B-17 G 1:48 scale, 351st Bomb Group, 510th Squadron, AC# 43-37862, Fearless Fosdick

[Night Fighter Nut]

Well guys I'm going to build something other than a night fighter this time and I'll be building this for a neighbor of mine. Any background or advice on the B-17G would be appreciated.

The kit will be Monograms "The Visible B-17G Flying Fortress" 1:48 scale
Accessories will be photo etch detail for each compartment that I can get a hold of as well as a bit of scratch building.
Decals will be generic with some home made decals to add.

There are no photographs that I know of for this particular plane; however, through extensive research through the 351st.org, web page, americanairmuseum.com, b17flyingfortress.de, and lots of photograph searches on line, I've been able to figure out with a 95% certainty what the plane looked like and what all its markings were.

To begin with:
Aircraft B-17G-70-BO built in Seattle Washington, was delivered to Cheyenne 30/5/44; Kearney 8/6/44; Grenier 1/7/44; Assigned 510BS/351BG (Side markings TU-G.) Polebrook 17/7/44; {81m} Returned to the USA Bradley 9/6/45; 4168 Base Unit, South Plains, Texas 18/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 1/12/45. AC name Fearless Fosdick. -Source: Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log : From b17flyingfortress,de

The aircraft will be in painted in unit colors as of 23 Feb 1945
Crew:
P 1st Lt. Brooks, Robert W.
CP 2nd Lt. Garner, Joseph P.
N 2nd Lt. Ciraulo Samuel J.
NG Sgt Marrek, Frank
TT Sgt Barclay, Lester D.
RO S/Sgt Engles, Irving C.
LWG S/Sgt Johnson, Carl E.
BT Sgt Patterson, Walter W.
TG T/Sgt Collins, Wallace E.
:Source 351st.org

The plane would have been natural metal with a red diagonal strip across the tail vertical stabilizer running from top rear to bottom forward, in front of the horizontal stabilizers. Near the top of the tail would be a black triangle with a white "J" on it and tail number 337862 written half way down and the letter "G" at the bottom. There would also be a black triangle with white "J" on top of the right wing out near the wing tip. Fearless Fosdick would be written on the lower part of the nose below the windows.

As a side note, the 351st Bomb Group was also the unit 1st Lt. Clark Gable flew with. There are a videos on Youtube of this unit and some of Clark Gable flying with them.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Here are a couple of quick pics to show the size of what I'm working with. The decals and photo etch will be on order shortly.

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to the build, Bill. If you need any detail shots let me know

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Great thanks. I most likely will but I'll let you know what areas as I get to them.

 

[fubar57]

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Here's a quick question. I know that towards the end of the war, zinc chromate was only sprayed in a few areas inside the plane instead of inside the entire plane. Does anyone know which areas were or were not sprayed or painted?

 

[fubar57]

PM sent Bill

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Okay, time to do some updates. I've been researching and studying interior colors for this aircraft. Thank you George for your help, much appreciated. One of the things

I came across was an article written by Martin Waligorski called, "Interior Colours of US Aircraft, 1941-45." This can be found on (www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm).

The section for B-17's says that the early B-17s had overall Zinc Chromate Yellow interiors, Bronze Green cockpits and navigator's stations, and Aluminium lacquer bomb bays. The general rule for F and G models was Bronze Green in the nose section containing the bombardier and navigator, the cockpit area including the pilots, top gunner/engineer, and radio room. Anti-glare was Olive Drab.

The inner fuselage sides in the nose, cockpit and radio room were covered with green canvas padding. The green in the photos I've seen look to be a kind of olive drab almost gray green colour. The Cabin floor was made of varnished plywood and high traffic areas were covered with black rubber mats for anti-skid purposes in the waist gun, radio room and top turret areas. The floor in the pilot/navigator cabin was left in natural metal. Pilot and navigator seats were most likely bronze green.

Aft of the radio room, early production aircraft were painted Zinc Chromate Yellow but later versions were often bare metal with Zinc Chromate Yellow or Zinc Chromate Green bulkheads and longerons. In photos presented in the article, I noted that both longerons and stringers were painted Zinc Chromate Green. Other items noted from the photo provided was the supports for walk areas and brackets for supporting equipment were also Zinc Chromate Green.

Prevailing Colour inside the gun turrets appears to be a Dull Dark Green with later models also using flat black.

Bomb bays and bomb bay doors were unpainted. Wheel wells are believed to be interior green.

More to follow as I continue my research.

 

[Wurger]

 

[krow113]

Good luck.

 

[Airframes]

Info and pics in my various books show the B-17G interior at this stage as bare metal, apart from Interior Green frames to bulkheads and fittings.
The padded cladding in the nose and radio room were discontinued after the 'F' model, although the insulation padding remained on the cockpit walls, at the pilot's stations.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thanks Terry, that's what my research is showing me as well. Also the international plastic modeler's society articles are usually very well researched so I have little reason to doubt what I read in their article.

The photo etched set for the nose area arrived. Looks very nice but will still intend to scratch build a few spots. Researching ball turret at the moment. The kit comes with clear sides for ball turret and I thought it might be fun to try some internal workings similar to the rest of the plane. If I'm careful I may even get the ball turret to be movable to some extent.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Started working on the plane to try and improve the visible wall. Added strips of styrene to enhance the rather flat ribs. Filled in wing root area also with styrene just in areas that may be seen. Also did some priming of the wings.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Well it looks like I need to do some minor surgery here. The waist gunner positions were staggered on this construction block of B-17G's. It shouldn't be too bad since I found it early. The hole is straight forward and the steps I can make but the air deflector will be tricky. Thank goodness its not on the clear side as that would be not possible. Oh well, let the surgery begin. Thank goodness for photo etched razor saws.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Here is my up to date work. I marked out and drilled the location of the new window, correct location. Then I did some minor cuts. Before removing anything though, I needed to cover over the old window. Used 0.020 styrene cut and shaped to the old window and fitted it to the outside. I'll fit a second sheet to the inside so that the inner surface looks even. Here are photos to record my progress.

I will still need to move the armored plate and accompanied devices.

 

[Airframes]

You should find that the staggered window is on the starboard side, a full window's width forward, compared to the port side.
It's an easy conversion, clear or 'solid' parts.
Note that, with staggered waist gun positions, there were three types of window - plain clear Perspex with the gun mount central, 'two-bar' framed, and a sort of 'bay' window. Factory and series number should identify which was which, if no photo of your bird, or aircraft from same batch, available.
Being full glazed and enclosed, the slipstream deflectors were not needed, so no need to try to simulate them.

EDIT :- cross posts - looks like you sorted it, same way as I did 25 + years ago !

 

[Wurger]

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

From the photos of that block of aircraft the starboard window was forwarded by one frame. I'll check for deflectors in the photos I have. You're right Terry, I may not need them. Infact I may need to remove the port deflector if its not present. Almost there now.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

No defector present. That's a relief. Now I just have to sand and polish the clear side off. That will be tricky. Thanks