*** DONE Italeri 1/48th scale Boston IIIA Group Build.

Great work Terry!

Great job so far!

Thanks guys, more soon.

Another fine build Terry, this is going to look brilliant!

Cheers

Peter

Nice Terry !

Thanks Peter and Harrison.

More progress, and actually on to some construction of kit parts.
The cockpit has been painted and assembled, and is just as it comes, apart from a seat harness made from metal foil. The shoulder straps have been draped back over the dinghy stowage shelf, clear of the seat, as they would be to allow easier access for the pilot (the dorama will show the crew preparing to board the aircraft). A dinghy pack will be moulded from Milliput, wrapped around a chunk of lead, to help keep the nose wheel on the deck. More weight will be added to the space under the dinghy stowage, at the front of the bomb bay, which will have the doors closed.
The nose compartment has been painted, and a similar seat harness added. The wiring and repeater flight instruments will be made and added, along with the Course Setting bombsight, when the nose and glazing are fitted.
The rear gunners compartment has also been painted, and a lap strap added to the swivel seat, one strap of which is hanging down.
After some more trial fitting of the sub-assemblies, they were finally cemented into the port fuselage half, the gun mount and wing spar were fitted, and the fuselage halves joined and glued.
When this has set, the fuselage joints will be checked and attended to as required, and then the wings will be added, together with the fin and tailplanes.
PICS 1 to 3 Show how the cockpit and nose compartment assembly looks after painting.
PIC 4. The starboard wall of the gunners compartment after painting. The black, circular item is the trailing aerial reel, made form discs of plastic card and stretched sprue.
PIC 5. The gunners compartment painted and in place. The open boxes on each side are the ammunition tanks, the fuselage wall forming the missing section. These have been painted matt black on the inside surface, to create a shadow, and reduce the ammount of work required making the ammunition belts! The outer surfaces are painted to represent plywood.
PIC 6. All the internal fittings in place, and the fuselage halves glued tohether, and taped until set.
So far, apart from a few fiddly moments, this has been a straightforward build, and it's a very nice kit. With a bit of luck, the rest of the build should be painless - I hope!
Thanks again for your interest, and I'll post some more pics and an update soon.

Coming along very nicely Terry, like the webbing straps, what have you used to make them?

Looking awesome Terry!

Thanks Vic and Alex.
Vic, the seat straps were made from strips of foil from the packaging off my pain killers! It's thicker than kitchen aluminium foil, and conforms well. Lead foil from the necks of wine bottles is ideal for this, but I've run out of it. Just cut to the width and length required, using a scalpel, and shape the fastening lugs and mounting plates the same way. Punch the holes for the locking lugs, then paint. When the paint is dry, the buckles can be scratched in, or painted on, but normally I add the loop of the adjusting strap, and the buckles, from more foil. Couldn't be bothered this time!
They don't look as realistic as the commercially available PE belts, but they're good enough in most cases - and they cost nothing!!

Whoa! Great looking interior Terry. Cheers

Peter

Bravo Terry!!

Airframes said:

Thanks Vic and Alex.
Vic, the seat straps were made from strips of foil from the packaging off my pain killers! It's thicker than kitchen aluminium foil, and conforms well. Lead foil from the necks of wine bottles is ideal for this, but I've run out of it. Just cut to the width and length required, using a scalpel, and shape the fastening lugs and mounting plates the same way. Punch the holes for the locking lugs, then paint. When the paint is dry, the buckles can be scratched in, or painted on, but normally I add the loop of the adjusting strap, and the buckles, from more foil. Couldn't be bothered this time!
They don't look as realistic as the commercially available PE belts, but they're good enough in most cases - and they cost nothing!!

Click to expand...

Looks more realistic then some of the PE of seen. I especially like the wrap on the wheel. Was that there or did you add it?

Really nice work

Thanks very much guys. Dirk, the wheel is moulded to simulate the braiding, so I just painted it after refering to photos.

Awesome build mate and great progress so far 8)

Shame we couldn't find 'Jack'

Look forward to more

fast work Terry, very nice as well !

Thanks CR, Daniel and 'Red Two'.

You just amaze the <cough> out of me. Well done!