Spent the last two days trimming the cockpit openings, getting it wrong, removing and adding new panels. Today I did a test shot for the green nose and started working on the lower wing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psz43yfsfi.jpg

First step for the lower wing is scribing all the rib lines from the inside, including the little secondary riblets at the leading edge. This made the plastic curl up.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pskwglbq3k.jpg


Second came the internal bracing. This is cut from some of the RoseWings wing stock I've had for years.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psgnqqik0g.jpg


The wing stock is made to represent wings for World War I aeroplanes, so they have that characteristic curved bottoms. The Boeing had a more modern flat bottom, so I had to cut a strip of thick plastic stock to fill the inside of the wing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps8butnrvx.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psdyoym7xl.jpg


Once the insert was dry the whole thing is glued to the bottom half of the wing. Then comes glue applied to the leading edge to soften it up for easy bending. Then the top is folded over.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psjtzk8tvt.jpg

I had a couple of choices here. I could cut the center section out and run brass wire through the fuselage for support for the two halves. I could cut the wing in half, make the right sized holes and put the two halves through the fuselage. I chose the third option: cut out the forward edge to bypass the internal bulkhead. The aft cutout is because the back part of the wing was cut out like that. This left a slot in the fuselage the whole wing could slide into.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psoyccrwmh.jpg


And the wing is mounted. This method leaves an exposed area that has to be re-skinned, but the wing remains in one piece and very solid.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psl9u2gzom.jpg

I realized some time ago I was going to have to make my own floats, as the many models of seaplanes available are all from a later period, and the floats are such a different shape that I could spend a lot of money on a lot of kits and never find one that would work. I had some Styrofoam packaging I tried, but I seem to lack the skills to work with it. I ended up laminating several layers of thick plastic together.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psme19xjnw.jpg


After letting it dry overnight I spent several hours today with a grinder attachment for my Dremel tool, and a few more with a sanding block.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pseikhvsj2.jpg

It's going to take a lot more time before it's done, but they're slowly taking on the right shape.

Four days shaping the floats. Sand a little. Put on a primer coat. Let it dry two hours. Sand a little more. Primer coat. Wait two hours...

Yesterday the floats were done and I sprayed the base coat on. While I was giving it twenty-four hours to dry I spent today building the upper wing. Same technique as the lower. No time to finish the floats, so here it sits waiting for tomorrow.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps8qeka4bv.jpg

Floats finished and ready for mounting. Final paint on fuselage and lower wing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psehu3rccc.jpg

Floats mounted. Next is the top wing, rigging and a whole lot of detailing. And only two days to go.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps8vulc3hn.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psiwkhy54k.jpg

Looking good matey, looking good :sunny:

Louvers turned out excellent.

Best Laid Plans etc...

I had hoped to have the top wing mounted yesterday and the rigging started today. When I drilled the holes for the cabanes it ripped up the super-thin top decking around the forward cockpit. I put the cabanes in, rebuilt the decking and got ready to put the wing on. The cabanes were too short. I ripped them out, which destroyed the new decking and put in new, longer cabanes. I realized that cutting them would make them uneven, and trimming brass wire is a real pain. I also realized that if I drilled all the way through the wing I could slip it over the cabanes and glue in the struts, which came from a kit. After that I could cut the tops of the cabanes flush with the wing and seal it over. Brass wire is almost impossible to trim flush like that, so I went with plastic. I also set it aside and called it a night.

Today I rebuilt the decking again and did all the work as described above. The control horns still aren't mounted, and the rigging isn't started, and today is the 100th anniversary of the plane's first flight. It's now officially late. It'll still be done, just not when I wanted.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pspa0xk1l5.jpg

I spent Thursday and Friday helping an elderly neighbor run errands. Saturday and Sunday I spent doing research, and yesterday I was just too tired. Today I spent the whole day installing the outer wing braces and kingposts, and the tail braces. I say "the whole day", but most of it was spent making new kingposts, over and over. They're made from .008 guitar string, and that steel wire has to be clipped precisely. I got it too long, and shortening it usually took off too much. It's finally in place.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psc8lhsngq.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps3brcvzav.jpg

You know we're waiting to see the rigging, and the crew. :yeah:

Sorry. I spent two whole days filling and sanding around the cockpit area, and I'm still not satisfied with the finish there. The last two days were spent mounting some things on the lower engine housing and trying to adjust the wholes so I can put in the oversized control horns. Today I experimented with the leather cockpit combing. All of these things are giving me fits, and slowing the progress. Add to that the frustration of not making the 100th anniversary deadline and I'm having real problems keeping my interest up.

There won't be any crew, as this will be a display model, and not for gaming. I'm also at odds with myself over what rigging material I'm going to use. I bought some new stuff called EZ-Line, which stretches and is almost unbreakable, but I'm still kind of favoring the nylon line I've been using all along. We'll see how it goes.

After eleven months of not finishing anything, and seven months of not even touching a model except for a couple of game repairs, I decided I was ready to start something new.

It took awhile to recognize, but after missing the June 15th deadline on the Boeing I became horribly depressed. I didn't do anything for more than a month, and then I saw the ad at Guitar Center for the band looking for a bass player. They liked me, and that got me moving again, but in a different direction. I spent all my creative time re-learning old skills and learning new ones - not easy at my age, or with my personality. Every few days I would look at the Boeing and decide I just couldn't touch it.

Recently the music started to stabilize, and I found myself with more free time. I still can't bring myself to finish the Boeing, but I've begun to think more about all the game models I still don't have, especially since I've still been buying a new one every month.

I finally realized that if I'm not going to finish the Boeing I need to start something new. Rather than continue from where I left off I've backtracked a little, as I've acquired some newer models of old aircraft. Early on I showed a rather beat-up old vac kit of the Royal Aircraft Factory's BE.2c, which I didn't want to tear apart and rebuild, so I just rigged it as it was, which was pretty bad. At the end of 2015 Airfix released new kits of the BE.2c - the first one done in injection-molded plastic, and the Fokker E.II. I've decided to build the BE.2c, and got the kit out and ready to start.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pso7enje1y.jpg

Looking forward to your building 'reports' :up:

If you are building a BE2(c) do you intend to build a special version like Leefe Robinson's 'Zeppelin' killer? The box in the background seems to indicate such a version..
(Was not a Zeppelin in strict sense, but.. http://www.worcestershireregiment.co...robinson_page6)

It will be a standard version, but a whole lot nicer than the vac kit I built 30 years ago or more. The night-fighters had only the pilot, with a gun mounted above the wing. We need more recon planes for the game.