Terri I hope so.



Joe

Well I have gotten to what I am calling the final stage of my prep work for the interior of this build. The framing.

One thing to remember, this is not intended to be an exact replica of the actual B-17G. It is intended to give the illusion. For that reason you will notice that I did not put every frame in. Two reasons, the interior would be more than a bit cluttered and I do not have enough styrene strip to actually do each frame. As it is I used three packages of strip. Also please notice that i really only concentrated on the Port side of the fuselage. The Starboard will not be seen as well so I skipped all but what would be seen. After I took the pictures I noticed that there are a few places I need to add some strip and also some backing. All in all I am pretty satisfied with how this looks. I will tidy up the last of it and then starting with the nose the detailing will begin.

Pictures.

Starboard side:




Port side:




Now there is no framing at the bomb bay area. This is by design as I need to build that up and to do that I will need to do the sides as well as scratch a bomb rack.

More to come....


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Well here I am yet again.

Time for a smallish update on what is going on.

Work has begun to detail the Nav Station in the bomber nose. I have fabricated some electrical panels and some of the odds and ends that are in the real thing.

First up the Starboard side and the little bit I did, the tank holder and the Drift Meter. Now throughout you will not see wiring yet. I have not gotten that far.



The different panels and boxes on the Port side.



And the flooring of the station.




I will continue on this section and fill it out with the little things and then some of the major objects like the guns and such.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

I like the desk lamp.

The rear bulkhead is wrong. If you look at my build blog on "Luscious Lady" you will see a discussion about how True Details (and HK models too) misinterpreted a 3-D depiction in a drawing of this area and totally screwed up the bulkhead by elongating the instruments panel rear so that the instruments are cylinders about 18 inches long.

You really should graft the kit bulkhead into the TD part (did you do a cast of it?) or just use the kit part. The real thing looked totally different, and the Monogram kit goes a long way to getting it right. IMO.

Joe, I don't know if these will be much help to you, but here's a link to pictures I took of the "Sentimental Journey" several years ago:

http://s214.photobucket.com/user/AbramJ/library/B-17G

I took them in order of walking through the plane from front to back, but photobucket jumbled them all up.

I am still undecided on what to do with the IP to be honest. I am not real happy with the kit parts but then again I am not sure about the resin part either. I do have some photos showing the IP without that cover and it looks like a fun challenge but then again there are a number of photos with the cover on that look like fun as well. Just not sure.

Joe

Many thanks. I looked through and have bookmarked the page so I can reference back to them. Many thanks. You can never have too many reference pictures to go to.


Joe

I am back.

The progress will not look like much but it is one subassembly at a time and move forward.

For this update it is all about the bomb sight and the crew access area under the cockpit. For reference the gray is kit, the white is resin (oxygen bottles and Instrument Panel) and styrene.

Wiring is getting done and some things are in place permanently.



The Bomb Sight took a while but it is almost done.




And the crew access area both in place and out.







Moving forward I plan to keep going on the fabrication and at some point I will start the pit area.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

The detailing as viewed through the openings into the fuselage really do look quite nice, especially since that's the view we'll have once everything is buttoned up.
Joel

Very nice project so far Joe,your detailing is fantastic and your build will make a fitting tribute.

Many thanks. You are kind.

Joel thus the reason for cut away aircraft.


Joe

Me again.

Just another small, but to me kind of important, update.

This I believe will be the last picture of the forward sections without paint. That means they should be finished the next time you see them.

The major construction I think is done. All that is left is to plumb it up. So the next step is to paint.

Pictures of the Nav Station.





And the work on the pit. This included the seat framing, the Throttle Console, and the Bottles at the rear. Note that the pilot frame is off a bit. That has been fixed. Also the canvass is in place.





Like I said not much but it is significant in that I am ready to paint this. I hope to have these painted by the end of the weekend. I hope to have these areas finished off in the next week or so.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Joe,
Looking forward to seeing the cockpit with a coat of paint and some detail painting. That will certainly tie everything together, and make for a much more uniform scene.
Joel

Very true Joel. My biggest issue is rushing into it.


Joe

Well there has been a bit of a change.

Sometimes you guide a build, sometimes the build guides you. At this moment the build is starting to guide me.

I am not able to proceed the way I wanted to. It just will not happen that way. I need to let the build guide me as to what to do next. To that end I am posting a small update.

I was painting and assembling the cockpit as well as some of the ins and outs of the build and hit a block. I could not proceed without changing what I was doing.

First the pictures.

Some long awaited colour for the front sections.








Now for the change. I need to continue with the major construction moving toward the tail. The Bomb Bay is next up. I need to do the major construction. I will be working on some of the stuff left in the sections I have been working on but the bulk of my time will be in the major construction. Once the major construction is done I will go back to tie up all the loose ends. I cannot do that until I am just about ready to close up the fuselage as too early and the parts will break off and the build will become incredibly difficult.

Thank you for following along with this, as always, all comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

It's coming along. I like the forward bombardier/navigator compartment.

Many thanks. I like the way that turned out so far as well.



Joe

A quick update, two days off and hoping to get a lot of rest as well as just a little bit done on this.

So here I am.

The next major obstacle to tackle is the bomb bay. As I seem to be going all out on this build I figured why not? How bout a scratched bomb bay. So after a few nights of tinkering here is where I begin my process. The major framework is about 150 pieces. More is coming.





The outer racks are also ready for the detail work.



And finally, for this update, the rack in place with the pit/nav station and the radio station.



And so the next phase begins.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.




Joe

Looks great so far, much better work than I could ever do! One critique, if I may. The racks on the catwalk seem to be at too much of an angle and leave much too much room in between them on the catwalk. It was quite a tight squeeze through the catwalk when I walked through 'Sentimental Journey' last.

Abram thank you. The parts are not in place yet. They are white glued in just to give me the general idea. I did however work a bit to try to fix that issue.

Again thank you for the information.


Joe

Well my friends, taking advantage of some time off, more has been accomplished.

Continuing with the bomb bay, yesterday and this morning were for some of the bigger structures.

The forward bulkhead.




The rear bulkhead.




The "walls" of the bay.




And the attachments for the payload.



Not striving for 100% accuracy here but want to give a fair representation of some of the internal bits and bobs. That being said there are still a handful or more of things that require attention yet. however the major stuff is ready.

Next major construction will be the radio station.


All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.



Joe

Hi Joe

Some incredible work! Between the two B-17 builds currently in the forum, I don't think Fortress enthusiasts have ever had it so good.

All the best

Rowan

Joe,
Nice progress on the Bombay bits and pieces. Your build offers a completely different perspective then Brian's.
Joel

Many thanks for looking in.



Joe

Another quick update.

Work continues into the Radio Station. Still somethings to research a bit.

Looks a bit rough up close like these pics but it does pass the eye test for me.

I am tired, enough rambling.







To sum it up.

Bomb/Nav Station 90% construction finished.
Cockpit 80% construction finished.
Access Area 90% construction finished.
Bomb Bay 80% construction finished.
Radio Station 80% construction finished.

This does not include painting.

Next up will be working into the Waist Gunner positions and the Belly Turret.

All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe