Thanks guys !
Yes Jeff, the Bare Metal Foil is quite thin. In fact it's much thinner than the typical house hold stuff used for cooking or grilling. It's pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it.
I'd like to see you finish up the Hellcat that Tom Bebout gave you. The Crusader would be cool to see finished too. Please post up a few pictures along the way if you don't mind buddy... That would be really cool to see !
They say that all things must end. Today the building journey on this one did. It only took me two years and a month to complete it after I received this in the mail as a gift from Martin and his staff.
Sorry fellows it took so long... I kept my word and posted the progress along the way.
Please follow along on these final steps.
Today I completed the turret.
and then installed it. Basically it snaps in place. I wanted to keep the turret open as if the rear seat gunner was ready to climb aboard.
Here's how "Daffy" looked immediately afterwards. The turret was a nice addition, and a sign that things were winding down. You will also notice the pilot's canopy is installed now.
Here's a close up of the turret: If you look closely, you will see the "doors" have ben added. They simply slid open sideways on the real one. Here they are in the open position and sit on top of the turret plexi-glass. I also dropped the "turtle deck" down in the retracted position. In most photos I have found with the plane sitting on the ground, this part is retracted when the turret is positioned off center with the four MG's off to one side.
On the real plane this allowed the gunner a greater field of fire when it was retracted.
The landing lights were given the Bare Metal Foil treatment. I carefully added a tiny drop of dark gray paint to the very center to duplicate the center of the bulb where the filaments are located. The clear lens was added and these were done. Check another thing off the list... Notice the pitot tube is yet to be installed.
Then I turned my attention to the little things that normally get broken during a build.
"Daffy" had a semi retractable rear lower antennae. This was necessary when landing as the wheels supported the aircraft. In the "flight" position, it was longer and would be damaged if it didn't retract when the plane landed.
The forward lower antennae was fixed. You can barely see it in these last two pictures.
I also added the pitot tube and clear wing tip lights. These wing tip lights were given a drop of red paint on one, and blue metallic paint on the other before they were installed. I painted them from the inside to represent the bulbs.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out. I may go back and add a little weathering and some minor "dirt" on the wheels, but other than that, it's done.
The next time you see "Daffy" will be during the reveal.
Thanks again everyone for following along, and especially a great big "Thank You" goes out to Martin and his staff for providing this model as a gift.
Take care and as always... you got it...
"Comments are encouraged".
