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Posted

I started working on the Revell B-17G in 1/48 scale. This is a huge model. I spent 4 or 5 hours on the interior parts, mostly detail painting.

 

B17a.thumb.jpg.ab7161861a2d9685f41e6dc5e

 

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I think it came out pretty nice, maybe not to IPMS standards but I like it.

The shame of it all is that, once the fuselage is closed up, you won't be able to see 90% of this work!  :lol:

Posted

I've got everything mounted inside.

 

B17d.thumb.jpg.04ee48915b8001d81faeea1cc

 

And it looks pretty cool, until . . . . 

 

B17e.thumb.jpg.17681824feb4cc18a93989a85

. . .  you close it all up!  :(

I caught myself picking out some of the small details on a side panel with a paint brush and I stopped myself. "What are you doing? You'll never see this stuff!"

And even worse, this thing is too big to sit on any of the shelves I have and for sure won't ever see an IPMS contest room so, from the beginning, the plan has been to hang it from the ceiling in the model room. So you'll see even less detail!  

I have to stop sweating the small things.  

B17c.jpg

Posted

What a shame to hide all that detail work. That cut away idea sounds interesting. One side full and the other with some "windows" cut out.

Sounds like a good compromise.

Posted

You did a nice job detailing that interior. I know what you mean, I hated to close up the fuselage on mine as well. At least you have the pix to prove it. Revell does make the one with a clear fuse half, but having the whole exterior finished looks good too. If you have an empty corner somewhere, a corner shelf is another option for display. Keep up the good work, I look forward to seeing the finished product!

Posted

Real nice work so far. It is a shame that so much of the interior work will be hidden, but at least you'll know its there.  I've got this big bird to build someday too, just I have no idea where I'd go with it when finished so it remains far down on the to-do list.

Posted

why not make it a crash site diorama?

rip the wings of (to preserve room) and rip sections of the fuselage of so you can show the interior

or at least poke a few .50 cal. peekholes in there

Posted

i have a built Memphis belle  i bought from a lhs that went out..its now hanging in my office...

(the plane..not the hobby shop)

Posted

why not make it a crash site diorama?

rip the wings of (to preserve room) and rip sections of the fuselage of so you can show the interior

or at least poke a few .50 cal. peekholes in there

I've seen many B-17 crash photos, but I don't believe I've ever seen one or both wings "ripped off"--at least not if there was anything recognizable as a fuselage left at all. Those things were built like bridges.

Posted

I saw an interesting display in the museum at Robbins AFB.  It was a cutaway mockup of a B-17.  What impressed me was how SMALL it was on the inside.

I like the cutaway idea above.

Posted

why not make it a crash site diorama?

Because I don't have any room for a display that would be that size. From the beginning I planned to hang this thing from the ceiling.

I guess I always knew that most of the interior would be impossible to see (especially hanging from the ceiling) but it was fun and interesting to paint detail it anyway.

  

Posted

Interesting idea.  What are you going to do about the propellers?  Have you thought of these: http://www.propblur.com/

Well, years ago I did this using a disc of clear styrene on which I airbrushed the spinning prop effect. (it looked better before being coated with years of ceiling dust! )

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The plane is positioned as if turning on to final, gear down, flaps down, pilots head turned to look where he's turning, etc.

I'm not planning on doing this with the B-17 however because, well, there's four of them and I've gotten lazy in my old age!  :lol:

Posted

Because I don't have any room for a display that would be that size. From the beginning I planned to hang this thing from the ceiling.

I guess I always knew that most of the interior would be impossible to see (especially hanging from the ceiling) but it was fun and interesting to paint detail it anyway.

  

shoot, just make a dio with only the latter part of the tail then (like that part was blown off and fell down)

you did detail the tailgunners turret no?

Posted

Interesting idea.  What are you going to do about the propellers?  Have you thought of these: http://www.propblur.com/

I don't like those things. Blurred prop blades is purely a photographic effect. Whenever I see an artist try to reproduce the effect in a painting or on a model, I figure that he's never seen a real airplane running before, only photographs.

Posted

Nice work on that. I have one of these in the stash and a 1/32 HK Models kit...that has a wall hanging bracket in the kit that attaches to the wing strut through the bomb bay...neat idea, I thought...big plane though! I plan on doing the 1/48 as Little Miss Mischief, so will be a fun one to weather. The 1/32 will be Sentimental Journey. These are some cool planes that brought back a lot of service men that other planes would not have. True work horses!

Posted (edited)

Really good kit; I've built three so far (when I was much younger; they're not that great, although I did detail paint the interior like you did) - and have a fourth one planned; it will be this one that was sold for $350 to the Boy Scouts in Paducah, KY in 1946:

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My father got to "fly" a lot of ground-bound "missions" in this bird before he went into the Air Force; the local yokels later stripped it of everything they could carry - even the wheels! - and it was scrapped circa 1950. So far there are only two known photos of this plane and I've been trying to find one that shows the whole serial number.

The ones I built 35 or so years ago:

First a typical combat veteran (weathered and flak-damaged none too subtly; I've fixed the broken props and wheel):

Second, a typical civilian freighter conversion '50-'60s style (with the clear plastic props):

Third, an F model backdated to B-17E with electric motors to run the props - it was supposed to be used in the Super 8mm Pearl Harbor movie I was going to make (built a lot of models for it, but that was it):

 

Edited by ChrisBcritter

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