Revell 1/72 B17-G Flying Fortress.

[Jim R]

That does indeed look very nice Ron. With the very cold weather we are having at the moment that cosy den looks the best place to be. I'll enjoy following along.

[spanner570]

Thanks for the humorous and varied posts chaps. All well appreciated for sure.

Rick. Much as it's good thinking, I can't attempt your battle damaged idea simply because to show all of the internal detail, most of the port side fuselage would have to go. Rather too much 'Damage' I fear.

I'm certainly not going down the (To me) daft route of going to the trouble of adding all the inside detail, only to have it all disappear when the two halves of the aircraft are joined. Life is way too short for such things.....


Your good buddy.

1st. Lt. Paul R. McDowell (Pilot)

[spanner570]

As it was a bit brisk outside this last week or so, I've made a start on this aircraft.

After a bit of pondering and loads of hesitation, I've decided to go ahead with me 'Exploded' B-17G. The port side will be open to the world.........

Here's where I'm at at the minute.

After seeing where the various bulkheads will go, I marked out the areas to be removed as close as I dared to the aforementioned thingies.






Then, I took a step back. Should I being even contemplating this? So, after consuming a can of best ale to calm me down, I wound up my 'Poundshop' Dremel lookalike, and set too.

Here's the initial surgery. I used a 2mm twist drill and be assured, no animals were hurt during the exercise.....


Damn fine grouping from the A.A. 88's, what!




The initial cleaning up. With the twist drill still pounding away, I ran it along, breaking out the plastic between the drillings.








Then I removed the drill bit, fitted a diddy abrasive wheel into the chuck and went to work smoothing out the cuts.








After a few minor alterations to remove a bit more plastic to increase the viewing area, I brushed on a second coat of Vallejo Air Aluminyuum to obliterate any pencil marks still showing.


There you go. Job done and am I glad that part of the build is behind me.

Now I can follow the instructions.....

Cheers.
I. Ada Swetton

[Andy the Sheep]

Sorry I missed the start of this interesting and brave project.
I'll follow your progress with interest.

Andrea

[minitnkr]

You make it look easy. Following closely.

[scottie3158]

Great work mate. Do the wings spars go all the way through those slots. As you would have lost a lot of rigidity in the fuselage and the wing may droop. Please bare in mind this is from someone who doesn't build wingy things.

[Jim R]

Maybe the worst, or at least the most daunting, part is over and done. Looks a neat job. Will you have to add floors? If so it may go some way to alleviating the rigidity issues Scottie mentioned.

[Mini Me]

Wow 570, not much left of the port side.........I have a name for your B 17........"SWISS CHEESE" :tongue-out3: :thumb2:

[spanner570]

Glad you folks approve of the 'Butchery' thus far. I certainly am glad to get it behind me......

Good point Paul. Luckily the main spar(s) goes through the fuselage, (See sprue shot of same) so hopefully no wing sag. :cold-sweat:

Jim. There are floors in the kit, but because more detail will be exposed than the kit maker intended, I will have to scratch build some extras - and plenty more besides.

Rick. Edam, that was clever! Now you see why your most excellent suggestion earlier in the thread about battle damage wouldn't have worked. Even a B-17 would struggle to keep airborne....

Thanks for all the great input boys. :thumb2:

Ron

[Tim Marlow]

Nice one Ada…..your B17 is holier than thou :tongue-out3:

[Guest]

So, after consuming a can of best ale to calm me down, I wound up my 'Poundshop' Dremel lookalike

If I may offer a tip for future models like this? Using a fretsaw is much easier than drilling loads of holes and then cleaning up the jagged edges that leaves Though regardless of the method used, the end result you got to looks good, it should show off the interior very nicely.

[spanner570]

Thanks boys....

Jakko, thanks for the input, but a fret saw would be far too brutal. The frame is around 12" tall and trying to thread the blade into the tensioned frame numerous times would end in disaster and would result in breakage of the brittle plastic, particularly where the plastic 'gaps' was very narrow. Even a coping saw would be too risky.

Also, the problem arises of trying to fasten a half round, thin bit of plastic securely enough to saw through. How can a fret saw be used? With the mini drill, I laid the fuselage half on a flat bed and held it down whilst drilling.

Although the method I've used looks clumsy and heavy handed, I had far more gentle control than any other method I've used in the past.

None the less, thank you for your suggestion for anyone contemplating similar mutilation in the future..... :thumb2:

Ron

[Tim Marlow]

Thanks boys....

Jakko, thanks for the input, but a fret saw would be far too brutal. The frame is around 12" tall and trying to thread the blade into the tensioned frame numerous times would end in disaster and would result in breakage of the brittle plastic, particularly where the plastic 'gaps' was very narrow. Even a coping saw would be too risky.

Although the method I've used looks clumsy and heavy handed, I had far more gentle control than any other method I've used in the past.

None the less, thank you for your suggestion for anyone contemplating similar mutilation in the future..... :thumb2:

Ron

Whatever works for you works for you Ron :thumb2:.
However, if you ever do want to try an alternative, a Jewellers piercing saw is much gentler than a fret saw. The blades come with very much finer teeth :tongue-out3:

[spanner570]

Whatever works for you works for you Ron :thumb2:.
However, if you ever do want to try an alternative, a Jewellers piercing saw is much gentler than a fret saw. The blades come with very much finer teeth :tongue-out3:

....but the brittle plastic still needs to be fastened down to ensure a safe and secure way of removing unwanted material. Obviously a vice is to be avoided!

So with the half fuselage lying flat, how can one use a saw - Any saw?

[Tim Marlow]

....but the brittle plastic still needs to be fastened down to ensure a safe and secure way of removing unwanted material. Obviously a vice is to be avoided!

So with the half fuselage lying flat, how can one use a saw - Any saw?

Personally Ron I’d use something like this…..comes from the jewellery industry. I think it’s called a bench pin.

To make your cut outs, I would proceed as follows. Drill a hole in each corner of the cut out on the model. Thread the blade through, tension the saw, and then saw between the holes.
To support the fuselage, just hand hold the fuselage side against the long side of the bench support, and make sure the cut is right up against the edge. The workpiece is then fully supported. You pretty much move the workpiece up around the blade as you make the cut rather than the other way around.

I made my table out of a scrap of plywood, by the way, and it has scars all over it. I’ve used it for years and years, modified plastic kits and cut down to 10thou brass sheet on mine without distortion. You can actually bodge up any support you need and screw it to the bench pin.

If you haven’t come across the piercing saw, the saw blades go right down to 84 teeth per inch (8 O) and can be as thin as 0.15mm. They cut on the pull stroke, so press down the piece onto the support, and exert almost no pressure when on the upstroke. Not that obvious from this picture, but the blades you can see are all packs of ten…..


I‘m honestly not trying to tell you how to suck eggs, by the way. I just thought you sounded interested……if you aren’t, then just ignore this post