1/64 Lindberg B-17G- breathing life into a childhood model

[Skull Leader]

When I was probably 11 or 12, the father of a girl I was sweet on was building the Lindberg B-17G kit. I had just seen "Memphis Belle" and my love of the B-17 had just kicked into full swing. After hanging out at their house one afternoon and seeing him building this kit, I remember thinking "I gotta have this kit!" At the time, I was still pretty new in my knowledge of models... I'd built a smattering of 1/72 fighter jets and had recently augered through my first 1/48 Revell/monogram F-14A kit, so I was pretty raw. I remember mowing lawns for an entire week just to make sure I had enough money when I went to the hobby shop that saturday. Sure enough, it was sitting right there (I didn't even pay attention to the 1/48 Fortress kits beneath it... I would a couple of years later though!) that was the one I wanted! I had more than enough to buy it, as it turns out... I had enough to get a Dragon 1/144 F-14A kit too.

Total glue bomb... I don't think I even fully painted it (I remember slathering some grey on the bottom, I didn't worry about the top since the kit was molded in olive green), seams visible everywhere, and I didn't even glue the wings in. But this thing sat on my bookshelf FOREVER, and I'd just space out and stare at it for hours when I was supposed to be doing homework... as I mentioned over on zone-five when I mentioned this kit, I must've imagined myself flying *every* bomb run the 8th air force took part in with that thing! St. Nazaire, Lorient, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Berlin... I was there for them all!

Fast forward to a few years ago, my folks gave me a box of old stuff I'd left at their house when I moved out, in a shoebox was a couple of old models I'd built, including the lindberg fortress! The wings had been carefully removed and it had been packed away (evidently I did it, but I sure don't remember it). Now, the kit is a total bomb as far as I'm concerned... it only marginally resembles a Fortress of any pedigree, but it was a fun build and a testament to building in my childhood, so I decided to see if I couldn't clean it up a bit.

As no one does aftermarket decals in 1/64 (that I know of), I decided to do fictional markings of a plane in the 91st bomb group.

I did glue the wings on and seal them up. I removed what transparent parts I could and tried to mask the others off as I sprayed olive drab on it.

Got (most ) of the de-icers painted on, as well as the bomb group triangles

Free-masked the 91st BG "A", I'm not too concerned about a perfect lineup, this is for fun.

As a fictional plane, I'm working on a few different names... any input? The leading choices right now are:

-"Hi There!"

-"Lovers and Heroes"

-"Boots and Saddles!"

Also not sure how I'm going to source roundels... I *really* don't want to have to spray those on my own, lol.

Anyone got a spare lindberg decal sheet they aren't using? Or any transparent pieces? Most of mine are pretty fogged up, and Id at least like to have a nice, transparent nose piece if I could find one..

What do you guys think? Wasting my time, or is it looking decent?

[garryrussell]

_{Ah those fun childhood memories...nice recovery', it's looking more than decent.}

_{Certainly not a waste of time as this is so much more than building a kit.}

_{Inaccurate as theses old kits are, they do have a magic about them. The many childhood hours of pure pleasure just sticking them together without being bothered that it has the wrong type of wheel nuts.}

_{As you say, this is for fun}

_{Why not call it "Skull Leader's Revenge"}

Edited June 25, 2013 by garryrussell

[Skull Leader]

Thanks, Garry!

Don't think I considered THAT particular name, but I did kick "The Phoenix" or "Firebird" around for a bit. I may have to reconsider one of those!

You're right about there being something magic... As the model snob I've grown to be in my 30s, I want to hate the kit, but I can't bring myself to do anything but smile at it!

[JMChladek]

All things considered, 1/64 is so close to 1/72 that you don't really notice a size difference as the markings get smaller. So you could get away with borrowed nose art from something else. But still, I can't wait to see what custom nose art you come up with. As for a name... how about "Back for More" with some scantily clad (yet tastefully done) woman dropping a bomb (which I am sure could be adapted from some other nose art)? The name would have a parallel with real life as you brought this kit back from the grave.

And I also understand your thoughts about a kit like this. All wrong on so many levels, but so right in many other ways. In my case, one Lindberg kit I have fond memories of was a 1/48 P-47. My family had just moved to Omaha, NE and I was on a 1/48 WW2 fighter plane binge that Summer in 1983 at age 12. I had done Monogram's P-40B, A6M5 Zero, P-51B Mustang and an F4F Wildcat and was looking for another to add to the fleet. I spy this kit with a cool set of box art in a store and take it home. It was an oddball. Cockpit was non-existant (just a pilot on a seat attached to the back of the cockpit opening) and the weirdest bit for me was it had NO open gear bays, just molded shut areas that the gear struts attached to. But, I pressed on and did something creative. During painting and decalling, I painted the closed gear doors olive drab and carefully cut openings in the D-Day invasion stripes so they kind of looked like open bays. It worked well enough at a glance when I was done. That P-47 hung from the ceiling of my new room for a few years before it finally lost its battle with time. It was a model that was wrong on so many levels, but to me, it looked right.

[Martian]

I'm no expert on the B17 by any means but the model looks the part. Don't worry about what you are doing with this model. I am always revisiting my youth by building some of the kits I had again. Its not just a modelling exercise but also reliving some happy memories; and that should be reason enough to do it.

Martin

[Test Graham]

I had this B-17G from one Xmas about the age of 11, and for many years it was the most expensive kit in my collection (27/6d). I think the Frog Shackleton finally displaced it, a decade later. The wings had a slot-and-slide effect, so could be easily removed. Possibly why yours survived so well? Mine was light grey plastic and made unpainted, though it eventually gained a dark blue top with white sides and underneath.

I must admit not being attracted to the idea of doing poor kits today just because I made them badly umpty years ago. I have so many unmade kits ranging from the fairly decent to the pretty damn fine, that to consider spending time on something totally unacceptable as a new tooling seems just inane. Maybe if I was younger? However, I must admit to (fairly) recently obtaining an original Frog Typhoon - but then I never had one of those back when, so curiosity counted for more than just nostalgia. I also obtained (somewhat to my surprise) an Airfix Hart at a non-silly price, but that is probably intended for another Hart Trainer conversion, and the original tooling is rather nicer than the Demon it was butchered into.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Graham Boak