HKM 1/48 scale B17-G Flying Fortress

[tigersteve]

I also have a soft spot for these old girls since my visit to Duxford a few years ago - lovely 'paintwork' ;-)

[BarryW]

I have been working on the cockpit interior, getting the parts ready for painting

I used Miliput to make some cushions for the backs of the pilot seats. These will be painted yellow and while not much of the interior will be seen, these will.


These will need sanding in a few hours when cured.

I have put cleaned up parts into pots with associated etch with detail, where needed, removed.


There are quite a few of these pots with etch and plastic parts prepared ready for painting.

I must be careful not to get them mixed up when spraying.

I have also been working on the bomb bay. The bombs are really quite poor with thick fins. That does not matter, however, as I have decided to close up the bomb bay. I will be painting them up, purely for the fun of it.

This really shows how small the B17 bomb bay is and how small the bombs are that it carries. Quite a contrast to the Lancaster.

[BarryW]

Further to the previous post. My references are divided as to how the floor should be painted. The instructions suggest a rubber black while other sources suggest wood.

To make it more interesting I will paint the cockpit floor itself the rubber black and the rest of the flooring and walkways wood.

Mind you, not much, if anything, of the floor will be seen!

[spanner570]

Looks interesting, Barry.

A question, if you don't mind.....
Doors or no doors between the various 'Compartments'? I ask because (A) I'm about to start a 1/72 B-17, which has doors moulded in. (B) I've looked on t'internet and all is totally confusing. Some have doors, some have not!

Any thoughts?

Ron

[stillp]

This really shows how small the B17 bomb bay is and how small the bombs are that it carries.

Smaller bomb load that a Mosquito I believe.
Pete

[Tim Marlow]

Smaller bomb load that a Mosquito I believe.
Pete

Mosquito wasn’t as flexible in bomb load mix though Pete.

[stona]

Smaller bomb load that a Mosquito I believe.
Pete

This is a myth that needs to die.

Some Mosquitoes, relatively few, could carry a 4,000lb bomb to Berlin. There were serious stability issues with Mosquitoes modified to carry the 4,000lb HC bomb, which is why the conversions (of B.Mk.IVs and IXs) were curtailed.

A B-17 E could carry a 4,000 lb load to about 1,100 miles, about the distance from East Anglia to Berlin and back. Later versions could carry up to 6,000 lbs for a similar distance.

The average bomb load per sortie was also higher for the B-17, though I don't have those figures to hand as I'm not at home. From memory, the average load for a Mosquito, even weighted by those that did lift the 4,000lb 'cookie' was a little over 2,000lbs.

[Ian M]

Not confusing the Mossie with the Lancaster by chance.

Looks good Barry, but a bit early to tell really.

[BarryW]

I will post a progress build sometime tomorrow. For now I just had to post this dry fit of the wings together and to the fuselage.

First of all I did spend a fair bit of time cleaning up the fuselage halves and I am sure that the centre seam will need a bit of filling.

As for the wings, well I have done no clean up of these whatsoever and yet they fit together perfectly.

In the picture below it may not look perfect as the halves are not held together but when held in place they are spot on.


What impressed me most is the dry fit of wings to fuselage. Nothing at all is holding this wing in place but look at what is normally a problem area.

No sign of a join at all on top…

Or on the bottom…

The wings and fuselage half look like a single piece.

Part of the credit must go to HKM’s bayonet fitting system pictured below.


I have not seen better on Tamiya or Zoukei Mura….

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent build and moulding quality on display there Barry. I had to look several times to work out where the wing joint actually was. If the rest of the build fits that well this build will be a pleasure for you.

[Andy the Sheep]

A bit late, as usual :flushed: but I'm taking a seat, Barry.

Andrea

[BarryW]

I have painted, weathered and added the etch for the cockpit interior. Very little of this will be seen but it was satisfying to do and at least I know that whatever little is glimpsed through the transparencies will look OK.

I am not impressed by the etch set at all. As is so often the case much is unusable but at least what is used does improve the detail not that it’s seen….






The bomb bay won’t be seen at all of course!

[BarryW]

Some good progress here. I have joined the fuselage halves. Fit was OK but I did have a fair bit of filling and sanding to do, for which I used sprue goo in the first instance, finishing off with Mr Dissolved Putty.





The rescribing was easy enough.

Like so many Far Eastern designed kits there seems to be an assumption that hatched will be left open. Consequently cementing them in place closed does result in some work. The worse was the bomb bay where I had to sand down the inside to get a flush fit. I then used a strip of tape to hold the parts together underneath (it will be permanently lodged in the bomb bay) with another pieces on the outside.


That enabled me to position them and partly cement into place, once the outer tape was removed I was able to finish cementing.

I have also been working on the nose and tail areas.

[Tim Marlow]

Coming along nicely Barry. I assume the nose and tail walls are not visible once assembled? Bad move from the kit manufacturers to add part numbers to The surface detail otherwise. Totally unnecessary on a modern kit really.

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Barry!