I was on to that Gaz, just being cheeky. They are great reference pics.

[quote]


Hah! You totally got me. I was re-reading trying to see where I might have led you into believing I was claiming them as my work! And then I thought it might have been a combination of all that red wine and staring at all of those ridiculously tiny parts on those Dragon destroyers....

...anyway...well done!

Gaz

Gary,
You sure have your work cut out for you with cockpit. With all that glass, a lot of the interior details we be clearly visible. Just take your time, and a lot of the kit parts can be tweaks to more then acceptable levels.
Joel

Good research finding those interior shots. I would not get too hung up on the interior behind the cockpit seats because it really is, for all practical purposes, invisible. Certainly it should be finished, and in my build one can clearly see the flight engineer's massive instrument panel through the small compartment window, but beyond that you're doing it "for the sake of completeness and yourself" rather than what a viewer will really see.

My pilots' compartment was all dark green, but I did it without benefit of shots like these. I do think that was the predominant color, but there definitely is room for variation given changes in lots and different factories. IMHO you have some "artistic license" here.

I would also say that even with the open glass over the pilots' compartment, the view inside tends to get lost in darkness once this is buttoned up. It's penlight stuff, but I'm hardly one to argue in favor of sparse interior detail!

I'm still really struck by those prop hubs, BTW!

This is a VERY cool build and I'm following it with great interest even though I'm on a very bad armour-trip for the time being... This is another one of those dream-kits from my youth, my friend Christoffer had one hanging on his wall when I was in my early teens. I remember it as a remarkable build but with some hindsight it was probably left in unpainted plastic. But that wasn't a big problem in those days!



Magnus

Magnus,
Are you posting your armor build in Armorama? I'll be doing my 1st car in ages after a one or two more aircraft, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Joel

Guys,
Thank you for the thoughtful advice! I've already mixed 5 shades of DDG for the larger components. I won't go too crazy with fine details a) because they'll be hard to see, and b) my fine motor skills aren't so fine. I do enjoy having some good reference pictures for a change.

Magnus, you haven't found some 1/144 scale armor have you? You definitely have fine motor skills. I'm glad you came by!

Cheers,

Gaz

Gary,
There is no reason to dry yourself nuts over the right color of US Interior Green. One color will do just nicely. The key here is that we're going to be viewing it through clear plastic glass with limited directional lighting, so it's going to be darker then when the halves weren't glued together. a few washes of various browns and blacks will give you all the shading you need.

Joel

Hi Everyone,
I got a lot done today. Unfortunately, my progress today started with a big question.

Why in the heck would the navigation dome be on top of a solid tube?

Here it is from above...as it would look with the kit closed up:

The purpose of the tube is to join the forward compartment, the flight deck with the aft compartment where all of the gunners are. I even saw a bit of video where somebody put a trolley in the tube just like the tunnelers in the movie The Great Escape.

So I'm wondering why Revell or Monogram chose to make the tube completely solid. Moreover, finding decent photos of access to the astrodome wasn't easy. Here's one:


I needed a cylinder. Usually when I need a cylinder, I go digging through the drawer that has all of the pens and pencils in it. Do you have a drawer like that? I know it's wasteful, but it's not always easy to find a plastic cylinder in the spares box.

Just as I was about to cut into the pen (diameter 10.5mm) with my Dremel, my eyes were attracted to a red plug that was holding some X-acto blades in place. The plug was some kind of Poly, and would be less brittle so I took a chance...it fit! So, the pen lived to write another day.


I know...looks kinda rough. But at least there is access to the dome now. The guy with the Sextant will be happy.

Here's an obligatory shot of the flight deck...70% finished...with tube and access to the astrodome in place:


And the aft crew compartment:

I'm not sure about the beds. One place I remember reading said that the radar operator had his desk and equipment in that space.

...besides, they're sloppily made.

I know I'm committing bomber heresy by not detailing the bomb-bay. But I have other stuff I need to stick in there so that this plane might be mounted successfully.

Thanks for looking!

