Something different for me. A four engined bomber.
This is the Revell kit, and I think its an old Monogram mould. Whatever the origin, its pretty horrible. Sprue attachement points are huge, over 5mm in some cases, and there are thousands of raised rivets.
Raised they are going to stay as well!
Clear parts are very thick, and Im not sure how well they are going to fit.
The plastic itself is a horrible gloss green, and has a very brittle feel to it.
I cant wait to get some primer on and hide it!
On an initial dry run, the wings and fusalage join look pretty good though which is a surprise. The less filler I have to use the better on this one!.

Nige

Nige - This is your idea of a fun quick build

I've built a couple of these in the past. Before you get too far check the fit of this window, it is the one big problem I remember having with this kit.

Hi Chuck!
Im thinking that ALL of the windows are going to give me issues,,and the fusalage fit,,and the bomb bay doors,, and the engines,,,,and the wheels,,,LOL.
What are the main issues with that big old window then?.
Im already cutting shims to save filling the fusalage forward of the cockpit.
Youve built it more than once???,,are you mad?
At least I have a "special" reason for building this
Nige

Nige - the issue with that window is that I've never been able to get it to fit properly it just does not seem to fit the contour of the fuselage at that point. You assume correctly, all the clear parts are an issue, getting the main cockpit windscreen to fit can be a problem too. I'd forgotten about that gap forward of the cockpit, it's bad, and yes the Bomb bay doors are not pretty, as to the way they fit. It is an old set of molds.

Yes, I've build more than one always hoping for a better outcome I, like many, do like the B-17 as a subject. I still have a couple unbuilt in my stash, the previous builds have all fit nicely into the trash bin

Hi Chuck.
That top windows pretty bad,,but its not all that bad. Its certainly going to take some work though. Theres a couple of small gaps and I think that Humbrol Clear Fix might be the way forward,or I might just fill the small holes with filler.
If I can get the thing together pretty cleanly then I'll have achieved something.
Im not aiming for any great detail etc on this. Its the paint job that'll make the build interesting.
Nige

Wulf Hound

Nope,,
Its a shame that the Revell kit is the only "F" I could find.
Im sure there are lots better kits on the market.
Nige

Hi Nige,

Re the horrible green plastic, I have built this kit, it was a mare, but it is the same plastic their 1/48th b-24 is molded from and is actually not to bad to work.

My experience with this kit was loads of filler forward of the cockpit, that upper radio room window I fitted and used a load of filler to fill the hole (not gap, it was too big to be called a gap!). Dimensionally not accurate, but I am not a rivet counter. The cockpit glass was unusable in my kit so I brought a vac-form one from Hannants, Squadron I think but can't remember and this fitted quite well.

The only other problem I found was around the ball turret, but my skills weren't up to fixing back in the day, and when the model was on its wheels you couldnt see it any way.

Good luck with your build, hope to see some pictures soon, the B-17 is such an enigmatic aircraft.

Steve

Thanks for the pointers Steve.
Luckily I dont have to worry too much about the turrets, as the example Im building wasnt fitted with any guns.Or more accurately,they had been removed.
A couple of shims of plasticcard should cut down on the filler required forward of the cockpit.
Nige

See, now you've got me all curious!! I won't be able to leave this one alone now until I see what it is. Do I feel a small quiz coming along here !!?

It could all come to nothing if I dont manage to make a clean build of it!
Shouldnt be to hard to figure out the oddness of the paint scheme if you are familiar with a certain biplane I built a couple of years ago which gained a level of noteriety in these parts!
Andy B,,you know exactly what it is,,,say nowt
Nige

Although its not exactly unusable,,the cockpit windows part is truely horrible,,,LOL.
I'll endevour to carry on,,but the more I get into this kit the less motivated I feel,,
I think this will be one of those builds where you do a bit,,loose motivation,,pull it back out and do some more,,etc etc,,until you suddenly hit a point where you either
A....bin it!
B...it all seems to come together and you finish it. My PM models Sea Fury for example, which turned out ok in the end.
Nige

Oh well,,,here we go with the first of what could be loosely termed "progress reports"
Ive fitted most of the windows down the starboard side, and Im slowly chipping/sanding/hacking away at the cockpit piece. Instead of my normal Humbrol Clear Fix im using white PVA this time as its thinner and I can hold each window in place with a cocktail stick and let the PVA run into the edges. Big advantage is that it dries completely clear so you dont have to be too accurate.
Inside....


