Gary,
Not only are you Aeroscale's Foiling Guru, but you're right up there with the best of them as a structural engineer. Your massive 3rd hand sure looks up to the task. You must have a huge area around your workbench to take advantage of it. I have a 10ft x 10 ft model/computer room, and I don't think that I could manage it in there.

Joel

Hi Joel,
Thank you! Honestly, the size of kit demands a sturdy, broad-footed support. And it needed to be tall enough for me to work on from underneath as well as above.

I do have a lot of room to work, though my workspace clutters the dining room table and occasionally bleeds into other rooms.

I don't imagine that there'll be many more occasions for me to use the stand... And the missus is already protesting the intrusiveness. Once done, I'll tear it down and keep it's components until I find another need to use them.

Gaz

Great improvisation Gary!

It's amazing what you can find at the local hard ware store and be used for model making. And at a fraction of the cost of the specialist products

BTW that sky looks a lot like Melbourne's at this time of year

Gary,

cool to see the effort you put in to build this beast!

gr TC

Russell and Lars,
Thank you very much! So far the learning involved has made the challenges worth it.

Hi everyone, a small update.

I've been spending a lot of time filing, scraping, sanding and rescribing. I didn't want to bother with updating that humdrum stuff since it's really hard to see in my crappy photos, and because we all do it all of the time anyway.

Here's today's fun:

H2X was the American version of the British H2S bombing radar. From what I can tell, every B-29 carried a set.




Remember this pic from the opening post? I've just modified it a little to show that A Square 50 actually had a radome under her belly.

After quite some time I finally have a four engines foiled, sanded, polished, and mounted with the propeller blades.







Tomorrow, the bomb bay doors should be solid enough for me to return to filing, sanding, scraping, etc....

Thank you for looking!

Gaz

But I thought you were going to do some more of your scratch building Magic to make it look just like this . . . . .


Those cowls look amazing mate, love your work!

Cheers, D

Gary,
Those 4 engines sub assemblies with their respective props look outstanding.

I've had this "discussion" with my brother who recently finished his 4th Tamiya 1/32 P-51D, all done in museum display super NMF shine. For years we've argued that an operational aircraft with NMF oxidizes rather quickly, as does any glossy painted surface, and that there was like 0 time for the crews to wash, and wax their aircraft. I much prefer the somewhat muted tones of a well maintained NMF, yet shows the signs of the sun, weather, prop wash, etc.

You might want to consider a coat of Alcad II Kleer Gloss/Matt mixed @1:1 for a subdued shine, or a different ratio to meet your expectations. As far as the props go, they seem to be the one of the 1st parts of the aircraft to loose their factory glossy finish. While I've never done it, I would assume that the fronts took a major beating compared to the back of the blades, so they could be shinier.

As far as the Radar dome is concerned, another excellent find and application to solve the misrepresentation in the kit molding.

Joel

Hi Damian,
Thank you for the compliment! As awesome a display that bomb bay would be, I think it would be better executed in a 1/24 scale B-29.

Hi Joel,
Thank you for the compliment as well as your thoughts on weathering. I most likely will satinize the prop blades.

When it comes to the NMF, I try to rely on period sources. Fortunately for me, there is plenty of footage and stills of the B-29 during the period. Because the combat life of the B-29 was relatively short during WWII, and they were finished to a high sheen to reduce drag, period imagery shows them quite shiny except for the areas left in matte auminum: turret domes and the large band that extends from mid-wing on one side to mid-wing on the other.

Examples that have been baking in the sun for the last seventy years have turned gray through oxidation.

Regarding the P-51, I imagine photographic examples could be found from one end of the spectrum to the other. In the ETO, one P-51 Fighter Group CO had his unit's fighters polished to a high sheen to reduce drag. I guess it all depends on what we want to show and what we want to look at for years to come.

Everybody has their thing, I guess. Or things...lol. It's good to have friends to share and discuss it with.

Gaz

[quote
...Everybody has their thing, I guess. Or things...lol. It's good to have friends to share and discuss it with.

Gaz

[/quote]

Gary,
Your last line sums it up the best for me.
Joel

Gary:

The engines look great and I like the radar dome. I had one custom machined by a friend when I did my B-29. The latest issues of this kit have one but it may be undersized in diameter. I don't know.

I agree with your decision to close the bomb bay doors. Having closed them myself on my build, I know what you're going through. They truly were designed to be in the open position.

Plus, I simply cannot imagine doing a B-29 bomb bay after what I went through with the B-17.

One slight suggestion on the props. A little weathering on the leading edges and perhaps some chipping would be in order given that these aircraft were flying from coral islands in the Marianas. On the other hand, I hardly think it's essential. A matter of taste and choice.

I should have another post up soon following my trip to North Carolina. First I have to clean up the pigpen that is my basement work area.

