RE: Top Flite B-25 - Wingspan Models Add-ons Build Thread
Alright then, let’s get started with our build/modification here. To start off with, I am going to be doing the Top Turret.
As we get started you’ll want to bring the plane in to your bench/work area. I removed the complete wings from the fuselage, including the inboard wing sections that contain the engine nacelles. This is done to make it easier to move the fuselage around as we work on it. Also remove the tail section for the same reasons. Also, as we move on to installing the bomb bay we’ll need to remove the wiring going to the tail so that we can reroute it around the bay, so go ahead and do it now. With the fuselage on the bench let’s get it opened up to work on. Remove the cockpit canopy, the cockpit floor, and the nose canopy. Technically the nose canopy really doesn’t need to be removed right now, but it’s a lot easier to just get it out of the way so it doesn’t get scratched or damaged.
Now here is where I run into a bit of a dilemma, and had to put some thought in to solving before I even started. In the first release of the Top Flite B-25’s there was a misprint in the instruction manual for which air tank was needed if retracts were being installed in the plane. The plane was designed to use a small Robart’s air tank, but the instruction manual gave the part # for the larger Robart tank. So if the tank was ordered per the instruction manual the tank sent is too large. The plane was designed with cutouts in the fuselage formers forward of the cockpit that the small tank would fit in. When Top Flite discovered the misprint the of course corrected it, but as a work around for those that had the wrong tank they recommended mounting the air tank directly behind the cockpit. They recommended cutting to mounts out of light ply and gluing these in to the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. And this is what I did on my installation. And here’s the problem. As you can see in picture #3 the air tank is mounted directly underneath the top turret, so it’s going to have to be relocated in order to mount the top turret. I didn’t really want to switch and use the smaller air tank because I like having the extra reserves for the retract system that I get from the large air tank. Also, if you look at picture #9 you can see that my battery is mounted in the area designed for the small air tank. So I needed to find a place for the large tank. I really scratched my head for a while and was drawing a blank about where to put it. Until I realized that the bomb bay mounts UNDER the wing tubes mid-fuselage. Viola’ I now had a place to mount the tank. My plans are to move the tank back to where the bomb bay will mount, mounting the tank above the wing tube. Having the bomb bay there will give me access to that area be able to mount the tank there. Now if somebody out there is only planning on mounting the Top Turret and not the bomb bay I am at a loss to recommend a place to mount the tank.
Next up is to get the original top turret off. When I assembled my plane I used RC-56 Canopy Glue to attach the turret. I wasn’t real excited about the idea of using CA on the turret as the instructions called for because I just don’t like using CA around clear parts like this. Because I used the RC-56 it was really pretty easy to get the canopy off of the fuselage. I was able to get a hobby knife up under the turret and simply work it around the turret to cut it loose. I ran into another small problem here though. The TF B-25 includes a black Monokote circle that is placed under the turret when it’s mounted. One of my pet peeves on ARF’s is there is no extra covering included to do small repairs with (this not just Hobbico, as all manufacturers do this), so I always seem to need covering to do small repairs. With this in mind, before I put the black disk in place I cut the OD green Monokote and removed it from the fuselage. This gave me a small piece of covering I can use elsewhere for repairs. So when I was removing the turret it pulled up some of the covering and made for a rough edge on the covering, this can be seen in the pictures. The guns were attached with medium CA so it was pretty easy to pull these up. In the last picture you can see that I removed the black Monokote disk. While it’s not absolutely necessary to remove it I think it’s a good idea to go ahead and pull it up. Getting down to bear wood is good because it lets you identify the centerline of the fuselage, which will help in positioning the cutting template later on.
Of course, if somebody is putting in the top turret as they assemble the plane they won’t have to go about these steps of removing these parts.
Pictures
1. The fuselage on the bench ready to get started.
2. Remove the cockpit canopy and floor.
3. The large capacity air tank is in the way when mounted directly behind the cockpit.
4. Remove the large capacity tank.
5. Remove the mounting rings used to mount the large capacity air tank.
6. Use a hobby knife to gently remove the top turret from the top of the fuselage.
7. Pull the canopy away from the fuselage.
8. The guns will need to be removed next.
9. The fuselage with the turret guns removed.
10. Remove the black Monokote disk.
Until next time
Ken