Boeing B.17F

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Kittyhawk

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A couple of B.17s, the 'F' variant being the type most recognisable of this iconic aeroplane.
Both models are for the same good customer of mine who fortunately is also a very patient man as he's been waiting for them a little over six month.
The issue was that I had some reluctance over building them as I could forsee a few problems cropping up. The first was with the propeller blades - 2 aircraft, 8 engines, 24 prop blades. Each is only 21mm long and has to be cut out, tapered and then aerofoiled on a sandpaper block gripped in the vice. There's nothing difficult about making them but after the first dozen or so there is no skin left on the fingers and it's also the most mind numbingly boring job imaginable.
The B.17 is a very rounded aeroplane and this led to a few difficulties with the wing/fuselage attachment in terms of getting a snug fit, but the engine nacelles were the main challenge. They are true circles in cross section so I spun them to shape on the lathe first. This made for a few problems cutting out the slot on the nacelles where they fit onto the wing. Firstly, how to hold a rounded shape on the table of the scroll saw for the cut, compounded by the wing having a very pronounced taper so the top and bottom of the cut are not parallel plus the engines not being at right angles to the wing so yet another change in cut angle.
Obviously some sort of jig was needed and 11 engines were discarded before I got it right. But once I did - a piece of cake.
After all the issues I'm quite pleased with how the models turned out and I hope my customer will feel the same, but I hope no-one else wants a B.17 from me. At least not for a while.
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Could you make 1 Spitfire mk IV,1 Hurricane mk 2 and another Lancaster, delivery for April 23
Karl
Thanks for your interest. Posting my aeroplane pictures is only to display woodworking projects combined with sharing my enthusiasm for historical aircraft. In any event, couriering to UK is so prohibitively expensive that it is not viable.
 
amazing work! what finish did you use?
4 coats of Briwax teak oil over 1 coat of sanding sealer.
In the generally accepted scheme of things sanding sealer is not required and only 2 coats of teak oil should be needed according to instructions on the can.
I use the sanding sealer and then cut it back with 800 grit paper in areas that will be sprayed with the black paint. From experience if I don't do this then the paint will creep under the masking tape giving a ragged line between paint and oil. Then, the teak oil over sanding sealer looks slightly different to teak oil over bare timber so have to coat the whole thing with sealer for uniformity of finish.
According to instructions two coats of oil should be applied slopped on with a rag and then wiped off after a few minutes but not really possible with the complex shapes of an aeroplane, so four very thin coats are put on with an artists brush and a rub down with 0000 wool between each.
Finishing is still a work in progress, looking for a better way.
 
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