fuselage halves are together and the build is much farther along. Those parts will be way too easy to knock off or break otherwise.

I originally decided to move from back to front, beginning with the Navigator floor but think the better approach is front to back. The depth of the Bombardier floor will determine how much I need to cut off the back of the Navigator floor so that it is flush against the after bulkhead leading to the tunnel.

Courtesy of Karl, here is an overview of the Navigator floor "in situ."



Perhaps the most salient feature of the floor is that it physically extends beyond the front of the fuselage into the space occupied by the Plexiglas nose.

Underscoring the collaborative nature of the build at this point, the physical details have all been provided by Karl, and the parts fabricated by my North Carolina friend! See below.



What you are seeing are various "first and second cuts" with a laser cutter both in the styrene sheet and cut out of the sheet. A particularly cool feature is the fact that my North Carolina friend has cut the floorboards out of real wood, both tan and a darker color. I'm probably going to go with the tan color floor as being more consistent with the real thing, though I will weather it with clear orange and burnt umber wash. That, of course, is way down the road!

Here is another shot of the floor before the floorboards are attached, but this is before the Memphis Belle restoration work was done by the Air Force Museum, and the color will be aluminum not "interior green."



BTW, one thing that is easy to overlook is that there is actually a fifth transverse part topped by aluminum and not wood, where the base for the driftmeter is. Study the preceding pictures carefully, especially the horizontal sheet metal behind the wood flooring in the first picture!

Finally, here is a shot of the forward most bulkhead part of the floor assembly right up against the Plexiglas nose. The square hole is for hot air which was blown into this area from hot air ventilation work that was run up here to keep the nose Plexiglas below the bombsight from fogging up.



One look makes it absolutely clear that the lower nose of the B-17F was totally different in configuration from that of the G model. Compare picture below.



However tentatively, I will proceed with the work now that you see where I'm going.

Brian,
Your friend from NC is certainly a master scratch builder. Those laser cut parts are incredible to put it mildly.

As I said in a much earlier post, I've been with you for the ride since day one, and fully intend to be here at the end of the trip. However, I'm quickly approaching 70 in a year or so, so time is no longer my friend by any stretch of the imagination. All things being equal, You'll be still be here when my time has arrived.

Joel

We are both probably being a little maudlin talking about our ages. The stats for male US citizens nowadays suggest we'll make it to well into our 80s, so I'll go with that and say no more about my antiquity.

Yes, my NC friend is a master, and modest to the point he doesn't want me to mention him by name! So I respect that. Remember, he was the one who did the radio room ceiling and hatch interior.

More in a while.

Brian,
I do remember his efforts. He also had a lot to do with the turret and ammo shoots if I recall correctly.
Joel

Yes, I owe him a "debt of honor" to try to do the ball turret positioned at a 45 degree angle with the hatch open (and with a mechanic crouched outside looking in, if I go the diorama route).

Wow, those are some awesome laser cut wood pieces Brian. If anyone has the skill set to make the wood look good installed it is you.

Brian,
I gotta be honest about it. While I've never really attempted a Diorama or even a decent vignette, the B-17F build really requires one or the other. I would be leaning towards a Vignette so that nothing takes away from the main attraction for the viewers eyes and their full attention. But something proper will be needed just to handle the size and weight. The less you have to handle the big bird, the better off you will be. You might even consider a custom made plexi cover so it can be displayed on a shelf or table and not in a display cabinet.

Joel