tomprobert

I could never turn an offer like that down, Cees! With a big Stirling waiting on the stash they’d be most useful. Thanks and let me know how much I owe. See you soon, Tom

I’m travelling up on Friday to help with my club set up and will then be there both days. Can’t wait! Will hopefully catch some of you around the 32SIG stand. Tom

This just gets better and better. As other have said previously it’s a often a struggle to determine what’s real and what’s model. Will this beauty be coming to Telford for you to show her off in all her current glory? Looking forward to catching up as always next week. Tom

Beautiful natural metal there - really looks the part. Just a heads up - the de-icer boots don’t extent around the tail and stabilisers as far as you have shown - have a look at some references and you’ll see what I mean. Tom

Don’t forget, chaps, that either Tigger Wilkes or Combat Models have most of your wish list available already - if you like vacs and scratch work that is!

I’ve built a 1/32 B-29 and although many claim they want one, the reality is it’s just too big. I’ve only ever taken it to one show and it look up over half of our club’s display space, and getting it there was a nightmare. I have a large estate car and it only just fitted in on the diagonal with the seats down. It’s just impractical to be honest. It is now stored at the back of my attic and never sees the light of say as getting it in and out the loft is very tricky. I’ve also made tentative starts on a 1/32 Sunderland and Stirling - they too are huge. It’s all well and good having these dream kits, but the reality of living with them is quite different... Tom

Hi Craig - thanks for stopping by and yes indeed this will be a Fortress I of the early daylight raids over Europe. Yes the Koster conversions are great quality. I’m after a Privateer conversion too as that’s one I’ve always wanted to do and have a spare Monogram B-24 ready and waiting... I know! Just like busses!

This reminds me of the RR Dart conversion on a B-17 water bomber. Great work!

Theoretically, that’d work, but you’d need to source the second chin turret, too. Although the XB-40/YB-40 tail turret is very similar to the standard stinger tail, there are subtle differences with the window framing due to armoured glass.

This is an XB-40 with the three window arrangement - the YB-40 retained the F-style cheek window set up. Tom

The picture Greg posted is actually an XB-40. The ball turret was indeed partially retractable which was designed to help reduce drag and help the heavier aircraft keep up with the rest of the formation when the ball wasn’t in use. Notice too the longer turtle deck over the radio room which was typical of the XB-40 as well as the unstaggered waist guns - the YB-40 introduce staggered waist gun windows which were later incorporated into the G-model. Tom

That’s not a YB-40. It is in fact a standard B-17G named ‘West End’ of the 384th BG with an experimental fixed battery of 6 x .50cals and was installed at Wright field. It was flown operationally from Grafton Underwood on a few occasions in July ‘44. The guns were actually fired by the pilot! Sadly it was badly damaged and written off after a crash landing on July 7th ‘44. In regard to a YB-40 conversion - the E/F would definitely be an easier starting point in regard to nose window arrangements, but as others have said a chin turret would need to be sourced - although this is different to the standard G model turret and has a small sighting window between the guns. The YB-40 retained a similar cheek gun window arrangement to the standard F model, whereas the earlier XB-40 retained the early three small nose windows on either side. YB-40s actually had staggered waist guns, so it does complicate things a little if you plan to use the F-kit. The earlier XB-40 retained the opposite waist window arrangement, but had a longer turtle deck which reduced the Martin turret’s range of motion. The YB-40 has the turtle deck reduced in length, enabling a full traverse for the turret. It’s a bit of a minefield doing a conversion like this! The B-17 is never an easy subject! Tom

Thanks, Jennings! It’s a fairly straightforward conversion to be honest - the Koster parts are sublime and fit the donor kit like a glove. I’m a bit apprehensive about fitting the new cockpit transparencies, but will cross that bridge when I get there. Tom

The B-17 is my all-time favourite aircraft and I've always wanted to build an early version in 1/48th scale. I bought the excellent Koster conversion a few years ago which gives you a new rear fuselage and stabilisers to convert the Monogram B-17G to an earlier B/C/D model. The conversion also comes with a Cheyenne tail turret and staggered waist gun set up to make a late G-model - parts I'd used previously: DSC_0129 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The main components are all vacuform, and are molded very crisply. There are crystal clear canopies (the B/C/D models had a different flight deck arrangement as well as a more heavily framed nose piece) as well as decals for an early USAAF B-17C/D: DSC_0123 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I decided to actually use the Revell B-17F kit, as it requires less modification to the nose than using the Monogram B-17G. However, you still have to do a fair bit of surgery to backdate the F to the earlier models. The nose needs cutting off and a section removed due to the shorter noses on the B/C/D models. The whole rear fuselage also needs removing just aft of the radio room: IMG_E1390 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The new vacform rear fuselage can then be offered up to the Revell fuselage: IMG_E1388 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Here the shortened nose has been reattached and mods carried out to the cheek windows which were the earlier style without the later enlarged cheek gun windows seen on the late E-model onwards: IMG_E1428 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr It was then a case of painting the interior and gluing everything together: IMG_1633 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_1632 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr And that's as far as things have progressed so far. All pretty straight-forward as far as conversions go, helped by the excellent quality and fit of the Koster parts. This will eventually be finished as an RAF Fortress MkI as a tribute to the pioneers of daylight bombing very early in the war. Tom

I'd been suffering from a serious case of modeller's block and had ground to a halt on all my projects and just couldn't get restarted. I'd actually built this kit on and off a while back, and all it needed was painting and decalling so in an effort to restart the mojo I splashed some Halfords and Tamiya paints on and just went for it. It's far from perfect but has got me back in the groove and keen to get going on some of the other kits I have on the go so its purpose was well-served. The decals actually represent a B-36B rather than the Mongram kit's RB-36H configuration, but all I did was fill the slots for the jets and round off the prop tips. A proper B-model would have a different bomb bay set up, different tail radar and various other slight differences but I didn't want to get bogged down making any further modifications so left it as is. Anyway, here it is: DSC_0261 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0255 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0288 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0263 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0266 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0284 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0279 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0276 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr DSC_0274 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I saw a real one of these in Datyon a few years back and it's MASSIVE - hence it's no surprise the 1/72nd version is also MASSIVE! Happy modelling, folks. Tom