I really wanted to finish this by Veteran's day but as usual I got hit with a honey do list... Oh and I got promoted in my job which called for more of my time to learn my new position. Fortunately I did get more done so my time wasn't totally shot. I am pushing to finish this, just won't be when I wanted.
So to start. Once I had finished printing the inside of the ball turret, I assembled what I had and found that the mechanism between the guns was too low. I needed to move it upward. I attached some styrene blocks on top of the guns before I cut off the mechanism between them. The blocks marked my attachment points for the remodeled mechanism.
Then I used styrene to build up the mechanism to look more like what I could recognize in photos.
I also added the brass shoots that guide the empty shells after firing. This you can see just below the gun and ammo drum. Actually fit really nice after it was made.
I didn't go overboard on the interior, just on only what was clearly visible. I left out the wiring. Painted the ball turret inside and out then fit it all together along with the ring I printed for it. So far so good.
Next... the ball turret mount. I wanted to get this finished at the very least. Here I ran into an interesting problem. How to get the turret mechanism to look right and work around what the kit designers did. I didn't want to reinvent the wheel so I compromised. I changed the supports to allow what I had printed, then use the old support with some slight modifications.
I made some cross support that I could attach the old top part too. I wanted to make sure the cross parts were even so I inverted to the ball to check that it looked level; then cut up the attaching snap-in part so it could still spin. I painted the side of the clear fuselage to cover some of this part. I kept checking measurements to make sure it sat right when it was mounted in. This took some time to get right.
When I was sure of the fit, I painted it up. Now the cross piece was a glaring problem so after checking the pictures I made the round piece square with some styrene to resemble the box that sits just above the ball turret. This was painted black and you can see it below. I filed part of the cross piece thinner and painted it a bit to disguise the error.
Finally I added the exterior ammo cans and oxygen tank. All together it came out ok. I still have some hoses and wiring to attach but it is enough for now.
I also spray painted the wings. Well I hope to get more done in the next coming weeks. Now I'm trying for the end of the year.
As always, thanks for following.