So, I am commencing the H-K Models 1/48 B-17F.

I'm doing "Knockout Dropper" of the 303rd "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group, 359th Bomb Squadron, the first B-17 in the 8th Air Force to fly 50 missions (November 1944) and first to fly 75 missions (March 1944). She was sent home after #80 for a war bond tour.

The really nice thing about the H-K kit is it has the different options for a single gun or two-gun nose, with all the associated mount inside the nose. (I got a laugh looking one comment over at The Home Base Of The Never-Satisfied, who are still not satisfied with the kit - "I thought it was a really good model, till I came here and checked.")

This is my second H-K 1/48 B-17, and third H-K B-17 counting the 1/32 kit.

I find that attaching the nose and tail pieces to the main fuselage before proceeding further allows a better fit - I had to do some bending of the nose parts to get them to match up with the main fuselage, and that is more easily done at this stage.

As you can see in the one photo of the left fuselage half, the first thing to do is cut off all the ejection towers. Yeah, it's a pain and you need to sand down the mating surface to be sure it's totally clear, but doing these this way, there aren't any nasty things to fill in in the part, so that's good.

I'm using the Kit's World Decals for the individual aircraft markings, and Fundekals national insignia.

I'm putting up some photos here of the airplane. Also a good clear well-lit photo of a new B-17F, showing the airplanes (KD was a B-17F-27-BO, fairly early) were in green-base olive drab. That will be the starter, then a lot of ultra-violet high-altitude sun fading.

I've opened the doors between compartments. With the open rear hatch and open forward hatch, and open bomb bay, there will be enough light gets inside the fuselage to actually see things. I will also slide the cockpit side windows back.

I have the Eduard interior photoetch for the B-17G kit, which will work here (if there are any differences, no one will be able to tell!).

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

That will be a large build, Tom.
Looking forward to your informative building steps.

Count me in on this one as well.

The interior looks amazing, my friend @tcinla and, of course, almost nothing can be seen...
Looking forward to your progress!

Look at it this way...We know it's there. Wonder if someone could come up with an LED interior lighting that would allow people to see all the detail work through the windows/hatches more easily.

Is H-K ever going to release a B-17E version of this kit? The way they constructed the nose and upper fuselage, it looks like they were meaning to do different versions.

What an incredible experience that must have been Tom @tcinla.
I can imagen that when you experienced a walk inside those birds you for sure have a different look at them.

Tom, this is truly fantastic and the reality of each and every piece is incredible. I will be following this one closely and I am really enjoying all the background knowledge you are imparting for each aircraft.

Yes, there are parts not used on the clear sprues that indicate a B-17E - nose windows and dorsal turret. The 1/32 kit is an E/F.