I have had some medical and other health issues in 2014 culminating in my early retirement from teaching. While I was off on sick leave, I became very depressed. Seeking medical advice, my doctor told me I needed to get absorbed in a hobby. Did I have one he asked? Sure, I probably have too many, but modelling has always been my first and foremost hobby. He told me to to “lose myself” in my hobby so I did.

The B-29 was sitting neglected (actually I forgot I had it, and found it while cleaning up), and it seemed like a good candidate to “lose myself” in. While the interior is quite detailed (and dated), I felt I could do better. (Don’t we all?) The main photo shows my B-29 from the port side, photo 2 shows the starboard side which I opened up so you can view the interior.

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Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6

Photo 3 shows some mouse wire detailing. 

Photo 4 is a shot of the cockpit with some of the detailing visible. I used wires from dead computer mice for detailing.

Photo 5 shows the bunks in the aft of the plane.  There is a lot of scope for detailing here, but at this point I’d just about had enough of the interior. 

Photo 6 shows the inside after I started cutting and filing all the rectangular holes in the right side. There ended up being 89 I think. 

Photo 7 is where the forward top turret sits. I did a bit of cutting, sanding filling and more sanding to have it removable so the interior could be seen. I’m still confused about the observation blister that sits over the tunnel, I don’t know how it would be used in real life, and if anyone has any insight on this, let me know please.

Photo 8 shows a bit of “dented” skin. I needed something to put the star on as I had cut all the squares out not thinking about the ramifications later. Anyway, I used a bit of foil off a wine bottle and tooled the dents into the skin. It may be a bit over-done, but it was therapy.

Photo 9 shows two of the engine cowls, I moot-tooled and filed the vents open as they were very thick and didn’t look right.

Photo 10 I turned into a fuel tank that site between the two spars that run through the bomb bay. I don’t think this is in the real one, but I needed something to fill in a space as I had now made all this visible.

Photo 11 is the “nose art” I made on my printer. This took a bit of learning on my part, I spent over $25.00 to get one sheet of laser decal paper and it stuffed up so I had a few choice words at that point. My nearest hobby shop that stocks this is a 3 hour drive to the city of Perth so the next tie I was there I bought a few sheets. I’m still on a steep learning curve.

Photo 12 is the aft end with the 20mm and to 50 cal guns. In working on this, I managed to break off the 20mm cannon, but an old Revell glue tube cut to length seemed to be pretty scale, so I used it.

Photo 13  Shows the cockpit installed in the fuselage.

Photo 14 My cat loves me and will not leave me alone. This is a cat I saved from death as when it was a kitten, it fell down inside a wall in our house and I had to use a drill and jig-saw to cut a hole in the wall to save her. Her mother deserted her o I adopted “wall-e”. I thought she was going to total my B-29, but she only wanted to get the stone I was using to make the plane sit level.

 

Why “Doctors' Orders”? Well, my doctor told me to…Also, my wife is a doctor too (a pHd in mathematics) and *she* always tells me what to do, so it seemed very fitting.

I guess that’s it from this side of the world. I still have a way to go to get my “craft” right, but health issues make it more and more difficult. That, and my eyes are now making it more difficult to see. I’m happy with the result. The fit is poor, the “moveable” turrets fit poorly and were better glued in place. The cockpit glass didn’t fit so I left that removable too.

Have a great year!

Mark McClellan

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Photo 7 Photo 8 Photo 9 Photo 10 . Photo 11 Photo 12 Photo 13 Photo 14