Latest from the B-17 Works

[DryMartini]

What would 2014 be without an update on what "Hang The Expense",
or as his friends call him, "Hang",
or as his close friends call him, "You SOB".

First up - A B-17F Nose glass form - in rough shape:


And in nicer shape:


Cockpit Window form coming along:


And farther along:


And the latest lad to get "B-17 Fever". Poor guy. Doesn't know what kind of life he is in for,
longing after a "The Queen of the Sky" of his own:


According to Hang, he can drill out a rivet dead center. Now *THAT's* a useful skill to have in Tom's shop.

[DryMartini]

Well, things are rolling along.

The B-17F nose glass form continues to come together:


Here is "Hang" in his work shirt. What is he saying? Well, we had a microphone there:
Hang: "Well, shoot. This will buff right out! Good as new in no time!"


Y'all may be wondering just how all this work gets done. I just happen to stop by late one night,
and found this guy working in Tom's shop. Explains alot, don't you think?

[hang the expense]

Uh, I would like to order ten more of those guys

[DryMartini]

And the forms keep coming.
Without further adieu...

The windshield forms and patterns are coming along nicely.
Here is the start of the form:


And a bit further along:


Here is one of the original frames - badly corroded out:


And the side window form:


And here is something to talk about - A B-17F Plexiglass nose form, being smoothed and prepped.

On it's way to the mud shop:


At the shop:


Coated and sanded:


Smoothing it out:


Almost there:


WOW!!!!!
Looks like it is ready to go mach-2 right on the floor!


Keep 'em coming, HTE!

[hang the expense]

My friend Mark did all the smoothing of the nose which required a ton of work on his part.Thanks much Mark and you get a B-17 ride when she comes into Atlanta.

[OldBillB17F]

This is great work. Is this F-nose mold in anticipation for future restorations, or is it to give the Memphis Belle (movie) a new nose? Thanks for sharing Bill!

[hang the expense]

One is for the belle and the rest is for anyone that needs one.These are the same for an early G so they will work and look better on a G model instead of the late vega nose glass.Yuk.

[DryMartini]

Hang wanted to give Kudos to Larry Childress of Composite Technologies of Buford, GA.
Larry will be doing the fiberglass mold of the nose cone.

Here is Larry:


Here is Matt. According to Hang, Matt gets the fiberglass molds all knocked out for
all the B-17 tooling Hang needs. I think I met Matt when I was down there a couple years ago.
Knee deep in fiberglass and resin working on a hydro-racer.


Here is another view of the completed nose mold, being taken to the shop to produce a female mold
for forming the plexiglass nose piece. It is in Mark's truck. Why? It was too tall to fit in Hang's SUV.


Who is Mark you ask? Well, he's the guy who mudded and sanded and mudded and
sanded and primed the nose form to its current gleaming condition
Thanks to Mark for his help on getting the B-17F nose glass mold all smoothed out.
I think he JUST got all the B-17F nose cone mold dust out of his ears.

[DryMartini]

This picture was posted above, with Hang saying that it'll be done in an hour, or something to
that effect.


Well, he finally got some time in on the part. Here it is after a preliminary straightening:


As I understand it, Hang left the shop for the night, and told Danny, the head minion,
that there would be free beer when the work got done. Well, those minions worked through the
evening, and got the piece into this shape:


Well, Hang didn't like the looks of that, and that night, the minions put it back into this shape:

[hang the expense]

Those minions can sure put away the beer and they got into my cigars damit.

[hang the expense]

Those minions can sure put away the beer and they got into my cigars damit.

[JohnDell]

Very nice work! I look forward to seeing the end result.

A couple of questions. Has anyone doing a B-17F restoration ever considered adding the single, triangular shaped gun mount such as in the attached photo? To me, this always seemed an iconic feature of many 8th Air Force B-17Fs. Which “Memphis Belle” is one of the new nose pieces for, the real or movie “Belle”? The nose piece on the real “Memphis Belle” when she was on display on Mud Island had the nose gun mounts in the wrong position. Too high and too close together. See second attached photo. Will the new nose piece (if going to the real “Belle”) correct this?

One of these noses would look sharp on an a B-17 representing an early “G” such as “Nine-0-Nine”.

And, it is nice to see some of the younger generation catch the B-17 bug!

[hang the expense]

The air force has not contacted me about a nose plexi for the real belle.I would be able to put the plugs in the new female mold for the two gun installation just takes a little bit more work.I agree that a correct nose glass on 909 would really look great.The movie bird will get a single gun install which looks great imo. I never knew that the belle had that nose plexi with the two guns and you are right they are too close together by at least 2 to 3 inches either side.Thanks for posting the pictures.

[DryMartini]

Yes, it is a YAUH (Yet Another Update from Hang)!

The .350 offset to the windscreen form is done.




Ready to rivet the female tooling together.


Close up of the pieces.


Hey look! It actually fits! Imagine that....


BONUS PHOTO!
Almost ready for the fiberglass...

[hang the expense]

When we have finished with the female mold the male mold will go in a purpose built box and put away.It wont be good for anything else but for the amount of time and effort and cost I just cant throw it away.The thing has been a nightmare.Pictures soon of the female as its being made.Thanks for posting all the pics Bill.