1/32 HK B-17G

Gallery Article by Brian "modeler85" Waldorf on Jan 14 2014

 

 

This is my HK 1/32 B-17 that I just finished. And yes I know its not an accurate Little Miss Mischief representation but when I came across these decals at the hobby store I knew there was no way I could not use these. I have a 1/48 scale LMM decal sheet which I will build into an accurate B-17. This submission is more about the model itself. The HK B-17 was a blast to build. Excellent detail, great fit, impressive size. This model cries out to be super detailed. I built this model straight out of the box. The decals were the only thing I changed.

 

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There was only a few issues that I experienced on this build. To start with, I wish the instructions were proportionately scaled to the size of the model. The illustrations are a little small and at times a little confusing. I did notice a few parts mislabeled but after studying the instructions a person can easily figure them out. Everything builds into nice subassembly's. If you choose to use the wall mount do not glue the 4 plugs into the bomb bay bulk heads, the instructions don't show or tell you this. The bombs need to be spaced correctly so the tail fins don't bind into each other. I also had to cut the hoist point on two bombs because they were pushing against each other and causing some fit issues. The .50 cal's are position specific along with the gun barrels so pay attention there. The instructions show installing the top turret after the dorsal fuselage is installed but I couldn't get it to fit so installed it along with the dorsal fuselage and had now problems.

I painted the model using different shades of MM Olive drab, MM Aluminum Plate buffing metalizer, different shades of MM Insignia red. Interior colors are MM Dark GN, Interior GN, Zinc Green Chromate, and Aluminum Plate Non-buffing metelaizer. For weathering I did some preshading and used a Raw Umber filter wash in certain areas. 

Overall this is a fantastic kit. I spent two months on this build. I will definitely build another one, especially when they come out with an F model. 

Brian Waldorf

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Photos and text © by Brian Waldorf