Hi guys, well Im really into my first plane and Im hooked now im looking at building some bombers I was wondering if anyone could reccomend some makes for the following kits.
B17 (the olive green version)
Lancaster (quad rear gun )
Thunderbolt !/48 & F4 phantom (vietnam era) 1/48
guess what i want for christmas
any help and advice would be appreciated.

Depends on the scale you want John. For 1/48 there is only one option for the B17 (Monogram/Revell) and one (Tamiya) for the Lanc. In 1/72 there are more options - Airfix & Hasegawa immediately spring to mind for these two. I'll let others answer about the more modern 'planes.

As far as B-17's go in 1/72 the Hasagawa kit of the G model is really nice but it's a late war version, so some mod's would need to be done to model most OD versions. My understanding is that their F version has the G interior for the nose compartment so again some would be needed. I haven't bought any of the Academy kits so I can't say one way or the other on those.
Eric

there was an old 1/48 Lancaster by Tamiya.
it costs lots of money and it'll take some blood, sweat and tears to make it something worth looking at.

Academy's 1/72 B-17 often gets good revs.

as far as 1/48 phantoms go you have two options:
either go Hasegawa or get a Revell of Germany phantom (they have the british phantom, german F-4F and quite rare is thier F-4E) which is basicaly the Hasegawa offering only with revell decals and half the price.

good luck.

Revell-monograms b-17 in 1/48 was a good build. i paid 30 dollars cdn for it and thats what it sells for.

Francois

1/48 B-17: Revell-Monogram / Revell AG have the molds for Revell's 1/48 B-17F and Monogram's B-17G. All Fs were OD and the Gs came in during the transition from camoflauge to NMF--you could even build my favorite B-17 nose-art "Little Miss Mischief", a repaired plane with NMF front and OD/gray rear fuselage! Little Miss Mischief model

The Revell and Airfix 1/72 B-17s...why waste the plastic molding these now? The Academy B-17s are all pretty good, and you can build even the early versions without tail gunner. I don't know about Hasegawa's, though no doubt it is top-notch.

I have the Acdemy B-17 f sitting aroud waiting for Jan 15 campaign start . This kit has everything a growing lad could want in flying fortress. open bomb bay for the P-C police to have a fit about gota love that ! Wheels can be in the up position too. The Monogram B-17 has none of that but ye gods it's gorgous Tree

hey fred! why do you consider the airfix kit bad? i have one in my stash that was given to me by by a customer along with a tornado and a hampden, he'd started the hampden then lost interest in them. ive since built the tornado (check my gallery) can you give me a heads up on problems with the B-17?

Outstanding guys thanks for all the help, looks like its the academy b17. cheers