My
Grandfather was a pilot in the Eighth Air Force. He was shot down on
July 26, 1943 by a German fighter. I have been researching him, his
plane, his crew, etc. for the last 4 years. After gathering as much info
as I thought I could find, I decided I was ready to build a model of his
bomber, a B-17F named "War Cry". It was my intention to
display the bomber in flight, struggling to get home. My ultimate goal
was to capture a moment of the drama that these heroes faced on a routine
basis.
This kit is the original
"Memphis Belle" release by Revell. Or at least part of it is.
I did use the fuselage halfs and one stabilizer. The wings are from the
Monogram "G" kit, as is part of the interior. Also used were
the
Verlinden
detail set,
Eduard
exterior photoetch set, True Details damaged
tail surfaces, and some minor scratchbuilding.
I started with the interior.
Using mostly parts from the Monogram "G" kit, I stripped off the
molded on detail and added my own parts, using the excellent set by Verlinden
along with some scratchbuilt parts.
The
fuselage halfs had no detail in them at all. Ribbing was added with
strip styrene, and more Verlinden details were glued in place.
The Eduard set provides intake
vents and screens, which once installed look very nice.
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The crew came from the Monogram
ProModeler version of the B-17G. A friend of mine gave his up so I could
crew my bomber. I'm not much of a figure painter, but they came out
pretty good. I wanted a man in the top turret, but couldn't squeeze him
in there no matter how I carved him up. I ended up putting him standing
behind the pilot with his arm on the back of his chair. Others are
manning the machine guns. Spent shell casings were made by cutting
styrene rod and painting them brass.
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To mount the
B-17 in flight, I glued a section of copper pipe into the bomb bay.
This pipe would later accept a clear acrylic rod. This system turned
out to be very sturdy. |
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The wings from the Monogram
"G" kit were better detailed than the Revell offerings, so with
slight modification to the mounting system, they were used instead. The
engines also were better than the Revell parts.
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I wanted the
bomber to show some battle damage, so I picked up the parts from True
Details. These were nicely cast in resin and saved me quite a bit of
time. In addition to these, I added several shell holes in various
places by thinning out the plastic from the inside, then poking through
from the outside with a sharp blade. This creates a jagged hole with
scale thickness. |
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I wanted to display an engine that
had been shot out, caught fire, and shut down. When a pilot of a B-17
shuts down and engine in flight, he could feather the prop to reduce drag.
To model this, I cut off the blades and reattached them in the feathered
position. Here you can see what looks like compared to a stock prop.
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All machine guns
were replaced by Verlinden parts, but the tail gun has flash covers on
them. I added these with bits of tube styrene, cut to shape. |
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At this point, the model has been
fully assembled, all seams fixed, windows masked, and is ready for the paint
booth. I first primed the model in silver. A silver undercoat not
only shows any unseen flaws, but provides a great base for a realistic paint
chipping effect.
In part 2 we'll see the addition
of the small details and the finished model.
Kelly
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1/48
Revell B-17F Part 1
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1/48
Revell B-17F Part 2 |
by Kelly
Quirk
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by Kelly
Quirk |
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