Little Miss Mischief Diorama

[B-17 guy]

SAweet!

You werent kidding! That is a gold mine, pics there I've never seen!

[Army_Air_Force]

Mark, have you forgotten where your modelling bench is?

[Kostucha]

Hello!

First off, thank you guys! Greatly appreciate the posts, and that is certainly a gold mine!

I didn't have much of a choice, but certain shinanigans required me to step away from the bench for much longer than expected, with a final stop over through Europe. That's all I really want to say about that, but I'm on the eve of coming home - finally. Should be back at my work bench within 72 hours for a much needed, much saught after relaxing time of diving into the models - specifically LMM, and dropping under the Radar of the 'real world' for a little while.

So, yes, with that, work will begin on LMM straight away. I think I'm better off to leave the wings and engines completely for now, and finally finish off that second half to the fuselage. As tedious as the framework is, it needs to get done.

The diorama as a whole wont be done I don't think. HOWEVER the key players in it (that being, LMM) most certainly should be.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Maharrin]

Looking forward to seeing the build progress, Mark, welcome back!

[HOLMES]

Looking forward to seeing the build progress, Mark, welcome back!

+ One...

[Kostucha]

Thanks guys!

It's at this point in the build that I found myself sitting at the work bench. All else is put away, except for the completed fuselage half, and the partially completed half. Tools are in place, plastic is waiting to be worked on, and yet... something isn't right. I need more information. Not so much on the Fort, but more so with something I really haven't jumped into in the past - electrical work.

Rather than building the partial half and then running in the electrical, I need to plan things out right now as to how I'm going to be rigging this. The plan is fairly simple - 3 bulbs, done up as "trouble-lights" being either hung up (the one under the cockpit floor for example, as well as the one in the nose), and the one up in the cockpit being held up by a mechanic. The bulbs are some of these:

That same mechanic will be up on the flight deck, located between the two seats for the pilot and co, and with his other open hand holding onto the framework of the top turret, similar to this:

The goal is to have most of the light focused on the panel (note the missing throttle contol with the note... ya, MIA):

Although there is going to be a lot of work put into the top turret, the hope is that between a combination of the open windows in the cockpit, the turret top, the open bulkhead into the bomb bay, and that this whole thing will sit on a mirror base, there will be enough ambiant light let in, and ability to see from various angles, the detail of the top turret. But, the panel, which is under the 'hood' wont be easily seen, and I must say, Eduard did themselves proud with the quality of this panel. I don't want to hide that.

As for the other two lights, I want them in the nose, hanging from the 'spring' facing port and to the rear a little to show the navigators table and the bulkhead (oh, I've got PLANS for the navigators table), and the light under the flight deck hanging just off the frame of the hatch shining inward showing what's under the floors under the co-pilot:

The trouble is the wiring. It's no problem with the two just handing, and one of the wires will be easily shown, as they will run with "extension chords" out of the aircraft as if they were plugged in somewhere. The other wire will be incorperated up the back of the lamp, and double as the 'hook' that they are going to hang from, and then that wire will be hidden as best as possible, doubling as either part of the aircrafts electrical, or simply hidden, running out and down, either down the back side (or inside) the ladder that will be made of balsa, or some other way. Have I lost anyone yet?

The one light the mechanis is holding is going to be a bit more difficult, as it wont be hanging, it'll be in his hand. So the one wire will be the regular chord coming out the aircraft the same way as the other two, but the other wire, now that'll be fun. It's all doable though.

One I get that done up, then it'll be sitting down and figuring out exactly how many more bulbs this diorama idea will need to incorperate, figure out the right power source and what it's regulated to, in order to give the right brightness for a "bulb" look, and avoid an overpowering "bright light at the end of the tunnel" appearance. That, and it's a bulb, that produces heat, and I don't want to melt anything.

So yes, all in all, it should be... enlightening...

More to come with actual progress soon. Cheers, and thanks for reading.

Mark.

[Kostucha]

As for a great reference for these trouble lights - at least I think it is in my opinion - is a single, very famous picture with a great bit of hidden detail. Three seperate angles to view trouble lights of the day (laying down up close, and two hanging up):

Cheers,

Mark.

