'1943, Somewhere in England', N scale Monster Layout

[Jim 68cuda]

Those planes look great, especially knowing the small scale this layout is. We've all been waiting a long time for you to finish the Jeep restoration, and show us more progress on this layout. I would never get anything done on my layout if I had to wait till I finished the restoration on my old Dodge Charger.

 

[armyairforce]

Next comes a C-47 Skytrain transport. Fuselage and wings joined. Because the wings are quite thin, they were taped to two blocks of wood while the solvent glue dried, holding them nice and flat.

 

[armyairforce]

Engine cowlings fitted to the wings, wings fitted to fuselage and horizontal stabilizers fitted, plus a little filler here and there. Then a coat of neutral grey on the underside.

 

[armyairforce]

Olive drab was sprayed on the top side once the grey had cured, and then the medium green blotching around the edge of the wings, tail and fin.

After that had dried, the whole model was sprayed with 'Future' to give a nice smooth gloss coat for the decals to be applied on to.

 

[armyairforce]

With the decals on, the landing gear and props were fitted, the model given a matt coat, and then the cockpit glazing and astro-dome were fitted.

 

[armyairforce]

After the Dakota was done, it was time for the B-17's. This is the un-powered version.

Rather than use the kit plastic landing gear, I soldered up some brass legs to which the wheels were glued. The extended pins will go down into the baseboard to hold the aircraft in place.

 

[armyairforce]

A small brass pin was fitted just ahead of the tail wheel. The various guns were replaced with brass rod instead of the plastic kit parts.

The bottom sprayed neutral grey.

 

[armyairforce]

The kit B-17 and a resin cast "Hangar Queen" with paint and decals on. A Hangar Queen is a wrecked airframe that is kept so it can be stripped for spares. During WW2, spares for the bombers became hard to find, simply due to demand, so badly damaged and crash landed aircraft were stripped of any useable parts.

The kit B-17 finished.

 

[armyairforce]

The Hangar Queen along with several other resin cast parts for the scrap yard.

This is the basic kit for the powered version.

 

[armyairforce]

Here's one of the geared micro motors.

The motors were wrapped in masking tape so that they matched the diameter of the engine nacelles in the wings and were glued in place.

 

[armyairforce]

The engine cowlings were drilled out to clear the motors, allowing just the spindle sticking out for the prop to be attached to.

The three B-17's complete.

 

[goscrewyourselves]

Stephen,

Very nice job Sir!

Cheers,

 

[armyairforce]

Just before I head to bed, here's a mock up of the airfield section, slightly revised from the original plan. 8ft x 2ft 6in, fitting to the left of the country station

 

[armyairforce]

The Nissen huts for around the hangar are resin cast, and came from the mould I made for my Area 51, built back in 2005/6. Some aircraft parts, plus other bits and pieces were cast with left over resin from each batch mixed.

A couple of the huts will go by the loading platform.

 

[armyairforce]

The beginnings of the T2 Hangar, the doors. made from corrugated styrene and thinly cut strips.

The ends of the hangar came next, layering styrene on top of 1/16 balsa to stiffen it.

 

[armyairforce]

All the doors made now, and fitted to the hangar ends, along with the top runners.

Sides cut and skinned now, and all propped together for a photo.

 

[armyairforce]

Glued together now, and placed on the airfield template to check clearances for the Catalina to roll in and out.

Some 3/16 balsa strips were glued into the roof to support the roof styrene.

 

[armyairforce]

The roof sheeting now fitted.

The Nissen huts are all cast, cleaned up and painted.

 

[armyairforce]

The hangar was painted with black and streaks of dark grey, to give a slightly uneven, weathered tone to the finish.

Several white metal military vehicles and soldiers turned up in the post recently too.

 

[goscrewyourselves]

Those bags and soldiers look like a lot of work. You have to have the patience of a saint.