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Bygone days. 1/48 Scale bombers


flyinghorse

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I wish I can turn back time sometimes. When I was a kid (1993-2013), 1/48 scale aircraft like Revell's B-17G, B-24D, and B-29 kits, just to name a few, use to be so much easier to buy. By that I mean cheaper! I remember I could buy a B-29 Superfortress for about $39 bucks! Now, it's well over $100 dollars! I miss those days, plus some kits were easily available, like the Tamiya 1/35 Chi ha Shinhoto, which I one bought for $20 dollars. I am nostalgic, but at least I got a chance to build them, even if I wasn't a very good modeler in those days. (Truth be told, the only BIG kit I could lay my hands on for a relatively cheap price is Revell's B-17G). What are your favorite kits (World War Two themed specifically) that you miss? 

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At that point in time, all those kits were already old fashioned but inflation had had less time to corrupt everything. Look at what houses cost then. When they first came out they were relatively expensive.

 

The difference now is that the 1/48 4 engine bombers are much more sophisticated kits. Admittedly it's a real shame the HK B-17 isn't B-17 shaped which does spoil it somewhat.

 

It's not hard to find second hand Monogram kits though. There is no shortage of stashes being liquidated when the men who optimistically thought they'd build 6 Monogram B-17Gs sank a load of money into loft insulation back at the time realise that building 1 was a big enough chew and the other 5 weren't a great idea afterall.

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18 hours ago, flyinghorse said:

I wish I can turn back time sometimes. When I was a kid (1993-2013), 1/48 scale aircraft like Revell's B-17G, B-24D, and B-29 kits, just to name a few, use to be so much easier to buy. By that I mean cheaper! I remember I could buy a B-29 Superfortress for about $39 bucks! Now, it's well over $100 dollars! I miss those days, plus some kits were easily available, like the Tamiya 1/35 Chi ha Shinhoto, which I one bought for $20 dollars. I am nostalgic, but at least I got a chance to build them, even if I wasn't a very good modeler in those days. (Truth be told, the only BIG kit I could lay my hands on for a relatively cheap price is Revell's B-17G). What are your favorite kits (World War Two themed specifically) that you miss? 

I have all the kits you mention plus 1:48 twin engines and now wish that I had gone to 1:72 for multi-engine aircraft; they are just so gosh darned huge. I'm currently building the B-29 its fighting me every step of the way. Most of the fit issues are mentioned elsewhere but I found a few more. After two months I am at the almost ready to paint stage, OD/NG. Just need to mask the clear parts. It will be a ceiling dangler

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39 bucks?  I remember when we were kids and the Monogram B-29 was first released, a buddy of mine bought one.  I was stunned..that kit cost almost TWENTY DOLLARS!  That was a fortune in late 1970s paper route money!  It was just a few years ago (within the last decade certainly) that I noticed in a hobby shop that the latest boxing of the Monogram 1/48 Superfort was actually cheaper than the current version of the Academy 1/72 kit, which was going for almost 50. 

 

Three years ago I was looking for a train set to get the grandkids for Christmas, and was stunned by the prices.  The most bare-bones HO set, with a simple oval, loco, two cars and a caboose was over a hundred bucks!  We ended up gettting a super cheap battery-powered all plastic set, since we knew the boys (about six and ten) would destroy it within weeks.

 

 

SN

Edited by Steve N
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Well, obviously mine is the Monogram B-17G, I have already built 35 and have another 36 in the attic. Although I have no room for them in a built up configuration, I do have a plan to keep the wings removable and make the horizontal stabilizer removable as well. I want to do one from each bomb group in the ETO, MTO, PTO, display them for a photo/video shoot and then sell them or gift them. The first 35 have all gone to friends and club members, my first one got binned but I salvaged parts to use on my last one eventually. I’ve included some photos from 79/80/88. My PMQ in 79 with Monogram B-17’s, B-24’s, B-25’s, B-26, B-29’s, P-61, P-38, P-47’s and my much missed Capri Mk.I. A few more photos of my B-17’s and the surviving B-24
Monogram bombers to date, 71 B-17’s, 35 built, 36 in cue (including 9 Revell F’s). 3 B-24’s built, 3 B-25’s built, 1 in cue, 2 B-29’s built, 1 in cue, 1 B-26 built, 1 in cue. The chap who took the mall photos was a fellow club member, he called me Mr. B-17 and the name stuck. Please excuse the quality of the photos, this was well before digital, and some were 110 film. Someday I will scan the negatives.

I do love my Monogram kits.

 

Jeff

5A8F1AB8-2DA3-48AB-B468-5A8D9FEAAA9D C1FEFFC9-2A27-4BC0-BBE5-B2515041D694 7D4A5C48-57E9-4195-B160-05672C5BEEAE B494685A-9F41-4F00-AFDF-504735F0ADE2

852B088B-2F33-4141-B635-AB52D5F252FC BA87EEE6-AED3-48AA-ACBC-5C77FCCA6159

 

Edited by MrB17
Replaced 2 photos with clearer ones
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11 minutes ago, MrB17 said:

Well, obviously mine is the Monogram B-17G, I have already built 35 and have another 36 in the attic. Although I have no room for them in a built up configuration, I do have a plan to keep the wings removable and make the horizontal stabilizer removable as well. I want to do one from each bomb group in the ETO, MTO, PTO, display them for a photo/video shoot and then sell them or gift them. The first 35 have all gone to friends and club members, my first one got binned but I salvaged parts to use on my last one eventually. I’ve included some photos from 79/80/88. My PMQ in 79 with Monogram B-17’s, B-24’s, B-25’s, B-26, B-29’s, P-61, P-38, P-47’s and my much missed Capri Mk.I. A few more photos of my B-17’s and the surviving B-24
Monogram bombers to date, 71 B-17’s, 35 built, 36 in cue (including 9 Revell F’s). 3 B-24’s built, 3 B-25’s built, 1 in cue, 2 B-29’s built, 1 in cue, 1 B-26 built, 1 in cue. The chap who took the mall photos was a fellow club member, he called me Mr. B-17 and the name stuck. Please excuse the quality of the photos, this was well before digital, and some were 110 film. Someday I will scan the negatives.