[Kostucha]

So, in further planning, I suppose I'll get to play with a few new parts, rather than the port fuselage half. In order to get the mechanic in there properly, I'll be making the co-pilots control column, as well as his seat first, then fitting in the 'mock-up' of the top turret. With that in place, I'll be able to put in the figure appropriately. I'll make the pilots seat and control column once I have the port fuselage half ready to be glued to the starboard side, so as to prevent anything from breaking on me. This ought to be a bit of fun, I'm sure.

The idea with the top turret is to have that built, and then simply a "drop in place" turret, that can easily be pulled out if need be. But that can wait right to the end, once the flight deck roof in mounted in as well.

As much trouble as this is going to be, there is something that does bother me... once this one light is in, there will be no way to replace it. Meh, when it burns out, it burns out. That's what flashlights are for anyway, right? There simply wont be a way to get in there and the mechanic out.

That all being said, there really wont be anything else on the starboard side to complete other than the window in the radio compartment, and the bomb bay doors, but that last one will wait until the rest of the construction is completed.

Hoping, I'm really, really hoping that I FINALLY get to sit down and do some work, and be able to snap some pictures tonight.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Army_Air_Force]

I bet you never knew it only took me 11 months to build my 17 feet span R/C B-17. You really have been dragging your heals!!

[Army_Air_Force]

......when it burns out, it burns out......Cheers!

Mark.

Surely there's some micro LED's you could use instead; even if you have to sand the LED case down a bit.

[Kostucha]

The more I think about it, the more perhaps I can change the bulb if it burns out... life the top turret out, pull him up, cut out/replace... should be able to pull him out of the opening. The reason I don't want an LED is for the look of how the bulb will shine. It will look closer to the real thing, rather than the white of an LED. I could paint the LED itself to a bulb colour that will be close, but... this will work fine as well. It looks like a light bulb, that's what I like about the idea.

And you're absolutely right... I am dragging my feet. My wife comes home soon... finally... so that should relieve a lot of the "Mr. Mom" stresses I've had since about, what... over the last too many months.

If though, going back to the bulbs, they do become a pain in the butt, then certaily I'll be swapping them out. But as they'll only be on for a matter of seconds at a time, it shouldn't present too much of a problem.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Kostucha]

So, work went on with the co-pilots seat. After many hours of scouring the references I had, and the pictures I could find, I opted to go with the armour plate on the back of the seat assembly, which is how the True Details seat was molded. That I liked. What I didn't like was how thin, frail, and although nice, how much the TD seat assemblies were missing. So, using the TD armour plate, I scratched up some legs and the framing between them as best as I could determine from the references. "A" is the TD piece, "B" is what I did using my favorite stuff, evergreen:

Although the TD seat appeared to be a bit short in the back rest, I still went with it. All in all, it's fairly close from what I can see, just no long back rest, and only a 'pad' for the lower part. This piece will be painted a flat tan simulating a tan coloured material.

Here is a side by side shot of the new piece with the stock TD pilots side. Although there is another piece to add to the stock TD piece, I was much happier with the results I received with the co-pilots side:

With all the main frame complete, there was the portion of the seat support from the bottom that needed to be built. This also adds a bit to the strength, as the TD seat sits mounted to a couple of small 'teeth' that stick out, and no bottom support what so ever:

And here is the assembly with the base coat of paint (still a little wet):

There are still quite a few smaller details to be added to the assembly. One of those though, are the seat belts. Now here is a riddle... I've seen pictures with belts the same colour as the Eduard ones I wanted to use, and I've seen tan/khaki ones as well. What would be more correct? The green belts are on newer/restored forts, so I'm second guessing that. Either way though, here is the colour that the Eduard belts are printed in:

Anyone got any thoughts on those?

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Mark.

[Neo]

OMG hes back !!!! Nice to see you hamering on this girl again !!

Good progress cant wait to see more.

As for the belts i would use the Eduard as is but im no expert

[Army_Air_Force]

I found one black & white picture that showed light coloured seat belts, but I don't know what mark of B-17 it was in.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Army_Air_Force

[Kostucha]

Thanks guys. Oh Neo, I most certainly am back!

I did find a couple B&W pictures that show the harness being a darker colour than the khaki/canvas harnesses, and I know that these were on the 'G' models. Now, I don't mean for that comment to read "I've found the 1 in a million, so I'm going with it"... finding B&W or WWII era shots of the B-17 Flight Deck or Cockpit gives an enormous amount of images on the instrument panel, on the backs of the seats looking forward at the columns, and images like that. Ones that clearly show the harnesses are few and far between. That being said, I've found just as many of the canvas/khaki lighter ones. One thing is for sure, through pouring through all the reference books, and the lovely internet searching for a while now this morning, I have yet to find a single picture showing the seatbelts being remotely close to the colour printed.

