You are right, these are amazin’!
P.S. I apologize to all the psychoanalysts among you, who will immediately recognize my insecurity in wearing girly socks and consequent need to add manly symbols to the composition…

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

@asekular - your awareness of the sublimation of your feminine psyche into more acceptable phalus symbols is impressive. Donning the pink socks, though, that takes a real man.

Meanwhile, somewhere in London there was a model being built...

The dihedral for this Revell B-17 is just shocking, more of an anhedral if anything. The correct angle for a fortress is 4.5 degrees, which on a bird this size, is noticeable. When you compare to the completely neutral angle of the horizontal stabilisers it's clearer to see.

I had to make a couple of plasticard 'shims' to wedge between the lower wing halves and the fuselage. I toyed with the idea of making a couple of spars but as the plane will be in flight, the stand I have planned will take care of any potential wing droop. Modeling viagra.

This is how she looks from a front elevation and I think it stacks up quite favourably in relation to the genuine aircraft.

I had planned to leave the wings off for the sake of space, ease of handling & painting, but this dihedral issue meant so much remedial work on the wing root and fuselage and that I had to scrap that approach.

The project at the moment feels a little messy and poorly managed. I think maybe every build goes through this stage (unless you restrict yourself to modern, well engineered kits) where you are so involved with the repair work its hard to connect the carnage with the concept. But it's getting somewhere and it takes some broken eggs to make an omelette, no?

101 things to do when you don't have an airbrush, number 87...do some DIY.

Here's an art installation I've been working on today.

As a piece of art it's actually a bit rubbish, so just as well it also works as a base for my project.

I'm feeling a little better about this build now, I think getting some primer over all that sanding and seeing it take shape has helped. The composition captures something of the feel I'm looking for; although the proximity of the two aircraft is exaggerated, I feel it binds the two together and hopefully helps bring the viewer in.

Thanks to @gkittinger for the inspiration for the base.

Thank you, Morne. I now have a pretty comprehensive library of photos of battle scarred B-17s and still have a bit to do on the 'Olde Pub' - but she's getting there. I'm hoping the upper surfaces turn out as clean as the underside because this bird took a lot of putty, filing, cutting, and sanding. I'm really disappointed in the cockpit canopy. The fit was so bad I had to slice and dice my way around it and to my eye, close up, it's awful. Thinking of emailing Revell Germany (their customer service is top class) to send some more clear parts and I'll have another crack at it.

Really looking forward to getting some paints on this.

The perfectionist is never pleased in their achievements, though they may get temporary pleasure by the attention from others.

Glad to see that you like to be accurate about depicting a historical event, as opposed to unintentionally creating a 'what-if' event. The model is looking better every day. It's a treat to see it revealing what actually happened.

Looking good David, your attention to detail is exceptional. You may want to consider using rattle cans to paint the Fort. I use them quite often, my rule of thumb is the bigger the model, use a can. Especially if I'm not doing a camo pattern and I can find the correct color. Tamiya markets their AS-7, USAAF Neutral Grey, it goes on very well and dries to a very nice smooth finish. They also have an Olive Drab. Once applied you can add a wash to highlight detail of represent weathering. Just a thought for keeping the process going full speed ahead.