Roadrunner Posted May 16, 2015 Author Posted May 16, 2015 The front end of rebuilt base areas are coming along rather nicely now. I've decided to spend more time modeling, and less time eyeballing the web, and so far, this seems to be working out great.
Snake45 Posted May 17, 2015 Posted May 17, 2015 I'm not an expert on these things....is this what you're building?
Roadrunner Posted May 17, 2015 Author Posted May 17, 2015 I'm not an expert on these things....is this what you're building? Yep, that's it. I have several walk around photos of this same mount, in addition to others.
Roadrunner Posted May 17, 2015 Author Posted May 17, 2015 I just yesterday discovered that I had a copy of Nuts & Bolts #13, and though the subject is the Wirbelwind, there are several crystal clear photos that I'd not seen before, showing many details that I had previously overlooked.
Roadrunner Posted May 17, 2015 Author Posted May 17, 2015 Work continues on the gunners pedal area, with yet more details being added. The pattern on the pedals themselves seems to be fairly accurate, if a tad overstated.
Roadrunner Posted May 17, 2015 Author Posted May 17, 2015 After almost giving up on my search for the dies, I finally found two of them, so now adding all the little discs and dots can commence. I'm a happy guy!
Roadrunner Posted May 17, 2015 Author Posted May 17, 2015 While scouring my references, I stumbled upon a couple of details that I had not seen before, under the gun elevation arm (for lack of a better term). I have no idea what this loop is for, but I added it anyway.
Snake45 Posted May 18, 2015 Posted May 18, 2015 Yep, that's it. I have several walk around photos of this same mount, in addition to others. Good. I was afraid you were going to ask me for more pics of it, and this is the only one I have (USAF museum).
Roadrunner Posted May 19, 2015 Author Posted May 19, 2015 Good. I was afraid you were going to ask me for more pics of it, and this is the only one I have (USAF museum). The museum is not all that far from here, really. I intended to drive up there this summer, but not real sure if I'll make it now. The Nuts & Bolts book will come in very handy, once I can order it.
Roadrunner Posted May 20, 2015 Author Posted May 20, 2015 This linkage was badly warped, and inaccurate, so I decided to replace the offending piece with plastic tube and some hex adjusting nuts I fabricated. Far from perfect, but I feel it's an improvement nonetheless.
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 Now that I actually know what it is (not that I needed to know), the leveling bubble and associated brackets have been added.
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 Though technically not correct, I've used .005 discs to represent the flush head screws here;... a lot easier than countersinking the holes and using real screws.
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 Trailing end of base is really moving along now. Some grinding and weld marks added with the soldering gun, should make this area look way better than before.
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 As much as I didn't want to originally, I've come to the conclusion that this large diameter molded on ridge (which is supposed to be angle iron), needs to be replaced, so I'll be grinding this all off. Also, this ring is oval, not round, as Dragon has depicted it.
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 (edited) The offending flange is ground off, now the real fun begins. I've also opened up both front legs for detailing, as seen on the real deal. One is out of whack for some reason, though I measured three times, so I'll repair that and move on. Edited May 21, 2015 by Roadrunner
Roadrunner Posted May 21, 2015 Author Posted May 21, 2015 Some interior framing, and the lifting bolt added. I'll do the same to the other side, once I correct the opening.
Roadrunner Posted May 22, 2015 Author Posted May 22, 2015 Left side area is now (finally) symmetrical to left side.
Roadrunner Posted May 22, 2015 Author Posted May 22, 2015 I've also gone ahead and added the tiny brackets under the hook (that will be added later).
Roadrunner Posted May 22, 2015 Author Posted May 22, 2015 New information (just received yesterday) allowed me to slightly redo the bubble level.
Roadrunner Posted May 22, 2015 Author Posted May 22, 2015 Parting shot. No more work on this until at least Monday, as dining room table (my work area), has to be cleaned off for Memorial day hog fest this weekend. We'll be grilling our brains out.
Roadrunner Posted May 26, 2015 Author Posted May 26, 2015 Work resumes, now addressing the back sides of gun elevation mechanism.
Roadrunner Posted May 26, 2015 Author Posted May 26, 2015 This knob (above the hand wheels), was cut off, grooves ground into the edges, and repositioned for a neater appearance.
Roadrunner Posted May 26, 2015 Author Posted May 26, 2015 The "no frills" approach. What cannot be seen, I generally don't mess around with.
Roadrunner Posted May 26, 2015 Author Posted May 26, 2015 Here's a photo of the first of my match marked pieces being added to base. I've rather arbitrarily assumed a 4-3 skip weld, but have no idea if that's correct or not.
Roadrunner Posted May 26, 2015 Author Posted May 26, 2015 OK, here's my interpretation of the base plate. Not bad, I think, considering that I had to splice seven different pieces together, as I didn't have one single piece that I could use. I used .040 sheet for this, which is almost exactly 1/4" in scale.
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