Gaz

Hi Gary!
Funny thing with that tube and an even better solution to solve the problem
I'm also keeping my old pens for exactly these matters.
Nice work on the interior, looks like a flying hotel. The radar operator surely have to look somewhere else

What color did you finally use for "interior green"?
I have to find something similar for my Hudson
Thomas

Gary,
Impressive amount of progress. The interior color looks fine, and as I said it will darken up with both a wash, and when only viewed through the cockpit glass that will limit the amount of light that passes through it.

The dome tube looks perfect especially when viewed from the outside in. Do you have an idea what that swivel chair is for right behind the tube?

Once you close up the fuselage halves only two small port holes will allow eye access with very limited light, so don't drive yourself crazy trying to detail that area.

As for not detailing the Bomb bay, neither did I on the B-25B build other then the proper colors including NMF and several washes. The Mitchell will be attached to a base so turning it over isn't an option. I doubt that you're going to be turning over the B-29 for casual viewing either.

Joel

Hi guys,
Thank you!

@ Thomas: I mix my own colors using artist acrylics from the tube. To help me along I use a color recipe book that I bought from an arts and crafts store. It gets me close. Only rarely do I have to adjust using my own thoughts on a color.

@ Joel: The swivel chair behind the tube is where the Gun Captain sits. All of the guns except the tail gun are controlled from the aft compartment. The Gun Captain can take control of any two weapons at any time. Despite the large number of weapons, there are only four gunners. I can only try to imagine how busy he would have been with with alarm calls from the cockpit in his ears as he tried to decide which weapons to use as well as finding the enemy to shoot at.

Best Wishes,

Gaz

Impressive progress Gaz, lovely work!

I would hate to be trying to manoeuvre my 6'5" frame down that tube and twist up into the navigation dome, the airfield chiropractor would be seeing me after every flight! Great work on the modifications there, it really came up well.

Cheers, D

Thank you, Damian. I don't think air forces of the day were built around planes to fit guys like us.

Interestingly there is a ladder provided for access to the tube from the flight deck, but no ladder provided for the aft compartment. Also, I can't see where the external hatch for the rear compartment lies. Access to the flight deck was through a large hatch in the forward wheel well.

Still a lit for me to learn about this bomber.

Cheers,

Gaz

Hi Everyone!
Didn't get much work done on the bomber this week. I spent way too much of my 'free time' working on my 1/1 scale house, unfortunately.

What I did get done was the fabrication on new wing spars.

I made new ones from .5mm sheets of brass sandwiched together, then joined both spars with a middle piece mimicking the parts in the kit.



There are some interesting angles to model here. The dihedral angle of the B-29 is a hefty 4 degrees. The forward kit spar is five degrees higher than the aft spar in relation to the angle of attack.

All four wing halves are warped differently. On a wing this size, I imagine that any warp will be easily recognizable. I don't like the idea of trying to straighten them after joining the halves. So, I'm gonna go to my LHS after work tomorrow and pick up some box spars/or square brass tubing... And try to tackle the problem of wing warp.

There is another problem I have to consider, and I'm not really sure how to approach it:

The side fuselage blisters are glued to the inside of the plane before it is closed up. So, if I press on one too hard, chances are it will pop into the plane and never be seen again. Because I will be covering her in foil, I'll be touching the model a lot more than if I were painting it.

Thinking of options, I can:

a) try to brace it from the inside (in some way) which will destroy some internal detail. I haven't come up with a good idea for this yet.

b) build a collar which will keep any unintended pressure off the blisters. (hopefully) Though I know with my luck and general clumsiness, the collar will probably slip.

c) re-engineer the blisters and fuselage in some way that will allow me to put the blisters on as one of the final steps instead of before closing up the fuselage. This option will most likely ruin some interior detail as well.

So friends, I seek further options or advice if you have any to share, please.

Thank you for reading,

Gaz

Quite a dilemma there Gaz, not easy to resolve. My suggestion would be to cut out the entire panel around the blister and glue in some narrow strips in the fuselage to give it a secure hold when you fit it back in. A fairly extreme procedure, but then you don't seem to be at all afraid of extreme modelling!

Cheers, D

The spar is impressive. One point. See if there is an interference with the inner engine nacelles. I had to shorten the forward spar on my 29 because of it. Not sure exactly why, but it was the case with my build.

