1/48 B-17F Build - 303rd BGs Luscious Lady (Continued)

[Redhand]

Staring at Empty Pages

I’ve been thinking I’m working too hard, but I got something to show

I date myself terribly with reference to song lyrics from a jazz/rock album that’s 52 years old,

“but I got something to show,” even if it tortures the meaning of the original song more than a bit.

Besides, I turned 74 this month, so save “A penny for the Old Guy.”

I’ll be calling Frank tonight to see if he’s uncovered anything more, but I have a bad feeling that the missing parts are gone for good. So, I’ll use this as an excuse to display some old build photos of the top turret

which I so hoped would be part of the final build. This may be the final opportunity I have to show them off, from way, way early in the build, when I was going solo with it.

Some more shots of the real thing to start.

And my work.

If they’re not found in Edmonton, at least they might be found in cyberspace.

[Johnnych01]

Fingers crossed they surface.

[justsendit]

HTH!

—mike

[Dioramartin]

Brian just to follow up on my amateur detective work, you mentioned HG’s flatmate was wheelchair-bound so I was imagining where he’d find it difficult or impossible to look. Hence the suggestion of under the bed, I wasn’t being flippant. Or maybe high up somewhere. Eliminating other possibilities such as they were thrown out or given away, those items must surely be there somewhere?

[Redhand]

I’ll actually be calling him tomorrow. He has some relatives who may be available to help. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Redhand]

Incomplete Salvage

B-17G #42-39769 Missmanooki, 303rd BG Boneyard

As of this writing, it looks like we are not going to retrieve all of H.G.'s work on Luscious Lady. Nothing more turned up. Frank has one place left to look on Saturday with some help, but I am calling the packager/shipper tomorrow to “go to the site” and send what we have to New Jersey next week. Whatever we recover in that shipment will be it unless Frank subsequently locates more.

Frankly, I am philosophical about this. Maybe it’s the subject matter itself, which is replete with loss of life and materiel. It makes H.G.'s death and his incomplete work an unhappy but real parallel to what we were trying to depict.

Also, I’ll share with you something I will write more about when I do his obit. In our last phone conversation, when I could tell he was in emotional distress, he told me, “I don’t want to [mess] this up,” meaning, of course, the build and our friendship.

But I really think he meant (but didn’t say) that he knew his health was failing and that he didn’t have much time left, so the real sense of the sentence was a statement from the grave that “I didn’t want to mess this up.”

How can I be angry or disappointed at that? He gave it everything he had.

More later. I am kind of inured to human tragedy and loss because of my immigration work, especially in asylum cases. But I never expected it to surface in my hobby.

Cambridge American Cemetery, Reflecting pools, Tablets of the Missing & Memorial at Cambridge American Cemetery & Memorial, Madingley, Cambridgeshire, England.

[Redhand]

Shipping Arrangements

The shippers in Edmonton are going to Frank’s Apartment this Thursday or Friday to pick up Luscious Lady and get her ready for a return to New Jersey. I’ve contacted both them and Frank about this and expect the pick-up to go smoothly.

Sadly, the many missing subassemblies I’ve listed in prior posts have yet to be found. That is depressing as hell, not only for me but also for H.G.'s memory. Frank will continue the search after the model ships, and there remain a few places still to look in the labyrinth that was H.G.'s room when Frank’s grandsons return from a trip to Toronto. So, there remains some hope still of a supplemental shipment. But I am not betting on it.

I have not seen the model except through photos for over three years now, and it will be very strange laying eyes on it directly when it arrives. But the realization that I’ve put in motion the means to get it back also means – there’s no pretending otherwise – that H.G. is well and truly gone. Whenever one loses a relative or friend who has been a part of one’s life, there is always a tendency to fool oneself that the person is just a phone call or email away, especially when the survivor has not been in daily physical contact with the person who is lost.

Getting the model back will be a tangible reminder that the friend who worked on it is gone, almost like getting the deceased’s personal effects. I find myself depressed by that far more than the missing parts.

