Britflyer Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 (edited) An old and flawed kit, but one that has a special place in the memory banks for me – when I was 12 we were told we could have a home made mascot on our desks for end of primary school exams. I persuaded my parents to get me a Flying Fortress model kit for my 13th birthday and by exam season it was ready. Despite my teachers’ horror at such an oversized mascot, they were amused enough at the odd child with the plane to let it slide, and it sat on my desk proudly for my entire Common Entrance exams (which went well enough to get into the school I wanted). Despite many moves since, I still have the old B-17 ‘Memphis Belle’ sat in my workshop at aged 30, looking more than a little tired. So I figured since I’d got back into model making after a 10 year absence about 3 years ago; it would be a nice thing to find the same very old Revell kit and make it again – to keep the old and the new side by side. I don’t normally do 1:72 scale as I find weathering effects tricky when going below 1:48, and the detail starts to go. Am really pleasantly surprised by how this came out though – despite the atrocious kit transparencies, lackluster detail which necessitated quite a bit of scratch built detail near the windows, and the strange panel texture on the nose. One issue was right at the end, I dropped superglue on the right wing when trying to rig up the radio aerials, which left a very ugly mark and meant I had to eventually sand down and paint over the whole panel. I couldn’t match the colour or weathering again so I tried instead to represent a battle-damage replacement panel with un-faded Olive Drab. Short video build summary video is available on my YouTube channel if folk are interested - BritFlyer. Edited October 1, 2020 by Britflyer Removing link which was against guidelines 48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarkmodels Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Looks amazing! awesome build and an awesome looking beast 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britflyer Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 9 minutes ago, JrivasK said: Looks amazing! awesome build and an awesome looking beast 😉 Thanks very much Jrivas! 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanond Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Excellent painting and weathering. This gives me an inspiration to return to my Revel B17F. Nanond. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britflyer Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, Nanond said: Excellent painting and weathering. This gives me an inspiration to return to my Revel B17F. Nanond. Cheers Nanond! They're good old kits and the B-17F is such a pleasing shape! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shark444 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Fantastic finish! Flawed kit? Who cares? Divert attention away with a paint job like this! 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britflyer Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 27 minutes ago, Shark444 said: Fantastic finish! Flawed kit? Who cares? Divert attention away with a paint job like this! 👍 You're too kind Shark... But thanks all the same!! 😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Those old kits do have value. Very nice work on your Flying Fortress! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplasticsurgeon Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Great finish, very well done. But - they're two different kits. That box you show has only been available since 2012 - and is a very good B-17F kit. Your Memphis Belle kit originated in 1962. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 A lovely pair of B-17’s. Well done👏👏👏 I built the Matchbox one as a kid. Only thing I remember clearly is the aircraft name - Kwiturbichin II handpainted Humbrol silver (and it showed!😆). For some reason I built another - can’t remember any details about it - but it was 35 odd years ago. Both were destroyed when my drunk brothers found my stored models in my mum’s loft and test flew them all out of the upstairs window - even the tanks (idiots). Happy to say, I’ve now got two more in my collection. First is an early Airfix B17-G which I bought for a restoration project which has been returned to its former glory. The second is another “Airfix ‘B17-G but the new tool version again for restoration- even more so now since the previous owner packaged it in a Rice Crispies cereal box for its journey through the post with the inevitable results. Apparently it was packaged with wings attached - still can’t figure out how - but they were all off when it arrived! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supersonic Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Looks great, like the subtle color modulation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booty003 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Absolutely splendid. The colours really do pop out, a treat to look at. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Brantley Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Very nice work indeed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 That looks great, you have done a cracking job on your build. And the great backround too and the fact that you still have the original kit all these years later is fantastic. Chris 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Looks fantastic, you have the camouflage off to a tee and the red outlined bars and stars look great,...... very well done indeed, Cheers Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Great job on this B-17 and wonderful story. Had I brought in a model to my school classroom, it would never have lasted even the day, unfortunately. You had very disciplined and well-behaved fellow pupils! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Very nice work, although @theplasticsurgeon is correct. Your "Shamrock Special" looks to be based on the relatively recent Revell tooling; whereas your "Memphis Belle" is probably the "ancient" mid-60's release. Having said that, you've done an excellent job of both! Excellent shading and exhaust staining on the "Shamrock"! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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