I do love my Monogram kits.

 

Jeff

5A8F1AB8-2DA3-48AB-B468-5A8D9FEAAA9D C1FEFFC9-2A27-4BC0-BBE5-B2515041D694 ED55C3BB-848A-4C4B-8ABC-9B238D153228 B6926DC6-5C91-426F-A28F-270597E7C202 7D4A5C48-57E9-4195-B160-05672C5BEEAE B494685A-9F41-4F00-AFDF-504735F0ADE2

 

Well, it’s nice to have an interest. 

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Is that first photo MrB-17 posted a Kingman, AZ diorama? I thought I was nuts to have a serious Mustang and Sabre affliction....

Mike

 

BTW, according to Monogram Models, by Thomas Graham, the original box price for the 1/48 B-17G kit was $8.50! Monogram intended to release one 1/48 bomber kit each year after the B-17G, which came out in 1975, IIRC- the B-24, B-25, B-26, and B-29 followed. Those were revolutionary kits!

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16 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

Is that first photo MrB-17 posted a Kingman, AZ diorama?

Not quite, I had just moved back home from my airforce stint. They were all shoehorned into the wicker trunk in the background, and I wanted to photograph them before they left the nest. All the B-17’s in the photos, are no longer my possession (only one was binned).

 The 36 B-17’s I have in the cue, will represent most of the PTO, ETO, MTO bomb groups (some PTO groups were merged, and the 97th went from ETO to MTO)

36 is also the minimum number for a bomb group. My intention is to display them on a long roll of short modelling grass and photograph and video them at our local airport, as a ghost group of B-17’s gathering for their last hurrah. It took me a couple of years to carefully research each one and document the markings and type configurations, from early B-17E up to the latest B-17G. So it should be reminiscent of Kingman AZ indeed, just before they were gutted and guns and engines removed. When I begin the production line, I will photograph and document it all as I progress. All have been desprued and small sub assemblies done. I am not going to scribe them, but I have a lot of resin wheels and vacuformed transparencies and masks ready.

When I begin, I will post it here on BM.

 

Jeff

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6 hours ago, MrB17 said:

Well, obviously mine is the Monogram B-17G, I have already built 35 and have another 36 in the attic. Although I have no room for them in a built up configuration, I do have a plan to keep the wings removable and make the horizontal stabilizer removable as well. I want to do one from each bomb group in the ETO, MTO, PTO, display them for a photo/video shoot and then sell them or gift them. The first 35 have all gone to friends and club members, my first one got binned but I salvaged parts to use on my last one eventually. I’ve included some photos from 79/80/88. My PMQ in 79 with Monogram B-17’s, B-24’s, B-25’s, B-26, B-29’s, P-61, P-38, P-47’s and my much missed Capri Mk.I. A few more photos of my B-17’s and the surviving B-24
Monogram bombers to date, 71 B-17’s, 35 built, 36 in cue (including 9 Revell F’s). 3 B-24’s built, 3 B-25’s built, 1 in cue, 2 B-29’s built, 1 in cue, 1 B-26 built, 1 in cue. The chap who took the mall photos was a fellow club member, he called me Mr. B-17 and the name stuck. Please excuse the quality of the photos, this was well before digital, and some were 110 film. Someday I will scan the negatives.

I do love my Monogram kits.

 

Jeff

5A8F1AB8-2DA3-48AB-B468-5A8D9FEAAA9D C1FEFFC9-2A27-4BC0-BBE5-B2515041D694 ED55C3BB-848A-4C4B-8ABC-9B238D153228 B6926DC6-5C91-426F-A28F-270597E7C202 7D4A5C48-57E9-4195-B160-05672C5BEEAE B494685A-9F41-4F00-AFDF-504735F0ADE2

 


Curious if you know the street address of the PMQ ( if it is Lancaster Park)?

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11 hours ago, Scooby said:


Curious if you know the street address of the PMQ ( if it is Lancaster Park)?

Yes it’s Lancaster Park, summer of 80. Good times. I’m thinking 169 7th Ave. I’m not 100% sure, my wife is going to get out some old papers and check.

 I stopped by there in 2001 and took a pic, It’s in with my maple flag photos which I have to scan someday.

 

Jeff

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6 hours ago, MrB17 said:

Yes it’s Lancaster Park, summer of 80. Good times. I’m thinking 169 7th Ave. I’m not 100% sure, my wife is going to get out some old papers and check.

 I stopped by there in 2001 and took a pic, It’s in with my maple flag photos which I have to scan someday.

 

Jeff


My PMQ was 160 - 6th Ave when I was stationed there.  I think your PMQ was the one that my parents brought me home as a newborn in 1966. Same color trim and it had the silver bungalo across the street. I have a picture on the front step with the number, I’ll look up the number.

 

Army has renamed all the streets after battles.

 

 

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