Jump to content

'Hangar Queen' Diorama. 1/72 Scale


Recommended Posts

I guess we should all start moving in here with our builds. So here's mine. It's not a model of any particular aircraft, more of a typical scene at the back of any Technical Site on an 8th Air Force airbase.

Lack of spares became a big problem for the 8th AF as the intensity of raids increased, and Bill Carleton (the Squadron Engineering officer from the 351st Sq, 100th BG ), told me that to change the paperwork to increase the allocated spares, would have taken longer than the war was going to last. They got around the problem by 'Midnight Requisitioning' and canibalising damaged and war weary aircraft. This diorama will be one such canibalised aircraft. The basic plan is shown below, although this may change slightly once the build is under way.

The build will be based on several original photos of 'Hangar Queens' I have found during my research.

B17diagram.gif

The kit I am using is the Airfix 1/72 ( reboxed Academy ) kit.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's the kit. I didn't want to spend a huge amount on the build, and I've never bought after market parts, just scratch built. So when I spotted this kit on ebay for £5.00, it sounded about the right price. There were no instructions or decals, but all the plastic parts were still bagged. I found the instructions on the net, bought some star decals from an ARC member, and by the time paint is factored in, the whole build will probably be under £10.00.

fort1.jpg

The model will be finished in OD/Grey.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I do have a RoG 1/48 visible B-17, but I wanted to do that as a full cutaway, so there's no way I'd get it done in the 6 months build. I've also been commissioned to build a huge N scale model railway, approximately 30ft x 11ft, so that's going to take up a fair bit of my time. There is however, part of an American bomber airfield on it, which will of course have B-17's! So depending on how long it takes me to get around to that section, there may be some 1/144 scale B-17's in the GB too!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Now that would be pretty cool indeed. I've got a soft spot for model railroads, and seeing a 1/144 American bomber field on it would be cool indeed. If I were to do that though, I could definitely see how it would turn out... a 30 x 20 table in the garage, one big complete airfield with a number of bombers and fighter escorts in the air, and about a 6 inch section of track at the far corner of it so the rail road wouldn't get in the way of anything... train/cars optional.

You're a busy-busy man Stephen, needless to say, I hope some day that my job will involve only showing up, flying, going home to a house with no kid because he's now old enough to kick out (really - once he can burn water and mess up Kraft Dinner, he's set, and moving out)... and then retire to the basement and build things... I'm afraid though that with my luck, that wont be for another 27 or 35 years... especially since I got my hands on a 1/12 Sea King (the Century 54" Sea King fuselage), and I plan on making an electrically powered, 5 bladed flying model of my beloved CH-124 Sea King... but, I digress...

Great plan! I really wish I was already at home so I could start tinkering around with everything. Until then, I'm living vicareously through you all!

Cheers!

Mark.

Link to post
Share on other sites

As a few others have done, I've done a little chopping of the kit prior to the build starting. I can safely say that it's less than 25% built!

fort2.jpg

fort3.jpg

I'm planning a little damage here and there, numerous panels removed, along with oil coolers, elevators, the remaining aileron. The life raft hatches will probably be open, wheels missing and the aircraft standing on it's legs on piles of wood ( based on a wartime photo ). Glazing will be mostly missing, possibly one of the cheek gun pressings removed, top turret possibly there but without glazing. Ball turret undecided as yet.

Edited by Army_Air_Force
Link to post
Share on other sites
I was also thinking of perhaps removing a large section of rear fuselage skin that has been removed to patch another aircraft. This would open up a viewing hole to see the waist and ball turret suspension frame.

That seems really interesting. One of the reasons I opted to have the front half, mid section, as well as the tail stinger to show the guts inside. It's easy enough to see everything up front, what with the big ole nose, cockpit canopy and other large viewing holes, but ya, it's fairly hard in the tail end.

Boy, it's only 3 days till we can "officially start"... hahahaha, that date is starting to be more and more of a blur...

Mark.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I figure that by now, it is January 2nd somewhere on the planet, so I started chopping plastic!

Port wing has the oil tank hatch opened, ram air intakes opened up, battery box lid removed, several hatches removed ahead of the aileron. The oil coolers were cut out, but it turned out the moulded panel line was too far back, so I had to glue a piece of styrene back into the opening.

fort4.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Did a little more trimming yesterday, but no pics at present as I've had a clean up before going back to work tomorrow. I've cut out most of the right side of the nose, much like the picture of B-17 '8 Ball' in the Mighty Eighth War Diary book. A section from B-17 'Sweet Pea' ( a wrecked Fort ) was cut out and grafted onto '8 Ball'. So my hangar queen now has a big hole where it has donated its right nose windows to repair another aircraft. This will give a better view into the gutted nose.

The inside of the nose has all been sanded to thin the wall thickness and remove the jigging tabs that hold the formers and cockpit floor in place. The cockpit floor has had the crawl through hole opened up that leads to the nose compartment, and the original seat jigging holes filled. The seats will be missing on my model, but the angled reinforcing either side of the crawl tunnel that the seats fasten to have been made and added. The former at the rear of the nose compartment has had the access hole opened.

The small panel at the start of the curve on the fin strake was also removed, and with the fin removed, the fairing at the base of the fin/fuselage joint has been cut away. The top of the fuselage with have to be made to fill in the gap.

A hole has been cut in the right side of the waist for battle damage. The skin will be thinned to almost nothing and the torn skin simulated by aluminium foil.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...