Kit Photos
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
A quick glance in the box shows in jam-packed with goodies and the box
strengthener across the top. A feature only ever seen before on the
Revell B-17F boxing. |
Removed the strengthener for a closer look at all those goodies. It is
a good thing that Monogram made the box far bigger than necessary in
order to squeeze all the extras in. |
Those classic Kit instructions. Just feel the excitement. Imagine just
how good this looked to a model-maker in the 1970's! |
An overview of the Instructions. It will take a very sophisticated
form of Project management in order to plan construction alongside
all the aftermarket bits. Maybe tracing paper overlays would be
helpful? |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Instructions are in booklet form. This is pages four and five
showing interior construction steps. |
Pages six and seven showing
gun, undercarriage and wing joining to fuselage. There is
(bizarrely) no wing assembly step in pictures, only words. |
Pages eight and nine showing
tail, engine and bomb trolley assembly. Bizarrely there are no steps
for fuselage assembly!? It is just written in words. |
The guide to the finished kit's painting and
markings. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Some history and notes. |
The kit decals showing Chow
Hound and El-Lobo. Not bad. |
The Diorama guide booklet by
none other than the famous Shep Paine. |
More of Shep's work. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Much like their B-29 kit Monogram mould it all in silver apart from
one black sprue. It assumed that this would give a nice bit of
visual variety for the kids who didn't paint their kits. |
The black Sprue contains all
the guns, props, wheels and pilot seats. The clear parts are shown
on their sprue (right). |
Wing and tail sprues for the
left wing. Note this sprue also contains various bulkheads, tail
section, undercarriage and bombs. |
The same sprue from the other side. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Another sprue similar to the last on but this showing the right wing
sections plus tail, bombs, undercarriage and interior bulkheads. |
The same sprue from the
other side. |
The final sprue showing the
fuselage sides, cockpit interior, bomb trolley, personnel and engine
parts. Detail is raised and there are pronounced rivets. |
The same sprue from the other side showing the
internal detail which sets this apart from the Revell B-17F which is
bereft of this kind of detail. |
Aftermarket Extras
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Aeroclub Wright Cyclone Engine in
White Metal. Aeroclub were early pioneers but these old metal efforts
are nothing like the quality of the modern resin equivalents from CMK
& Aires. |
The Aires equivalent of the Wright R-1820
Cyclone engine for the B-17. Beautiful but very expensive for four! |
The CMK equivalent of the Aires and
Aeroclub Wright 1820 Cyclone engine for the B-17. Another beautiful
effort. Again - expensive if you want four. Consider Quickboost
instead. |
Cutting Edge .50 Cal Ammo Chutes suitable
for the B-17. They appear to be in white metal but are probably not
as good as photoetched equivalent. They would be easier to use
however. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| A few reference photo's from
my own collection. |
The Cutting Edge Oxygen Hose
in flexible resin. Nice but extremely expensive for two short
lengths.... |
The three original Eduard
Photoetch sets I purchased before buying the BIG ED Set (below)
include: Armament 48209, Exterior 48208 and interior 48207. |
The Armament set 48209
features perforated gun barrels. Quite how you bend the photoetch
into this tiny barrel is anyone's guess but I will use a paperclip
as a guide. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Eduard Armament set 48209 also include a lovely set of Bomb Bay Doors.
Very useful. |
Eduard's Exterior set 48208
for B-17F/G. Numerous small details including canopy frames. |
Other details include wing
intake blanks, supercharger details and other small fuselage plates. |
Eduard's Interior set 48207
shows numerous components for the Bombardiers' position and cockpit. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The set continues with
alternate Instrument Panels for F and G models. The set 49337 (see below)
is in colour but has only the G model panel. |
A couple of Eduard's Express
Masks XF166 for B-17G. |
The FlightPath set FHP48013
shows numerous interesting components including engine ignition
harness's and canopy frames. |
The Instructions show canopy
frames, top turret frames, nose details, gun mounts and other small
details. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The second Instruction sheet
shows the brass gun barrels, undercarriage details, chocks,
supercharger details, ball turret fames, etc. |
Paragon set 4852 B-17 Crew
access doors in resin. |
Another Paragon set supplies
the Wing Intake blanks (like you really need them!?) and prop
governors. |
Reverse of the Paragon pack
with Prop Governors and Wing Intake Blanks. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Paragon set 48103 B-17
Landing Flaps. These are in resin. The Photoetch equivalent by
Eduard are shown below. |
Another view of those
Paragon Resin Landing Flaps. |
Paragon set 48104 the B-17
Open Bomb Bay set includes the Bomb Bay doors but these are best
discarded in favour of their Photoetch equivalents. |
Pro Mods set PMC1120 USAAF
Aircrew Equipment. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Squadron Vac-canopy sets
9551 and 9552 supply cockpit, ball turret, nose Perspex, upper
turret, radio room hatch, astrodome and tail turret for B-17G -
hence the Monogram kit. |
True Details set 48098 wheel
set with circumferential tread. |
Verlinden photoetch set 1267
with .50 & .30 cal ammo and ammo chutes. This includes gun
sights.
This was picked up cheap off EBay hence the lack of packaging. |
Verlinden Update Set 718 for
B-17G and the Monogram kit. Poor old Revell! Nobody loves the B-17F. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| An overall view of the
Verlinden set. I am not always impressed by Verlinden... The last
few sets I used have been terrible.... |
A bag of resin bits for the
Verlinden set. |
The Verlinden photoetch set
shows the Bomb Bay doors. |
The Instructions show
superchargers, crew doors, tail & main undercarriage leg additions
as well as canopy framing and cockpit details |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The rest of the Verlinden Instructions
showing gun details, nose Perspex details and tail turret additions. |
Eduard's Kabuki Tape flexible mask EX106
for B-17G. |
That Big Ed set 4873 for B-17G includes
all the sets listed right. |
This list is taken directly from the
packaging. The contents actually was missing the EX 106 paint masks. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Included in the set is this Coloured
Photoetch set for B-17 Seatbelts. |
The Cockpit set 49337 showing its
colours. |
A close up of the coloured etch from this
set. |
Set 48528 Landing Flaps are not
(obviously) in colour. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Just out of interest - the other side of
the Landing Flaps set showing and interesting variation of Eduard
Packaging. |
Exterior set 48533 is different from the
set shown earlier as 48208. |
Eduard set 48534 - again, not in colour -
shows engine cowling flaps and engine ignition harnesses. |
At first sight Eduard's set 49360 does
not appear to be in colour but referral to Eduard's web site shows
otherwise. Click
here. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Eduard's set 49361 is for the B-17
mid-section. It does also appear to have a colour fret if you care
to open the bag. Click
here for Eduard's Instructions. |
Eduard's set 49362 Rear Section also
doesn't appear to be coloured until you look at Eduard's web site
here. |
True Details resin detail set for the
B-17G's Bombardier Section. Set number 48508. Purchased from
Squadron.com in the USA because these are not sold in Europe (why?). |
True Detail resin detail set for the
B-17G's Cockpit. The quality of the resin is not as good as other
releases. It is not as crisp or smooth. In fact is quite rough
and feathery. |
 |
 |
|
|
| True Detail resin detail set for the
B-17G's Waist Gunner section. There is no reason to believe that
this could not be adapted for the Revell B-17F as that has no
interior detail. |
Scale Aircraft Conversions white metal
undercarriage purchased in March 2010. A dissappointing copy of the
kit undercarriage with no obvious improvement other than strength. |
|
|
