Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

[draken35]

Wow! Splendid!

[No.1]

There is no prize on model competition for this build!!!

[Sall]

Wooooow!
Perfect...! !

[Second Air Force]

The Koster kit includes two pieces for the aft crew door on the clear parts sheet. Here are the two halves after cleaning up and being held together for examination.

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

The two pieces fit together quite well and will look very nice when hung on the fuselage. The hardest part of modeling this door in the open position will be getting the opening in the fuselage to look right. The joint between the vacuform aft fuselage and the kit part is right at the front of the opening and will weaken the joint if it isn't executed just right.

[Second Air Force]

I was going back through my references yesterday and found a mistake I'd made while building the forward crew door--the inner sheetmetal reinforcement is in the shape of a cross rather than the way I'd first depicted it. I'd first laid it out using a photo of a damaged door for a guide, but I found a picture of the door in another set of pictures. Here's the corrected door:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

The vacuformed inside panel for the aft door looked promising, but I finally decided to scratchbuild the framing in the same manner as the forward door. I cut the window and frame out of the Koster part and used styrene and metal for the framing. Again, I ended up with around twenty parts in this door, just like the forward one!

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

After cleaning off my work area it looks like I can now start on framing the inside of the aft fuselage and working on those gun blisters.

Scott

[No.1]

This is excellent sample to show how to built small complex structure without etched parts

[draken35]

Your work is absolutely fabulous...

[Letipapa]

For the sake of Chronos, Zeus and Achilles and in the name of Calidon boar and tree headed Hydra of Lerna springs, this man is breaking the limits, bouncing the waters and opening new horizons. so big applause - cheers to you my friend 
pardon me (all these smiles) but I am so delighted (you killed me with forward crew door ) 

[Second Air Force]

Letipapa, the truth is that I am too cheap to use much in the way of "off the shelf" photoetched parts . In this case there aren't any PE parts for the doors, but I'd scratchbuild them anyway. I have always figured that my modeling time is free and buying parts costs money! It is rather relaxing to build these little sub-projects--I turn on some music or the TV and just start whittling.

Happy New Year, everyone!
Scott

[Letipapa]

  I agree with you, I like (I try to) make some parts myself, although I am just on the beginning.

[Second Air Force]

I agree with you, I like (I try to) make some parts myself, although I am just on the beginning.

That's the idea! I've always enjoyed the scratchbuilding part of modeling, especially when I can find a part in the spares box that I can adapt to serve another purpose. A bit of time spent hand-making a part that doesn't quite turn out as I'd like it is still time well spent (most of the time, anyway) and makes building the next piece a little easier just from the knowledge gained.

Here's a little flight control update.

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Removing/repositioning the rudder and elevators was a given as most photos of the early Forts show the elevators in the nose-down orientation and the rudder is often off to one side or the other. In addition the trim tabs are also offset in all of my photos.

More later,
Scott

[Second Air Force]

First the progress on the rudder assembly. The initial step to building the rudder is to reshape it. The YB had a smaller, more tapered, rudder than the B, C or D. This photo shows the initial marking of the area to be trimmed at the top and the marked outline of the YB trim tabs:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

I taped the two fuselage halves together while trimming the rudder trailing edge so as to keep the two halves true to one another. After I was satisfied with the overall shape I scribed the rudder free from the vertical fin halves. Next was to carefully file the trailing edges from the inside in order to get a scale thickness. This process is something that the novice vacuform modeler will find somewhat aggravating as vacuform parts are usually thicker at the trailing edge than normal kits. When I was satisfied with the trailing edge I measured and trimmed the tabs from the rudder halves. Filler has been applied to the unused tab outline:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Here are the halves of the rudder with the grey hinge spar made from a sprue tree. The tab spar is from a piece of plastic tubing:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Next is to drill holes into the false spar in the rudder and install corresponding pins into each tab. I make these pins from .020" safety wire. This way I can remove the tabs during the painting process. This is the initlial test-fit to the fuselage, with much more yet to be done:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Scott

[draken35]

Once again, it's splendid!

[Sall]

Perfect work!

 

[Second Air Force]

It was time for a change of pace so a bit of thought was given to the landing gear. The YBs had a small door that covered the lock link/drag brace assembly. It was eliminated with the B-17B and onward, as was the fairing on the lower part of the gear leg. I'd originally thought the opening in the nacelles was the same as the later Fortresses, but when I studied photos I found that the YB opening is quite different. Here is a good shot of the real thing:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Here are the two wings side-by-side, with the modification already done to the nacelle on your right and the marking made on the other one:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

And here is the strut door installed with a tire temporarily placed in the gear well for the demonstration:

Boeing Y1B-17 Project--1/48th Scale

Scott