Just a small status update.

My starting point for the interior.


Ribs white glued in place for the moment. Roughed MW 50 tank.






Now the plan has also evolved to include the fueling lines and the lines for the booster system. For that I needed to open up some panels.




Thank you to those who have helped to get me to this point. Without mentioning your names I want to say that I would not have gotten this far without your help.

I most likely will not get to the bench in the next couple of days. Other commitments have taken the priority at this point. I hope to have them out of the way by this coming weekend.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Spendid scratch building Joe. You are both talented and mad

Keep it up

Cheers
Pedro

Joe,
That tank and supporting brackets really looks quite nice.
Joel

You are very kind. Thank you.




Joe

Bit of a long winded post tonight.

Some progress was made.

I opened up the access panel for the fuselage. I cut out a new door from soda can aluminum and then used a drill and sharp blade to cut out the hole. Clean up was quick and then I fabricated a backing plate.











Today some detailing for the fuel ports occurred. Spouts were fabricated and made so that I could attach lines later. They may not be 100% accurate but they do work for what I want.






It was a good day I think.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.

Happy New Year.



Joe

Joe,
Nicely done so far on the access door. The refueling ports are something you rarely see modeled in smaller scales. My only suggestion is that the thickness of the fuselage to the port itself would look much more in scale if it was thinned out.

Joel

Joel thank you.

I thought about the thickness of the plastic but thought this may well represent a port that is recessed a bit. I have no pictures of this area to be difinitive so I went with logical.



Joe

You're making good time for such an ambitious project. Looks sharp, keep on it.

Matt it seems like I am moving at a snails pace. The little things seem to be taking forever.



Joe

Well my friends another short update.

What you will see here is just a quick mock up, something that I am doing an awful lot of, to make sure the interior will fit as I build up the detail.

First up a couple of individual items. A roughed out set of O2 tanks for the pit.



And the first rendition of the FuG 16 Radio equipment.



I do not like the frame for it. I actually redid that, you will see that in the pictures upcoming.

Now to make sure it all fits as it should I again mocked it up with white glue and added the pipping for the cables. I mocked up a new frame for the radio equipment.

All mocked up....







And all together....



I like this frame better. You can see more of the equipment. Going to let this sit overnight and then tomorrow see if it looks as good. If it does I will start with the touch up on the O2 bottles, the framework, and get working on the plumbing.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Well here I am with just a small update.

The interior aft the pit is now much closer to finished.

The interior is painted Alclad Aluminum but only after the bulkheads had been glued in place. That is all but two. The one with the radio equipment and the one with the O2 bottles.




The details were assembled and painted. They are the O2 bottles which look rougher in the pics that to the eye. The radio equipment. I also fashioned a gyro compass for further aft in the fuse.





All that is left for this area is the plumbing. I need to string some cables from front to aft, run some lines for the fuel and booster system, install the final two bulkheads, and finalize the places for the cable from the compass and radio antenna wire.

Coming to the close of this stage.

All comments, critiques, and comments are encouraged.


Joe

Great work, Joe. Very impressive and this will definitely be a show stopper when finished.

Looking forward to see more.

Joe,
The interior of the fuselage is coming along quite nicely. I really like the radio equip and wiring.

I know what you mean about close ups like the O2 bottles looking better in person. In the pictures they get magnified to a larger then life size rendition, and they become the center of attention rather then just a part of the whole.
Joel

Thank you both of you. Thank you for looking in.



Joe

Joe,
She's looking good so far and whole heartedly agree with Joel comments.

Cheers

Chris

Chris many thanks.



Joe

Well another brief update.

I could not wait, I began to work on the major components of the pit. I began with the sides as I needed to fabricate the framework. I did that and then began to mock up the different components.

The Starboard side.




And the Port....



And the vent for the Port, the Starboard side is gone with the opening.



I still need to finish off the plumbing for the aft section and I need to fabricate the plumbing for the sides of the pit. The floor part should be pretty straitforward.

Another thing I am learning is I am going through my stock of white stock very quickly.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Joe,
That's a very nice start to the cockpit. Looking forward to how you create and detail the IP.
Joel

Joel many thanks. Had to take a step back tonight. Felt like I was rushing to try to get some color on the pit.

Need to sleep on it to make sure I am not rushing just to get it finished. Not wanting to miss anything.



Joe

Just a short update.

The construction of the pit is done. Some final pics prior to paint with the major components ready to color.


First up was finishing the pit floor and then getting the fiddly bits in place so that I could get some paint on her.






And then the prep prior to the paint.





First up will be a prepaint of Life Color Matt Black. That has been done and is drying as I type. Next will be the RLM 66 also Life Color.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Well when we last saw the subject I had constructed a boxlike structure for the starboard side. When I went to fit it into the pit with all the other things I found that it was much too large for the space. I went back and looked at ref pics and then redid it.

Before....



And then after....



I did manage to get everything painted...






And then with all the parts in place. All but the IP and its hood are glued.





I do feel I rushed through the last bit but with everything in place and in the fuse halves it should be ok.

Next up will be to finish up the gunsight and then on to the engine and its compartment.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Really an excellent job on detailing a already nicely detailed cockpit. The gauges on the IP really do look rather nice.
Joel

Joel many thanks. As always you are very kind.




Joe

Just a quick update to show......

On to the engine.

Got the major assembly done and the Gloss Black on it. I drybrushed it and have it ready to add the detail stuff.








I hope to work on it some tomorrow. I have found some good pics that show a bunch.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

Simply stunning work Joe. Your scratchbuilding skills far surpass my stumbling efforts!