@dadoffour Thanks for that. I’ve borrowed the Vegas trick for tomorrow - take only what I am open to not coming home with in terms of money. So a bit more than $100, plus $5 for the entry fee. Now will I spend all of that? Probably not. And I do know that one of the vendors who will be there, based out of Kyle, Texas, will bring a card reader. I will most likely buy some supplies like glue from them at least.
With an eventful weekend at the IPMS show and spending time with family, I didn’t get much time at the bench. But I was able to get out there this morning prior to starting my work day.
I’m slowly getting through the cockpit. I find myself constantly dry-fitting components to ensure that when I have put glue to some parts (not many as yet), everything remains in alignment to allow for successful completion of this area.
Today I finished the port side panel and controls. I also drilled out the back side of the instruments as the wiring is very visible through the nose cone. I built the fiddly foundation for the pilot’s seat. The radio equipment has been completed with 3D decals, and I have dry-fit the bombardier’s station to a side panel.
In the port side panel, you will note part of the thing is cut away. This was necessary as the instrument panel simply would not fit as it should. The entire port side panel is still a work-in-progress at this point.
The bombardier’s chair is also underway. The instructions call for installing the legs on the right side to the right side panel, but I am test fitting to drop that in once the main cockpit compnents are installed. I didn’t get the legs fully splayed to reach to the inner side panel to which the left legs are intended to attach to.
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Some work last night and this morning, was to cut some sheet styrene to fashion a tiny box that Revell didn’t deem worthy of including in the kit but should have given how visible it it. I don’t know what it is exactly - a direction finder, perhaps? - but it mounts right in the forward most point of the nose cone. It has a single dial on it facing the pilot.
My approach was to mark out a 4-sided box, lightly score 3 of the legs of the individual squares (yeah, I love geometry), then gently bend it into a rough box shape. The photo with the clear nose cone piece was done last night, but it didn’t survive handling this morning. I basically crushed it. So I started over, as evidenced by the final 3 photos. I then cut out the remaining two sides of the box and drilled holes into them. I presume those holes are to allow ground crewmen access to the wiring of the dial.
I think this looks pretty bad. I’ll probably make another attempt at it, or maybe I’ll try to close the ugly gaps with some CA hit with accelerator.
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That’s not bad for such a small box. OTOH, I would suggest using paper of a thicker variety (such as the type you sometimes get in the mail). Cut it into the shape of a cross and fold. But I’m not trying to build it, so take my suggestion for what it’s worth.
Good luck!
Gary
@GAF That’s not a bad idea.
Got some decent work done today on the 88. I was able to rebuild the compass box and paint it RLM66. I also painted the seat cushion that affixes to the pilot’s seat. I then attached the 3D decal to the compass box, and started affixing the belts to the bombardier and radio operator’s seats. Also started attaching the straps to the pilot’s foot pedals, but I didn’t photograph those tonight.
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Good progress on the Yunkers, Steven. I like the little scratchbuilt compass box.
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Great progress. That bomb sight is a marvel!
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Thanks for the comments on my progress. I’m being more deliberate with this build given the results of my previous attempt at it. And I will admit to being a bit ADHD about dry-fitting these cockpit components. I still have yet to actually glue the sidewalls or wing spars into position, but that’s coming soon.
This morning I completed attaching the strap on the foot pedals and continued work on the seat belts. The little pedal straps are difficult to get into position, but I found that putting a thicker blob of white glue on the mounting point helps.
One of the reasons that I prefer these 3D decal seatbelts over photo-etch or HGW is ease of installation. But even with these decals, the lap belts are notoriously difficult to get into position in such a way that looks natural. With PE I always seemed to get a belt sticking up in the air somewhat, which of course defies the laws of physics and gravity and such, and inevitably led to more CA than needed and a ruined paint job. My two attempts with HGW defied all my attempts to get those belts through the tiny PE buckles, so I’ve sworn off of those. Even with an optivisor, I just could not see those things.
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I’ve seen a couple of these built up and can NEVER get over the amount of detail that’s in those builds. This one is right on par with those.
Jeez… 
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@mustang1989 I don’t always add this level of detail. But in this scale, and with all of the visibility through the glass, I could not leave it as OOB. My next build will be a 48th scale Bolton Paul Defiant. I seriously doubt I’ll be detailing out that build.
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Those Defiant’s are frickin’ cool a$$ aircraft with that rear facing turret and all. I’ll be watching for that one too.
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Oh, man, I haven’t been to the Chicken in…decades. 
And now you know why I build 1/72 scale! 
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@gomeral Yeah, me too. I told my bonus daughter that the last time I was in the Chicken was after a football game in 1986. It didn’t look like as I remembered it, though, but I found out why when I had to hit the head. That whole area has changed a lot over the years. There is now a big parking area right behind that entire strip (North Gate), and a little ways down the road (right where I think I had an apartment in the late 80s) was a parking garage. So we entered from the back rather than the famous front entrance. But I didn’t see all the pool tables that I remembered from 1986 until I had to venture to the far left side of the establishment, which is separated by a wall now. (But that wall was probably there in 1986, I just didn’t see it due to the number of people packed in there that night).
Got home from work today and found myself at the bench. Last night I was looking at some build photos online when I noticed additional details that I should add. I had previously added some twisted wire to the area, but what I saw showed those should feed into separate receptacles underneath a control located at the front right of the cockpit. So I cut some styrene rod and glued them into position.
Then I hit a wall, seeing how I was going on about 6 hours of sleep, if that. I was suddenly listless and more interesting in other things, like a nap. I will get back to it tomorrow if our weekend plans allow for it.
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I know ALL too well about that Steven. I’ve been so dang busy around the house and with planning out the weekend that I haven’t been able to spend as much time at the bench as I’ve wanted. Looking forward to seeing your progress on this one when you are able to bro.
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I didn’t expect to get any bench time today, but the wife was not doing anything, the kid was not doing anything, so I decided I would not join them in doing nothing and instead got some bench time. I made the most of it.
Started by adding more wiring to this already busy cockpit.
The white wiring coming out of the control on the starboard side panel and most of the wiring coming out of the rear of the instrument panel is 0.3mm lead wire, whereas the 3 longer wires coming out of the center bezels is 0.4mm lead wire. The wire on the control column is 0.2mm lead wire. And the wire on the foot pedals is 0.8mm lead wire.
Some in-progress shots of various cockpit components:
I then decided to start assembling the cockpit. I still did a lot of dry fitting as I went along. There were some fidgety moments, but in the end I believe I got this thing together. The components are glued inside the cockpit, and currently only the forward section of the fuselage has received any glue.
I’ll probably get back out there later today to finish attaching the fuselage, but I’m also currently smoking a pork butt. That will be grabbing a bigger portion of my attention for the day soon.
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Given that today is Mother’s Day, I don’t have a lot of time for modeling today. But it’s early, so I’ll go out there for a few minutes. I added a few last parts to the cockpit late last night, the radio equipment and radio operator’s seat, and the fuel dump located on the tail.
I’d like to start looking at what comes next with the wings and nacelles.
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Cockpit looks amazing, the seatbelts look outstading.
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@Demolition, thanks. I fretted over all of this right up until the moment that I had everything dry fit into position and was able to get the fuselage halves to meet.
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