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1/48 B-47 build....


ghodges

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Thanks so much for the kind words! What I truly hope that people might take away from this WIP is that there is no "magic" nor even any true "master" abilities that get this build from start to finish. It's mostly persistence, elbow grease, trial and error, and some imagineering with the spares box. I've already had to rebuild the main gear trunnions, so mistakes are being made along the way, and some of them will be incorporated and lived with! :smiley2:

 

Going on a short vacation with the wife, so hopefully I'll get back to this late in the weekend or early next week! Cheers! :D

 

GIL :smiley16:

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The gear doors and nose hatch are built.

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The rear doors were totally scratch built. The outer skins were made with .15 sheet plastic using the cut kit parts as a guide. Once they were cut to shape they were rolled over a pencil to impart the fuselage curvature to them. Next, a framework of strip plastic was added to the inside edges and .10 sheet plastic cut to fit over that framing. The holes in the 4 pieces were punched with a common paper punch. The disks form those holes were glued to the center section to make the raised inspection plates. Although it can't be seen, all panels were riveted with a ponce wheel and scribing pin.

 

The nose doors were done similarly, except the cut kit parts were used for the outer skin, and the inner skins were glued directly over the inside. A punch and die was used to make the holes and the rest of the cut outs were done with a sharp blade. The smaller inner skins on the trailing edge of each door were drilled using a #11 blade. These doors were riveted also.

 

The outer skin of the nose hatch was created from .10 sheet plastic using the kit cut out part as a guide. It too was rolled over a pencil to impart curvature to it. The cut kit piece was used for the interior skin after reworking it to bevel its edges, add the rear edge hinge points, and add the cut outs. The handle is wire and the small metallic U shaped item is the receptacle for the door actuator.

 

I found an easy way to make the half round hinges. I used a punch and die to make a hole in .10 sheet plastic, then positioned that hole inside a paper punch to punch out a "ring". The ring was then folded in half and glued together to form the semi-circular hinge. This doubling over of each ring beefed them up and strengthened them. They were then super glued in place.

 

Although not pictured, I also made small U shaped brackets that were glued to the wheel well walls to seat the hinges when gluing the doors in place later. I still need to make the actuators for all of the doors, but that's a task for another day!

 

Comments, questions, and critiques welcome, as always!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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Well done, Gil! Keep up the good work! Best,

 

Mark

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  • 2 weeks later...

The devil is in the details, as they say, and I've been having a devilish time detailing! :smiley7:

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This was my original stab at the trunnions and gear legs.

 

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This is what they're supposed to look like!

 

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Here's my rebuilt trunnoins and gear legs, now complete with oleo scissors and brake lines. The items on the right are the gear door and entry hatch actuators. These still have their share of warts, but they'll be more accurate and look better than the original parts. This will make you appreciate all of those well engineered and nicely detailed parts the manufacturers give you in a kit! :smiley20:

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Hi, Gil,

 

What? SAC hasn't made white metal gear replacements for this aircraft yet? Oops, sorry, they can't. There is no injection molded master to copy. Perhaps you can sell them yours.

 

Great work so far! The finished model will be impressive.

 

Ed

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You may say there's no "magic" or "master techniques" to this, but what I'm seeing you do far exceeds my skills and abilities. That makes it magic for me. I bow in the presence of greatness here. Since we don't have a "bowing emoticon" I shall applaud these efforts with great enthusiasm. :smiley20::smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32: :smiley32:

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Got the fuselage details done today...sorry some of these pics are so dark!

acintakesandexhausts.jpg

 

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These pics show some intake and exhaust inlets and outlets added to the fuselage. It took more effort simply because a SHOULD have done this BEFORE I closed up the fuselage! However, a sharp blade, motor tool, some sheet plastic and tubing, as well as some elbow grease took care of things!

 

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This shows the intakes added to the vertical fin with plastic tubing. There's also an access panel scribed onto the fuselage using an architect's template. A sharpened piece of thin brass tubing was used to add some rivet detail by pressing the sharp end into place and rocking it around to leave a mark.

 

fuselageupperpanels.jpg

 

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More scribed panels using the same techniques on the upper fuselage and to make the rudder hinge covers.

 

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This shows the cannons in their housing. The traverse guide lines have been scribed in, as well as the trim tabs on the bottom rear of the rudder. The cannons were made from plastic tubing and sleeved steel tubing. They're not glued in place yet, so they can be painted and added at the end of the build.

 

I could do more, but I figure that's enough to catch the laymen's eye. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :smiley4:

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Yes! Well, the pervasive odor of Tamiya gray primer paint anyway! :smiley2:

 

Finally, some major progress!

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These 2 pics show the jig I made to cradle the fuselage and the fuselage in place on it. The jig bulkheads were made with stiff cardboard after drawing the fuselage shapes onto them, traced from the scale drawings. An architect's triangle can be placed against the vertical tail to true the fuselage to vertical and the fuselage can be taped down in place to steady it for work and measurements.

