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Spiros Pendedekas
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Revell (Monogram) 1/48 B-17G

March 24, 2023 · in Aviation · · 62 · 1.1K

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the USAAC. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry, in the form of the prototype Model 299/XB-17, outperformed both competitors and exceeded the Air Corps' performance specifications.

Unfortunately, due to the prototype's crash, Boeing lost the contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo, but the project survived, due to the Air Corps' appreciation of its bold design, ordering 13 more examples for further evaluation, which finally led to the plane's mass production.

Promoted as a strategic weapon, the Fortress was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing against German industrial, military and civilian targets.

The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in central, eastern and southern England and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command's night-time area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe, in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944. The type also participated to a lesser extent during the early stages of the Pacific War, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.

Relatively fast and high-flying, with long range and heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload, it developed a reputation for toughness, based upon stories and photos of badly damaged examples safely returning to base.

It was also employed for the transport, antisubmarine, drone control, and search-and-rescue roles.

From its introduction in 1938, this successful plane evolved through numerous design advances.

With 12,731 built, it became the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the B-24 and the Ju88, whereas it dropped more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II.

As of November 2022 (sadly, after the tragic loss of Texas Ranger), nine aircraft remain airworthy, with none of them ever flown in combat.

Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest being a D-series flown in combat in the Pacific on the first day of the United States' involvement in World War II.

S/n 42-38033 was a “G” series Fortress, delivered 6/12/43. In 1/2/44 she was assigned to 322BS/91BG, Bassingbourn as “LG-V”, carrying the name MAN ‘O WAR II – HORSEPOWER LTD.

According to Air Crew Report 10144 she went Missing in Action, Merseburg 2/11/44 (5 Killed in Action), “riddled by formation of enemy aircraft, tailplane broke away and ship crashed".

This is the 2001 Revell reboxing of the venerable 1975 Monogram mold, which, though superseded by the 2019 HK offering, is still a nice kit that can yield to a charming result.

Should you wish to read the full build review, you may do so by visiting my beloved site Modelingmadness:
https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/usaaf/bombers/pen17.htm


Happy Modelling!

Reader reactions:
17  Awesome 1 

62 responses

  1. Another lovely posting from you, my friend Spiros, and yet another beautiful build of a classic kit. I’m not sure if the boast of more bombs dropped than any other is something to be proud of though, war is a terrible thing.

  2. Beautifully done, great job on the weathering ,engine exhaust and scheme!

  3. Nicely done Spiro, @fiveten, the Monogram kit still builds up to be a really good looking kit. You did a really nice job putting this one together. Well done.

  4. Very nicely accomplished, Spiros! I have one of these kits in my stash. One day I hope to build.

  5. Well done Spiros. Love the weathering

  6. Now that’s a stunning build.
    Nice weathering and chipping, Spiros!

  7. This was one of my first builds as a kid, beautiful work @fiveten!

  8. Stupendous work @fiveten! 🏆 What a great big beauty of a model Spiros! 😁

  9. Excellent Fort Spiros. The old Monogram builds into a nice model at the hands of a skilled modeller.

  10. Great to see a Monogram classic get resurrected and show its stuff.
    Two thumbs up.

  11. A beautiful Fortress, Spiros @fiveten
    Another great addition to your already overwhelming collection.
    The chosen scheme and the weathering looks superb.
    Well done.

  12. That's a well done Fortress. Those old kits still make great builds if one does not wish to spend their retirement funds on the new wonder kits!

  13. Well done Spiros! You made the old kit look great. Would build one of these myself if I had the room to shelve it somewhere.

  14. Another beauty, Spiros! Always good to see the old classics displayed here!

    I remember being really excited as a kid when my local hobby shop owner got two of these for me when they first came out back in the 70's, at the grand price of $8 each! I built the first one for him to hang in the hobby shop, and the second one was mine. Wish I knew what happened to them...

  15. Some great painting there Spiros, well done mate!

  16. She's a beauty, Spiros. I just saw Aluminum Overcast in Arizona recently. I remember watching a Fort take off and then make a banking turn - a beautiful aircraft in flight! Regards!

  17. Great work, Spiros! Outstanding all around.

  18. Nice looking bomber. Excellent result. Enjoyed reading the history.

  19. Brilliant work as usual Spiros , at 1/48 she's a big girl

  20. Another wonderful build Spiros @fiveten. Weathering and chipping and the antenna wires are perfect. Like you said, still a charming kit.

    And don’t forget the Colling Foundation’s 909 that clipped a shed and was destroyed in Oct of 2019. That’s two down in the last 4 yrs. So sad.

  21. This is one of my many unassembled boxes... Even old, this Monogram B-17 makes me want to build it because your realization is beautiful Spiros!

  22. @fiveten - Another fantastic build Spiros, the weathering looks incredible. I do appreciate the historic information you provide with your builds.

  23. Wow! you are productive, so many build when I even just finished a part of my Corsair 😀
    A nice big guy you made here and also an emblematic model. Lovely done knowing that this kind of big model is not easy to handle. Bravo my friend 🙂

  24. Excellent work, Spiros and right out of the blue! And didn't know you were working on this one. I have had the Monogram kit in progress for awhile with lots of after-market etch and resin but I got bogged down in those details. Then the HK Models version came out, so I decided to switch to that. Your work here shows how great the Monogram kit is as is, perfect shape and proportions and plenty of excellent detail OOB. As for the HK kit, I plan to do the well known Chow Hound , which looks a lot like Man O' War II in overall markings, except for the nose art. I will finish the Monogram kit as well but you know "so many models, so little time". Thanks for the inspiration, my friend.

    • Thank you so much, my friend @coling! Indeed, there is nothing really wrong with the Monogram B-17. Looking really forward to see your Fortress done with that "Colin Gomez" magic, yielding a superlative result!
      And yes! Too many models, too little time!

  25. Nice job on that big old beast Spiro. Love 1/48 bombers.

  26. A great effort Spiros! The old Monogram kit lives on! My best friend built that way back in 1976! Good models never die, they live on!

  27. Nice work Spiros!
    I remember building the Monogram kit as kid in the '70's..."Chow Hound" if I remember correctly.

  28. Nice work on this classic kit. Just enough weathering to pull off a realistic looking build.

  29. Another beauty Sprios! You still amaze me with your production speed - that conveyor line must run 24/7!

  30. A classic kit completed with the remarkable Spiros touch.

  31. Great work on this B-17… I had built it when it first came out in the 1970s… exciting times to be a young modeler. I wish I had the display space for it now . Currently I’m working on the 1960s Revell 1/72 B-17F.

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