My B-17 G project

[Peter Gillson]

Hi guys

having finished my WW1 dio, which I started in September (how time flys) I am about to start my next long-term project: a HK models 132 scale B-17G. It is a big kit!



The kit has a lot of interior details so I have bought some crew figures from the Canadian company Ultracast to crew the aircraft. Since not a lot would be visible through the windoew, there is going to be a twist; I'm going to chop up the aircraft into a number of little vignettes.

1- nose. Navigator and bombardier's area. The cut will be just infront of the cockpit. i'm toying with the idea of mounting it in a boxed dio so the viewer looks forward through the cut-section towards the nose But it may just be mounted on a brass rod.
2 - cockpit, bomb-bay and navigators areas - simple cut-away areas in the side of the fuselage to reveal the interior details. The wings will be truncated.
3 - waste gunner area; since gunners are firing out of both side a simple side cut-away may not work, so I am thinking of either a diagonal cut or mounting it so the viewer looks down the fusialge from frear to front, with the far end being the bulkhead and door to the radio operator's compartment.
4 - tail. Not sure about this. It may be too small for a cut-away so I may mount it on the ground with a couple of pilots walking past.
5 - landing gear. If by this stage i have the enthusiasm I am tempted to do a little vignette of the landing gar with a small amount of wing with some ground crew working on one of the engines.

fortunately I found out that Meng Aircraft modelling mag has run a series following ghe build of hhis kit by David Parker, and what is nice is that you can download pdf's of specific articles for £1 each rather than having to buy the whole back issue.

well, that's the plan, I am now just summoning up the courage to make a start.

Peter

well, that's the plan, lets see how it goes. nose are will be the first to work on.

 

[Charlie Delta Foxtrot]

This is an epic kit! Cannot wait to see what you do with it, some amazing ideas you have for it!

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
Now that's an idea for something different. Sounds as if you have given it a lot of thought already. An interesting project to follow. I hope it all works well.
Jim

 

[adt70hk]

Very interesting idea. Will look forward to this coming together.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Fantastic, Peter! I can't wait!

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi guys

it is a big kit - if built in one piece! David Parker, whose build is featured in 10 issues of Meng Air mag took 2 years. Fortunately my project means it will be a series of bite sized projects, each should take no more than a few weeks at most. I think that fitting the figures may prove to be the hardest part of each 'mini-project.

Peter

 

[flyjoe180]

I hope you have a hangar for it Peter. Look forward to seeing it develop.

 

[boatman]

HI Peter how big would it be if built whole wingspan an lenght ?
but i'll be following as the guys say something different but i dont know if it was me if i could cut it up
chris

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

Joe - fortuntely I'm chopping it up so storage will not be an issue, each section will be no bigger than a 1/35 tank.

Chris - the length would be about 2 feet, and the width about 40 inches - a bit of a monster. What is very clever is that the kit includes a bracket which fits in the bomb bay allowing the model to be mounted on a wall.


Peter

 

[BarryW]

Sounds like a fascinating idea and its a way to build this huge kit without your having to buy a hanger for it. I will watch progress with interest. Good luck.

 

[BarryW]

By the way, I heard of someone getting around the size issue, with a full build, by building it into a coffee table with glass top and a mirror bottom. I imagine it would have had to somehow be fixed into place or it would scoot around every time the coffee table was moved.

 

[colin m]

What an epic project Peter. I do like the idea of making a series of smaller builds out of a huge build.

 

[Peter Gillson]

By the way, I heard of someone getting around the size issue, with a full build, by building it into a coffee table with glass top and a mirror bottom. I imagine it would have had to somehow be fixed into place or it would scoot around every time the coffee table was moved.

That's a really neat idea.

Peter

 

[Peter Gillson]

What an epic project Peter. I do like the idea of making a series of smaller builds out of a huge build.

Epic is thd word - my last project - my WW1 all encompassing dio took me 6 months so this will take me at least until Christmas.

Petet

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi

i hope you are all ok, enjoying Easter and looking forward to the relaxation of the UK lock-down. our lock-down ended a couple of weeks ago - over 30 days with no new Covid cases). It was quite strange on Thursday evening - Tina and I went to a birthday meal; 23 of us, first time in a long time that we had been part of a group and it did seem strange, but nice!

On Thursday these arrived In the post; 3 figures and loads of etched brass.

the detail on the inside of the kit is ok - think Tamiya tank internal details - its enough if you are peering through the small windows, but not enough for my project. I could have opted to scratch build everything, and nearly did, but in the end i sold some of my stash and bought the etched brass sets. These will really bring the inside to life.

the idea for the three figures is to have one/two/all of them walking under the wing past a wheel (which will be supporting part of the wing and at least one engine), making a nice little vignette based around the wheel.

Peter

 

[JR]

This will indeed be an epic build Peter.

 

[Peter Gillson]

There is no going back now - one wing had been chopped in two using my trusty band saw.

it's still a big lump of plastic, even with 8" chopped off the end; I'm not sure how much to use, I have 3 options:

1 - all of the section. But that may over power the figures, or
2 - full width of the wing, but with only one engine, or
3 - partial width of the wing with two engines, or
4 - partial width of the wing, with one engine.

i think I will build two engines, dry fit everything and see how it looks with the figures in place, then decide. One factor will be how stable the wing will be sitting on the one wheel - quite a bit of plastic cantilevered out.

Peter

 

[Fernando N]

Great idea for your displayable Fortress, love it and good to have your options open before committing to one size of the wing

 

[scottie3158]

Peter,
Count me in for this mate sounds like a great idea. I will follow along.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Hi guys

its time to start by making a decision.

tempted as I am to start with the fuselage - the fun bit - I am going to start with my 'outside' vignette of the crew walking under the wing, so time to decide on the layout. To do this i have started to build the engines and dry-fitted them in place and taken a few photos of the options.

this is where your thoughts would be welcome.

These first 4 photos show the three figures with the section of wing with both engines, there is a lot of wing compared to the three figures:









the next photo has been edited to remove the second engine:




This final photo is edited to remove the rear part of the wing, but retain both engines;



the big question is: which of these options?

Peter