Cockpit finished at last!

Ok, major disaster!  NOT HAPPY!! Turns out my beautiful aftermarket etched armoured headrest is too tall to fit, and as I built the whole frame structure behind from it, that is too tall too! Should have checked for fit a bit sooner, but you don't expect your aftermarket goodies to be wrong! D'oh! To be fair, it isn't impossible that the part is actually dimensionally correct, but regardless, it doesn't fit the kit! Fortunately, I have a spare armoured headrest (long story) which I can shorten, so I will just have to remove the whole structure and build a new one. I am determined to have as good a model of this Boomerang as I can as it is one of my favourite aircraft, and then I'm never building one again!!!! Well, probably not!

Thanks 1943Mike and Gamera! If anyone ever sees me eyeing up one of these again, please shoot me!!

Everything looks great to me, really nice work! 

Holy horsepucky!

That's an incredibly detailed and sorted pit. The work you've done for this build is really inspiring.

No, your photography needs no apologies.

Ok, further progress with the cockpit. Instrument panel is completed and some representative cables fixed behind. Unfortunately there's a knob missing from the panel as it was too close to another knob to solder without a resistance soldering rig. My iron is a bit basic for that! A number of Boomerangs flew without a reflector gunsight, mine being one of them. I believe some were fitted with an intervalometer instead for photo recce work. So no gunsight. Just the seat and a couple of details to finish off. Please excuse the crap photography!!

Keyda81 and Toshi, thank you. I find with a lot of detail that you often don't really notice it is there, but you sure notice when it isn't.

Amazing attention to detail!

Your friend, Toshi

You certainly have an eye for all the details!  Looking good.

Thanks Brandon

This is looking awesome. I love all the scratch work. Can't wait to see it come along.

-BD-

More progress! The frame behind the pilot's head is now complete, as is the fuel tank with armour plate attached. Still to do the radio tray though.

Thanks Johnny1000!

Hi Chris

I'm not at all one to talk about just living with stuff that bugs you, and your commitment to getting it right is truely inspiring, but... it looks really great. Just saying. :)

Awesome work all around. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

-J

Not happy. I've fitted the almost complete undercarriage, flap, and trim panel, only to discover the various details seem to be somewhat overscale. This means they sit too high, and the further forward they are, the further they are out of position, meaning the flap and undercarriage position indicators are almost invisible to the pilot. Especially disapointing as I had positioned them to show flaps up and undercarriage down!! Ah well. Unless I replace it with an entirely scratchbuilt panel I guess I'm just going to have to live with it.

And flap handle in place. Partially completed flap, undercarriage and trim panel. The not so cleanly cut hole is for the undercarriage and flap position indicators, and will have a slotted etch panel over the top. Still a fair bit of work to go, but most will be once it is fitted to the cockpit frame.

Old flap handle................new flap handle!

I soldered the front overlay for the instrument panel to a piece of scrap brass to use it as a template for drilling out the instruments which are not being altered. Now I have to separate the two, clean it up, and drill the new positions for the other instruments. That's the tricky bit!

Thanks tempestjohnny, but I had only placed the panel in that position to show just how far out the size and shape were.  Once fixed, it will sit in its correct position further back.

Meantime, i've moved the position of some of the instruments, so the panel just needs reshaping now. Unfortunately, no matter how careful you are..................  One of the instruments pinged off, never to be seen again! I will just have to replace it by hand somehow

Now comes the REALLY tricky bit. The new front overlay. Getting all those holes in exactly the right place will be hilarious!

Chris check out this pic. I think the IP sits on top of the crossbar not over it

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=efecIiRI&id=071B46E927E455C83CE584DB9DCA5EF30C31D24E&thid=OIP.efecIiRI_TegK24ivUSoRAEsDI&q=boomerang+cockpit&simid=608011197435546167&selectedIndex=0

NOT HAPPY! My beautiful after-market instrument panel is the wrong shape and size. The photo shows the extent of the problem. I placed the panel against the bulkhead in front of it and as you can see it is not right. The bottom half is ok, but the top half is too high and the wrong shape. Somehow I now have to figure out a way of preserving all that lovely detail whilst reshaping the top half of the panel, and then remaking the panel front overlay with all the holes in the correct place!! The original kit panel was better for shape and size, but unuseable for all intents and purposes. Think I need to bulk buy the valium for this one!

Thanks Toshi

Excellent start, beautifully done.  I’m looking forward to more.

Toshi

Ah, yes, Special Hobby!  Got it, thanks!

Thank you. There's still some framing to go as I will soon have to do all the frame behind the pilot's headrest, and once the fuel tank is in, the radio tray frame. I'm leaving that for the moment to give easier access for building the cockpit.

The cockpit framing looks great. I'm excited to see how this develops.

-J

Thanks. The kit is the Special Hobby CA-13 Boomerang. I had one of the earlier CA-12's, and I think the moulds must be getting a bit long in the tooth as this one needed a lot more work. There are also a few errors, but you could still make a nice model out of the box with a little care.

Nice progress, Chris!

Please refresh my memory-who makes this kit?

Bit more progress on the cockpit. The rudder bar got a touch of extra detailing, including altering the angle of the pedals. I figured as the rudder is going to be set at a bit of an angle, the controls should perhaps relect that! Still a bit more stuff to go on the starboard side, but I've started putting in some wiring. I'm trying to get it as accurate as I can, but no two photo's seem to be the same, a problem partly caused by the fact I'm relying for some of it on pics of preserved examples whose cable runs may not be exactly as the original, so it is going to end up as sort of representative.

Finally starting the sexy bits! If there's one word that describes a Boomerang cockpit, it's clutter. The pics show work so far, and I haven't even started putting in switches, levers, and instruments yet! There were quite a few errors in the kit which needed rectifying. The asymetric pyramid shaped frame in the middle of the floor is the support for the control column