Steve's Models

[Sailor Steve]

Well, the tail boom is finally on. It took two days of cutting, aligning, gluing, breaking it off and sanding the glue off, realigning, regluing, swearing, forcing myself to take breaks, starting over again.

But that part's done.

[Sailor Steve]

After a few more days delay the landing gear are finally on. They had three different types - the original with the small wheel forward, a modified version of the same without the forward wheel but with some bracing rods going forward, and this final 'V-strut' type, used on the plane I'm copying.



I have some small specialty parts to fabricate and install before I can start painting, but it's finally getting close.

[Buddahaid]

Kind of looks like a Birkenstock shoe in a way. I can't wait to the paint scheme.

[Sailor Steve]

Well, the part I've been dreading the most finally came and ended up going fairly quickly and easily. No 100 Squadron was organized for night bombing, and the paint scheme was mostly black, which I liked enough to want to do that one. The problem was it would look silly without the bombs.

The FE.2b night bombers carried a rack under each wing and one under the fuselage. Each rack could hold four 25-lb 'Cooper Bombs', or two 40-lb bombs, or one 112-lb bomb. In addition the center rack could be modified to carry a single 230-lb bomb. Nothing like the two 500-pounders a P-51 could carry in WW2, but pretty big for the era. The maximum bomb load was 350 pounds, so if they carried the big boy in the middle they could only carry four 25-lbers or two 40-lbers total. I found some 1/144-scale bombs that would do for the Coopers, but where to find the big one? Then, on the top shelf, I saw that I had a 1/72-scale Vickers Vimy kit. I opened the box, and sure enough, there was a whole tree of 230-lb bombs! I only needed one.

The hard part was assembling the bomb racks out of .020 (.508 mm) brass wire. Again it went a lot faster and easier than I expected. I guess I'm having a good day. Anyway the bomb racks are installed and the bombs are mounted. Tomorrow we paint!









Oh, yeah: The reason the big bomb is slung so low is so it won't hit the propeller when it drops.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Oh, yeah: The reason the big bomb is slung so low is so it won't hit the propeller when it drops.

Must have sucked to be the one to figure that out.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by em2nought

Must have sucked to be the one to figure that out.

[Sailor Steve]

Some days are worse than others.

I planned on painting yesterday, but I spent the day hanging out with a very old friend I haven't see in a couple of years. When I got home I felt the need to fix something that's been bugging me since I put up the last set of pictures. The big bomb is hanging straight, i.e. parallel to the fuselage, where the photos clearly show it hanging nose-down - parallel to the ground when the plane is parked.

I broke the whole thing out and re-installed it. Then I got out the airbrush. At first I couldn't find my bottle of black paint. Then I tried it. It's been almost four months, and the lid was on so tight I couldn't get it to budge. I banged on the cap with a pair of pliers, which usually works, but not this time. I tried using the pliers to twist the cap loose. No luck. I finally held the bottle with one pair of pliers and twisted the cap with another. The bottle broke. Black paint all over the kitchen counter, drawers and floor.

It took several tries with paint thinner to finally get it all up, but there's no sign it ever happened, so that's one good thing. I thought about making the huge round trip to the model shop, but I just couldn't get the energy up so I just did something else instead. Tomorrow morning will have to do.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Well, the part I've been dreading the most finally came and ended up going fairly quickly and easily. No 100 Squadron was organized for night bombing, and the paint scheme was mostly black, which I liked enough to want to do that one. The problem was it would look silly without the bombs.

The FE.2b night bombers carried a rack under each wing and one under the fuselage. Each rack could hold four 25-lb 'Cooper Bombs', or two 40-lb bombs, or one 112-lb bomb. In addition the center rack could be modified to carry a single 230-lb bomb. Nothing like the two 500-pounders a P-51 could carry in WW2, but pretty big for the era. The maximum bomb load was 350 pounds, so if they carried the big boy in the middle they could only carry four 25-lbers or two 40-lbers total. I found some 1/144-scale bombs that would do for the Coopers, but where to find the big one? Then, on the top shelf, I saw that I had a 1/72-scale Vickers Vimy kit. I opened the box, and sure enough, there was a whole tree of 230-lb bombs! I only needed one.

The hard part was assembling the bomb racks out of .020 (.508 mm) brass wire. Again it went a lot faster and easier than I expected. I guess I'm having a good day. Anyway the bomb racks are installed and the bombs are mounted. Tomorrow we paint!









Oh, yeah: The reason the big bomb is slung so low is so it won't hit the propeller when it drops.

I see it!Armorers loading 112lb bomb? on FE 2b with Cooper's on wings

[Sailor Steve]

I didn't do anything Wednesday - recovering from a night playing music. Yesterday I got it painted but forgot to take pictures. Today I was going to put decals on, but ran into another snag: The night bombers had white rings on the bottom wings, and I don't have any. I've looked online for a decal sheet that has them, with no luck. I do have a sheet of white decal paper, so the solution was to buy a special tool for cutting circles; basically a compass with an X-Acto blade on the outer point. It's on the way, but I have to wait until it arrives.

I'll be starting a new project tomorrow while I wait for the tool to get here.

[Aktungbby]

What flat black paint are you using for the night camo?