Me too!  This is true scratchbuilding craftsmanship!

Hi chaps

Here is a quick up date on the problem that shall be named......."The bl#@$y Sperry Ball Turret"

I wasn't going to start this part yet because I knew that I would have problems with it!....just kept putting it on the back burner!....I thought that if I cant manage to scratch build the ball turret then the whole B17G project would come to a grinding halt!...so I started trying to think of ways how I can replicate it with the least amount of fuss and specialized tools...that I don't own!!

That little yellow kids ball kept staring at me!...taunting me!...because it knew that it would be useless if I tried to use it for a mold for vac forming....not solid you see....rubbery little thing....but I just had to give it a go!

I made a do it your self vac forming kit a few years back and I dusted it down ready for a trial run on the yellow ball.

The Henry hoover was got out of storage....(I hate hoovering!!)...and was put to good use for once!!....all connected up and ready for the off....

I started on the first attempt to use some plastic food packaging......it was pinned to the frame and popped into the oven for a few seconds....hoover on for suction and.....................failure!...the little ball stood up to having very hot plastic wrapped around it but I reckon the plastic was too thick. So next attempt I used a sheet of plastic card.......no.....too thin!.....so in the end I tried a sheet of 0.5mm and hey presto a result!..........

Then I thought that the plastic would get stuck to the soft ball ,but I didn't have any problems extracting the ball!....so I re loaded another 0.5 mm sheet of plastic on the frame and popped it in the oven (making me feel hungry all this talk of ovens!)...

The next 2 photos show the two halves together......roughly!!

So....so far I think so good.....the test will be later when I try to marry up the two halves......but first its down to a load of detailing...starting with the lower half of the ball....blue ink marks the spot!

I am going to start trying to cut out all the glazing first....then on with all the detail....so I will be back when I have managed to do that!

Hi....its me again!

Got to keep at this else I might run out of life! ....

 The last two days were taken up by constructing with Balsa wood the area for the camera hatch and the ball turret.

I mapped out where each hole had to cut and then made a frame in said area!...for want of a better description!...here is the hole for the ball turret.

...and you can just see the frame work for the camera hatch on this next photo...

After it was all sanded down and checked this is what we have....

Here is a view from the underneath of the radio room and turret location...the red arrow denotes the camera hatch aperture and the blue arrow the turret aperture....

I have started to look round for a sphere shape that is the same size as the ball turret which I can use for a kind of template for the turret...I thought it would be a tall order ...but this morning I went into a Lev shop (pound/dollar shop...depending where you come from!!) and found this kids rubber ball.....and it is just shy of 3mm in circumference.....which I am going to live with!

I checked for fit even though the ball wasn't up for it judging the expression on its face!!!

Ok so that's it.....should have the initial skin on the inside and outside of the fuselage in preparation for some detailing this week end....

Hi there

 Here is the next up date!

  I have spent the last few days getting the fuselage structure built...I started with the lower half and then moved on to the upper half...almost symmetrical or but a few millimeters here and there!.

  Here are the two halves.......

So to try and explain what the plan is for this phase of the B17 build I have tried to put a few arrows here and there.......

The blue arrow at the rear shows you where I am intending to detail the radio room...including the camera bay that is under the floor of the radio room. There will be doors on each bulk head as in the real B17. The Red arrow indicates the Ball turret position and I have done a rather naff diagram of the turret in red using a computer mouse!!  The bulk head just after the turret will be as it is...open ....and as it is in the real B17...which is handy as you will be able to view the turret easily.

  Ball turret!...aaaggghhh!....not looking forward to trying to replicate that...I have some ideas but I'm sure I will change my mind when it comes to doing it!

  I will be starting with the bottom half first which means it's time to get out the yogurt pot supplies!!...some of you know what I mean...will explain in my next post!

  Thanks for dropping by

  Fozzy