Little Miss Mischief Diorama

[PGB]

A rather unfortunate photo subject, but it does contain a wealth of detail for the forward part of the radio room:

Detail of the Tokyo tank notice, also showing how the plywood door panel was stapled to the inner frame:

All the best,

PB

[Dirkpitt289]

Amazing detail

[HOLMES]

IMPRESSIVE work Mark...

[Kostucha]

Darren, Dirkpit, Holmes, thank you very much.

PB,

Great bit of help, as always. My plan was to have the wooden doors removed, as it appears in the battle damage shot of her that they weren't there. However, great reference shot none the less. Not to sound morbidly curious, but I was morbily curious and studied that picture for some time - appears as though they blacked out his face or covered it up. None the less, it certainly shows the human side of what went on in these Forts.

Mark.

[Kostucha]

While the little guy was down for his nap I managed to get some work on the cockpit floors done, as well as save the No. 3 bulkhead. Looking at it, too much work went in to just scrap it, so lukily with a bit of trimming, shaving, and making the piece at the turtle deck over again, she works! Pictures to follow soon.

I think what I'm going to try to do is get that bulkhead painted, just as the No. 4, mount it in, and actually, somehow attempt to make the ceiling on the starboard side. If I can pull that off, then everything is golden. The only difficulty will be in that the fit between the cockpit floor and the port side needs to be squeeky tight... but then again, I've come to the realization that all plans I've made so far have been shot down in flames, so I'm going to keep building this one purely off the cuffs.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Kostucha]

Given Karls last post in regards to the radio operators seat, I'll be hoping to replicate the "Posture Chair" in place of the kit seat. As well, and I'll touch on it more when I get there, but the radio operators table procided by the eduard set should have a wooden top to it. Ive seen many a pictures... some were metal, most were wood, but what sold me was seeing pictures of a couple of B-17G blocks both shortly before and after the B-17G-35-VE showing a wooden table top. The only odd question I have is some have a clear plastic piece of plexiglass ontop... that I wont be adding.. ...a guess as to whether or not it's correct, but just doesn't seem right... from what I can tell at least.

Anywho... I'm hoping to have some good progress done by the end of tonight.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Kostucha]

Some quick progress pictures:

And now... back to work...

Cheers,

Mark.

[Kostucha]

And some more work done. Got the No. 4 bulkhead done to the point it was ready to be installed. Here's a shot of it with the cockpit floor in place:

And another without the floor:

There's some gap work to be done (which is just a matter of painting in the area with the green. Some touch ups along where the floor meets the fuselage half, and again on the inside of the bomb bay:

And I have no idea how it hasn't happened yet, but the hook for loading up the bombs on the outter bomb rack still hasn't broken off yet with all this test fitting...

Once that's drying, the next bit of work will be to detail the forward half of the exposed instrument panel:

Using this as my reference:

Once done, then the cockpit floor will be mounted to the fuselage half. All the smaller details, and the windows will be added near the very end. This is simply setting everything in so that:

A. None of the details on the fuselage half will be broken off,

B. I finally have a set shape to conform spacing/gaps of the port side fuselage half to, and

C. I can build in the ceiling of the bomb bay once this is done.

Well,

Cheers!

Mark.

[Dirkpitt289]

The amount of detail you've achieved in this build is truly amazing.

[Kostucha]

Thanks Dirk! I can't take all the credit though, these AM sets have come to help... such as with the cockpit and instrument panel.

Here's the forward (or back) of the panel:

All that's left are the very tiny details to put up all over the forward part of this piece (fuse box under the Nav Table, first aid kit, oxygen regulator, all the lines, the white electrical wiring, etc...)

Then I had some fun... here's the Eduards PE instrument panel mounted into the TD panel piece, with the TD resin throttle quadrant:

And most of the little bits added:

I'm REALLY impressed with this panel. All I did was to shoot the front face piece with dull coat, and the back piece with gloss coat to give some resemblance of a glass capped instrument. But the detail is STUNNING! And CRISP!