Given that I've yet to see Eduard go right out to lunch on any product when it comes to accuracy, I also sent them a request to see where they got their info from... who knows, right?

Anyway, my plan with the belts is to use them, but through a few subtle layers of dull coat and a lighter/tanned pastel chalk application, hope to bring these from the green to at least something that looks similar to this harness in colour:

B-17 Cockpit 1

Either way though, I hope to have the co-pilots seat and control column mounted in today, and start working on the mechanic in the flight deck. But, as always, any advice is more than welcome.

Cheers,

Mark.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Kostucha

[Kostucha]

I managed to complete the co-pilots seat, and add a few other details to the back. Bonus, is that the application of those pastel chalks really did give me the result I was looking for. Here are some shots of the completed seat (I really don't like the look of the nicely folded seat harnesses):

Now it's onto the column. I am impressed with the control wheel that the TD set has (D), but the TD column is absolute junk! It is nothing more than - for lack of a better term - a long blob of resin (B), so I scratched up my own ©. For fun I threw in the stock piece as a comparison (A):

The only thing to do is add a small switch on the right side of the wheel, and then the material 'bag' over the base of the column, along with a control cable running forward.

Thanks for looking!

Mark.

[Kostucha]

And the control column is done!

A bit of a before and after:

Now that these parts are all in place, tomorrow it'll be working on the mechanic, and getting all that fun stuff done up. Until then though, here's where the flight deck is at right now:

Thanks for looking!

Mark.

[jester292]

Great to catch up on, as always. Thanks again for taking the time to share your work. I enjoy it.

Aaron

[Kostucha]

Thanks Aaron!

There's just a few small things still to add to the flight deck (a couple of containers on the bulkhead behind the turret on the starboard side, and a little bit of wiring. I'm thinking that I'll take care of those first, and then move onto the mechanic with the light. The more I'm thinking about it, having a mechanic in the flight deck makes little sense. The diorama is going to have the waist section being moved in order to be attached. With the forward portion of LMM being up on jacks, I doubt there would be a mechanic crawling up and down the fuselage there.

I think it would make more sense if I have him in the bomb bay, standing up on a crate with the trouble light lit up and looking forward. That, and if the bulb burns out, I don't have to dork around trying to pull him out then reglue him in there afterwards. So, that's what I'm going to go with. Rather than having a trouble light up inside the nose, I'll have one of the mechanics standing on the scaffolding up by the nose (as the plexiglass nose piece is going to be removed) with the light shining aft into the nose. That'll solve that. And alas! I just made the work a little easier.

More to come soon!

Cheers,

Mark.

[vvwse4]

Wauw Mark, stunning work. I used the same belts but your's came out much and much better. How many hours it took to make the pilots seat?

Hope too see a lot more

Rick.

[martin_sam_2000]

That is looking great!!!! I can't wait to see the final product.

Sean

[Kostucha]

Thanks guys. Rick, that seat took about 2 hours to make. But that's 2 hours of finalizing which reference pictures I'd be using, and finding ones to answer questions of where to put what. Also, it would have taken a little less time if the colour of those harnesses wasn't a bit off. The construction itself did't take that much time at all.

Sean, thank you good Sir! I can't wait to see that final product either. But, getting closer, that's for sure!

Took a little bit of time while the little man was down for a nap to take care of the hydrolic panel and a few other details. Here's a quick shot of the panel before hand:

This Verlinden piece is pretty darn good! I looked at three differen't set-ups for the hydrolics. One panel is a little different, but it's not original (found in Squadrons B-17 Walk Around). The two that matched were a great B&W picture of a B-17G from 1945, and from the reference book that showed the best pictures as well (Aero Detail No. 19: Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress). First I went through and detailed up the panel itself, giving it some missing lines and some 3D details to spice up an otherwise 2D panel:

As for the two hydrolic fluid canisters on the bulkhead, I used a 3mm piece of evergreen rod, and a section of sprue from the tree holding the wings, measuring about 4.5mm in diameter. A few extra's were added, like the filling caps on top of the larger can, and the two plates on top and bottom of the smaller can, that leave a slight lip over the edges:

A few other details were added after the cans were painted, such as the mounting straps. Also dirtied them up a bit, especially the larger one, using some wet pastel chalk applied with a toothpick, to show some spilled fluid in the past:

From there, the first (smaller) canister was mounted, and the applicable lines with that one were tossed in:

Then the last canister, the larger one was added, and the last of the lines were added:

The only thing really left here are a few lines from the fuse box on the opposite side of the bulkhead, and the two fuel transfer control switches. I think after that is done, thats it!

