yeah i guess to reduce sun glare back into the pilot's eyes. same reason the Japanese painted theirs brown.
got a slow start on mine but the cockpit is almost done. sanding the glue seems on the corrugated wings is going to be tough though.


joe

Hey, Joe, rather than trying to recreate all those posts with photos, here is a photo build log. Look under the album TBD-1 diorama...

https://pnance26.imgur.com/all/

looking good so far patrick. let me know how you sanded the glue seams of the corrugated wing area with out damaging the ribs.

joe

we are working with two different kits so I am not sure the problems would be the same. I don't recall needing to fill and sand that seam... will look to see.

My intention is do Ens. Gay's aircraft as he had to ditch during the battle. He said his rudder was shot up so he couldn't yaw and the pitch was gone because the rear elevators were also destroyed.

This means that have them in tatters the plastic parts won't do.

This is a first attempt... I am using balsa with tissue paper then Bare Metal Foil then two more layers of tissue paper. This gives a lot of thickness to the tail pieces but since they are the trailing edges maybe they won't be seen.

The photos show the process.




If this doesn't work, I have another idea that may work better with very thin sheets of plastic layered so that I can do some thinning and damage from the inside out and vice versa.

Your comments and criticism is always welcome.

Patrick I've seen holes cut in the original parts some internal structure built then aluminium foil covered over the top the holes then either opened up or the stuff peeled back to show the inner gubbins. I've also seen complete structures built from plastic and foil then laid over the top and then "damage" applied.

If you happen to be able to have a hollow structure, you can thin it out and recreate BD that way as well.

I saved all the parts I removed just in case...

I have until November to finish this up, so I can try several routes. I may try layering up thin plastic stock as well to do some other stuff. The plane has lots of stuff to do.

Thanks for the advice. Russ Bucy sent me a really cool article on a B-17 with extensive battle damage. It’s a great guide!

Oh my... well this plan and plane have been shelved until midsummer. I need to accomplish something quickly to keep my interest, so I will leave this thread for a bit.

But I will complete this dio eventually... I know we all do this, so I don't feel badly at all!

Cheers and thanks for playing along! Will be back next week with another episode of "What I Didn't Get Done Today"!

Yeah I know that feeling! But mine is self induced I'm busy building for somebody else so the "projects" have all taken a back seat more or less.

I look forward to seeing what you do with this in the future!