This will be my first attempt at vacuform. I am getting out my hacksaw, sledge hammer, duct tape, and binder twine and am going to try to beat this:
Into something that looks like this:
Wish me luck! (and I’m open to any advice!)
John, The Museum of the United States Air Force is restoring the “Swoose”, A B-17D that served throughout the entire length of WWII. Here’s a link to the restoration page of the Museum’s site. It might be a little help if not some inspiration. Good luck, Koster’s conversions are top quality. Rick
Thank you Rick, I will check it out. Thats the plane I am building so this will definitely be helpful.
Step 1 done. Now I need to decide if I’m going to follow the instructions and join the nose and tail first, then join the halves, or build the nose and tail assemblies individually and bring them together towards the end.
Might wanna talk to your doc and have give a 'script for Valium too… It won’t help ya with the build, but you won’t give a **** …
I might give that a try! LOL [:D][proplr]
This is a noble undertaking. Alot of work!!! All the cuting on the fuselage, modifiying the wings etc… I still have nightmares from mine.
Step 2…
In hind sight, I wonder if anybody would have noticed or cared if i didn’t remove 3/8" from the cockpit…[^o)] This is going to be alot of work cleaining up this joint.
I’d notice
Okay, then I’m glad I did it! [:D]
This is going to be fun to watch. I’ve never dealt with vacuform before, so I can’t offer any advice other than to second the Valium comment. Lol
Okay, I am at the make or break point in this conversion. It’s time to separate the fuselage halves and horizontal stabilizers from the plastic sheet. I am thinking of either using a very sharp scissors and cut it out, or scoring it with an exacto knife. I am thinking it might work best with the scissors? Any suggestions?
While I am trying to decide how best to cut up these vacuform parts, I am sorting out all the parts I won’t be needing from the Revell “F”. With all the guns and turrets I have on hand, along with the spare Monogram “G” that I didn’t have any real plans for, I think I see a YB-40 in my future! Always wanted to do one, now I have the parts! Hmmmm…I wonder if the 390th had any of these…?[:D]
Awesome! My suggestion would be to attach the fuselage halves first, then combine them in the conventional manner. The 1/48 Hasegawa P-40 series has a similar set up and this is what I did. It also ensures you get the panel lines matched up (if applicable here). I’m definitely watching.
Joe
Joe, just so we are on the same page with terminology. Are you saying attach the left front to the left rear, and the right front to right rear, then join the completed right and left halves? The only concern I have with that sequence is I am not sure how straight my fuselage cuts are. If either one is the slightest bit off the pieces wont align. I suppose I could do a dry fit between the right and left halves as I am gluing the front and rear pieces together. This is definitely a learning process!
As far as cutting the parts out I did a little experimenting and am going to go with scoring with the exacto knife. I remember reading somewhere on these boards about priming the parts before cutting them out. Then gently sand on a large flat piece of sand paper until the white disappears and only the primer shows on the edge. This has been more of a planning weekend than working. But for the price and availability of the kits I don’t want to screw it up 
One more question: I assume regular Testors tube glue and Plastruct liquid glue will work on the vacuform plastic with out melting it or distorting it? Or is there something else I should be using?
You will have to find a Martin turret for the extra turret of the YB-40. These were used on B-24’s, 25’s, and 26’s. Since the last YB-40 mission was 29 July 1943, and the first mission for the 390th BG was 12 August 1943, the answer was no for use by the 390th.
Richs26, thanks for the info. I actually do have a spare B-24 and B-25 top turrent in the parts bin, so that should work. Good information on the operational dates too. Thanks again![Y]
A good thing to do for your C/D is to get a hold of the movie “Air Force” as it is basically a good reference for the interior of a B/C/D. It was made by Sept 42 and released in 43. It uses B 's that were upgraded to C standards (using the C/D bathtub, but only using a single .50. The radio room used twin .50’s in this one. And as HVH has said often, the fire extinguishers are shiny bronze, not red.
Yes, thats what I was trying to say. Thats how I would do it. Thats an excellent point about the alignment so joining the two vacuform pieces might be better. Truthfully, I have no experience with vacu-form and I just remembered my experience with a similiar situation. Unless its resin, you should be able to use Tenax or Tamiya thin cement. If it is resin, I would use super glue. Good Luck bro.
Joe