1/48 B-17G - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII.

[Donivanp]

Thanks guys I've looked the bugger over and here I go.

Looks like a bit of fiddling is in order to get those fuselage h alves to meet Don

With Karl. The culprit(s) need to be found and dealt with otherwise those heavy wings will keep opening that fuselage seam.

I think I know where the issue is.The cockpit sidewalls are the problem, I'm going to try and remove them and attach the O2 takes to the kit sidewalls. The O2 takes seem to be two far forward as well. they should be all the way behind the seats, not at the rear of the seats as the curvature of the cockpit walls presses them in to the seats. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Wayne Little]

Go for it....!

 

[Airframes]

Sounds like a good solution.
It's over twenty years since I built mine, but I seem to recall having problems with the seats, and had to move them to allow the fuselage halves to join properly. I'm guessing the resin cockpit sidewalls are fouling the seats, and maybe should have been thinned (or the fuselage thinned) to allow a better fit.
I made oxygen bottles from Milliput, and they're mounted, as you rightly say, behind the cockpit, almost parallel with the top turret.

 

[JKim]

Glad you found the problem!

 

[Donivanp]

While I am working out the cockpit issue I need to look at the RO station.

Looking forward to the weapons bay.

Kit parts.looking forward.

Looking Aft toward waist gunners.

Kit part looking Aft, the raidos dont have a deep enough depth and need some work.

RO station kit parts.

Also I can see the weapons bay (Forward door closed but I'm not so sure on the aft door being closed in flight or on the ground as it will be any way. Let me heat your thoughts. Also the RO desk is a blown plastic and not a desk. It needs to be cut out and fill in the floor hole and setup correct. the RO seat as depicted in the kit is a pilot seat as well and it should be a seat like the BN and Nav. An office chair. One should also note that Monogram seems to have gotten the bulkhead doors reversed. Note the large drop from the bomb bay to the the RO station and the floor connect at the door going aft to the ball turret. I have no planes to fix this at all.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

iIthink they have the door positions correct Don. The bulkhead doors were often left open in flight, in case of emergency, and in some cases were removed altogether.
Not much can be seen of the radio compartment once the upper window is in place, although opening the doors lets in a little more light from the open bomb bay.

 

[Donivanp]

iIthink they have the door positions correct Don.

Yep your right, I was tired and got it backwards.

 

[JKim]

Nice research going on!

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far!

 

[Donivanp]

Special shout out to Kitsworld, first off I am very please with what they gave been putting out, they have been covering a lot of subjects that have missed out over the years and at a great price. When I received the Tondalayo decals I had not noted that the "G" for the diamond was missing. The A was also missing. That upset me when I looked at looked at Kitsworld site and also the site where I bought it from (Rebelalpha on Ebay (I buy a lot a decals from hem, Scotts Models Works, Aircraft Decals, Aircraft Models items in SCOTT'S MODEL WORKSHOP store on eBay! )). Both sites only showed the main set. I contacted both and was surprised to get a super fast reply from Kits world. They stated there should be a second drop in with the letters, and they would be happy to either take a return or send me out the missing letters. I gave them my address and today a week later, (fastest I have received anything from Great Britain) I was pleased have a new set with TWO sets of letters. In the meantime I had bought a set of black squadron ID lettering from Scott whom did a super job of shipping them out and I had them in three days, where normal is five to six.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

So after looking over things, I had to concur with Terry as every B-17 I have ever been in all the doors were missing. That has not been many but about four. I helped with museum restoration work on the display at Grissom AFB Museum back in 84/85 and then the three around here, all flyable, Thunderbird (LSFM), Texas Raiders (CAF, I just joined them), and Collings Foundation's Nine O' Nine (Which is not from around here but comes in often). So I took the cockpit back bulkhead off from the True details kit and will replace it with the kit bulkhead so I could cut out the doors. The TD bulkhead it way too thick to work with. we'll see how it goes.

 

[Wurger]

Nice.

 

[Donivanp]

Just got done cutting the RO desk out and patching the floor. I may replace the desk but I'll see, I have the left over Nav desk from the kit to work with should I decide to. I know it can't be seen, but I could see it.

 

[Crimea_River]

All that fine work is going to be hidden. A shame.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Damn nice spread on the decal sheet!

 

[JKim]

Nice work on the interior!

 

[Airframes]

Good progress, and nice work from Kits World too.