Thanks for looking!

Mark.

Edited November 7, 2011 by Kostucha

[rightwinger26]

Outstanding job Mark, lovin seeing her come together again!!

[Kostucha]

Thank you very much!

As the flight deck has only a couple more parts that are drying, I moved onto the flook in the radio room. I started by simply cutting a cardboard cut-out (the backing piece for the Eduard sets) and once I had the right fit, I then cut that into a piece of 0.25 mm evergreen sheet for a good stiff floor. Once that was done, a tape mock-up of the sheets going onto the floor was made. In all the pictures I could find, I seldom found the actual bombers with a nicely, squared off, staight cut section of this grippy stuff, so it was a free hand cut. Before laying them down, I did a little painting along the joints, to give the wood grain effect between the sheets. Once done, the section of the door where the strap is, was cut out and a piece of masking tape around a thin wire was set in as the strap used to open that panel door. After that, a needle dabbed in silver paint was used to give the effect of rivets. The hinges are thin cuts of that high-heat metal tape I love using, pressed in with my finger to give the center line of those three hinges. Once done, it was lined up, and glued into place:

Tomorrow night, once the floor has dried nicely, the rest of the radio room items on the forward bulkhead, along with the desk, chair, lamp, and the items that mount onto the floor will be added. After that, and those two fuel transfer selectors up on the flight deck, there isn't anything else except for the navigators chair that needs to be added. It'll be straight onto the "exciting" work of finishing the framing of the port side of the fuselage.

As for the work that I did on the port side trailing edge building in that framing, I'm looking at my mistake of not doing it on the starboard side first... rather than risk blowing everything that is in that area inside the radio room, I'm going to do it a bit differently. The port side will be fully exposed, showing what's in there, but the starboard side will just be cut nice and flush, and a "mock" of that framing put in so that it can be seen a bit from underneath. Over top a 'blanket' or tarp will be draped over it, with a tool box or something (schematics, lunch, anything really) sitting overtop of that joint. At this point... there needs to be a question of 'when is enough, enough?' I honestly contemplated opening up that hatch in the radio room floor... then common sense came and told me it's late, and time to move on...

Anywho, as always, thank you for looking!

Mark.

Edited November 7, 2011 by Kostucha

[Kostucha]

So with the floor being done in the radio room, work started on adding a few details to the floor. The port and starboard spar sections were added, along with the small item on the floor. I have yet to learn what this thing is, other than it's in all the -17's that I could find:

Next up was the table. The Eduard set provides a nice PE table, however I haven't seen a metal one. All the table tops were wooden that I could see:

Using a thin sheet of balsa, I thinned it down using some 400 grit sandpaper until it was about 1 mm thick. From there, using "Sienna" and "Dark Tan" MM paints, I brushed streaks of brown on heavy enough to give colour, but still light enough to allow for some of the natural grain to come through. Once done with a wet fine tip brush, I added some streaks of both brown pastel chalk, and then dark (80%) pastel chalk dust to give some depth. Now, as the balsa has a lot of texture to it, and it was fairly dull, I covered the whole piece with thin superglue:

Once it had dried, I used 800 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. This also gave a surprise result. Though it did come out nice and smooth, due to the texture of the balsa, some was left nice and glossy, while other areas were dulled, giving the look of a well used table top:

And... the table mounted in:

Added the radio equipment on the table top, and above on the bulkhead. All is done there except for the wiring. The tools on the table, and one on the floor will coincide with the tool box also on the floor there and the mechanic crouching inside at the door on bulkhead No. 6, as on the diorama, the waist section will be pushed towards the main body, as though they are in the process of reattaching the two sections:

And the chair for the RO. I used the Verlinden seat top and back, and scratch build the rest of her, finishing off with Eduard seat belts:

Mark.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Kostucha