HK B-17 G (early, 1/48th)

[Tzulscha]

Hello again gentlemen (and Ladies)

As some of you might be aware, I seem to be on a Boeing kick lately.

My last three threads have all been Boeing products in fact.

 

At any rate here is yet another. This time we have the recently released HK Models B-17G (early) in 1/48th scale.

The last 1/48th Fortress I built was the now ancient Monogram kit.

This is better. So much better that I never want to build another of the Monogram kits.

(Although I DO have the Koster YB-17 conversion as well as the YB-40 conversion from Paragon...)

Fit was excellent and I only had to use putty after I had dropped the finished fuselage. 

 

This isn't meant to be a full build review, since I've seen several others and I feel no need to rehash.

The model is meant to represent 231909 also known as Nine-O-Nine.

It was commissioned to represent a 1/9th scale version that I also worked on for a friend.

The original Nine-O-Nine was an early 'G', very close to the HK kit, but the Collins Foundation plane was a later 'G'.

My model is a compromise. I have the correct airframe wearing the Collins Foundations paintjob.

 

We'll start with the shell.

Nose and tail parts were glued in place first to prevent alignment problems later.

Tamiya Silver Leaf (TS-30) is my primer throughout so that I could chip paint.

A little grubbying up to pop details and some gubbins to fill out empty spaces

 

A couple of wingie things to help keep it in the air.

My crew dogs are helping give a sense of scale for you.

 

Captain Smallberries here inventorying the supercharger parts.

I thought about the Brassin aftermarket parts but these looked pretty good with a splash of paint.

 

Corporal Dingle is pointing out the difference between the Brassin tyres and the kit parts.

 

A problem that bothered me until I gave up, is that the gear oleos are at full extension. So she'll sit a bit tall on her gears.

It was too much work to cut them down and the aftermarket brass legs, while nice, were simply too expensive.

 

Well, there is a start. I'll have some more soon!

 

Thanks for looking guys!

[Tzulscha]

G'day!

We have the shiny side of the wings and some motorvators to-day.

Apparently the Early 'G' models didn't have the wingtip vents, but I didn't figure that out until it was too late.

Anyway, the Collins plane had them and the kit has them so what the heck..

 

Engines are straight out of the box with a bit of grease and oil to keep thing grubby.

 

 

Here is a really crummy picture of where we tuck the wheels when we pull them up.

 

I made the picture smaller because it's a terrible photo but the detail in gearwells is pretty good all things considered.

 

To make it up to you, here we have a shot of the tailwheel and it's mechanisms.

 

You can barely see any of it through the crew door but I had to add the canvas cover, mounts and retract mechanism.

Just in case someone pokes a dental mirror and tiny flashlight inside, I'm covered!

[bigbadbadge]

Looks a nice kit. Great work so far I particularly like the effects on the Superchargers  they look fab, mind you it all looks fab.

I have the Revell Monogram kit to do one day.

 

Chris

[Tzulscha]

Thanks for the kind words @bigbadbadge!

 

Okay.

Time to squeeze all the interior goodies in.

The way the kit is designed, I could basically build the entire interior and assemble it outside the fuselage shell.

The kit seems to be very tight and precise so I did much fitting and testing to make sure I could close it all up.

I don't believe that the original Nine-O-Nine had any paint in the fuselage from the bomb bay back (maybe in the tail position, but the Collins foundation  plane had the whole interior painted as an anti corrosion measure.)

So I compromised just to make it look good.  We'll call it artistic license.

 

Starting at the tailgunners position:

 

 

I couldn't stop myself adding oxy bottles and retract mechanism and virtually invisible things like that...

A very snug fit, but it all goes in perfectly!

 

I would hate to try to get out of the tailgunners position in an emergency.

There is a small hatch just forward of the ammo boxes on the starboard side under the tailplane, but if the plane is spinning around it'd tough to get through!

 

A bit forward we come to the waist positions.

Eduards ammo chutes add a nice touch (that you can't see).

While I was tempted by all the aftermarket goodies available for this thing, it was simply not in the budget for a commission build.

I still needed to add a few things like the antenna reel and the window frames for the gun mounts.

 

I didn't bother filling ejector pin marks since you won't be able to see them but I did add a little gadgetry to the back wall of the radio compartment.

 

 

Running out of time to-day so I'll just post these pix and add more later!

 

Thanks for looking guys!

Questions or comments are more than welcome!

[bigbadbadge]

Oh wow that interior looks absolutely splendid.  Great work.   

Chris 

[Tzulscha]

I'm slacking here.

 

Time for a few more pix yes?

 

One last shot of the waist, just to show the antenna reel and motor.

Eduard supplied the ammo feed runs.

The crew guys will helpfully get you some sense of scale.

 

 

Moving forward to the radio room.

Pretty straight forward, no real modifications except a desk lamp and a replacement strut for the radio table.

 

 

And assembled, with Lt Fuzz inspecting.

 

 

 

Still haven't installed the radio operators seat apparently.

He'll just have to stand there for a while I guess.

 

 

Thanks for looking guys!

Questions and comments are appreciated.

Until next time!

[exdraken]

Great work!!

[phildagreek]

Looks good so far!

[Tzulscha]

Onward and upward! So they say.

 

This time we have the whole point of a bombing plane: The payload!

To be quite frank this is not one of the more interesting parts of the model but since the bomb doors will be open it is pretty visible.

(Well, if you turn the plane upside down it is...)

Just a bit of paint in here, no aftermarket goodies although there are a bunch available.

Must... resist...

 

(Sorry, hard to focus this close, I assure you that it's not this blurry in real life!)

 

 

Okay now we get to the fun stuff.

The kit is very similar to the 1/32nd version although it's abut simplified.

There is very little detail under the cockpit floor, but since the crew access door is meant to be open I felt I had to add some, just to make it interesting for anyone with a magnifier and a penlight.

 

I added the pulley box, rudder and tailwheel locks, trim wheel cover, lamps, nitrogen bottles, (or whatever those grey pressure bottles are), oxy bottles, gyrocompass, electrical boxes etc. etc. usw.

I did skip the plumbing, wiring and control cables because I'd still be working on them otherwise..

Most of which cannot be seen. 

But here are pictures to prove that they exist!

 

 

 

Next time we'll get to the cockpit and bombardiers compartments!

 

Thanks for looking guys!

[Tzulscha]

Time for the next update!

This time we have the cockpit and bombardiers compartments.

Seatbelts and instrument panel are from the Eduard löök series.. Very pretty and absolutely worth the money.

 

 

The Panel just clicked into place and (despite my crappy photography skills), looks amazing.

 

 

I was a little surprised that the throttles weren't included but a few bits of plastic strip stock later, I had something I could live with.

I considered adding cushions to the seat for a few minutes but decided against because I am lazy.

 

The nose section has a bit more work than some of the other compartments.

New floor under the bombardiers seat, turret motor, ammo belts and a desk lamp so they can see where they are going.

Surprisingly the HK model didn't have the bomb bay door controls so they were salvaged from the old Monogram kit.

The seats were cut down a bit to look a bit more prototypical.

and I just realized that I forgot the seatbelts..

 

Ah well, here is what it looks like when you stuff it all inside the fuselage shell.

 

Getting the ammo feeds to fit was *ahem* difficult.

I've seem about a dozen different ways to thread them around the bombardiers seat but the way I used was the only way i could get it to fit and lay properly.

(Well, close...)

 

That's about it for now.

It's just about time to close the fuselage and get out side painted up!

 

As always, thanks for looking!