With respect to the side blisters, you are right. There IS a risk. Try experimenting with the Squadron vac blisters that are part of the same set I mentioned re the cockpit glass. Those you might be able to fit on from the outside. Otherwise I would recommend a collar of some kind. I was REAL careful with these in my build. They were covered with liquid mask through most of my build and I was on eggshells peeling that off during "final construction."

BTW, your gunner compartment is missing a bulkhead between the master gunner's seat and the beds. Check it out. There IS a kit part for the bulkhead. Bizarrely, this was one area of the kit where Monogram built in a room where interior detail (the beds) is completely invisible because there is no, I repeat, no exterior glass to let you look in.

Who knows what they were thinking.

Gary,
I've never built the kit, nor even seen it up close and personal. but I would imagine that the easiest way to handle the blister issue is to secure them from the inside even if it means ruining some detail. It's a trade off worth taking.

Those homemade wing spares really look great. You shouldn't have any issues with the wings developing stress cracks at the wing/fuselage joints.

Joel

Guys,
Thank you for your thoughtful replies. Damian's suggestion offers the greatest option for keeping the blisters from popping inward and retaining visible interior detail. However, it also means that once I have removed the panel I'll have to get it back into place and ensure that the resulting seam is no more visible than the panelline. That means I'm still not finished with scribing if I go that route.

Brian, thanks for the heads up about the spar. I figured that there will be interference with the wheel well detail. I'm prepared to sacrifice some of the spar, our some of the wheel well detail. Primary concerns are the strength of the oleo to spar joint and still retaining enough detail to hold the smaller landing gear parts. Since the plane will be screwed to its base, viewing the wheel Wells will be impossible.

I'm still waiting on the arrival of the vac form clear parts from New Zealand. Hopefully they'll arrive before I have to seal her up. I sent them a hurry up letter yesterday.

Until then I have time to ruminate on a solution.

Again, thank you for your input.

Gaz

Great progress and scratch building Gary. I don't have much knowledge about bombers, so I can't be of any help with suggestions unfortunately. I think the flight deck look very good indeed and will look even better after a bit of weathering.

Gary,

One day when I finally build that 1/48 scale PBY I have seating on the stash shelf, it will also be a wall mounted display. My thoughts are to secure it to the base as though it's flying with the wheels up and using acrylic rods through the fuselage to secure it to the base.

Since you mentioned that you're going to be screwing it down to the base, are you inserting the screws through the bottom of the wheels? Mounting that way places all the weight on the struts with no assistance from the base resisting that force.

Joel

Gary,

you made some nice progress there... what a beast of a build this is!

gr TC

Ernest and Lars,
Thank you!

Joel,
My support structure will be brass from the spar, continuing down through hollowed-out landing gear, and into the base. If I do it right, little should be seen in kit's display position as the bolts and nuts will be directly between the wheels. It is the plan that no styrene except that at the joint of the brass spars will bear any of the weight. But this is all new ground to me, so I'm sure there are a few more monkey wrenches out there waiting to be thrown in.

Gaz

Gary,
Sure sounds like a plan to me. I'm considering your efforts my test bed, as I really want to start the PBY-5A as Strawberry 5 this winter.

I'm also going to make separate shelves for my 1/20-1/24 scale race cars. Just one or two per year, but all will have a cherished memory for me.

Joel

Hi again, Everyone!
Nothing pretty to show today. Only working on the bones of the beast and making her able to hang in a framed display on a wall.

Starting this morning I began nervously drilling out the main landing gear. The main shaft of the main landing gear is 4.72mm thick. The telescoping oleo portion even smaller. After making 1mm pilot holes in each end, I moved to a 2.5mm drill bit and finally finished with a 3mm wide tunnel through each gear leg.

I have a Ryobi screw gun which allowed me to keep the bit turning at very low revs. Oh...yeah...the gear legs aren't molded straight.

I've decided to forgo the wheel well detail completely in the name of strength. Once she's bolted down, nothing larger than mouse will see what's up there. The new wheel wells are here:





Interestingly enough, the brass bolts have the exact same exterior diameter as the landing gear. So, I'll be grinding off some threads.


....glad I have a Dremel!



Anyway, that's it after a long day of working with brass. There are still many questions to answer.

Thank you for following with me!

Gaz