Chango

Forget the B-24... I want a 1/32 B-29!

Holy hell Nigel! I just found this and man... that's amazing mod work! Sorry if it's already mentioned somewhere but what are your plans for the rivets?

Wow Nigel, that job DOES look like a special kind of trip through model hell. Gotta say I'm still tempted to do them for reasons only my subconscious understands... maybe I'll wait until I only have to pay half-price to suffer a hundred hours of torment. But for what it's worth they look awesome in the pics...

Thanks! I've got a huge build log on the Bismarck over on Modelwarships.com if you're interested: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=121249 I also plan to ask LOTS of questions as things progress on the B-17; I've been trying to edumacate myself by reading up on the subject and made 2 trips to my local museum B-17+ taken plenty of pictures. I made an unfortunately unsuccessful plea to the museum to let me get inside it; the museum guys said the only way to get in is to be a volunteer because of liability issues... wish I had the time to do it!

Sorry, my build has stalled out for the short term and I haven't made any more progress besides some (not yet finished) cleanup on the door frame. We're selling our house and my spare time has gone to finish all that deferred maintenance I've been ignoring so I'd have time to build models. If nothing else, it gives a little bit of time for all that aftermarket stuff to hit the market so it's all good! I'm anxious to get going on it again though!

I would do unholy things to get a 1/32 B-29 along the lines of the HK B-17.

My B-17 is stalled out at the moment; I've had too many 1/1 scale projects in the way. Oh well... I suppose it give me time to drool over new aftermarket offerings. Anyway, I was thinking of doing a diorama of a museum plane in a museum setting with all the doors open... something I don't see very often! Still, this is a great kit and worth taking lots of extra time to plan and build special.

It seems to to me the same thing happens with every major new high priced kit that hits the market these days... first everyone naturally gets all excited over something so new and crazy, reaching a fever pitch on the release date... then when it finally hit the market, everybody tears the kit apart, searching for every possible error real or imagined, posts their "findings" online and the aftermarket swoops in to make a killing. Then everyone starts modding to high-heaven; some turn out masterpieces, some fail utterly and give up in despair and most end up never being finished because the builder gets disheartened over this or that perceived fault that is beyond their ability to fix/alter. It's kinda like a shark feeding frenzy, really! Anyway, back in the model ship world I got completely swept up in "Bismarck Madness" when the 1/200 Trumpy kit was released and now we are doing it all over again with the 1/200 Hornet... I'd hate to admit how much money I've spent on the Bissy since it was released last November... and I quake in my boots when I see all the aftermarket stuff on it's way for the B-17! Honestly, it's not a bad idea to "stay out of the water" until things have died down. It's fun to get excited over a new kit but it's more fun to build it sucessfully!

A 1/32 B-17 could ONLY be a called a "break" by a "Big Bismarck" builder! This thread isn't DOA; my wife decided we have to move so my project has been a 1/1 scale Bunglaow for the last couple of weeks. I'll be back!

How about a 1/32 B-17 group build? There is an awful lot of interest in the HK kit right now!

Nigel, now that you are knee deep into putting them together, what do you think about setting up the flaps so they are moveable? In my mind it would be the best of both worlds; having them to show off when the mood strikes you but be able to put them up (and have them stay up) so they don't get damaged and to be more "accurate" on a parked B-17...

Oh wow! If you did some forced perspective outdoor shots it would be hard to tell that's a model!

I brought this up in another thread but a B-17G with staggered waist guns in O/D and grey is on display at the Hill Airforce Base museum. http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5649 It's a technically wrong restoration but it IS a real plane!

That would be a good idea! Looking at photos, the door interior has a thin edge and 2 rectangular formed "frame" for strength. it might be best to shape the kit door like the frame and glue a thin styrene door on the outside...

My inspiration for my build is my local museum plane "Short Bier"; It's a late G with staggered gun mounts. I've done some research since and found out the museum plane is all wrong! The original Short Bier was a B-24; the museum plane was produced too late in the war to see service in Europe and was sold to the Brazilian Air force after the war. A local businesman and bomber vetran bought it and had it painted up like his old plane. Virtually everyone does their WW2 era planes as they appeared in WW2 but I'm thinking of directly copying a museum plane and/or doing a diorama of a museum plane on display, complete with little ribbons, signs, ect. I am also thinking of doing "Sentimental Journey" as she appears today...