Warbird Information Exchange

The horizontals have been glued on, waiting for the glue to set before I start working on the seams.
Before I glued on the horizontals, I squared everything up. I used Legos for my cribbing, 4 small blocks under the fuselage and stacks under the wings and tail




When I fill seams, I used Squadron Green putty, then wipe over the putty with a finger or Q-tip dipped in acetone based finger polish remover. Wipe up the extra putty with a paper towell, it saves alot of sanding later.

I decieded to take a break from building and concentrate on painting. One of the problems I have always had was getting prop tips even, so I decieded to make a jig.
I took some of the sheet left from the parts sheets, cut a strip about 3/8 wide and about 1 1/2 long, and with a gasket punch, I made a hole at one end the same size as the prop hub. I then slipped it over a prop and with a exacto knife, I cut a line where the start of the yellow tip would be. I took the jig off and deepend the cut and removed the excess. I now had my tip jig. Slip it over the prop dome and alighn over the blade, with your exacto knife, draw a line accross the blade, do the same to the other blades, mask and paint your tips, and all the tips are now the same.



I found a interesting site that had information on the markings and colors of US bombs
http://ww2airfronts.org/index.php

you should consider placing small strengthers on the insides of the seems that would be glued to both sections. Been doing it for years and it really seems to help. Nice resin work btw--it always come out sort of fonky looking for me, and almost more work than its worth!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

I did put some tabs in the fuselage when I first assembled it and it was still weak, but when I added the bomb bay, that really stiffened and strengthened it. There are fore and aft bulkheads plus the overhead with glue along all the edges, lots of grip area.

I had a brown truck pull up in front of the house this afternoon and dropped off my 3rd B-32 kit. I think it will be a long time before the other 2 get built.

What about using expanding foam to help strengthen the fuselage (used carefully)??? The fuselage sure looks like a Martin B-26 fuselage on steroids.

Expanding foam might work if you get the amount of foam used exactly right so it would not split the seams, if used after the fuselage is together. Also when does it quit expanding ? Some of the foam I have used around the house kept expanding long after I put it in. I could see filling the fuselage halves with foam before assembly, and set it aside until the foam quit expanding. One other problem I could see is the solvents in the foam, it would not be good to have the foam dissolve the plastic.

great progress so far. i like the daily updates!! but hey, don't be bogarting your kid's lego toys to long!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Tom,
I am not married and no kids. I got the legos to make frames for casting silicone molds, like the mold for the engine faces. They work real good for it as they fit together well and do not let the silicone leak out from between the blocks. I had to get a large box of them as the first project I did was making a replament leg for a anime figure. I was able to borrow a leg from another bidder on Ebay that bought the same kit and had all the parts. I built a large frame out of the legos, poured in some silicone, put the leg in and then filled up the frame with more silicone.
It came out pretty well if you ask me. it is the left leg.




If there are any good looking ladies in Az that likes warbirds, motorcycles and models, PM me

I like your prop tip painting jig..gonna have to steal that one!

As for the "B-26 on steroids," Martin actually had a proposal for a four-engine bird nicknamed the "Super Marauder." It recieved an AAF designation (XB-33A) but never made it past the "concept" stage.

SN

I agree about the prop jig. Simple but elegant!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Prop thing is a great tip! No pun intended.

nothing exciting today, more painting and sanding, did I say there is alot of sanding ?. I about have the tail seams done. I did cut out and fit the cockpit and bombadiers glass. All the clear parts have been dipped in Future floor polish. One of my dreads is painting canopy frames, I am open for tips.
I am going to attach the clear parts with G-S Hypo cement, watch crystal glue, www.toolsgs.com I got it at Hobby Lobby for $3.99. There is 1 Hobby Lobby in Az and it is about 2 miles from my house.

does anyone have a spare 1/72 scale norden bombsight laying around ?

Wow..that canopy really fits well. For framing, I usually mask with Bare Metal Foil, and adhesive-backed super-thin aluminum foil intended to use as chrome trim on car models. You burnish it down real good, then carefully cut out the canopy frames with a brand-new X-acto knife.

I've not tried "futuring" a vac canopy..I'm not sure how well paint will stick. On vac canopies, I usually first paint the frames with Pactra "Racing Colors" paint, which is designed to stick to Lexan (polycarbonate) RC race car bodies..mixed to match the interior color.

You might also try using strips of painted decal film..I've not tried it, but I've seen other get pretty good results that way.

SN

thx Steve, I will try that. Canopies have always been my downfall, the canopy is not glued in place, I just set it there for the pic. I sanded it to the frame line, then set it in place and traced around it with a dental probe, I then trimmed the fuselage back to the line and it all fit. I would like to find a 1/72 scale Norden bombsight, but no one makes a resin replacment as far as I know.

not alot of progress, just been working on some little things. I picked up some 1/72 resin .50 M2 brownings and have been trying to figure out how to put them in the turrets. For the top turret I am using a piece of .040 safety wire with a small square of plastic as a gun sight, the breeches will go on each side of the sight. I also added a seat in the turret out of a piece of angle. I also made new retract struts for the main gear out of aluminum tubing and music wire.