By any other name…….
A Monogram kit is a Monogram kit, is a Monogram kit, regardless of whether you put Revell on the box or not! My lovely wife bought me the classic Monogram B-17G for Christmas. Still widely regarded as the best B-17 in any scale, it is starting to show its age some with flash here and there. Mostly though the molds have held up well for a kit released in the mid-seventies! I plan on concentrating on the exterior, since most of the inside detail is gone once you close it up. My first stop was a Cheyenne tail conversion, a great guy over on Hyperscale sent me the turret and clear parts, so all I had to do was cut the tail as I show here. I also have purchased a staggered waist conversion from Resin2Detail. So far that has not worked out so great, as mine had some flaws, the owner has however responded and is sending me replacement castings. Overall the castings look great, too bad the interior detail will again be lost when I close her up! I will do more updates as they come.
I have a similar kit in progress. I am building mine as "Bit -O-Lace". I'll be watching this one for sure with great interest. Please keep us updated. Thanks my friend.
Gotta love those "old" Monogram/Revell kits...still one of the best kits for the money (especially the "Century Series" releases). And I agree with not spending a lot of time on the interior detail...ya won't see it.
Yep, probably a little in the nose other than that, just a tad here and there where I just can't stand to let it go!
If you can find their "Visible B-17" version (out twice, as I recall) the left fuselage half is clear plastic. That, or cut parts of the fuselage out, to show any detailing inside.True Details makes several sets concentrating on the nose, pilots, and waist interiors. Verlinden also had a detailing set, which might be harder to find. Temptation!
Nooooo no no... I am trying to simplify my model building these days 🙂 It doesn't always work out though. I had planned this as an SOB build, so much for that!
I had started my build as "Bit-Of-Lace", but like you I was thinking about a really simple build. I was looking on line and found a really cool decal option. (I eventually bought the decal set, so now I'm having second thoughts about "Lace"...).
The decal set is by "Kits-World", #KW148001, and the option to make my B-17 more simple (I think) is "Little Miss Mischief" which is a Natural Metal finish "G" model with a Cheyenne rear turret. The cool thing is this one has what looks like a field replaced rear fuselage section. The back half looks like an earlier rear fuselage half that was painted in O.D. Green.
It also looks like the waist gunners positions are right even across from each other and not staggered... This new decal set is looking better to me all the time.
Im follow your build .
Yeah Louis, there are SO many options when building a B-17G. Myself I plan on taking the Shep Paine approach and choosing a group and squadron, and then making a "representative" of the type. That way I can also do my own nose art!
That will work ! 🙂
When I did my last one, I finished it in the colors of the Collings Foundation bird (I had first hand references from her annual "tune-up" here in town).
http://imodeler.com/2014/06/148-monogram-b-17g-nine-o-nine/
And here are some of the shots of the aforementioned "references"...http://imodeler.com/2013/08/nine-o-nine-walk-around/
Nice!
Finished mine a year or so ago. Love it. 🙂 Enjoy.
I've built a couple over the years. The first as a teenager when it was brand new, then I got to do a commission build for an 8th AF vet, and then one when I was stationed in Virginia, but then we got transferred to Japan. As I recall I gave that one away.
Model. Beer. Some other stuff. Life is good ?
Nice. Looking forward to the finished build.
You can get interior detail in the nose and cockpit. If you get the Falcon/Squadron clearvax canopies for the B-17G, you'll be able to see the detail in the nose through the clear cap, and you can slide the side windows open in the cockpit, which gives a bit of a view inside. If you open the hatches fore and aft, you will let in enough light to see detail.
HTH
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
I am very much with the same line of thought of CRAIG . Till this day, I still prefer MONOGRAM models even though I know there are better and up to date versions, for the money and old time memory ... MONOGRAM. Most of my NASCAR models are MONOGRAM ( now REVELL / MONOGRAM )
I always did love the B-17 in any version or name ( my favorite being the " Memphis belle " ).
You can rest assured I will be following this build.
Build away!