1/48 B-17 Group Build...ALL INVITED TO JOIN!

Engines and chin turret will go out Tuesday PM, pard...

Don't let the "saint" stuff get around... I got a reputation of being an a**-hole to uphold...

Ok then .  Thanks again

Rraider I have an extra but it was VERY  expensive.I do have the crew and the ground crew in extra- -Search teknics on ebay they show up every now and then.

I've check ebay now and again and got outbid on one 2 years ago.  I quit bidding at 50 bucks....i think it sold for over 100.  Anyways, I spent money on the figures I got and I have enough now for a crew, so I think I'll just stick with these

I've noticed alot of the aftermarket stuff I got for this build is goin OOP.  The CMK figures I ordered yesterday were the last ones on spruebrothersmodels.com and I dont see them anywhere else cept for aviaiton megastore.  I was lucky to find my paragon details too, as they are getting harder to find everyday now, and my decals are OOP now too.  I picked them up last year from squadron and now only see them on ebay

Paragon designs are being made in the UK again.  You have to order them from Hannants in the UK, as there is no US distributor.  www.hannants.co.uk

Here's a link for Paragon items in stock for the 1/48 B-17 http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=8159&code=&product_type_id=&scale_id=955&keyword_search=B-17&stock=1&setPerPage=25

They do have other items for other kits, but again, you have to order from Hannants.

Yea, I had to order my crew doors/hatches and flaps from hannants.  I don't need anything now though.  The weird thing on hannants is that it says towards the end of an order if you are ordering anything other than photoetched metal flat packs or decals, that your order has to be above a certain amount in order to be processed, and like I said I ordered the two resin sets, but it went through.  I don't think they enforce that warning

I also started a new topic under the diorama section of the forum on my build.  I will be keeping updates on this one and that one as well.  The other forum is "Coming Soon....1/48 B-17G Man O War II Diorama".  All thats there right now is a few pictures of the actual plane and a background on the planes mission I'm depicting it returning from, and a few details o nthe build.  Again, just letting anybody know that my build will be on both forums

Krow, you think you could take a close up pic of the teknics crew so I could see what they look like?

Thanks for the pic.  Yea, that would of been a nice addition, but I can't do anything about it now.  Like I said, I've spent some good money on the 3 sets of figures I've bought.  I wish meteor productions coulda stayed running though

I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm passing up on a Zotz Heavenly Bodies decal sheet

You are missing a lot!  I got the set, and its actually multiple subjects and they are wonderfully printed.  The decals are for over 10 F models, with one E mixed in.  I highly recommend them!

I plan on doing an F in the future sometime, probly after college, but I don't feel the immediate need to buy them right now.  I just spent some money on a couple hobby tools and some figures, so I gotta stop spending lol.  Well I dont know, they're on ebay under "buy it now" for another month so we'll see, but I think I'm gonna have to pass.  If I do an F model I'm gonna need them but who knows

Plus I have no F model in my possession right now.....just a PBY which is gonna be a beast, and a B-25D.  I'm talking a little ways down the road with the F.  I'm still honing my scratchbuilding skills right now and since the F interior is relatively bare, I would rather scratchbuild it than spend lots of money on detail sets.  O well, just gotta focus on my G right now

What no F?!!  Everyone has to have at least one F and one G in their stash.  The more 1/48 B-17s , the merrier!

When I was ten I got the Memphis Belle deluxe kit for christmas and it was my first kit and I remember many nights building it with my dad.  Now I feel terrible when I scavenge a couple parts from ti

Like I said, I plan on building one in the future, but I don't wanna keep building the same plane right now.  I'm into B-25s as much, if not more than B-17s and I finally got the B-25D gunship from AM so that's the next build that will be on here after my diorama.  Then I should probly get to my PBY, then after that I plan on getting another B-25J and I see Revell just re released the B-26 and I've never had that one so thats my plan.  Oh, and um maybe another B-24 too.  My last I built when my skills were limited and ended up being a test bed for painting and such.  I love the big planes.

redraider56

I got another weird question.  Were the flash tubes on the chin turret guns factory applied or field applied?  I've got pictures of my plane with and without flash tubes (look at the 1st and 3rd pictures above), which means they were added sometime between the 1st and 47th mission, but seeing as they weren't present on the picture of the plane just prior to the first mission I'm thinking they were field applied.  I've got regular barrels and flash tubed barrels and it probably doesn't matter which ones I use but I just thought I'd ask anyways

Oh, and does anyone know the part number on the chin turret? I need to order a new one from Revell

These are refits. These weren't sent back to the factory but, they were put on in the hangars by the mechanics. These were to suppress flash of course, but it wasn't deemed for them to be a neccessesity until later. The suppressors were sent out to the airstrips where these were flying out of. These would be what we call "aftermarket add-ons" today.  These aren't original equipment.

