The visible B-17G (the important part, anyway) - Large Pics

[Gigatron]

Hey gang,

Been working on this beast for the last 6 weeks. Most of the interior fuselage is complete, minus some small details.

Overall fuselage

The office

The bomb bay

The radio room

The waist section

And the rear

This a mix of photoetched details and a boat-load of scratchbuilt parts. Making oxygen tank sand fire extinguishers, sucks. It's hard to see the things, but then to have t make them round, is a rean PITA. Thankfully, I'm done with those.

Comments, questions and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Enjoy,

Fred

 

[bleyd]

I love the attention to detail in this. The navigation area with all them switches and knobs..wow! Will you be doing a crew when it's done and do you plan to put noseart on the other side? Gerat job dude!

 

[micdavis]

eek:eek

Unbelievable.

I'd go blind.....well.....more blind.

 

[CessnaDriver]

:thumbsup

If you really want to torture yourself, write a message on the bombs like "Hi Adolph!".

 

[Lord Abaddon]

Gorgeous job Fred! I love the details, especially around the navigator's station and radio man. People say we're crazy for doing interiors that nobody can ever see, but I just see it as doing it right and thoroughly.

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks, Guys :cool.

Bleyd, I'm probably not going to add the crew. The included figures pretty much suck and I think they would detract from the "walk-through" aspect that this build is going to have. The nose art, depending on how it lines up on the clear side, may go there. But I still have 3/4 of a plane to build, so I'll cross that bridge when I get to it .

Cessna, I may be able to write a few messages on the bombs. I have a yellow grease pencil, and at 1/48 scale, could probaly pass for paintbrush. I'll try it on the backside bomb and see how it turns out.

Thanks, Mic. I spend a lot of time looking under a magnifying glass when I work on the details. I'd get an optivisor, but I'd probably forget I was wearing it and go out like that :lol

Thanks, Mike. The best part of this kit is that it includes a clear fuselage half, so all the detail can be seen. It's actually the reason I bought the kit about a year ago, so I could super-detail it.

-Fred

 

[Lord Abaddon]

Yeah, I guess the word "visible" should have been a clue, eh? :lol

I actually haven't seen a visible one before, very nice. I'm so far behind and out of it with modeling I feel like it's a different world now. Looking at the prices of some kits and I'm blown away by the costs. Again, beautifully done Fred, just the right damage and weathering too.

 

[mjhenks]

Nice Work Fred. The attention to detail is great. Spent 3 hours with a former B-17 pilot who was shot down and walked out thru Spain last weekend. Bet he would get a kick out of your work.

Matthew

 

[Lord Abaddon]

Nice Work Fred. The attention to detail is great. Spent 3 hours with a former B-17 pilot who was shot down and walked out thru Spain last weekend. Bet he would get a kick out of your work.

Matthew

You mean Spain let him go only this last weekend? Wow, that's being a prisoner of war for a long time!

:lol

Sorry, couldn't resist!

I knew two wonderful guys some years ago. One was a B-17 tail gunner, the other a B-17 bombardier. The tail gunner, Tony Mette, gave me his photo collection when he was posted in India and Egypt including pictures of his plane, the airfields, and so many other places. He told me some stories of being in that cramped back area (which so many people forget how small it was!) and isolated you were. Scary stuff.

 

[Lady Jessie]

That kit is an oldie! I've seen old issues of it on eBay for lots of money.

I wish they would mold both fuselage halves in clear, with the windows already in like they did the left half.

 

[Pauleysolo]

Very Cool

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

I wish I had half your skill, or twice you patience. That's an impressive build so far.

In the first pic, I said 'Why is there a funky yellow teddy bear hanging in the cockpit ?', then I realized it's a life vest or pressure vest or O2 tanks or something.

 

[Gigatron]

Thanks again, everyone :cool

Matt, I'd be afraid to show it to anyone who actually spent any time in one. For as big of a detailer as I already am, I'm afraid someoine who was more knowledgeable about the specifics, would point out all the things I missed or got wrong. I'd spend the rest of my life detailing this thing.

Funny, Mike :lol. The tailgunner even had his own hatch just so he wouldn't have to try and crawl past the tail wheel. That's really got to add to the isolation. I think the worst would be the ball turret, though. Just hanging off the belly of the bird like that...

Thanks, Jessie. This kit is a reissue that Revell released in february or march of '08. I believe on pre-order, I got it for $23 + tax. I can understand why they don't do both halves in clear. It really becomes apparent in the waist section. Most of the stuff is mounted on the walls. If it were clear on both sides, you'd be looking at the backside of most of the equipment and wouldn't be able to see the other side. There was a brief point when I was considering adding some of the photoetch detail to the clear side, but then I realized it would just be blocking the detail of the other side. What I do wish they had done, is to make the right side the clear half, simply for the fact that the pilot's side of the office has much more interesting detail - and there'd be a better view of the ball turret assembly, instead of the backside of the walkway.

Thanks, Pauly

Thanks, James. It took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about and then I went back to look at the picture. You're right, from that angle it does look like a yellow teddybear :lol. It's actually 3 of the 6 cockpit oxygen tanks with a regulator tank mounted in front of them.

For those that might be wondering, scratcbuilt items include all O2 tanks and bottles, fire extinguishers, ball turret walkway, tail wheel oleo strut and brace, aft-most bulkhead, tailgunner's armor plate, radioman's headset, logbook and pencil, navigator's map, clipboard, divider and compass and all the conduit wiring.

I'm in the middle of wiring the engines and then it's on to adding exterior detail. I have to wait until the weather warms up a bit before I can paint. Even though my spraybooth is indoors, it vents outdoors and I really don't want to sit in the room with the window open.

-Fred

 

[Lear60man]

I love interior shots. Final touch should be a girly magazine and bottle of hootch.

 

[Jaruemalak]

Beautiful job! I'm so glad you made it look real, not pristine and clean. A friend of mine from long ago, an old modeler from back in the 1970's, said that in a model contest, you can't win with a clean tank or a dirty plane, which was strange, becase back in WWII (where he served) they were always washing down the tanks, and there were a LOT of dirty planes!

The B-17 is one of my favorite planes. Back in the late 1980's, one of the B-17s that ended up in "Memphis Belle" was at a local airshow and I got to walk through it. It always amazed me how crowded some of these "big" planes feel when you're inside one!

 

[IndyFanChuck]

AWESOME!!!


Great work, I am jealous!