TonyW

Looking good so far... The curve of the inboard exhaust pipes looks a whole lot better on your kit than on the Hasegawa/Minicraft kit I have in front of me. There is a curve to it, but the thing does not flow the way yours does. The pipe on the first issue Airfix version is even poorer, it runs straight back, with no curve at all!.

Love the pilots mask!

What a good looking model! Congratulations on a first class build of a beautiful plane.

Nice detailing. Thanks for the prop shots, the finish on the prop blades on the top picture is interesting, there seems to be a bit of a red cast to them.

Those seats look very nice indeed. The script adds a whole lot to the overall look.

Given the support that the previous Matchbox, Airfix and pending FROG GB's are attracting, how about a Pre 1970 something or other Vintage GB? Using a date rather than manufacturer, companies like Monogram, Heller, Tamiya, Revell and so on all get to play . The date can be decided after a bit of debate. Airfix could continue to appear. After the success of the Airfix GB it would be rude to exclude the company. An all enveloping Vintage Group Build has a lot to offer. Tony.

A Monogram Classic. I'll enjoy seeing this ones progress. I can't see the box without thinking of the Shep Paine dioramas.

Here's a nice looking period magazine cover...

Looking though my old magazines, I found this 1939 copy of Flying Magazine. The cover has a nice shot of the prototype. The article inside shows the plane taking off at a fighter like angle! The same shot is available on the internet but the plane shows wing and fin codes. I've not added the picture here as I'm not sure who owns the image rights. I must admit to preferring the early fin arrangement. The plane must have been a bit of a handfull to need such a large addition later.

In the 'Nothing New Under the Sun Department', here's a full colour scheme decal set for a DH Mosquito. This one dates from the forties!! I very much doubt if this set would look any where near as good as the finish on your model though.

The arrival of an ebay cheapie Minicraft/Haswgawa B17G without decals see's me adding a set of Print Scale decals to it, to give me a go at building Lassie and her Lads. I went for the Lassie option on the sheet as I liked the look of the olive drab outer wing panels. The build will be pretty much an out the box one. A quick look at the Hasegawa mouldings shows very fine raised panel lines, a decent stab at the bomb aimers position and separate flaps as well. Here's the less than impressive box art and the decal option I'll be using. The build will run alongside the Testors box top one I have on the go already.

That's a very nice looking model of a very nice looking plane. Tony.

I believe your model is a first class example of the phrase 'Making a silk purse from a sows ear' A fine looking build. Very atmospheric photo's as well. Tony.

For the life of me, I can't remember the first WWII kit I built. The first kit I built unaided was the Airfix P1127 back in the early sixties. My Dad was impressed that I got the undercarriage right! A WWII kit I didn't build was the Airfix SM79, back when it was first released. I left the nearly done plane by the front room fire while we had dinner one weekend. On my return to it I was greeted with a somewhat droopy looking part melted disaster. Sometimes the wrong memories stay with you! I finally finished one recently, for the Classic Airfix Group Build here. I even managed to not melt it this time around.

Here's a few of those paints, sat alongside an Airfix Zero. The colour scheme was copied from a Commando Comic, so I know I got it right.

Your memory is correct! The first Airfix Spitfire, the famous BTK one, did have four tiny bombs under the wings. It was a direct copy of the 1.48 scale Aurora kit, even the instruction sheet was copied by Airfix. Here's two header variants, an unpainted blue plastic built kit and a painted version. The cammo one sits on an original Aitfix stand, also directly copied from the Aurora original. And here's the original, with the young upstart sat next to it!

Tell me about it! Fill, sand, prime... repeat.... I'm getting to know all the curves and crevasses of a B17 airframe at the moment. The filling and sanding will be going on for some time by the look of it, although things are moving in the right direction. I've also topped up the dried up original paints with cellulose auto thinner and it seems to be working. The Olive Drab is nearly usable. the Neutral Grey needs more of a soak apparently, but it's getting there. The Grey is also very dark. The Sand has a very strong pink tint to it. It could be used as a flesh colour as it is. I doubt I'll be using it on this build. The next progress report will be along later, there's not much point posting more similar sanding and priming pictures, I'll hold fire until it's ready for a bit of proper paintwork. Tony.

Very true. I usually use car primer over plastic to get around that scenario. For some reason celly primer does not eat plastic at anything like the same rate as top coats.

A bit of cosmetic surgery smoothed out the Airfix airframe over the weekend. The poor model didn't know what hit it! Just about a full tube of green stuff, the last of my milliput and a razor saw and 120 grit paper were involved. Savage stuff, but the pure lines of the aircraft are starting to emerge from the wreckage. I've added a bit of thinner to a couple of the paint bottles to see what happens there. If I get lucky, I'll use 1940's paint on the build. Woo Hoo! There's a ton of filling and sanding still required, but the build is well and truly underway now.

A fantastic subject to choose. When I first read the story of the incident with the 109 pilot I confess to getting a bit emotional.

Although the paints in the Testors set are rock hard now, enough of the old pigment is visible to give a fair indication as to what passed for authentic colours back then. I'll try adding a bit of thinners to the bottles but I don't hold out much hope after all these years. The green looks like it was a close match for the box top colour. That's fine, I can match that. The Sand/Tan has a pink tint to it that might be down to pigments separating. It's not a million miles away from the box colour, so I'll go ahead and copy that as well. The Grey looks very dark. I'll use something a bit lighter and just say the old stuff darkened with age! More later. Tony.

That looks like a ton of work! Good luck with the build. I'll be following this build for sure. The Art Deco looking staircase in the colour picture you posted looks fantastic. Tony.

The early stuff has quite a grip on me as well. Check out this Aeromodeller cover. Men and Boys building models on Government time! I don't have one of these Testors B17's, but would dearly like to own one someday. To have a built model sat alongside the original boxed kit and the paint set would have me a bit wobbly around the knee's! I'll crack on with the modified Airfix kit for this build but I can see me wanting to have a go at a wooden kit, possibly for this GB. The collector in me won't let me hack up an original, but I can't see too much of a problem copying the parts from the Airyda B17 shown above, for instance. Tony.

It is a wooden model in the box, a real piece of modelling history. I found the picture while trawling through my files, looking for stuff to add here. I can't find more detailed pictures of it at the moment. I have a Grace Hurricane and Ju88 tucked away in the loft. The Hurricane was sealed when I got it, I couldn't resist opening it. The contents look like an incendiary bomb! Solvent based bottles of paint and glue, wooden kit parts with paper instructions, all sat on a bed of wood shavings!! Probably a bit less than legal today. I'm still trying to locate this one. I know it's in the loft, but where in the loft is the problem... A kit from a British company, Airyda, and their take on the B17. Once I find it I'll add a bit in the reference thread for the GB.

Another view of the paint set. The model box unfortunately doesn't contain a Fortress, the company used a generic box for its kits. The end flap got a stamp detailing the contents. This one has a B29 inside.