 

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Horizontal tail planes have been scribed and the elevators carved out by scraping down their leading edges to look more airfoil like. You can also see the wooden tongue depressor and brass tube that will act as slots and pins for gluing to the fuselage.

 

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And the tail planes have been added! :smiley20: The fit bordered on atrocious, which is not unusual for a vac kit. Gel type super glue was used to glue them in place, first using Mk.1 "eyeball" to align them, and then setting it onto the jig to measure and tweak their alignment to perfection. The dark gray filler is Apoxy Sculp, epoxy filler. It was mixed up, rolled out, and then pressed into the gaps. It was then smoothed out and blended in more with a finger wetted in alcohol. Apoxy Sculp is a strong filler that sands well and can be scribed too.

So, the air frame is beginning to take shape finally! Onward, upward, and skyward! :smiley4:

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Actually, it's left over from an attempt to sell my own house! But, you make a good point John. Plastic "for sale" signs are readily available in varying sizes and thicknesses at many hardware stores and at Walmart. They're MUCH cheaper than buying packs of sheet plastic at a hobby shop, and also generally come in larger sizes too!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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I've also gotten some black and silver primer coats on it now, and have detailed and completed the out rigger gear doors. I hope to have the engines hung in place in a couple of days!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Engineering on the engines...

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This shows how the shock cones will fit into the intakes. The white discs on the rear are "fan blades"; which aren't really entirely correct, but they will look better than having the cones butt up against a blank rear wall. It's hard to see, but the small triangle of tape on the underside of the twin engine housing between the intakes is covering the landing light. I placed a small clear piece inside and then built up the "glass" over it with gel super glue. It was then sanded to shape and polished.

 

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These are the outrigger doors. Nothing fancy; just the cut out kit parts skinned with "holed" sheet plastic.

 

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And more paint is on the big bird! Actually, there's 3 coats on here; Krylon black, Krylon silver (way too "metal flakey"), and a coat of Tamiya rattle can aluminum.

 

Now I need to engineer the outrigger landing gear and I'll be ready to start hanging engines! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome as always!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Finally, some major progress!

 

First of all, I had to remanufacture the landing light installations. I just was not satisfied with the way the first set looked (see above), and they were too small. So....

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First, I cut out a larger area on each engine pod. Next, I cut two triangular pieces of soda can aluminum and rolled them over a paint brush handle to make them concave. These were glued into the forward part of each opening to make the light housing tops. Sheet plastic was then used to fill in the small rear walls. The pointed frontal areas running up between the engines were then formed with Apoxy Sculp.

 

I also learned how to make my own clear lenses! I punched out several discs of soda can aluminum to serve as the "sliver" backings. Those were stuck onto some tape to hold them in place and drops of gel superglue were then placed onto each one. You have to allow them to dry without using accelerator, as that will cause them to crack and fog. But, after a couple of applications, you can make very serviceable clear lenses! You can see one of them sitting in the housing on the left engine in the pic.

 

So, how to make the clear light covers? It turns out that the openings are so flat that a small triangular piece of clear packing tape will do the trick! You really can't see it, but there's actually one over the opening on the right engine in the pic! The real trick to doing this is getting the clear tape in place without ANY kind of dirt or fingerprint on the inside of the tape. By cutting a slightly oversize piece and handling it only on the excess outer edges, it can be burnished into place and the excess trimmed away.

 

The real advantage to all of this (hopefully) is that the lights and their covers can be added at the very end of the build, after most all of the painting and handling has occurred.

 

And finally....

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The engines are on the beast! I used a combination of 5min epoxy and gel superglue to hang them in place. I'm sure there's still a LOT of filling and sanding that will be needed to blend them in. But, it feels good to see it finally all coming together. I'll post more pics after I get some sanding and priming done. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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  • 2 weeks later...

Slowly plodding through the fill, sand, prime, repeat phase.......Already gone through a can and a half of Tamiya aluminum!

silverprimerpic.jpg

But, slowly but surely getting there!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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Gil,

 

That is really coming together. Are you basically sticking with Alclad for the finish or Tamiya paints? Also, are you doing the white nuclear flash scheme or solid natural metal? So many questions...Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Jimmy Stewart would be proud.

 

Great job.

 

Bill

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It will have the nuked white bottom. The basic starting point is Tamiya AS-12 Aluminum as a primer/basic silver. I decided to go "old school" and try out some Rub N'Buff silver for the NMF. I put some onto the rear part of the model this afternoon (kinda messy, similar to using the old SNJ silver powder, if you ever tried that), and I like what I see (so far). What will be interesting is to see how maskable it will be, as I do plan to use Alclad and some Metalizer for various panels.

 

I also worked on the main tires and wheels, assembling them and preparing them for painting.

 

GIL :smiley16:

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