Russ started working on the fuselage by taking care of the flight deck. First thing he modified the instrument panel:
The cocpit is almost completely rebuilt. Russ had to remove the center console and reposition it. The left and right consoles were also too high and too narrow. Russ also added some detail, such as the steering columns, throttle cluster and another box that sits in front of the console but wasn't modeled - a part of the autopilot system. The ejection seats had to be scratchbuilt as they were hopelessly inacurate. The only thing Russ kept of the original was the back plate with the headrest. You can see the finished cockpit suite in the photo below. Russ decided not to attempt to model the bomb-nav and ecm stations as they wouldn't be visible without cutting out a section of the fuselage to be able to see it:
The bomb bay is also detailed. Below you can see the 1mm styrene sheet parts installed in the right fuselage half:
Russ was so kind as to provide patterns for those wanting to build a similar bomb bay for themselves:
The kit comes with the lower curved part of the front bulkhead molded into the fuselage halves so you only need to add a top piece (Front Bulkhead in the image above) to complete the front bulkhead. Also, use this bottom bulkhead to shape the bottom of the Rear Bulkhead:
If you want to show the bomb bay doors opened to the load position, you will need to cut out the upper bomb bay doors. These are clearly outlined on each fuselage half, as shown below. Use a sharp Xacto knife blade and cut carefully and repeatedly until the doors are separated.
There were walkways (catwalks) on either side just above the lip of the bomb bay. These were part of a pathway that allowed you to crawl/crouch/stagger all the way from the cockpit to the tail gunner's compartment.:
They definitely add interest to the model, so if you would like to add these, follow the procedure below.
Russ added some card stock and styrene strip detail to the doors, as shown below. Note that this only "suggests" the actual detail; it's not accurate.:
At this point, you're faced with two choices for mounting the doors to the fuselage:
You will need some ordinary office staples for this task. Refer to the diagram below (NOTE: The photo shows the doors already assembled at this point, but mounting the upper doors to the fuselage first before attaching the lower doors will save you a lot of grief.)
Once the upper doors are attached to the fuselage, attach each lower door to the upper door so that they are at a 90 degree angle to the upper door, as shown below. NOTE: Russ suggests you use rubber or tacky glue first to get the doors at the right angle before gluing them permanently:
Bomb Bay Doors Locking Assemblies:
Starting with the end bulkheads, Russ used a picture of one end of a real D-model bomb bay and printed two copies out on photo paper (see image below) then glued a copy to each bulkhead. If you want to use the image below, please feel free to download it and print it. You may have to resize it to fit.:
The photo below shows one image glued to the front bulkhead:
That's all you need to do to the front bulkhead at this point. However, the rear bulkhead had a panel in front of it along the lower portion, as shown in the photo below:
Make this panel from 0.5mm styrene to the dimensions shown below:
Test fit the panel to be sure it will fit properly inside the curve of the fuselage as shown below, then paint the panel the same color as the bomb bay:
The two pictures below show the addition of some extra detail and the bomb bay door thrusters at each end. Since Russ wanted to show the bomb bay doors in the load position, the thrusters are shown disconnected. He used some bits and pieces to simulate the thruster hydraulic pump between the arms. This adds some depth instead of having just the flat image. Russ notes that the thruster arms were always disconnected for safety reasons whenever the bomb bay doors were left open for any reason.
One more photo shows the bomb bay with two bomb clips installed and an empty slot waiting to take another bomb clip:
Russ also provided instructions to build the clip mounting frame for those wanting to make one for themselves - they can be seen in the next picture:
Next thing to tackle was the APS-104 navigation radar antenna that will go into the chin of the model. Since the plane will be part of a diorama, the chin radome will be shown removed while the radar is being worked on. Russ says references on that radar were hard to find, so he had to guess at the feedhorn assembly. One such reference photo is can be seen below:
You can see the results of Russ' work on the radar in the following picture:
The insides of the nav antenna compartment (chin radome) had to be appropriately detailed, too. Any good pictures of this compartment were hard to come by, probably because the equipment in those days was classified or sensitive. Two such reference photos can be seen next:
Russ held off the installation of the antenna until other fuselage details were finished to avoid damaging this delicate assembly:
Russ simulated the insulation that covered the bulkhead separating the chin radome and the bomb-nav compartment. He used Testor's contour putty to form the insulation but it became apparent right away that trying to shape it with the bulkhead in the aircraft was not the way to go. Unfortunately, he had already added the bulkhead and closed up the model before right reference photos were available. It would be a lot better to model the insulation on the bulkhead before it were installed in the fuselage.
Russ also added the representation of three (probably) power supplies on the right side of the bulkhead. Unfortunately, a lot of the equipment that was installed in the nav antenna compartment was removed before this picture was taken, but each picture provided a piece of the puzzle and eventually, more equipment could be added:
Below is a picture of the nav radar antenna installed in the chin radome before good reference photos were found. At this stage Russ was only able to find one photo that showed the antenna reflector from the back so he had to guess at the feedhorn assembly, and the reflector support system:
Russ added the upper port and starboard cooling vents in the 47 Section but had to wait on adding the lower 6 until after the fuselage was closed and he started on the ECM antennas.
Below is a picture of the turret on a real aircraft and Russ' model of the B-52D gun turret with the left-side cover removed for maintenance. Russ recalled watching the MMS troops working on these guns. They would be up to their elbows in oil and grease in the blazing hot sun. Those guys had the hardest job of all, even worse than ECM, and they worked really hard. A lot of MMS troops eventually developed liver or kidney problems or cancer from working with the gun grease remover. No other shop had more to do or worked harder than MMS.
Below is a picture of an actual B52D tail gunner's compartment (courtesy of G. Holmes) and Russ' model with a few details added - Russ said his details are "only suggestive, not accurate":
Russ recalls having to work in this compartment many times. It's very narrow and confined, with cables, hoses and cords hanging down that make it even more crowded. The seat folds down so the gunner can get in and out. There's a hatch that opens to the outside at the right rear of the compartment and another hatch just past that one that opens inside into the 47-section where the jamming transmitters and chaff dispensers were installed.
Russ came across some pictures of the inside of the 47 section! These are from the National Museum of the US Air Force website. Here's the link .
Scroll down to Cockpit 360 Images and click on one of 5 sets of panoramic views you can pan around in - well worth taking a look! You can use the arrows at the bottom of each view or just pan around with your mouse. The pictures below are from the Aft Equipment link.
The view below shows the 47-section looking forward. The chaff magazines are mounted vertically to the right and left. The "ovens" that housed the ECM transmitters can be seen further forward past the chaff magazines. Russ recalls: "You can imagine trying to hustle a 150 lb transmitter down that narrow catwalk past all that equipment. Just getting them in and out of the ovens was a trial in itself."
The next view shows the 47-section looking aft. The 47-section hatch is right in the foreground. You can see the hatch to the gunner's compartment way in the back at the end of the crawl space. Russ: "You could crawl from one end of the D-model to the other - I've done it many times chasing wiring problems. Not a pleasant experience on a hot afternoon even with the bomb bay doors open."
Russ ran into a problem as he was masking the gunner's canopy when it developed a series of fine cracks. They were so tiny he tried to take them out with Future. But as he was about to paint it, the canopy fell to pieces (see below - it is glued back together for measurements).
He decided to try and build the canopy from scratch. He built the canopy window frames from clear plastic, then painted them. The “glass” panels would be added later.