You can make out "Flying Fortress" on the plackard in the bottom left corner of the IP:

And, I kept forgetting to post this up, a couple of the things that will be mounted onto the diorama base:

Tomorrow I hope to finish off the instrument panel section but cleaning things up a bit, adding rudder pedals and all the rigging associated with them, as well as some details up on the nose. At the same time, before this cockpit floor goes in, I also want to make sure that I can still get my fat little Polish sausage fingers into the nose section to get those windows put in... Either way though... I'm done for the night, time to find my pillow.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers!

Mark.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Kostucha

[Neo]

Great progress Mark

love the detail work you are doing here

Neo

[Prop Duster]

...And, I kept forgetting to post this up, a couple of the things that will be mounted onto the diorama base:

...

Cheers!

Mark.

Thats classic! like the work to date, they will be a cut above.

- if one of your loyal observers may humbly inquire, where did you aquire the placard and "horn" button?

(aint I fancy when I right?)

[Kostucha]

Thanks guys!

Steve, off of eBay - here's the guys store: http://myworld.ebay.ca/bjahih85/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Ya, it was actually RCAF_100 who put me in touch with them. Really happy with them.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Shawn M]

awesome work my friend.

Now rip it all out and re cast it in resin!

[Kostucha]

Shawn... funny you should mention that... more on that much further down the road...

Work is moving along with the floor section. Thanks to Karl and a few incredible pictures:

I now had a great point of reference. SO!

First things first... the canvas covers were made. The lower two are "glued on" and the upper one for the IP back is a snap on. The plan is to have the lower two glued in and a portion (the port side) of the cover for the panel, slightly opened up to show the detail:

First things first, the portion at the Navigators table. Some of these would be going overtop of a piece of insulation, where other items would be underneath it:

And here, the section of the starboard side of the insulation has been glued in, with some wire bundles from the IP running overtop one piece of insulation, and then under the lower piece, along with the back part of the oxygen regulator now glued in with appropriate oxygen lines:

One more section of oxygen hose as well is in the works, but me thinks I'm going to need to make a longer one... yep... definitely... :

Now, back at it, with the finer details and hopefully the rudder pedals as well tonight.

Cheers for now!

Mark.

Edited March 7, 2011 by Kostucha

[100th BG]

HEY, I like what you've done with the place :P ! Seriously though, it is looking fantastic. All that detail is very impressive. You are far more patient than I...

[Kostucha]

Thanks Karl!

I really do appreciate all your help, as well as everyone elses. Without all the reference material, incredible amounts of insight, none of this would be coming through like this. So, really, this is as much my build as it is yours. Painting/Glueing/Swearing at parts is only half the battle - the research and countless hours (?)... spent diggin up this info and helping solve the riddle of one particular bomber of thousands... that's a HUGE part of this build.

Work continued from the last post with work going into the rest of the insulated covers. The one over the IP was put in and glued so far as to where the oxygen hose was going to come up. I didn't need to have another one made just yet, as this one was the perfect length. Where it hangs up, there will be another section of hose running part of the ceiling of the port side nose:

Here with the hose in place:

And the insulated cover over the IP pulled back, with the rest of the details added:

So, all this is done on this end, minus the windows and all the .50 cal pieces for the cheek gun position. Here's a quick shot looking into the corner, and then some through the windows (cheek gun window and the forward most window:

Next up, the rudder pedals and some weathering in the office. I think I'll also hang a sign on the throttle quadrant saying "Don't Touch 1" as in the No. 1 engine... which will be in the process of being removed and replaced:

Once it's all said and done... there's a few small pieces to add when the floor goes in... the oxygen lines that were made for the 3 main canisters on the starboard side, the small 'black box' below and starboard of the top turret, the two small motors(?) below the seats, control column on the starboard side, and of course... the rubber matts on the floors under the top turret, and in the nose as well.

