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Post by thebrads on Jul 16, 2021 17:05:57 GMT 12
Can you expand on this question(s) for me? I presume, due to the materials this aircraft is made from, (e.g wood, and being apparently thicker than the original metals), some exception to scale must be made. Is the interior at 1:1 scale and this the exterior is larger than life; the other way around or is there some other compromise? Thanks!
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Post by kiwi285 on Jul 17, 2021 13:39:50 GMT 12
Can you expand on this question(s) for me? I presume, due to the materials this aircraft is made from, (e.g wood, and being apparently thicker than the original metals), some exception to scale must be made. Is the interior at 1:1 scale and this the exterior is larger than life; the other way around or is there some other compromise? Thanks! The fuselage was built as a prop for a film that was shot entirely inside with no outside views required. Hence the method of building it. I have heard it mentioned that the fuselage is approximately 10% bigger than scale for use of actors and film crew moving around inside. This is not a worry to us as the rivet counters will always tell you about something that isn't right (in their eyes). Once it is up in the air (at the same height as the Catalina) most people will not care about that and will be happy to walk around inside and see what a real one looked like. Because it was all cut from MDF we have had to work with the frame thickness as the structure's weight would not allow any reduction to maintain the strength needed. Hope this helps. Scale modellers and rivet counters will not be able to use this for their purposes - sorry.
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Post by kiwi285 on Oct 22, 2021 15:23:23 GMT 12
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Post by McFly on Nov 22, 2021 15:57:11 GMT 12
The movie "Shadow In The Cloud" in which this B-17 played a starring role is now available to watch in NZ on NEON... (Dave tells me he's going to sit down this evening with a cuppa and watch it.. )
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 22, 2021 16:46:56 GMT 12
Yeah right...
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Post by kiwi285 on Dec 3, 2021 14:30:26 GMT 12
The move has started. The first section of the steel support structure has been painted and moved into the main hangar and the middle section of the fuselage has also moved into the main hangar. Today this was craned onto the support structure and was moved into place against the back wall. We had to make a cutout in the top of the fuselage section to accommodate one of the roof beams and the people responsible for the measuring got it spot on. The section slid straight in under the beam with just the right amount of clearance. We were all impressed. It looks quite spectacular up in place and we are all looking forward to seeing the front and back sections added to it in the near future. 031221 (11) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 031221 (15) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 031221 (20) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 031221 (23) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by McFly on Jan 12, 2022 8:26:38 GMT 12
The 'other ' replica B-17 is on the move... One of the very impressive 'props' for Masters of The Air, has been transported to Eye airfield ( wartime Fortress base! ) for storage, as seen on fb today .
''One replica of 100th BG B-17 ‘Eager Beaver’ heading into storage on the old 490th Bomb Group airfield at Eye, Suffolk this lunchtime. Outer wings, tail and second aircraft to follow. Both direct from the set of ‘Masters of the Air.’ Unquestionably the first time a B-17 Flying Fortress has been on this airfield since July 1945, albeit a replica! '' -Clive Stevens inc photo
It will be interesting to see if they end up on permanent display in the UK. Being in Norfolk is a good start ! (Link)
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Post by kiwi285 on Jan 14, 2022 16:41:33 GMT 12
On Wednesday the support frame for the rear section of the B-17 fuselage was moved into the main hangar and later the section was wheeled up to the hangar for mating. Today they have mated the two items and when I left for the day they were trying to manouver the frame into position behind the centre section which was installed before Christmas. The steel frame for the nose section is on site and painted ready to go so I expect to see all three sections in place, maybe next week. Then the work of getting them to mate up again and to get the walkways sorted remain to be done. 120122 (1) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 120122 (2) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr P1610240 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr P1610241 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 22, 2022 9:07:08 GMT 12
Just in from Peter Layne: "The three sections of the B-17 are now installed in hangar 3 at Classic Flyers. The Slingsby Swallow GCD and the Cessna 150 CGI both had to come down. GCD has now gone back up but CGI is parked outside for the time being at least. You may like to mention that significantly, two of the few land based aircraft to land in lakes have rested alongside each other at Classic Flyers for many years, over 1000kms away from their lake excursions. Most enthusiasts know about CGI's notorious landing in Lake Duncan. Such a landing by gliders is exceedingly rare and GCD may be the only New Zealand glider to have got its feet wet. Not only that, GCD "Great Charlie Duck", has done it twice. It landed in Lake Ohau in January 1966 and Lake Wakatipu in January 1977. Both aircraft were returned to the skies after these excursions. Looking at the photo of GCD going back up there can be seen the stairwell platform, behind Avenger NZ2539, leading up to the rear of the Catalina. The platform will be modified so that it will also lead to the B-17, which is to have its paint job, including nose-art, completed in due course. Kind regards Peter"
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Post by retiredav8r on Jan 22, 2022 16:18:45 GMT 12
Never seen a B17 with that nose, a B-17lol maybe?
