"In flying, the probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival." ~ Neil Armstrong
And, we continue .....
The windows for the upper hull were accurately cut out.
I then laminated two pieces of 0.5mm card to get a thickness of 1mm for the window frames. I then cut this into strips, approximately 3mm wide, keeping the cuts as perpendicular as possible.
These were then glued to the frame edges where indicated. (I was still busy with them when I took the photo.)
Once the framing was dry, from behind, I trimmed the frame strips to size, using the edges of the window parts as reference.

I decided at this point, to start constructing the forward hull structure.
First of all, I glued the lower hull panels to each other....

I noticed that some of the panels were slightly warped, probably due to all the laminating.
To overcome this, I used 3mm thick card and cut strips around 10mm wide into long lengths.
These were then cut to the length needed and were glued on their edges and weighted down until dry.
I did the same for the rear panel and upper hull panels too.

The lower panels were attached to the rear and forward panels first.
The best way I found to do this was to glue the middle section first. The lower panel assembly was laid flat, and using the side panels as reference, I centered the middle hull panel to the middle of the rear panel.
I glued the middle panel square/perpendicular to the rear panel and let the glue dry.
This is now where angles come in to play.....
The the lower and upper hull panels are angled from the rear panel by about 10 deg from perpendicular.
To get the side panels to line up to the rear panel, the rear panel has to be coaxed out of square by about 10 deg, as you can just make out in the pic below.
I then glued the side panels to the rear panel, and using various things to hold everything correctly, I let the glue dry thoroughly.
The front panel was added last.

While this was drying, I glued the framed windows to their openings in upper hull panels and added the final detail parts to the upper panels. (parts 225, 226, 235-238.)

The upper hull panels were then glued to the previous sub-assembly in the same manner as the lower hull panels.
The upper and lower panels were then joined together by their edge parts.
The completed front hull was allowed to dry thoroughly.
I still need to do quite a bit of cleaning up and tidying of the front hull assembly, but that will come later.
I then just HAD to see what the front hull assembly looks like on the longitudinal spine assembly .... (just temporary, not glued!!)


At this point, I started to realize just how BIG this model is going to be!
I almost forgot the two half barrels on the nose....! Nothing too special or difficult here...




Next up is the nose section.
This I will show in the next thread, later this evening or tomorrow!
Laters....
And, we continue .....
The windows for the upper hull were accurately cut out.
I then laminated two pieces of 0.5mm card to get a thickness of 1mm for the window frames. I then cut this into strips, approximately 3mm wide, keeping the cuts as perpendicular as possible.
These were then glued to the frame edges where indicated. (I was still busy with them when I took the photo.)
Once the framing was dry, from behind, I trimmed the frame strips to size, using the edges of the window parts as reference.

I decided at this point, to start constructing the forward hull structure.
First of all, I glued the lower hull panels to each other....

I noticed that some of the panels were slightly warped, probably due to all the laminating.
To overcome this, I used 3mm thick card and cut strips around 10mm wide into long lengths.
These were then cut to the length needed and were glued on their edges and weighted down until dry.
I did the same for the rear panel and upper hull panels too.

The lower panels were attached to the rear and forward panels first.
The best way I found to do this was to glue the middle section first. The lower panel assembly was laid flat, and using the side panels as reference, I centered the middle hull panel to the middle of the rear panel.
I glued the middle panel square/perpendicular to the rear panel and let the glue dry.
This is now where angles come in to play.....
The the lower and upper hull panels are angled from the rear panel by about 10 deg from perpendicular.
To get the side panels to line up to the rear panel, the rear panel has to be coaxed out of square by about 10 deg, as you can just make out in the pic below.
I then glued the side panels to the rear panel, and using various things to hold everything correctly, I let the glue dry thoroughly.
The front panel was added last.

While this was drying, I glued the framed windows to their openings in upper hull panels and added the final detail parts to the upper panels. (parts 225, 226, 235-238.)

The upper hull panels were then glued to the previous sub-assembly in the same manner as the lower hull panels.
The upper and lower panels were then joined together by their edge parts.
The completed front hull was allowed to dry thoroughly.
I still need to do quite a bit of cleaning up and tidying of the front hull assembly, but that will come later.
I then just HAD to see what the front hull assembly looks like on the longitudinal spine assembly .... (just temporary, not glued!!)


At this point, I started to realize just how BIG this model is going to be!

I almost forgot the two half barrels on the nose....! Nothing too special or difficult here...




Next up is the nose section.
This I will show in the next thread, later this evening or tomorrow!
Laters....
