I don't know why I haven't see this post before 

Great work Foz!

modelcrazy

I don't know why I haven't see this post before 

Great work Foz!

 

Thanks a lot!

I'm impressed by your attention to detail, but one thing bothers me.  Wouldn't they have removed the guns and ammunition before stripping the aircraft down?  It looks incongruous with guns and ammo and no wings.  Still, nice work!

Gary

GAF

I'm impressed by your attention to detail, but one thing bothers me.  Wouldn't they have removed the guns and ammunition before stripping the aircraft down?  It looks incongruous with guns and ammo and no wings.  Still, nice work!

Gary

 

Thanks for your input Gary....

My intention right from the start was to make a study of the B17 fuselage as a cutaway showing as much of what there was internally...like a kind of anatomy of a B17G .This is why I have modeled the fuselage with most of the top section missing along the fuselage and so it isn't something you would see in a hangar for example....I hope that makes sense!...cheers! 

Fair enough! 

Gary

Hi everyone

This is it!...............the absolute FINAL post I will make on this 10 year project! 

In my last post I was talking about the display aspect of this model and what was the best way to display this B17G  ....I gave it considerable thought and finally decided that the best way would be to make it as simple as possible.  I  came up with a simple idea of just placing the ball turret on a clear plastic stand (actually its a small plastic cup!)....it sort of gives it a floating kind of look!...ish!....I didn't place it underneath the fuselage because it just obscured the 9 months of work I did scratch building it! 

I wanted to place both bomb bay doors on so I had to be sure the fuselage sat high enough off the ground to clear the very large bomb bay doors!  So to that end I had to revamp the display stands. There are 4 in total...2 on the front section and 2 at the rear. The rear section stands had to be way higher as the tail lifts up towards the rear...I built these out of reinforced balsa wood (plastic covering) and cocktail sticks! 

I have left an 8 inch gap between the front and rear sections so that you can peer down into the fuselage both front and back and of course as you probably know the top half of the fuselage along its entire length has viewing points to see the interior.

So that is what I did......but first......something was really bothering me about the aluminum skin on the front section back to the radio room. It seemed to be a tad wrinkly here and there. I know exactly why...its because 10 years ago I constructed the front fuselage section completely in a different way to how I built the rear section 8 years down the line!......plus the joins on each section were showing through!.......no it was no good!.....I just had to re skin the front section. .............

Wow truly at a loss for words on this build. Just to have the stamina and determination for such a long project is impressive, but to execute at this level is really amazing! I actually learned a lot about the real aircraft looking at your build thread. Your photography is also amazingly well done and it allows us to appreciate the meticulous detail work even more. I will be looking back through this build thread again and again, both for pleasure and to learn scratch building techniques. Congratulations on completing such a daunting project and thank you for sharing your amazing work.

Back to the bench

Wow truly at a loss for words on this build. Just to have the stamina and determination for such a long project is impressive, but to execute at this level is really amazing! I actually learned a lot about the real aircraft looking at your build thread. Your photography is also amazingly well done and it allows us to appreciate the meticulous detail work even more. I will be looking back through this build thread again and again, both for pleasure and to learn scratch building techniques. Congratulations on completing such a daunting project and thank you for sharing your amazing work.

 

Thank you for your kind words!

When I started this project 10 years ago it was only going to be the nose section back to the top turret!....I made a display stand for it and put it to bed. I was then encouraged by other model makers that I should continue down the fuselage to the tail!....so what was to be maybe a 2 year project turned into 10 years!....it has been an enormous challenge for me as some of the areas of the B17 I wasn't sure if I could actually replicate! ....but.....All done now and I'm not sure if I would take on such a huge project again!....we shall see!