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V-P's build - Hasegawa 1:72 B-17G "Century Note"


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5 hours ago, vppelt68 said:

I will build a WW2 four engine bomber used by the Allies. To be continued... a lot later, but.

V-P

That narrows it down somewhat V-P but still gives us a few guesses :lol:

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1 hour ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Another B-17 V-P? 😉

Ray, since you asked and guessed correctly 🙂

 

IMG_20220119_100433

 

*BLIND BOMBING is a perfect theme for BLIND MODELING*

I built this kit in the late '70-s in one single (Christmas) night. Back then 40+ years ago we had no internet and online bookshops. The historical accuracy was often scarce, we built mostly what the kit manufacturers gave us. The older, more serious modelers could use aftermarket decals and read reference books and magazines. The really top guns belonged to IPMS which was kinda scary to a young kid just assembling kits. Back to year 2022: I've become quite close to the 381st Bomb Group. In the first B-17 STGB I built planes from the 533rd and 534th Bomb Squadrons. My current KUTA build is a plane from the 535th BS, leaving only the 532nd BS of the four squadrons lacking a plane in my display cabinet. In the Matchbox Classic GB I'm starting a second round with another 533rd BS Pathfinder, yes a Pathfinder...

 

I do want to build H2X- ground mapping radar equipped Pathfinder-aircraft, thus I need not to worry about the Airfix and Matchbox kit supplied ball turrets! They also lack completely the interiors. Even the basic ones included in the more recent kits would need scratch built modifications too if I'd build a Pathfinder using them. The 532nd BS had three Pathfinders, but only one of them was of a later variant suitable to be built from this kit. That was 44-8349 code VE*G, another Lockheed/Vega- built Fortress from a yet later B-17G-60-VE block than 44-8196 (the Matchbox build) was. She even survived the war!

 

Unfortunately I couldn't find any pics of that specific aircraft, but I can do an educated guess how she looked like - but building her blind, sort of!

  • Late production block confirms a lot of the details: shrouded #2 and #3 exhausts, staggered waist, Cheyenne tail, radio room gun mount.
  • The painting and markings were uniform enough in that squadron and group, no problems
  • There is no mention of a nose art anywhere.
  • Routing from the Vega assembly plant to theater of operations via 1 SAG in Langley - quite safe bet she actually was a Pathfinder.

The decals come from my modest but growing supply for B-17:s - though I've already given away a lot of those I plan never to use (91st BG and 100th BG for example). I thank Pat @JOCKNEY for encouraging me to finally have a second go at this kit - it still looks intimidating compared to any other B-17 kit in my possession!!! The kit has whopping 10 assembly stages (Matchbox had 15, Revell now has 90+ and Airfix 138!). I will replace or add some parts from my spares, trying to enhance some of the most obvious shortcomings of the Airfix kit.

 

IMG_20220108_174657MP

 

Last but not least, I'll try to build these classic British kits of a classic American bomber side by side, like a small comparison build. Let's just see how I'll manage to write the build threads then. They have at least one common album at Flickr, and that'll help some. V-P

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P.S. "BTO in the ETO" refers here to "bombing through overcast", the use of radar in target identification when cloud cover prevented visual aiming. There were several aircraft that were also named as "BTO (or B.T.O) in the ETO", where the acronym stood for "Big Time Operator" - oh those modest young Americans :winkgrin:. V-P

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I built an earlier boxing of that as a kid, so this will be a nostalgia trip for me. I don’t recall it being too bad to build, with the caveat that this was about 30 years ago and I was aged about 10! Like most kids, I was far more interested in building it fast and didn’t know much about accuracy. I do remember it was moulded in silver though, so the only bits I painted were the yellow & green markings 

 

James

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm having serious doubts about building that Airfix classic kit. The more I look and fondle it, the more I doubt my dedication in ever finishing it. I have three of the newish Airfix and two Revells in my stash. And a Hasegawa, and a started Academy too. I fear tackling that classic Matchbox is enough for one year :hmmm:. Four of them are shake the box to get that Pathfinder- kits. Now if I build that Hasegawa, I get a really good reason to buy another one for next year's Classic Japanese GB :giggle:. Oh well...

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Are you not feeling the love for a simple out-of-the-box project with this one V-P? Go with what you feel is most enjoyable and if you finish one there will be room in your stash for another ;) 

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Ok, so, here we go (again). It's the Hasegawa kit.

2022-01-29_11-31-16

Box, sprues and instructions as required.

IMG_20220108_174657MP

This is the old decal pic. She'll get some of these, and maybe nose art from a home made decal?

2022-01-30_12-23-29

Plastic has been nipped and cut, plastic has been cemented. I feel already better about my choice 🙂

Now it's time to go to bed! V-P

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  • vppelt68 changed the title to V-P's build - has been edited

And a quick out-of-the-box build would be nice, right? After all she looks like a nice kit, especially for its age.

2022-01-30_06-19-51

:hmmm:No!

2022-01-30_06-48-23

I cut off the Hasegawa Cheyenne tail and the cockpit roof. Tail will be converted to Revell Stinger tail and the cockpit glazing will be modified from Airfix unarmored variant. The latter needs to be widened to fit but a "Great Scot!" once did the same with the classic Airfix kit - I try to replicate that! I can always escape to the Hornet build if this gets too tiresome... V-P

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  • vppelt68 changed the title to V-P's build - Hasegawa 1:72 B-17G "Century Note"
  • 3 weeks later...

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