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B-17 Group Build


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I'm still debating on whether I want to get in on this or not... I have two 48th B-17s on my shelves already (the -F was built as "Black Jack, and is featured in the B-17 Gallery here). I have a 48th scale -G that I am sort of working on (though I haven't touched it in over 6 months) that I'm planning on converting into a B-17H that crashed in the mountains near where I live way back in 1951. (44-85746, which crashed in the Olympic Mountains here in Washington). I live about an hour's drive plus a three-mile hike from the crash site, and I've visited it a couple times, so I have a fair amount of reference material on the actual aircraft as it sits now (especially regarding colors- I even have a few paint chips from the actual wreck to match my painting to!).

That being said, I have a lot of qualms about finishing the build, one because I don't have decals for the numbering and search-and-rescue markings, and two, because I have access to the real deal, I want to do it justice, and I'm not sure that the start I have is good enough to do so. I had some problems with cutting out/filling the right waist window, and I'm not sure if my filling/scratchbuilding skills are good enough to make the other parts that'll be needed for the conversion. And finally, I don't know if I'll have the time or space available to work on it once I go back to school next week.

I'm not sure why I needed that wall of text to say this, but I just thought I'd post that I'm interested, but still not sure if I'll be able to commit to this. I'll update y'all sometime soon on my final decision.

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One more for today:

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Is this sort of thing going to be of use to the folks here? Ask me about something specific and I will see what I can come up with. No promises, but I will take a stab at it. Wish I had some way to scan direct from the film to the computer...

Yeah, I juice on any contemporary documents.

Someone, maybe Carl K. posted the B-17 top turret progression on either AAF Forum ( Burris) or HS a few years back. It was great stuff. I think there turned out to be only four, maybe five version. The most surprising to me was that the original E/F series top turret was never flat, but always had the raised portion for the gunner's head at the six o clock position. I think there were 11 sections to the original dome which got down to 3 or four by the end. But its been a while and my memory is not as reliable as 15 years ago.

(Was Andy Devine ever on the box cover when they were called Sugar Pops?)

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