kkarlsen

Just to be absolutely sure, I made an insert at the point where the nose attaches to the fuselage, for the Monogram. A perfect circle, except for the top by the windshield, the nose is clearly flattened. 3-4 mm in 1/32 scale. Kent

Hi Graig, I've tried to take a closer look at the nose of the HK B-17G. Starting from scratch, outlining the Monogram B-17G fuselage part, scanning it and enlarging it by x 1,5. Superimposing this with the HK fuselage part, I get the same result as with the Air Corps drawing. HK fuselage and nose superimposed with the Monogram outline (in blue). I'm not sure but it looks like, if you move the nose part up by 3-4 mm's and would be able to bend or flatten the HK part at the top, where it connects to the fuselage, making it 3-4 mm's flatter on the top, it's almost perfectly aligned to the Monogram profile of the nose... Sketch showing the HK fuselage with a corrected nose cone (in red) The windows would also move up by 3-4 mm's? If you shorten the HK fuselage parts at the front, you would get closer to the length of both the Monogram fuselage and the Air Corps drawings. HK fuselage length: 63 cm/ Monogram fuselage length: 41,6 x 1,5 = 62,4 cm/ Air Corps Drawing: 62,5 cm You would also get closer to the correct tail fin outline. Hope this is of some use: Kent

To be honest Craig, I haven''t looked too much at the nose yet. I will 'study' your observations, to see what can be done. Something has to be done about the 'dropping' though, I'm not quite sure what, but it's necessary to get the glass part to fit, after I have removed some of the bottom part of the nose. Cheers: Kent

Your absolutely right, many plans are as unreliable as you and I... If you have more sources available, it's always a good idea to check for consistency. But In this case, with the Air Corps plans, you can check if the measurements fit the drawing. One could argue that if the Air Corps manufacturing plans are off, all B-17's would look a lot more like the HK kit. It's not my intention to turn this thread into a discussion of what or who's right. As Brahman, I'm just trying to get closer to 'the look' of this 'iconic' aircraft. So, knowing this and being the lucky owner of this kit, what can be done? Well, maybe the best approach is to build it straight out of the box, not trying overcome it's flaws. You will have a finished build, looking like the real thing and be happy with it. If you are suffering from AMS, it looks like you are in for an almost impossible task, as almost all the parts of this kit will have been affected by this. In this build, I will however attempt to fix the major issues of the kit and not all of the minor ones. It will become a bumpy ride for sure, but I hope in the end, I will have a result looking a lot closer to the old Monogram B-17G kit. You are of course welcome to 'tackle along'. Cheers: Kent

Hi Guy's, I think everyone who has been looking at the HK B-17, has been wondering what's going on. There's obviously something off with the front fuselage, it just looks a little 'plump'. Craig's (brahman104) work, trying to overcome some of the issues, has inspired me to take a closer look at this. To get my bearings on this, I started by searching for online plans/blueprints of the B-17. There are several available and I downloaded the largest one I could find... This is one I got, I know nothing of it's origins, but it's very detailed, rivet lines etc. Next I downloaded the fuselage Blueprints of the B-17G from the Air Corps Library. I stitched them together to get the full extend of the fuselage. When I superimpose this plan with one from the internet in photoshop, I get this: Maybe it's not easy to see at first, but at the bottom of the fuselage there is a discrepancy of approximately 7-8 mm's in 1/32 scale (shown in blue) The front of the nose is also 'dropping' compared to the Air Corps drawing, by approx. 3 mm's. At the point where the nose cone is attached to the fuselage, the Air Corps drawing is 65 mm. (The HK kit is ca. 72 mm) I'm not sure, but if the wrong plans were used, this could explain why the HK Models kit is having the odd look. Btw. the Monogram fuselage is an almost exact match to the Air Corps drawing ( x 1.5) I really hate to be the bearer of bad news. What are your observations? Am I completely off? Please share any thoughts on this. Cheers: Kent

Your right Craig, inspired by your work, I've spend some time trying to figure out what is wrong with the HK B-17 kit. When you look at the old Monogram kit, it's quite obvious that there's 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'. I will post my findings soon... Cheers: Kent

The 'Ninak' Liberty Engine exhaust has been put straight into the mold I will need another four for the two Liberty Engines. The 'Ninak' Exhaust looks to be an almost exact match to the ones fitted on the Aeromarine... Cheers: Kent

Wohoo! My 'Anniversary' order finally arrived yesterday. It's been 'en route' New Zealand - Denmark twice, Since customs didn't give any notice the first time, it was returned to NZ... So I'm quite happy the kits finally arrived. Especially since I needed the exhausts from the Ninak Liberty Engine for the Aeromarine build. Cheers: Kent

Guess I will just put this here for a start... First off, I will not in any way be attempting to finish this within the GB time frame - But as it is a 'Multi-Engined' kit, here we go... The subject of this build, will be this very well known 'ship': Boeing B-17G-70-BO 43-37675 (VE-N) / 'Trudie’s Terror' / 'Patches' / 'Flak Magnet'. 532nd Bomb Squadron 381st Bomb Group, based at Ridgewell Airbase UK.

The truck is coming along... Chassis assembled. Cab. The resin wheels are the really an improvement to the skinny rubber wheels of the kit. Thanks for looking in: Kent

Replacement has arrived for the HK 'Dambuster'. Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 'Late Production'... One of my top three airplanes, a 'must have' in my book. Although it will require a lot of work, I'm happy with this. Cheers: Kent

Wow, this is just great stuff Graig... I will pull out my Monogram B-17 from the stash immediately and follow along... Keep it coming! Cheers: Kent

Looking forward to this Kevin, although the 'Battle of Britain' Me 109's always annoyed me, they are somehow a part of our 'dna' too. Cheers: Kent

I've decided that the diorama would need a vehicle of some sort. So I've been through my stash to see if I had something that would be fitting this theme... The one i chose is a Opel Blitz truck, the small type from Revell (used to be a ICM kit) Although it's only 1/35 if think it will fit the overall scale of the pieces of the diorama. I was able to pick up some aftermarket kits for this from Dnepro model: A detailing set with some etch and a couple of resin doors. Resin wheels to swap out the rubber ones from the kit. And a resin canvas cover, The resin canvas was a little disappointing so, I've started adding some paper tissue to add some detail to it. Primed everything with german dark grey... The wooden parts have had the 'wood' treatment (wooden deck tan + oil paint for the grain. I will later use the 'hairspray' method to add some chipping of the finished paint layer... Well it's a nice little break from the Aeromarine project, while I'm waiting for some additional parts to arrive... Cheers: Kent

Thank you for your interest in this 'adventure' into the Aeromarine's. Right now I'm just focusing on getting on with the build, which will probably be dragging along for many months ahead... I think Kevin is right, this build is way off the beaten track, even to my own liking at times. Maybe I should consider doing a book myself, if the interest still is there when the build is done. Lets see how it all pans out... Cheers: Kent