I’ve decided not to open the shipment until I bring it to the new builder in Brooklyn. That will be interesting, to say the least. He is much younger than I am and a remarkably fast worker, and candidly, I need closure on this “cursed” project. So, I hope I will get a completed model with a case in 2024, a decade after I started it. (He’ll help with that, too). I do promise to document that event for the blog.

Let me end this morose post on a positive note. Frank believes he may have located one of H.G.'s brothers in Idaho. If that proves to be the case, it would be great. I’ll let you know what I learn.

[chukw1]

I’m sad along with you, Brian- it’s the tragic loss of a friend, and seeing the loss of some of his best work only adds to the heartache- my condolences.

[Redhand]

Thanks, Chuck.

[Johnnych01]

On a brighter note for the future … HG will live on within Luscious Lady, with everyone here knowing just how much time he gave her…

[Redhand]

In the Hands of Custom Crating, LTD.

The pickup of Luscious Lady by Custom Crating went well, and here is the evidence.

The TBM-3 box was a work in progress regarding a USS Enterprise (CV-6) late-war ASW Avenger with some neat markings (black undersides, no gun in the top turret), which Frank included for me. The focus here is, naturally, the B-17.

Basically. Frank pulled everything in sight that said “B-17” on it and included it all.

One happy find was the bomb bay door below right. The last thing H.G. was working on was attaching the other one to the model. I thought this one was lost, which would have been a big problem.

I’ve seen much of what is in the other bags already, and the turrets were not among them, but I will give everything a close look when the package arrives and we open the shipment.

In happier times, I had also sent H.G. another Revell B-17F kit with some extra stuff in anticipation of us doing the Hullar crew’s other main aircraft, Vicious Virgin. (It’s been pictured many times in this blog.) Frank thinks some parts in the box are associated with this build, which is scheduled to arrive on October 10. Obviously, I’ll be giving that a close look, too.

That’s all for now.

[Redhand]

Brief Addendum

@Redhand

In happier times, I had also sent H.G. another Revell B-17F kit with some extra stuff in anticipation of us doing the Hullar crew’s other main aircraft, Vicious Virgin. (It’s been pictured many times in this blog.) Frank thinks some parts in the box are associated with this build, which is scheduled to arrive on October 10.

Oh, it arrived today. The package was a combination of a Monogram B-17G kit with a large part of a Revell B-17F for H.G. to pick and choose for a simpler Vicious Virgin build. And tucked away in it was this:

Which when unwrapped, looks like this.:

Both VV and LL had the same Plexiglas nose configuration, so I am glad I have this one because the one H.G. was working on is among the missing parts.

What this means is that I am 99% sure the two turrets and the crew access doors.are Gone Baby Gone.

“Everyone wants the truth * * * until they find it.”

As I said, I hold out little hope that the missing parts will be in the main model package when it arrives. The new builder and I will have to develop a Plan B.

It just may be that if I ever do/commission a Vicious Virgin the turrets will have been found, so they will find a new home in that model.

On a personal note, I am working on some structural changes to my law practice, which I hope will free up more time for me to actually start building stuff on my own again. With luck, it will be in place at the beginning of next year.

[Redhand]

Boxed and Ready to Ship

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Parenthetically, I can’t effing believe I’m going to the expense of having this boxed and shipped.

I’m hoping for a better landing than this.

To quote a novel phrase (pun intended) from the long-forgotten but outstanding novelist Gwyn Griffin,

whose main-character (in this work, IIRR) thought self-referentially

He must be mad.

[BlackWidow]

Wishing a happy landing at your place, Brian!

[justsendit]

Ditto.

—mike

[Redhand]

In Transit

So, the estimated delivery at my home is on October 17, 2023.

TBH, I find myself spooked by all this. Wretched Excess on the move, all mixed up in my head with a movie made the year I was born; a paternal teaching moment a few years after its theatrical release from my Air Force pilot Dad

Sgt. Donald F. O’Neill, top left, C-47 Flight Engineer, Korea, U.S. Occupation Forces Late 1945, before commissioning and becoming a pilot.

that left an indelible mark on me; my slow but clear realization as a teenager that my physical and mental makeup didn’t suit me to follow in his footsteps (I did not pass a USAF ROTC flight training physical and aptitude test when I was 19); a Walter Mitty time in my late 20s and early 30s wondering if I could have “measured up” to what the B-17 crewmen did in 1943-44 over Germany; the incredible opportunity that fell into my lap in the early 1980s to write a non-fiction book on this very subject centered on one B-17 crew that had “the right stuff” to succeed and survive; and then writing a second edition of the book in 1999; and relevant here, conceiving the idea to have an expert modeler do what I couldn’t: build a near perfect model of one of the two aircraft “my crew” regularly flew.

