I am going to attempt to build and finish a 1/48th B-17F for the Mighty Eighth campaign. It will not be as detailed as Brian's "Luscious Lady" but it is another 303rd BG bird. "KNOCK-OUT DROPPER" was one of the first, if not the first, airplanes to complete 50 and then 75 missions. My intention is to show her as she would have looked at the completion of the first 25 missions. There were some variations in the markings and other details compared to how she finished up. The first picture shows that the mission markings originated close to the cockpit, the "?" by the navigators window was not there and she has the original nose with the two dimples, intended for a .30 caliber gun. But you can also see that the structure is in place in the right side for a .50. The second photo shows the mission markings going all the way to the nose and the single, centered mounted gun has been installed. Also the GEE antenna has been added. I am going for the first look.

Good luck with this one!

Wonderful choice. I have the decal sheet for this bird from the Revell kit if you need it. It's ancient but potentially still useable. Lemme know.

Also, I have tons of extra stuff from the LL build. Let me know if you need anything in particular.

R-1820 question. What color/metal are the fasteners holding ignition cables to pushrod tubes on the front of the engine?

Brian

In the WWII era pictures, it appears the clamps were all bare metal. Current airplanes have adel clamps with rubber to help protect things but that was not the case originally.

If you can come up with a list of odds and ends you want to get rid of, send me an email: B17FE (at) comcast (dot) net. Can't think of anything in particular I need but one never knows !

OK, thanks.

So, just getting started. I will start with the wings. Very basic, before closing them up, I opened up the vents. Have not done this before but have seen many others do so. I don't intend to put a lot of time and energy into the wings, this was just a new experience. Won't be doing wheel wells. I spent far too much time in wheel wells and I can tell you that A) They are filthy B) They are full of sharp edges and safety wire pigtails that will rip and tear fingers and arms and C) They are full of solid, immovable objects that do not give one iota when you smack your head on them! I am not a fan...



Looks like they need a little work, nothing like a photo to expose your flaws!

They look nice open.

I want to build my own cockpit for this beast. Contrary to popular belief, the Monogram G cockpit is not a drop fit. So the first thing was to make a good pattern for Bulkhead 4. If you have seen Paul Budziks videos, he has one where he uses plaster. He uses the Monogram A-26 in his example. And it is much neater than mine! I gave it a shot. It was close but still needed a bunch of filing and sanding. The left and right are not mirror images either even though one would expect them to be. In the end, they turned out fairly good. As I have another one I am working on concurrently, I made one for it as well.

Paul Budzik work:


Mine in progress:


End result of plaster cast:


And temporarily in place: