The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin aircraft companies for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry out-performed both competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing the prototype crashed, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 more B-17 aircraft for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances.
The B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The B-17 also participated to a lesser extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields. It had a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as an effective weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II.
Set Contents
This set is designed for the HK -Hong Kong (ex-Wingscale) B-17 kit. It has 56 micro-textile straps and 39 photo-etch pieces.
Made of micro-textile sheeting, metallic buckles
The micro-textile strips which is printed and behaves like a fabric.
Set contains seat belts for 1 bomber aircraft.
Micro-textile parts are prepared to using filters - it leads to darkening shades - and these are also waterproofed and easy to carefully assemble.
Photo-etched parts were developed in cooperation with Eduard company.
Instructions
1. Take the precut textile part out of the sheet.
2. Remove supporting paper.
3. Crumple the belt into a little ball and knead it between the fingers.
4. Thread the belts through the buckles – use superglue.
5. Put the belts into the seat.
6. Spray with a clear gloss varnish.
7. Impregnate the belts with a wash / mix of black and brown – it will highlight the texture.
8. Finally spray with clear matt varnish.
Impression
This is the first of two sets of seatbelts for the 1:32 B-17 in the HGW lineup. The other set has resin seat cushions included. I have used the HGW Micro-textile belts in some of my single and two-seater builds and can report pleasing results.
When contacting manufacturers and publishers PLEASE mention you saw this review at AEROSCALE
SUMMARY
Highs: Good details with exploded view instructions. These belts can be complicated but HGW seems to have designed them in an easy assemble method. Lows: Photo references on the website would help.Verdict: Good quality items for the large scale modern designed bomber kit.
Our Thanks to HGW! This item was provided by them for the purpose of having it reviewed on this KitMaker Network site. If you would like your kit, book, or product reviewed, please contact us.
About Stephen T. Lawson (JackFlash) FROM: COLORADO, UNITED STATES
I was building Off topic jet age kits at the age of 7. I remember building my first WWI kit way back in 1964-5 at the age of 8-9. Hundreds of 1/72 scale Revell and Airfix kits later my eyes started to change and I wanted to do more detail. With the advent of DML / Dragon and Eduard I sold off my ...
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