Watching the 1990 movie "Memphis Belle"/   Not an accurate movie, but has some great shots of B-17s and also the equipment and flying suits the crew wore which will come in handy when I'm painting my figures

raider -my fig made it to the readers gallery on here, exhaustive research, pretty decent final product -search 'Earle' he is on the second gallery page .I also have a book on the film you mention listing the inaccuracies if you need it.

Nah, I don't need it.  THe movie is actually fiction based on fact seeing as all the crew member's names in the movie are fictional, along with part of the nose art, the final mission, and the B-17 itself.  They depict it barely making it back to England reality their last mission was just a milk run to France.  The B-17 is a G model heavily modified to resemble an F model, even though Memphis Belle had no astrodome.  They had something like 8 planes I think (?) and repainted the nose art on the planes to simluate many different planes. 

Wow, that's a pretty awesome figure.  It'll be hard to get some of that detail in 1/48 scale but I'll try my best.   Only bronze medal?  Hopefully I can finish my project this summer and have it ready for a contest in October.  There's actually an annual model show 10 minutes from where I live and I havent been able to go to it before because of band competitions in high school, but I plan on attending this year.  Its put on by a little modeling club in central wisconsin and I've seen pictures of the contest in FineScale Magazine before.  I looked at some of the models in the show on their website and think I stand a pretty good chance of placing if my diorama comes out the way I want it to.

Heres the website of the club

http://www.thegluecrew.com/

redraider56

Nah, I don't need it.  THe movie is actually fiction based on fact seeing as all the crew member's names in the movie are fictional, along with part of the nose art, the final mission, and the B-17 itself.  They depict it barely making it back to England reality their last mission was just a milk run to France.  The B-17 is a G model heavily modified to resemble an F model, even though Memphis Belle had no astrodome.  They had something like 8 planes I think (?) and repainted the nose art on the planes to simluate many different planes. 

The producers wanted to make it as acturate as possible, but when they realize the last mission was a milk run, they changed the plan.  Instead they took what actually happened to actual planes on several different bombing missions and rolled it into one mission, plus a few things for dramatic effect.  Since they knew it was no longer the actual mission, they changed the names of the crew to distinguish the fact that it is a fictional portrayal.  The nose art was changed to make it look a little bit more eye catching.  The film used 4 or 5 B-17, and except for the Fort that portrayed the Belle, each one had a different nose art on each side of the nose.  Use two cameras to film one plane taking off, then put back to back in editing = two different planes.  Least they kept the date the same.

One of the downsides of the filming is that I read before they lost a B-17 when it crashed on takeoff

They also used a fuselodge of another Fort for all the inside shots.  Luckly that fuselodge went to Kermit Weeks for use in a restoration of another.

All that is true ,they also built 5 or so models for the taxi/takeoff  shots.5 real 5 models! 16 foot wingspan models ,during the crash sequence one model was being towed by a car ,became airborne and flew into a cameraman! He was ok and they used the film in the movie.The book then goes throghthe flight and tells how the happenings were an amalgamation of several events over different missions.There is one pic in the back I will scan and post it is of a buzz job and you can see the rear wheel almost touching the groundthis was for the film 'The War Lover' book is Memphis Belle by Brent Williams Perkins ISBN# 0-7643-1499-8 Here it is .......Haircut anyone?!

I talked with Bob Morgan hisself about Memphis Belle... He said if you wanna know how it was, watch 12 O'Clock High.  If you wanna know how it wasn't, watch Memphis Belle...

Anyone looking for a Pro-Modeler fort, theres one on ebay right now.......it would be nice to have but I just don't feel like spending the money on another model right now.  Plus my dad would get pi$$ed for me buying another model without finishing the ones I'm on right now

Heh, saw that... Got one in the stash and I blew the rest of my April model budget on a vac-form "Grace" anyway...