The rest of the details will be added when everything is ready to be closed up. After the cockpit is done, it's onto the bomb bay ceiling... truly the bain of my existance (and no doubt the most difficult part of this entire build will be between bulkheads 4 & 5...).

Anywho, before I start to make plans I'm going to break, thanks for looking!

Cheers!

Mark.

[100th BG]

And the fine work continues, details, details. Just FYI, the motors under the seats were inverters. They took the 28 volt DC system voltage and produced 400 volt AC (WRONG!!! Actually 115 V AC).

Edited March 7, 2011 by 100th BG

[Shawn M]

WOW!

That pulled back panel adds SO much to the look and feel.

Killer job!

[Dirkpitt289]

truly amazing work. If I may what did you use to make all the rib work throughout the fuselage? Also what did you use for the wiring?

[Bigasshammm]

[Kostucha]

And the fine work continues, details, details. Just FYI, the motors under the seats were inverters. They took the 28 volt DC system voltage and produced 400 volt AC.

Karl, thanks! Inverters... ah yes... just like ours.. turning out, what is it... 115V 400Hz 3 Phase AC... or something like that.

Still curious to know how those rubber mats went in. If the seats were bolted down, (and the "posture chairs" were held down in the nose) were the rubber mats cut around these items, or laid down with items bolted in through them?

Anywho, thanks again Karl.

WOW!

That pulled back panel adds SO much to the look and feel.

Killer job!

Thanks Shawn! I was hoping it would pull off the effect a little more. Figured that if they're there, why not show them off a little, right?

truly amazing work. If I may what did you use to make all the rib work throughout the fuselage? Also what did you use for the wiring?

Dirk, cheers mate!

As for the framing, there's a short video posted earlier on this build thread that shows how I did it, and gives the sizes of the evergreen plastic used. As for up in the nose, it's a slightly improved bit on the True Details nose section. Frankly, I should have just done the same in the nose as I did in the rest of the fuselage, but hind sight being what it is... definitely still useable.

As for the wiring, it's thin white thread that was run over with a bit of thick super glue to minimize/remove the "fraying" and loose fibrers from them.

Kris - thanks buddy!

Cheers!

Mark.

Edited March 7, 2011 by Kostucha

[100th BG]

On the nav and RO seats, as from the factory, they were held down by a web strap. There was a piece of tubing welded between a couple of the legs that it went over. Then, in a recess in the floor was a piece shaped much like a parachute D ring that the web strap passed through. Personally, I would think that would be a pain in the posterior and were it my airplane, I would just bolt the darn thing in place. In the few photos of F nav staions, there is no seat, sometimes they just sat on (believe it or not) an ammo box... The inboard side of pilot seats bolted to a fitting on the angle structure by the entrance to the nose area. The outboard side mounted where the sidewall angle meets the floor and there is a cutout in the wood floor (and the matting) for its attachment. The matting was just glued right to the plywood, nothing complicated. They were not removable like a car mat. Cutouts were made wherever need for plumbing, wiring, whatever. And for some reason, the matting is not called for on the navigators floor (I will check this again next weekend). Only the floor around the top turret, the radio compartment, and the floor sections aft of the radio room other than the area around the tail well. Hope I haven't confused you too much! Later, Karl

EDIT: And DUH - yes the inverters put out 115 V 400 cycle AC...brain fart at 0300. As you have said before, head slap

Edited March 7, 2011 by 100th BG

[Dirkpitt289]

Dirk, cheers mate!

As for the framing, there's a short video posted earlier on this build thread that shows how I did it, and gives the sizes of the evergreen plastic used. As for up in the nose, it's a slightly improved bit on the True Details nose section. Frankly, I should have just done the same in the nose as I did in the rest of the fuselage, but hind sight being what it is... definitely still useable.

As for the wiring, it's thin white thread that was run over with a bit of thick super glue to minimize/remove the "fraying" and loose fibrers from them.

Cheers!

Mark.

I will search out the video when I get home tonight. Thanks

[B-17 guy]

:P

Seeing as how I cant come up with words good enough, I'm just go with what he said.