Hi Brian,
Thank you. I'm glad you came by while on your trip. Hopefully you haven't been savaged by North Carolina's State Bird, too much.

Information on the radome is pretty scarce. My kit was made in 2012 and came with a WWII radome and a Korean War radome. In all of my searching and reading, I've yet to find a good photo representation. Besides, that sucker is welded to the fuselage by now. I used dissolved sprue.

I agree, there is little temptation to do the bombay's in this monster. It's not my thing, really and two bomb bays...ugh!

Gaz

Cool Cowling Foliating!
... and neat props. All shiny like a baby's bum and so it should be!
Thomas

Thomas,
Thank you very much!

Gaz

Hi Everyone,
A little update. I'm still fighting the battle of preparing the surface of the aircraft for foil. I'd decided that all of my panel lines were too shallow and fine. So of course, that means I have to deepen all of those not covered by foil. Which means everything bar the engines. Hooray! No...not really hooray...
Thankfully, my third hand is saving me a lot of effort. Very importantly, too it has kept me from lifting my B-29 into the ceiling fan.



One thing I've always hated it when new research shows you just how far off you are. Now, I have to redo all eight engine access panels.


Gratuitous foil images... It's very sunny today, so I thought to bring out my metal.



A little technique information:



Thanks for looking!

Gaz

Gary,
Just love those tie down ribbons with bows
Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

The P-47 and Ki-44 have a well worn NMF compared to the B-29 Cowling. Can't wait to follow your foiling.

Joel

Hi Joel,
I'm glad you noticed. I'm reaping some unexpected benefits from my little stand and bows.

The plane itself sits atop three sponges. I can remove either of the three to reach a desired area. Once compressed, the sponges continually exert outward pressure.

The pantyhose bows, once stretched offer continual contraction. The two forces, while almost locking the model in place, are gentle enough that they don't pose a that to any part of the plane.

Because of this fortunate happenstance, I reckon the stand its actually going to be able to help me save time and effort on smaller models a well.

So, despite their non masculine nature, the bits of pantyhose are really better for the job than tape or rigid clamps.

I'm really looking forward to foiling too. I'm glad to have found friends who have shared their interest in it.

Gaz

looking at your airforce there Gary, I do believe you are the master of foiling!

Thank you Russell! I am still but a learner. I still have 3 or 4 kits in the stash deserving the treatment.

Now, finish that Prinz!

Gaz

Very nice looking pair of fighters Gaz, I love the scheme on the P-47, and the relative size of the thing when you sit it beside any other fighter is just awesome!

Can't wait to see some foil going on to the bondaged-up B-29


Cheers, D

Hi Damian,
Thank you! Was that a Freudian slip I read?
The Ki-44 is a smaller fighter but still the size of the P-47 amazes. Even picking it up, you realize how substantial the Jug is. I'll have to foil up another one eventually.

I thought earlier that I had three pending NMF birds in my stash, but turns out that it's five. Forgot that I'd bought the Tamiya kit.

Gaz

Ay ay, sir

Hi Everyone!
Seems an age since my last post here. Some of you might have noticed me building a tank over at Armorama, and some might have noticed my little FW190 build, and maybe some have thought that Jumbo was becoming a shelf queen.

Well, no way! I've been working on it some almost every day since my last post. It's true, there has been the odd day where obligation or bad weather has kept me from not touching it.

But on every other day, I've been out on my verandah using sun, glare, and shadow to get me closer to foiling. Truly, though I needed the other builds to kedep me from feeling that all there was to the hobby was endless scribing, fixing, sanding, and rescribing.

I've learned a lot about scribing in the meantime. There were for a while errors I was going to let slide because they were so small that I couldn't really fix them. But then I read a few lines of a build blog which changed it all for me.

True Story: When I first came to Aeroscale I was building a BV-138. I'd read others using CA for a filler, so I tried it. I put it where I needed it, and let it cure overnight. The next morning it took forever to sand down. So, considering it too much effort to sand, I decided I'd never use CA as a filler again.

Then I read this thread that said it was a great filler, you just have to sand it as soon as it dries. And so, that one thread has changed the whole outcome for Jumbo. Now I can fix any scribing error. And refix it...and so on until I am tired of fixing the same spot. Because CA is scribe-able.

Here is a bit of my method:







Sheesh, I need a better editor!











Thank you for looking!

Gaz

Looking great Gaz!
I think we're all looking forward to the foiling. On such a large model it should be spectacular (no pressure ! )

Such a daunting task. Has anyone else ever done this? Not to my knowledge.

Gary,
I've been using extra thin CCA glue to fix small errors for what seems like forever. I only apply a very small amount at a time, let it dry for 15 min, then I'll add another coat if I still feel a lip.

As you found out the trick is to let it dry for 10-15 min, but not cure for several hours or it gets rock hard. It doesn't shrink, so over time there is no shadow seam showing up. I also use it to seal all other fillers including Bondo.

Joel