B-17 G 1:48 scale, 351st Bomb Group, 510th Squadron, AC# 43-37862, Fearless Fosdick

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Spent the weekend working on the door mechanisms. The motor, worm gears, shafts, and the like. Took some time but it came out pretty well.


First was the transition and worm gears. Next you can see how the bomb bay door came out.

Then the drive motor for the door mechanisms.




Then the threaded shafts.

Finally the rest of the drive shafts I was able to do. Not all of them but most.


Thanks.
 
I was asked if the color of the fire extinguisher was the correct color. I wasn't sure but promised to check it out. It appears that fire extinguishers could either be red or olive drab. Most likely, however, the extinguishers were olive drab. Here are examples of what I found as well as where they were located around the aircraft.



What do you guys think?
 
Well this should be helpful to somebody. I did more studying to know what the actual fire extinguishers looked like. It appears that there were two types used on the aircraft. One was a natural metal (Brass) and looked very small.

The other was similar to what I modeled and was most likely olive drab green. Perhaps the red ones came later during the war at an attempt to standardize colors for fire fighting equipment. Ground extinguishers were red. Here is a document showing both types of extinguishers.

From my research, there were two types of extinguishers used in aircraft; Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Tetrachloride. CO2 is most effective with fuel and oil fires, Tetrachloride was more for fabric and wood. This chemical was also used for electrical fires since it didn't conduct. It is my understanding that the hand pump extinguishers were used through 1943 and eventually phased out to pressurized hand held ones.

I'll repaint and change a little bit the red one in the cockpit and add others as best as possible described in the document I posted earlier.
Thanks
 
Good stuff, and the colours sound about right.
Not sure about the USA, but the red colour wasn't introduced until post war in the UK, and it wasn't until around the late 1960s to early 1970's that the "international" colour codes were introduced for the various type of extinguisher, these being shown below.

Red (or brass/ silver with red band) = water/carbon tet.
Cream = foam and AFFF (aqeious film forming foam, replacing the earlier protein foam, made from pig effluent !!)
Light Blue = Dry Powder
Mid Green = BCF
Black = CO2

Carbontet or CO2 were the most common onboard types during WW2, with the CO2 being for "universal" use, although this could possibly cause "spot cooling" on engine fires, damaging the engine block or cylinder banks by cracking, due to sudden intense cold.
 
Well... I've been able to finish the main structures in the bomb bay. Next I'll work on the more finer parts.. the fiddly bits.
While working through this, I keep finding references that guide me in improvements. It's like painting, if I don't like what I have then I just repaint it. In this case, I rebuild what I need.










As you can see, I repainted the extinguisher and added a handle but I don't intend to remake it into the thinner version. I also corrected a few other parts on the forward bulkhead and the inside of the bomb bay. Hope you like.
 
I was able to get a bit more done today. Focused mainly on the bomb racks. First I trimmed out the bottom. Reference photos showed an open space there.

Then started installing the bonb switches or sensors.



The dots that I had cut earlier were used for the round fasteners used for holding the bomb release shackles.
 
Rounding out the weekend by finishing up on the racks. More study on what it was suppose to look like. Discovered that there was a pulley at the top of the inboard racks. Also that it was open. Then there are the solenoids with accompanying wiring I get to do later. Atleast the solenoids are in now. Wiring will come later after I paint it. Only items left to build is a winch located aft starboard side, the hydraulic lines, wiring with accompanying boxes and flight control cable guides. Looking to finish this section this month and moving on. I hope...


The styrene is .020 inches.






Thanks for all the kind comments and encouragement.
 
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