B-17G Little Patches

[maverick_62]

Little Patches B-17G 91st Bomb Group. The name "Little Patches" was acquired after the aircraft's first combat mission with Lt William Major's crew when Frankfurt flak put many splinters through the ship. The damage was primarily cosmetic but the skin required numerous small aluminium patches prompting Lt Major to name the ship.
Building the Revell 1/72 B-17G isn't difficult in itself, difficulties start begin when you are trying to use Eduard Biged.  I only can say, that the main technology during the build of this model was soldering, not gluing.  In addition, the following extras are also was used;
- vacform canopies (Pavla models);
- decals for "Little Patches" (Microscale);
- resin wheels (Eduard).
Well and some scratchbuilt parts of course. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for looking, any comments are welcome.

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by maverick_62
Reload photos

[Vince1159]

She's a beauty,great job....

[russ c]

Superb `fort there, amazing job

[Christer A]

You did an amazing job on Little Patches! The weathering is very convincing and neatly done too. Superb!

[CedB]

Beautiful model with amazing detailing. I particularly like the internals, open hatches and the exhausts  

Great work.

[Unfinished project]

Stunning Flying Fortress. Absolutely beautiful 👏👏👏👏

[J Sherratt]

That looks great, excellent work! John

[Steve27752]

Very, very nice.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Excellent Boeing 👍

[Hairtrigger]

Outstanding... 😁 

[RMCS]

Lovley finish

[Mr B]

Very nice finish

 

lovely

[ArmouredSprue]

Fantastic model. Well done mate

[Josip]

Having built one I think that you should have paid more attention to the exterior;  panel lines and gaps on the nose inserts kinda spoil the great overall effect.

 

Also the mounts for the waist machine guns are aappropriate for closed windows only.

 

Having also fitted Eduard wheels on my model I found them not to be a much of an improvement over Revell. They aren't even flattened. 

[Kev The Modeller]

Lovely build mate 

[kapam]

Brilliant B-17!

I've been planning a "Lil' Patches" build myself; the same decals but using a Hasegawa G-model I have stashed away.

I'm curious - did your Microscale placement reference suggest the later-style tail gun set-up?

My decal sheet shows exactly that, but all other references I examine indicate your older style rear gun configuration is correct.

That brings about something of a dilemma for me, since the Hasegawa model depicts the G-model with the later rear gun turret.

Any thoughts?

In any case, your build is superb and if mine turned out half as good I'd be doing well.

 

 

[Smithy]

Wonderful job 👍

[maverick_62]

7 hours ago, Josip said:

Having built one I think that you should have paid more attention to the exterior;  panel lines and gaps on the nose inserts kinda spoil the great overall effect.

 

Also the mounts for the waist machine guns are aappropriate for closed windows only.

 

Having also fitted Eduard wheels on my model I found them not to be a much of an improvement over Revell. They aren't even flattened. 

 

The gaps are absence there, but panel lines in this place are realy a little wide than other.

 

In principle you are right, this detail just my fantasy on the theme, if honestly.
But it's nothing in comparison with the main issue of this model. On the real aircraft, as i remember,  the wayside gun turrets are not symmetrical by each other.

 

Allow me here disagree with you, the Eduard wheels looks much more accurate than the original Revell.  And as for they aren't flattened, that's just a matter of taste, IMHO of course.

[Tbolt]

Very nice, some lovely details and the painting on the exhausts looks very realistic.

[Josip]

Oh, I'll alow it allright. If I was to build it again I sure wouldn't buy them again. They cost me nearly 10eur.

 

The clear nose inserts have wider panels/gaps and should have been filled.

 

The model itself looks terrific nonetheless. 

[BIG X]

That really is very nice - is there a WIP thread so we can see how it came together.

[maverick_62]

9 hours ago, kapam said:

Brilliant B-17!

I've been planning a "Lil' Patches" build myself; the same decals but using a Hasegawa G-model I have stashed away.

I'm curious - did your Microscale placement reference suggest the later-style tail gun set-up?

My decal sheet shows exactly that, but all other references I examine indicate your older style rear gun configuration is correct.

That brings about something of a dilemma for me, since the Hasegawa model depicts the G-model with the later rear gun turret.

Any thoughts?

In any case, your build is superb and if mine turned out half as good I'd be doing well.

 

 

 

I only can say, that in all source, how you mentioned above, and in my microscale reference too, suggested the older style rear gun. Microscale decal AC72-0045.

[Jasper dog]

Superb B 17, great finish and weathering.

[tomprobert]

Looks very nice - your shade of faded olive drab looks great!

 

For reference, you’ve used the correct ‘stinger’ tail turret for Little Patches, but the waist windows were the enclosed, 3-pane type. They were directly opposite each other as you have correctly depicted. 

 

In regard to the interior, B-17s were unpainted internally - only the flight deck had the exposed metal painted and this was Dark Dull Green - sometimes referred to as Bronze Green. The nose, bomb bay, radio room, waist areas and tail turret were all left in natural metal. Never, at any time during B-17 production, was interior green used. 

 

However, this is certainly a beautifully finished Fort and certainly makes for an eye-catching model. 

 

[maverick_62]

tomprobert,

Thank you for the interest information about interior colors. I'd also like to thank all for such kind of words.