Two month break is getting over and can sit at the bench for a few. Last left the main gear bay was being fitted in. This has happened and is CA’d into position on the one side. Next I am working on the PE details that make up the interior well area.
The rear bulkhead in the above photo has not yet been trimmed down where the gear strut raises up into the bay. Below that area has been removed and more test fitting for the top, sides and the bottom. You can see where I have had to add materials to get the correct fit.
One thing that I am in need of building is a stationary upper turret. As you may remember is that some of the early planes had severe buffeting issues due to the rotation of the turret. Some removed and used a cover plate, while others created a fixed turret to only fire forward. I found a picture of this and am working to recreate.
As you can see in the above there are cross braces and gun supports. I built a prototype of the cross bars and was working on how to get the barrel mounts to the correct shape. This is where Autocad really helps. I needed eight of these in the right scale so with a basic use of size to size relation I came up with the below.
I attached them to .010 styrene strip and used a drill to bore out the mounting hole where the cross brace will pass through.
Next post will have more on the gear bay and turret work.
Thanks for looking,