BlrwestSiR

Great pics Martin. Too late on the seats unfortunately. Guess I should have looked at some of the other pics you posted earlier a bit closer.

Thanks Rob! The gap was probably brought about because the one fuselage was cracked along the bottom. This pushed everything out of whack so I was mostly concerned with getting a decent fit along the upper side.

Thanks Harv! Sue just told me how she wants the benches. They're to be in an L shape around the edge of the loggia. Should be fun.

A porterhouse works for me. Thanks Rob! It's actually ceramic. The heat retention is awesome which is probably one of the reasons you can get away with a wood table for it. Thanks! A small stainless table was the backup plan.

Major milestone there Ernie! Carl

Yup, getting the fuselage closed is always a big step. Mr Surfacer definitely does shrink a bit but oddly enough it the only filler I have around. So hopefully it won't require too much filling and refilling.

Thanks Gaz! I was surprised at the difference on appearance they made. It made things a bit more work but definitely was worth it. Thanks Bill Thanks Ryan, and yeah if you buy one they're not cheap.

Thanks Martin! Sue wants some benches now for my the boys to use while they're in the yard. Oh boy.

Jeff, I'd have to ship it freight. It's probably close to 250 lbs all finished. Thanks! It was definitely a fun project.

Forgot to mention, this is a big Beasty. Here she is next to a Tamika Spitfire.

Okay, I got the cockpit in and closed up the fuselage. I started at the tail gluing things the halves together. Because of the warped/cracked fuselage half, the bottom seam was fairly nasty. I had a hard time getting the two halves to meet. After a bunch of clamping and tape, I managed to get them together. There's a step at the join though which will be a pain. Thankfully it's on the bottom. The top joint looks better. After a bit of scraping and sanding, I've thrown on a coat of Mr Surfacer. Hopefully it'll buff out and level things.

Thanks Gaz! I generally like my builds fairly clean so it was an easy decision.

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.