Fast forward 24 years, and it still isn’t done. This after a major career change; a divorce; a new legal career; a second B-17 book, and the ghost-writing of a third;

a new marriage (to a Russian, no less!); my starting this build to shame the original builder into completing the model for which I had paid in full in advance (the other B-17 “my crew” flew regularly); the termination of the original contract (after 16 years!) when the first builder finally admitted he had no intention of finishing the work, and then terminated the friendship; enlisting a former mutual friend of the original builder to help me in this build; only to see that friend suffer an early death from cancer; plugging along for more years on my own on this build’s interior, only to burn out and realize I needed the help of another expert builder to complete the build correctly; working closely with him for over three years and developing a close friendship with him; having him suffer an untimely death that is as sad as it was unexpected; finding a third expert locally to help me get this done; and now waiting for the work-in-progress to arrive.

And you may ask why I sometimes think I’m crazy. The thing is, I know that in all this time there always has been the possibility that it won’t get done. Hell, I had an auto accident a few years ago in which I lost consciousness and totaled the car, and as I passed out, I thought I was dying. (It was quite a surprise when I regained consciousness, saw that there were people looking in at me in my totaled vehicle, and realized I was unharmed). So, there are no guarantees this will get done.

But, over the past two decades, I have realized that The Journey is more important than the final product. And I can guarantee that I will continue with this project until it’s done or “die trying,” metaphorically speaking! I’m still weirded out that I am this invested in it, but at this point, I’m doing it as much for the memory of absent friends as I am for myself.

And I want to thank you precious few out there who follow my ramblings in what should (I guess) be strictly a build blog. I do appreciate your interest.

[Dioramartin]

Brian that reads like a digest of your next book & I’d buy it. I’m not in LL’s extraordinary league of 24 years but you’ve remarked on emotions I can identify with, even though Anthropoid’s all mine whereas LL has involved several players in addition to your good self.

Over the past few days I’ve been repairing/finalising the three trams which I hadn’t seen for 3 years, and the limo I packed away 4 years ago after starting it over 5 years ago. Hard to express how that feels, a heavy sadness that it’s taken so long mixed with surprise some bits look better than I think I’m capable of achieving now. Unnervingly, there are a few items I cannot recall exactly how I made at all – it almost feels like somebody else did them. I guess it’s all about lost Time & Time passing, tempered with gratitude to still be in reasonable shape to finish it.

As you say the final result’s liable to seem almost inconsequential compared to how it was achieved – so far I’ve published 1,562 photos of Operation Anthropoid’s progress, while the final set will probably number less than 20. Your stats will probably dwarf mine.

Anyhow all we can do is draw strength from each other especially when this wonderful hobby bites back, and always keep in mind why the project started. We can only look on in awe, and look forward to admiring LL in all her eventual glory. To absent friends

[amoz02t]

“To absent friends”

[Johnnych01]

Good to see LL on her way back so stock can be taken…it has certainly been on an epic journey so far …hope all goes well.

[Redhand]

Martin, your photo dioramas are unique and, frankly, amazing. And I can’t think of a better subject than Anthropoid! I can really relate to the emotions you feel about the passage of time, especially this when I consider my work on LL’s interior:

heavy sadness that it’s taken so long mixed with surprise some bits look better than I think I’m capable of achieving now. Unnervingly, there are a few items I cannot recall exactly how I made at all – it almost feels like somebody else did them.

This many years later, there’s no way I would even dream of trying to replicate some of the things I did in the interior when I started. But that’s another reason to get it done.

Let’s see if it shows up tomorrow. If so, the new builder is pumped for an initial meeting in his workshop in Brooklyn this Sunday. It should be fun; I will document it with plenty of pictures.