BlrwestSiR

So soon after Sue and I got married she suggested we get a Big Green Egg BBQ/smoker. Who was I to say no to such a request. Anyways after we got one, I thought it needed a better stand or table than what it came with. I found some plans online but didn't get much past collecting the wood needed for the table. Last year I finally got started on building it. I started with the table top by gluing three 2x10 pine boards together with some oak strips in between them. I also used the smart oak strips as an edging. I then cut all the lumber for the legs and frame to size. Which was as far as I got. This past weekend was the first long weekend for the summer here in Canada (happy May 24!) so I got everything out and decided to try and get more of it done. I assembled the legs and frame, using 1" dowel at the joints to strengthen them (I hope). I used 5' long 1x6 for the side boards. From here it went pretty quickly. I planed down the table top, then stained and sealed it. Finally I cut the hole for the Egg to fit into, then got some help from my neighbour to put it in as the Egg is around 159-200 lbs. So finally, after almost 9 years, I have the table I've wanted for our BBQ. Best part is I got it done before our anniversary which is this Thursday. So now then, who's coming over for the steaks? Carl

I added the nose gear and bay, which is in shadows and pretty much invisible in this pic. But it's there, honest! I then installed the cabin windows into other fuselage halves and got them ready for joining. Yes, my bench is THAT cluttered at the moment. With the cockpit installed into one side and clamps to keep it solidly in place.

Ok, time for a long overdue update on this build. The Part PE set for the cockpit was wearing me down. There was just way too many, well, parts to deal with. So after not wanting to work on the kit for a couple weeks, I decided some retail therapy was in order and bought the Eduard PE set to use instead. Once that arrived, I got back to work on the cockpit. I had to repaint the sidewalls to try and more closely match the prepainted Eduard stuff. I used the included seatbelts which were printed on both sides. Their mounting may not be 100% accurate but I decided to just keep it simple and thereby keep me sane. She may be a bit too clean but it is a show bird after all.

I think we all do.

For almost as long as I have known Ernie, he's been trying his bestest to get me over to the dark side and build stuff with more than one wing and lots of dental floss, er, rigging. So this is his latest recruitment ploy: Guess I'm going to have to go with the flow and build them. Ernie, thanks for the generous push and I'll be starting one of these shortly. Carl

Snuck away after my two mobile bottomless pits, I mean sons were done eating and I opened it up. Boxes within boxes. It's like one of those nesting Russian dolls or a gift that keeps on giving.

I do have them straight. More about self preservation really. I have two boys 6 and 8 who like to have their dinner. Thankfully no, and also thankfully it isn't meowing either. Ok, Jeff, almost there

Got home today and had a big surprise waiting for me. No, thankfully not another child. Although you could certainly fit one in the box I did get... I'll have to wait until after I've made dinner to find out what it is though. Carl

I guess that makes me a model starter then That's based on what my bench looks like anyways. Carl

Wow, great B-24 Gary. I'm hoping to add one to the stash at some point. Thanks so much for the step by step on how you get a nice bare metal finish. It'll come in handy with my B-25. Carl

Ryan, that's some great progress you're making on this. Its nice to have a simple build once in a while and not worry about adding every bit of AM to it. Carl

What about a DUKW? You don't see too many of those built.

Thanks for having us along Harv!

Ernie, that's looking more impressive every time. And yes, Mr Color Leveling thinner is some great voodoo elixir. Carl

Harv's posted a WIP thread while on vacation. Congrats on the wedding and the new son in law! Carl

That's some great progress already there Jeroen. You're making look so easy! Carl

That looks nice and a great start to it too! Looking forward to the Verlinden style. Carl

The detail on the masks is amazing. Carl

That about sums it up sometimes. I'm waiting on a package that was sent from Barrie, ON which is 85km from me. Less than an hour's drive. I'm on Day 3 at the moment. Hopefully it's there's when I get home. That being said, the postal worker who delivers our mail is great. If I'm not home, she'll knock on our neighbour's door and leave it with them if she can. Carl

Back to the nose, I applied the white outline decal. This went on really well. It matched up with the shape of the blue base nicely. No air bubbles or silvering. I was happy. Then things went pear shaped when it came to the teeth. I had all sorts of splits, folds and bubbles. Which seeing the compound curves the decal had to go around shouldn't have been a surprise. Martin and I talked about some possible solutions when I decided to just peel it off and paint it on. So I used a piece of kabuki tape and pulled it off. This them became a template for a hand cut mask. The nose after getting the mouth off. Tracing the nose decal for my mask. I started with the white for the teeth. Then masked them off and sprayed the red. The finished results. I'm much happier with this impaired to the decal. I've lost a bit of one eye so that will be next. Carl

While the nose dried, I masked and painted the stars and bars on the fuselage. Since the paintwork on the rear half of the fuselage was done, I unmasked the waist and tail gun windows to see what they looked like after all the handling. The waist guns have taken a bit of a beating. One of the ammo cans fell out of the bottom crew hatch. You can't see it's missing so that's a good thing. The tail gunner's station fared much better.

Time for an overdue update. I finally got around to doing the nose art/bat markings on Betty's Dream. Zotz gives you a vinyl mask for the blue part of the nose. Which makes sense to me. Unfortunately when I applied it I must have stretched it somewhat as it no longer matched the white outline that is supplied as a decal. So I traced the decal sheet onto frisket film and made a new mask. Then it was time for the blue. I figured if I used gloss blue, I wouldn't need to worry about a clear coat.

Are you doing those by hand? They're so clean and sharp. I couldn't paint the rims that neatly by hand, especially that many. Carl

Looks like a nice place to visit. Especially if they have Makers Mark Carl