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Just a few quick observations:

After being blown away by the amount of detail, I have to admit the quality of the moldings is rather pedestrian..think current Italeri. Panel lines are rather heavy and soft, and there are lots of annoying sink marks. Molding also feels rather "clunky" on a lot of the smaller parts. Clear parts are disappointingly thick, particularly the nose..making all that interior detail almost impossible to see. The nose still looks a bit too skinny, but I can't find my Aerodata International to compare the kit parts to the drawings.

Pluses: the aforementioned interior detail, by far the most comprehensive of any Fort in any scale. The detailed wheel wells are a particularly nice touch, and the kit has the nicest .50 cals I've ever seen in 1/72. Lots of transparency options, and enough bits that you actually could do an F if you wanted. The clear side panels for the nose are flat on the inside, even the backs of the gunners' bay windows. One could conceivably sand both sides flat, polish, and then mask the appropriate F-style cheek windows. A plug for the chin turret is included, along with the F-style waist windows. Obviously Revell plans an F down the road.

Since the kit is packaged in one of Revell's trademark flimsy end-opening boxes, the first thing I did was break down the sprues and pack them in Ziploc bags, so I don't lose any parts. The box is so huge, I may see if I can find a top-opening box that'll fit inside it!

SN

Edited by Steve N
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Steve, for all its short comings, I'm envious of your Revell Fort. I'm currently working on Academy's 1/72 Memphis Belle and you talk about bare bones. I'd promised myself I was going to do this one OOB, but I don't think I can live with that bare cockpit and nose compartment. In spite of myself, I may have to do some scratch building just so this thing doesn't look like a stripped out shell that's been picked over for parts! Such an iconic airplane, you'd think that somebody would come out with a "definitive" kit. Maybe when Wingscale gets their 1/32nd on the market, though you'll need to build a room on the house to display it. Sorry, venting.

Enjoy that Revell G, you lucky dog.

Bob

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What has stood out (almost screaming) to me is the height of the dorsal turret. I have had my B-17G out of the box, broke open a couple of the poly bags and removed the fuselage halves, turret transparency, and turret base.

The kit has a lip molded in the fuselage halves that, if you place the transparent part on top of, looks about right. The probelm seems to be the drop in insert that sits on top of the lip and upon which the builder is to attach the clear part. That double lip is what appears to me at least, to be the culprit in the too tall turret. I haven't figured out a way to remove the extra height imposed by the base, if it is cut off, the base will fall through the fuselage opening and it will also lower the transparency's sy to the bas to the point where the guns may not actually fit inside the turret.

What appears at least in the theory stage to offer a better solution is to add reinforcing beneath the lip molded into the fuselage and remove eough of the lip for the turret to sit at the proper height. As I say, this is theory so far, but it is the best one I have thought of. How have other builders of the Revell kit dealth with this?

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What has stood out (almost screaming) to me is the height of the dorsal turret. I have had my B-17G out of the box, broke open a couple of the poly bags and removed the fuselage halves, turret transparency, and turret base.

The kit has a lip molded in the fuselage halves that, if you place the transparent part on top of, looks about right. The probelm seems to be the drop in insert that sits on top of the lip and upon which the builder is to attach the clear part. That double lip is what appears to me at least, to be the culprit in the too tall turret. I haven't figured out a way to remove the extra height imposed by the base, if it is cut off, the base will fall through the fuselage opening and it will also lower the transparency's sy to the bas to the point where the guns may not actually fit inside the turret.

What appears at least in the theory stage to offer a better solution is to add reinforcing beneath the lip molded into the fuselage and remove eough of the lip for the turret to sit at the proper height. As I say, this is theory so far, but it is the best one I have thought of. How have other builders of the Revell kit dealth with this?

I read somewhere that that was a glaring inaccuracy in the kit. It seems as though they shouldn't have even released this kit. They either rushed it through to make money or really just didn't care. Might be worth kit bashing it's interior bits with another 1/72 model? I am getting a 1/72 Revell F here soon so maybe I'll consider doing that.

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