Kittyhawk
Established Member
A couple of B.17s, the 'F' variant being the type most recognisable of this iconic aeroplane.
Both models are for the same good customer of mine who fortunately is also a very patient man as he's been waiting for them a little over six month.
The issue was that I had some reluctance over building them as I could forsee a few problems cropping up. The first was with the propeller blades - 2 aircraft, 8 engines, 24 prop blades. Each is only 21mm long and has to be cut out, tapered and then aerofoiled on a sandpaper block gripped in the vice. There's nothing difficult about making them but after the first dozen or so there is no skin left on the fingers and it's also the most mind numbingly boring job imaginable.
The B.17 is a very rounded aeroplane and this led to a few difficulties with the wing/fuselage attachment in terms of getting a snug fit, but the engine nacelles were the main challenge. They are true circles in cross section so I spun them to shape on the lathe first. This made for a few problems cutting out the slot on the nacelles where they fit onto the wing. Firstly, how to hold a rounded shape on the table of the scroll saw for the cut, compounded by the wing having a very pronounced taper so the top and bottom of the cut are not parallel plus the engines not being at right angles to the wing so yet another change in cut angle.
Obviously some sort of jig was needed and 11 engines were discarded before I got it right. But once I did - a piece of cake.
After all the issues I'm quite pleased with how the models turned out and I hope my customer will feel the same, but I hope no-one else wants a B.17 from me. At least not for a while.
Both models are for the same good customer of mine who fortunately is also a very patient man as he's been waiting for them a little over six month.
The issue was that I had some reluctance over building them as I could forsee a few problems cropping up. The first was with the propeller blades - 2 aircraft, 8 engines, 24 prop blades. Each is only 21mm long and has to be cut out, tapered and then aerofoiled on a sandpaper block gripped in the vice. There's nothing difficult about making them but after the first dozen or so there is no skin left on the fingers and it's also the most mind numbingly boring job imaginable.
The B.17 is a very rounded aeroplane and this led to a few difficulties with the wing/fuselage attachment in terms of getting a snug fit, but the engine nacelles were the main challenge. They are true circles in cross section so I spun them to shape on the lathe first. This made for a few problems cutting out the slot on the nacelles where they fit onto the wing. Firstly, how to hold a rounded shape on the table of the scroll saw for the cut, compounded by the wing having a very pronounced taper so the top and bottom of the cut are not parallel plus the engines not being at right angles to the wing so yet another change in cut angle.
Obviously some sort of jig was needed and 11 engines were discarded before I got it right. But once I did - a piece of cake.
After all the issues I'm quite pleased with how the models turned out and I hope my customer will feel the same, but I hope no-one else wants a B.17 from me. At least not for a while.
