B-17G

[Chris Chester]

Getting things together for a B-17G in 48 scale. Would like to do the aircraft that had the nose art

'Bit O Lace'. Have these ever been produced in this scale and if so, by who?

TIA

Chris

[jrallman]

Those were the markings included in the Pro Mod version of the kit. You might be able to find them without having to buy the pro mod kit for an arm and a leg. I seem to recall seeing those markings elsewhere too, maybe a superscale sheet or something like that?

Edit: i just did a quick search, and apparently I was thinking of the Eagle Strike sheet that has Milk Wagon, from the same unit and markings.

Edited March 2, 2007 by jrallman

[Drew T.]

Superscale did make decals for this plane a long time ago. The item number is 48021. Don't know where you can find it, but it might be worth a look.

Drew

[KOG7777]

Reviving an old post here.

I'm thinking of buying that decal sheet with the Milk Wagon decals.

If one wants to build Milk Wagon with the old Monogram B-17G kit, is it the 'right version' right out of the box? Or do any changes need to be made?

I heard that the new 'clear' version of the B-17G kit includes a new tail turret? Is this turret needed to build Milk Wagon? Or will the old kit without the new turret suffice?

Oh, and on a similar note... if I also want to build a B-17G as Little Patches... which tail turret does that one need? And will the old Monogram kit suffice?

Thanks.

Edited April 1, 2008 by KOG7777

[Slartibartfast]

Doesn't anyone use Google?

[Slartibartfast]

Doesn't anyone use Google?

I mean, really

Shoot, meant to edit the other post, not display my mental disease...you know, one shouldn't answer when talking to oneself...

Edited April 1, 2008 by Slartibartfast

[KOG7777]

I did google actually. Was looking more for pics of the real planes though, or buildups of said planes. And couldn't find much.

I know, basically, what the B-17G kit is like. Have one unbuilt, and a B-17F unbuilt as well.

I'm just not familiar with the subtleties of the Milk Wagon or Little Patches, so I didn't know if there might be some obscure detail here or there that isn't represented OOB in the Monogram kit.

Thanks for the link to info on A Bit O' Lace. I'm actually not interested in building that one (unlike the original topic creator). I'm interested in Milk Wagon. But I guess the 2 should be more or less the same? From what I've been able to dig up, Milk Wagon should need the Cheyenne turret, so I will need to get the new 'clear' B-17G kit, as I understand it includes the Cheyenne turret. I can't afford to track down the pro modeler version right now.

I'm not 100% positive, but I think Little Patches uses the older turret, so a basic B-17G kit should suffice.

Turret issues aside, I guess what I really wanted to know is if there were any of minor differences that would make a stock B-17G kit unsuitable (OOB) for either plane.

These questions may seem simple or obvious to the pros out there, but I've only just gotten into WWII aicraft in the last year or two. So there's a lot I don't know.

Edited April 1, 2008 by KOG7777

[Drew T.]

Here's a link to some details on Milk Wagon: http://www.447bg.com/index.html

Since it is a block 70-BO, it would have the Cheyenne tail turret and the staggered waist guns and no radio room gun. The ProModeler B-17 kit and the new Visible B-17 kit both have the Cheyenne turret and original turret.

For Little Patches, it would have the standard waist guns and standard tail gun. Also, I think it had the older style radio room gun where the top glass hatch had to be removed to operate the gun (check pictures of B-17Fs to see what I mean). So any 1/48 B-17G kit could be used to build it.

Also, to get an idea of exactly how a particular B-17 was configured and you know its production number, visit this site: http://www.b17database.de/

The production numbers are organized by production blocks, so you can see how B-17s looked according to their production block (The details of the B-17s of a particular block group should be the same).

Hope this helps.

Drew

[KOG7777]

That does help, very much. Thanks.

[B-17 guy]

Milk wagon and A bit O lace have the cheyenne tail, little patches had the standard tail. You can get the cheyenne tail without buying the pro mod kit or the visible B-17, and you will have to do some cutting to put the cheyenne tail on. I dont know how much you gotta cut off(someone please answer this). I got my cheyenne tail and the CORRECT glass from revell's website.

Dont forget, like the previous guy said you can follow the production block #'s for your build. But you can get away with not being 100% correct with some thing's because a lot of planes were field modified. Battle damage was a good reason for that, A bit O lace had the left outer wing panel from a camo'd fort. I've seen pics of whole nose sections being replaced. By the way...The pro mod kit( I just looked at mine to verify) does NOT have the stagger'd waist windows!

Here's a link that may help you with little patches.

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/allies/us/perryb17.htm

[jrallman]

None of the 1/48 fort kits have staggered waist guns, you have to do that mod yourself. Someone did it for the Heavies GB, though who it was escapes me at the moment, but maybe they will chime in here with an explanation of how they did it and how difficult it was.

[KOG7777]

None of the 1/48 fort kits have staggered waist guns, you have to do that mod yourself. Someone did it for the Heavies GB, though who it was escapes me at the moment, but maybe they will chime in here with an explanation of how they did it and how difficult it was.

Ah, thanks. I was JUST about to ask a question regarding that very subject.

I would assume that one waist gun or the other remains in its original position, while the other has to be moved (an issue of closing one opening and making a new opening elsewhere)? Or do both waist guns actually have to be moved?

Sorry for the multitude of questions... it's been a long time since I've done any modeling at all, and I've NEVER tried to do this kind of modification before. Always tended to build things strictly out of box... But I really like the yellow-tail B-17s, so I'm willing to attempt something new here.

[Drew T.]

I've heard that the cheyenne turret that comes with the ProModeler and Visible B-17 kit is not that good. The Verlinden set also has this turret, but the best turret of this type is made by Paragon. I'm not sure where you can get it in the US, but Hannants should have it.

Staggering the waist guns is not difficult. The right waist gun has to be moved up just far enough that the national insignia fits between the waist door and the window for the waist gun. You'll have to make new frameless windows from clear sheet plastic that has the same curvature as the fuselage. I used plastic from a 0.5 liter Coke bottle for my windows. I patched the original window with sheet styrene.

[jrallman]

If you want a Paragon turret, you can get it direct from Neil, he is an ARC member, just drop him a PM. The port waist gun stays in the original location, the starboard waist gun moves forward, I believe it is two panel sections, but I dont know the exact distance without being at home with my references. I bet a search online could give you the distance the starboard waist gun was moved forward.

[B-17 guy]

I've seen a kit to do the mod for the stagger'd waist window. It had a few differant things with it, it had the B-17C/D tail conversion, E nose and cheyenne turret. As far as aftermarket goes, paragon has the best looking cheyenne tail. I got mine from revell's website. The difference between paragon's and revell's is not that much differant...to me anyway. Revell shipped me one for free vs $10-$12 for paragon's.

I found the stagger'd waist kit, Koster has the C,D,E,F,G...I'll let you read about it. Here's a link, history of the 1/48th B-17, it has all the kit's and aftermarket accessories made for the B-17. Alot of usefull info

http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17G.html.

And does anybody know how much of the standard tail from the B-17G kit to do the cheyenne tail conversion?