Matchbox 1/72 B-17G "The Black Bitch" Assembly Ship

[dirkpitt289]

For this project we are going to build the assembly ship from the 351st BG in Polebrook England. Initially #42-39914 named "Lucky Strike" she completed 38 missions with the 509th BS. On June 8th 1944 while returning from a mission she tore off one of her main wheels collapsing the gear. After being repaired she was stripped of all turrets and armor, then painted all black giving her about 15mph faster and became an assembly ship and re-named "The Black Bitch." It was then used as the groups assembly ship and station hack doing such important tasks such as collecting scotch whisky and on one occasion the CO's wife-to-be.

For this project I will be using the old Matchbox B-17G from (I believe) the 70's. While its not very detailed it is a nostalgic kit. While I usually love to "try" and detail the hell out of a kit for this build I'm focusing more on the over-all look of a black B-17. So there will be no photo-etch, resin or Evergreen.

The kit

The parts. (These aren't the exact parts from my kit but it is what the parts look like)

The subject (The Black Bitch)

Stay tuned....

 

[Wurger]

Nice to see you back.

 

[Crimea_River]

Indeed!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Thanks guys. Feels like home...

 

[Airframes]

Good to see you back, and a nice choice.
I remember that kit - had it in my stash for around 35+ years, and eventually gave it to Evan a couple of years back.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Hey, Terry. Long time no speak. Its good to see you as well

 

[Snautzer01]

Waist gunner is shut. What else was altered?

 

[dirkpitt289]

ALL armament was removed. Including the the top, ball and chin turrets

 

[dirkpitt289]

There isn't much to this kit in the way of an interior. In the grand scheme of things that's ok because after the fuselage is buttoned up you won't be able see a darn thing anyway.

The biggest thing for this build before sealing it up will be to make blanking plates for the top turret and the ball turret. To do that I broke out the ole compass cutter and cut some evergreen styrene to the same size as the turrets.

Here is the blanking plate for the ball turret in place

Top turret blanking plate

Next was the removal of the chin turret.

Next we will use two part Apoxie Sculpt to fill it the gap between the plates and the fuselage,

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff, should work out well.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Very cool. The bird I'm working on was also a part of this bomber group. I'm in contact with the daughter of one of the pilots and she has some connection with the remaining members of this group. She's offered to put me in contact with a couple of them but no success yet.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Very cool. The bird I'm working on was also a part of this bomber group. I'm in contact with the daughter of one of the pilots and she has some connection with the remaining members of this group. She's offered to put me in contact with a couple of them but no success yet.

I built one b17, old 666 and a family member of one of the crew saw it and contacted me about it. If it really was it's pretty cool. I say if, because I responded right away and they never responded back.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[dirkpitt289]

Filled in the top turret using two part Apoxi-Sculpt

Filling in the spot where the chin turret and fairing were with Apoxie-Sculpt.

Fast forward, the wings are installed and shimmed. The landing gear (minus the main wheels) are in place. Seems filled, windows masked using a combination of pre-cut masks, blue tape and Micro-Mask. I also took this time to paint the tail section for that big white triangle. Now in my opinion, white would be too stark (bright) in this scale so instead I used model Masters "Light Gray." Next I made a custom mask to create the triangle for the tail. This will protect the white when the black is applied

Just an FYI for anyone who has this kit in their stash, the nose section does NOT fit so well. Its going to take some effort to make it fit right, and you need to be careful that you don't loose the raised panel lines in the process.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my work.

 

[dirkpitt289]

Off topic:

There is a fellow builder on the "B-17 Flying Fortress Scale Modelers' Workshop" Facebook page that had these left over decals that he wasn't going to use and offered them up. The response for them was pretty good so to be fair he created a raffle. I was the lucky winner. Now I can build a tribute to those who flew the "Nine-0-Nine."

 

[nuuumannn]

Nice work, mate. I still have that Matchbox kit, unbuilt. I do like a good Mtachbox kit, for all its faults.

 

[dirkpitt289]

They aren't the best but they are fun. I like them a lot.

 

[at6]

Your project is progressing well. I have one of those is my stash. The one I'm hesitating about building is my Hasegawa B-17F "Hell's Angels".

 

[dirkpitt289]

Your project is progressing well. I have one of those is my stash. The one I'm hesitating about building is my Hasegawa B-17F "Hell's Angels".

I've not seen the Hasegawa kit. Is it a decent kit?