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Post by Antonio on Jan 22, 2022 16:23:07 GMT 12
He.111-17
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Post by kiwi285 on Jan 22, 2022 16:42:29 GMT 12
All three sections of the fuselage are now up on their support structure and are close to being finally aligned and bolted into place. Once we het the walkway in place we will be able to get back inside and start making it suitable for visitors to walk through and ponder. 210122 (2) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 210122 (4) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 210122 (5) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by ZacYates on Jan 22, 2022 17:00:08 GMT 12
I was very pleased to see CGI on the ground on our Christmas visit to the museum after having read a few articles about her misadventure. And my wife was overjoyed that she guessed it was a Cessna before she saw the titling on her!
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Post by fwx on Feb 3, 2022 19:51:25 GMT 12
So pleased that the B-17 found a good home.
I was lucky enough to visit her on the movie set and couldn't believe the effort they had gone to to gather up so many authentic bits and pieces from around the world, and to reproduce everything else they needed with such accuracy. The (woman) armourer was one smart cookie.
Then to hear that the set might be scrapped after they had finished filming!!! Would have been sacrilege ...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 3, 2022 20:25:42 GMT 12
From what I hear the film was sacrilege. The fake B-17 going to the museum is the only really good bit.
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Post by Mustang51 on Feb 3, 2022 21:03:59 GMT 12
Its on either Netflix or Amazon...I wont waste my time watching it...
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Post by kiwi285 on Feb 18, 2022 16:07:39 GMT 12
Arrived back at the museum today to find that the bottom ball turret (2) have finally arrived and Colin and the team have started work on the wing stub. The ball turret looks like it is made up of a combination of original parts and some realistic looking other parts. You look at it and wonder what sort of young person could have survived in that confined space for up to 8 hours at a time on the longer missions over Europe. You lie on your back with your feet in stirrups above your head. They have my supreme admiration for their courage and stamina - I would have gone nutty. The second turret looks like a mainly fibreglass replica and I understand that a lot of the filming was done with this item. The main turret is going to be mounted on a frame under the fuselage approximately where it would have been mounted and there is some talk of the other one perhaps being open to younger people to try out. Anyone over about 16 wont be able to get in or more importantly get out of it. It was obvious once the fuselage was in place that we needed the wing stub to show people the size of the wing section and to break up the fuselage side profile. We have found that the wing section was a NACA 0018 section which is a symmetrical one with a root chord of 228 inches and that it is 41 inches deep. That's a fairly big wing but now that we have started to manufacture the stub and think about the diameter of the Wright Cyclone R1820 it doesn't seem so big. I found most of the base information and Colin did all the work around the method of manufacturing this item. Looking forward to keeping this project moving along and thinking about putting it all in place. 180222 (8) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 180222 (4) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 180222 (6) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 180222 (1) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 180222 by Mike Feisst, on Flickr 180222 (10) by Mike Feisst, on Flickr
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Post by ErrolC on Feb 18, 2022 19:28:56 GMT 12
Arrived back at the museum today to find that the bottom ball turret (2) have finally arrived and Colin and the team have started work on the wing stub. The ball turret looks like it is made up of a combination of original parts and some realistic looking other parts. Great stuff!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 18, 2022 20:30:55 GMT 12
That turret is impressive!
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Post by ZacYates on Feb 20, 2022 16:54:27 GMT 12
Most impressive, it looks just like a real one!
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