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Revell B-17F


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Happy New Year folks! 

 

Well here's the first one for 2021, although I've actually been working on it on and off for a few months. It's the excellent Revell B-17G but backdated to an 'F' using the spare parts contained in the kit. It mostly went together OK although I ran into some confusion with the nose glazing which didn't seem to be correct for an F, but then when I looked at wartime photos there seemed to be lots of variations so it may or may not be totally accurate? 

 

I used Mr Hobby 304 for the Olive Drab and Tamiya XF19 for the undersides. The latter may be a bit light but again looking at photos there did seem to be variations. Little bit of panel wash and pastels for the weathering. 

 

Decals were from Kits World to portray 'Dragon Lady' from the 385th BG at Great Ashfield in 1943. One of the reasons for choosing this aircraft was that I had the opportunity to visit the remains of this airfield as well as other USAAF stations a couple of years ago, a humbling experience indeed. 

 

My small tribute to all those brave young airmen who gave so much for the freedom we enjoy today. 

 

Its not perfect and I've made some mistakes, but at least it gets the ball rolling, and the airbrush fired up for the new year. 

 

Thanks for looking, comments much appreciated 

Cheers! 

 

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Must be one of the best B-17s I have seen modelled, I love the drab ones. . Definate memories of that television series Twelve o'clock High.

 

regards, adey

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Very nice job on the panel line pre-shading and color/ density variation on both the OD and NG. Also nice job on the decaying, no ghosting! Another gorgeous 1/72 B-17 build, makes me want to pull the Airfix B-17G from my stash and get started. Wish there was a way to install all the delicate guns at the end of build on these 1/72 “heavies”, I always tend to break one or two off during masking/ painting.

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A very attractive model. It looks just right, and I like the little glimpses into the interior.

 

 

19 minutes ago, nearsightedjohn said:

Wish there was a way to install all the delicate guns at the end of build on these 1/72 “heavies”, I always tend to break one or two off during masking/ painting.

 

If you're feeling brave, one option is to just cut all the barrels off and reapply after. For my Airfix B-17 I've treated myself to some Quickboost resin barrels which are much finer and in-scale. Hopefully they won't be too tricky to fit!  

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Hey Ian, good tip on my barrel breakage problem. Like a lot of modeling challenges, I need to think ahead and prep the gun mounts by removing the barrels up front and pre-drilling them to accept resin barrels or metal tubing. I’ve gotten better about removing silly molded-in features on fuselage or wing halves such as delicate antenna or pitot tubes that invariably break off during bond joint clean-up or masking/ unmasking. Someone should publish a set of “scale modeling  commandments” to educate me and others on best methods to avoid these reoccurring frustrations!

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Thanks for all your comments very much appreciated. Not used to building larger WW2 aircraft i did find that most of the interior detailing goes to waste as you you can't actually see too much when the fuselage is buttoned up! I could have saved a week or two 😁 I agree about the guns breaking off too, i left off as many as i could but even so did break off the tail guns twice and bent the nose guns. Masking all the clear parts was also time consuming. I used a mix of tape and masking fluid which despite the faff worked out ok in the end. Really enjoyed building something different though 🙂

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21 hours ago, nearsightedjohn said:

Very nice job on the panel line pre-shading and color/ density variation on both the OD and NG. Also nice job on the decaying, no ghosting! Another gorgeous 1/72 B-17 build, makes me want to pull the Airfix B-17G from my stash and get started. Wish there was a way to install all the delicate guns at the end of build on these 1/72 “heavies”, I always tend to break one or two off during masking/ painting.

I'm in the middle of the Airfix Fortress III. The upper turret and side fuselage guns are designed to be added after painting and the rear guns with the merest hint of a panel line also. Helpfully, for I too am afflicted with broken barrel disease, there is no ball turret and the cheek guns were not fitted in that version. I guess its those latter that are the most vulnerable and where the Quickboost barrels may be needed. Still, buying 2 is better than buying 10!

 

So the Airfix kit does try and mitigate the problem. Unfortunately, the -III version is not now as widely available as it once was.

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