Wooden it be nice……
To have some really thin wood to do the plywood flooring of a B-17? My daughter gave me some thin wood samples after she graduated industrial design school and they are perfect for replicating things such as the flooring of B-17s! The second picture is a picture I saw once as a boy in an American Heritage book on WWII. That was the moment I fell in love with the B-17, and the inspiration for every B-17 I have built since. As for the plywood, I simply cut it to size and after I paint I will glue it down.
Having a few bits of that laying around would definitely come in handy. You could also use it on P-51 Mustang cockpit floors..., and a few others I'm sure. Just a thought.
Very cool addition, and a great idea.
Nice play on words too...
I dunno if I'd "paint it"...might find a way to 'dirty it up' a bit (wouldn't wanna mess up that nice wood grain sample).
And I had some of the beer a few years back - got it somewhere in Alaska when we went on that cruise up the inner passage - wish I'd kept the bottle(s), though. 🙁
Fine sand it and put a clear flat or semigloss coat over it. Probably got scuffed if in an area that got walked on. Nothing fancy. There was a War on, production over other concerns.
The Mustang floor had a black nonslip covering, not the fine furniture look. Having the wood show thru as wear would be the best of both.
As long as you're doing a B-17, here's a suggestion:
Open up the hatch between the pilots, and open up the forward crew hatch. Also, the doorway from the hatch area to the nose. Doing this will let in light, which will allow more to be seen there in the forward fuselage, the area most likely to be seen. Also get the Squadron/Falcon vacuform clear parts for the cockpit cabin and the nose cap. Open the side windows for the pilots and pose them open. You'll see a lot more through the vacuformed nose cap, and through the open windows, and you might even be able to tell when finished that you used all this wood. If you open the rear crew door that will let light into the waist area. HTH
That brings to mind a question - not that it needs to answered particularly, because I've never used any, but - does one use the same adhesive/cement for those vacu-form parts as one would for most kit plastic? Jus' wonderin' is all.
And that idea about opening up available "portals" for more light is good to remember.
Craig, I'd test the glue on an unused corner of the vac and see if it did bad things. Elmers Glue might be a better choice, rather than have it melt the piece. There is some kind of special glue that dries clear for vac canopies.
Tom, thanks for the marvelous suggestions about letting light in.
Very thin plastic sheet stock painted buff and then covered in Uschi simulated wood grain decals (as for WW1 Albatros, etc) works well too.
Thanks guys, I do plan on opening some things, but have not been able to find the Squadron vac set which would be nice especially to open up those side windows.
More importantly, your drinking Moose Drool, it fixes what Ales you so you can tackle those big projects.;) Didn't the British navy use Ale rather than water to hydrate their sailors and keep them fresh and alert for sailing? Water would spoil and sicken the sailors. It stands to reason that a Navy Vet would stick to traditions when modeling. Good subject the Monogram classic is accurate for its age. Back when people used pencil and paper and slide rulers. Batteries not included.
I was saddened to hear that the RN did away with the Grog ration.
Alcohol went away from the U S Navy when Josephus Daniels was SECNAV, reputedly at the urging of his wife "Lemonade Lucy". Later on, we had Prohibition, which worked out well, at least for organized crime.
No more splicing the mainbrace. Officially.
Very creative use of the wood. I remember those American Heritage books, I remember one that covered the pacific carrier battles. And I do believe that Admiral or CNO wives have been the inspiration behind the U.S.Navy's changes in uniforms over the past 30 to 40 years.
Nice touch to the B-17, and agree you should open up a few things so you can show it off!
If the veneer is thin enough you could make male mold out of wood, a female mold from that out of resin, steam the veneer and mold a Mossie between the two! (Though there might me a limit on how small you can go. Maybe 1/24 or 1/32 and you'd probably have to do the fuselage in quarters.) Wood isn't just for airplanes anymore either! http://www.hardwooddistributors.org/blog/postings/the-splinter-wooden-supercar/