Outside....


When dry they should look like these, further back down the fusalage....


The windows have been coated with Klear and will polish up nicely when the glues dry. ( As nicely as they can be when they are about as thick as scale armour plate,,

Im really enjoying the build so far ,,,
Nige

Nige - It's not going to be a speed build, but I'm sure you will make it look just fine

Chuck,,I dont know about "just fine",but I certainly intend to make it eyecatching!

Nige

I have a 1/48 B-17 taking up a lot of space in my stash closet. I would love to get a 1/48 B-24, and build them both along with a B-29. Gotta love those Bombers.

Academy makes an "F" in 1/72nd. It a later "F", with the astrodome nose. It comes with decals for two bombers, one of the decal sets, for "Memphis Belle" is wrong for this subtype. Personally I have always had problems with Academy's decals (they always seem to dry out and peel up) so I bought an aftermarket sheet anyway. IThe kit has its own issues, getting the correct dihedral on the wings leads to massive trenches at the wing roots to be filled, the bombadier's seat has to be scratch built as the one in the kit is all wrong, but it is still light years ahead of the ancient Revell kit. A little work could convert it into an earlier "F", and it does have a pretty nice bomb bay, although you can also get aftermarket add ons.

John

Hi John!
Why couldnt I find that Academy kit before?,,I searched all round the web for an F and the Revell kit was the only one I could find.
Have you built the Academy kit?
Im very tempted to dump the Revell one,,but I will certainly try and get it together at least, good practice and er,,,character building!
Nige

The strangest thing just happened!
While walking past the bench all the sprues and various pieces of this B17 jumped into a plastic bag,,dived back into the box and hid at the back of the stash!
In all seriousness though,,with the scheme Ive got planned for a B17F it deserves to go onto a lot better quality kit than this Revell one, and after seeing that Academy one Ive decided to ditch this.
Maybe in one of my more masochistic moments I'll dig this out again some day,,LOL.
Right then,,where did I put that link to the Academy B17F?
How I missed this in my initial searches for a B17F kit a couple of years ago I dont know!
Taxi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The nearest Tamiya kit please
Nige

You'd have to assume that the odds are high of Hasegawa following up their new B-24 in 1/72 with a new tooled B-17...wouldn't you? Or maybe Revell.de will beat them to it? Afterall, their last big one was an allied subject.

I've never looked inside the box of the Academy ones, and now that i think about it- they are not exactly common around these parts anyway, hence the main reason i'd like to see a new one.

And that was a brave move even attempting that old Revell one. I remember trying to build that one when i was about 9! It was the biggest mess i ever made from a kit, that's the only reason still remember it.

Andrew

Nige,

Yes, i have built one, its a fairly fun build. I don't know why it didn't show up in your search, here in the States you can get it from Squadron.

John

Dear oh dear that looks horrible!!!

I'm assuming the paint job is a formation plane? Can't remember what the USAAF actually called them but one of my dads friends fathers was on Liberators and was saying about the oddly painted formation aircraft flying about.

H

Yep,,truely horrible just about sums this kit up!
Beware the false promises offered by the excellent packaging and artwork!
The Academy kits on order
A formation aircraft it will be, combining my love of the wacky paint schemes and the skills of Mal "Miracle Mask" Mayfield.
After this, the 1950's Airfix Supemarine S6B Im working on is such a lovely little kit!
I like to build older and more challenging kits between the Tamiya builds but this one,,,well....lets just say " Lifes too short to drink poor wine"
Nige

A truly horrible looking kit, hate those rivets

Masks are in production, it should only take about a year to cut the dots

Mal

I forgot to warn you about the ball turret on the Academy, they have this wierd way of mounting it, and, IMO it just doesn't look right. I had a ball turret from another kit and jury rigged a new mount. Squadron sells a canopy set that includes the ball turret, its for the Hasy kit but I'm sure that one could adapt it.

John