Again, I have to apologise to everyone for a (slightly) late build diary. I’ll explain why this instalment was late so soon after the previous one later, but suffice to say it involved a set of small but essential parts being missing. Without further ado let’s continue with the build diary.
Last week we finished off the ammunition feeds, built a wing, and added some hydraulics to the mid-upper turret section of fuselage.
This week we spent the entire time adding the port undercarriage to the model. These were the parts to be involved in the process.
The first thing to do was to take the forward and aft bulkheads of the undercarriage bay and mark them up for rivet marking (including a gap for a frame to be attached).
These lines were then followed with a pin-wheel.
And the bulkheads, along with many of the other pieces were set aside to be covered with primer and then painted black.
Following this the forwards arms were painted green, and the unnecessary paint and primer was removed by sanding it off. We also assembled the wheel at the same time.
At this point some of the small, valve style objects were added to the cabling around the port-side airduct to match the starboard side.
And then others were added to the interior of the undercarriage bay along with the two bulkheads.
This allowed some of the “hydraulics” to be installed before the undercarriage legs which simplified the process somewhat.
The forward pivots were also added to the frame at this stage. As you can see the wing leading edge frames were removed to give a bit more space to work in.
Next, a set of “bolt heads” small circular pieces of metal were added to the parts of the undercarriage legs.
Before a few extra details were added to the main support structure for the wheel.
Then, finally, we could begin assembling the undercarriage, starting with the two legs which slot into the aft-bulkhead.
Which we then installed.
Before finishing off the “hydraulic” cabling.
As we then moved on to add the rest of the under carriage legs it was discovered that four screws and their attendant nuts were not included in the parts which had been provided. This lead to a two day delay whilst another bag of parts was obtained.
With the screws now available the undercarriage could be finished off by adding the shock absorber struts, which in the real aircraft would be filled with oil and air to the pressure of 1000 pounds per square inch (here we just get a couple of small springs).
And connecting the upper legs to them.
Finally, the shock absorber struts could be swung into place and connected to the two forwards pivot points.
With the main structure of the under carriage now in place, the frame parts and engine mount could be reinstalled.
Before the springs were put into the legs and the wheel installed.
Giving the wing centre section two wheels.
Bringing us to this week’s conclusion.
Next week we will be finishing off the structure of the starboard wing, and adding the leading and trailing edge skin to the other wing.
One of the advantages of building a model like this is it allows you to see (in miniature) many of the parts that are usually hidden – even from those lucky enough to visit one of the few remaining aircraft. As well as learning how the real aircraft were constructed, by studying the model you can appreciate other details; the tons of fuel stored in the wings, the intricacies of the emergency system for lowering the wheels, and quite how hard it could be to clamber over the main spar…