1/48th Mitchell II - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII.

[Airframes]

Yep, it's now 03.15 hours !!
Time flies when you're destroying yourself !
After the steroid injection yesterday (er.. on Tuesday afternoon), I was told to rest for 24 hours, so I went to bed on Tuesday night, and slept until about 15.00 hrs on Wednesday afternoon !
That's the first proper sleep I've had in months, as I normally average 1 to 2 hours before waking up for an hour or two, then repeating the cycle. So after that, I'm trying to adjust my sleep pattern, and stayed up late to work on the Mitchell, but off to bed soon to see what happens !

 

[javlin]

That looks real good their Terry!!

 

[fubar57]

Brilliant Terry and hope them drugs do the trick.


Geo

 

[Wurger]

With all above.

 

[Wayne Little]

Bl**dy good work Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps. Hoping to get the nose section competed and clagged onto the fuselage later tonight, then start on the engine cowlings.

 

[JKim]

The interior work is excellent Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks John !
Got to go out for a bit, so a slight change of plans for tonight. Might get some done later though, or tomorrow, as I should have some spare time during the day.

 

[Micdrow]

Looking awesome my friend, keep up the good work and glad the shot helped

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Paul. It could be better (the first attempt at the computer was much better - before it got crushed!), but considering the thickness of the nose canopy, it's good enough to pass inspection when viewed through the 'glass'.
Looking forward to getting the nose section attached and the joints eliminated, before moving on to the potentially tricky engine cowlings job.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good Lord man, that's some nice detail!

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Terry!

Glad to hear the steroids are doing there job.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much, Andy and Hugh.
And Hugh, I'd guess you will now know the effects of an intra-muscular steroid injection. Some I had in the past only just 'eased things' slightly, but this one has done the trick, or as good as it can, and given me some relief from pain, stiff and wasted muscles, and if nothing else, it has allowed me to get relatively comfortable enough to sleep, instead of muscles locking-up and causing pain and discomfort all night.
If you don't go for the 'combat surgeon' role, then look at Rheumatology - only a few real 'Specialists' in the UK, and still a long curve of discovery towards control, and possible cures. A very worthwhile and interesting field, I would think.

 

[Airframes]

I've finally got the internal detail for the nose compartment more or less finished, apart from some re-touching, and masking and painting the inside frames of the nose canopy.
I started work late tonight and, as I knew I had to make the Mk.XIV bomb sight from scratch, involving making and assembling ten, very small, separate parts, using plastic tube, rod and strip, plus a couple of wires, using lead wire, I decided I'd better first administer some Modelling Enhancement Fluids, which seemed to do the trick !

PIC 1. Said M.E.L.
PIC2. Wiring from the computer to the sighting head, and from the computer to the main circuits has been added, using 0.4mm lead wire, and the bomb-aimer's kneeling pad was added from shaped, scrap plastic, and painted the normal dark bluish-green.
PICS 3 and 4. The sight in position and painted. Not very good pics, as it was a b*gger to try to focus without getting the shadow of the camera in the way, but no doubt it gives the general impression of how the nose compartment now looks.
The bomb sight could have been better, but the separate components are so small, it was very difficult physically holding them and assembling them, even with the use of various sizes of tweezers and other tools.
Now that I've made one (and the computer), I think I can find a slightly easier way to construct both, and then mould some in resin - something I initially thought would not work for the sight itself.

With this lot complete, next step is to finish off cleaning and polishing the canopy, paint those areas of the internal frames which can be reached, then mask the external canopy panels and fit the canopy to the nose. When set, and after adding the World's supply of lead to the void in the forward fuselage, the nose compartment can be fitted to the fuselage, and the joints eliminated with the use of thinned 'Milliput', to ensure a clean, seam-free joint, particularly around the canopy joints.
I hope to get this done over the weekend, and then turn my attention to the engine cowling modifications, although I might have limited time at the bench due to other commitments.
Thanks once again for your continued interest and kind comments, and I'll be back soon - if I don't get lost when trying out my new Sat Nav !!!

 

[Crimea_River]

Brilliant detailing Terry.

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Looking better all the time

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much chaps !
Hoping to get the nose buttoned up, the nose gear leg attachment sorted, lead stuffed in the forward fuselage and the nose compartment fitted sometime this afternoon.
I'm supposed to be going out to watch a friend's band play at the local pub tonight, but I don't really fancy it, so might stay in and start work on figuring out the best way to adapt those resin engine cowlings.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Awesome...

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Bill.
Just taking a break from masking the nose canopy. Didn't get as much done as I thought today, as it was a nice sunny day, so I spent some time sorting and cleaning the inside of my camper van, ready for the trip to Duxford at the end of this month, and trying to figure out how to work my new Sat Nav thingy.
The 'User Manual' has pages and pages, in detail, on how to use all the other features, such as TV, Internet, Videos, games, MP3 and MP4 etc etc, but not even one sentence on how to set-up and programme the navigation system!!
I should have some more up-date pics some time tomorrow though.