Gil Hodges Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 I've started in on building the HK 1/32 B-17E/F Flying Fortress for a client. This will be a L-O-N-G term project as he wants almost every aftermarket item available added and the model built as "Old 666", the B-17E that fought off a dozen or more Zeros on a mapping mission over Bougainville in '43. I decided to start with the Eduard Brassin engines. The kit engines are indeed anemic, especially for such an expensive 1/32 kit. Each Brassin resin engine includes a sharply cast cowling, open cowl flaps, and several cowl sections in case you want to display it with the cowl off and the parts on the ground nearby. But NOTE: Eduard sells these "by the number", as in "engine #1, #2; etc. It is important that you order #1-#4 if getting all of them, or that you order the correct individual one for the correct spot on the wing because otherwise the cowl flaps may not have the exhaust cut out in the right spot! 1 of the 4 supplied to me was wrong and I had to modify the cowl flaps for that station. The resin engines are very detailed front and back. If you're NOT going to display it with the cowl off, then nothing for the back is really needed. This can save a LOT of time as one of the biggest resin casting stubs to be removed is on the firewall mount in the back. However, without the rear engine stuff, the engines need to be altered to fit onto the kit mounting pegs. This is easily done by drilling a 9/32" hole in the resin engine bank, which allows it to be slid onto the peg, and also be adjusted forward or back to get it positioned correctly inside the cowl. The Eduard instructions leave a little to be desired....the illustrations clearly show where everything goes, but they're not really numbered as to which to do in what order. To a degree this is self evident...but later on in the assembly process if you get out of place it can make adding some of the parts tougher. The other problem is that some of the parts need trimming to fit well, especially the push rods. Each of them needed trimming on BOTH ends to make them fit between the crankcase and the rocker arms. I also quickly abandoned trying to use the Eduard PE ignition wires. They appear much too flat (2 dimensional) for 1/32 and are much harder to manipulate than the solder wire I used instead. All in all, there are 45 parts that make up each engine, and that's without using anything on the back side! Here's pics of my progress this week...... Engine #4 has also been built as of tonight. More progress pics after they've been painted and I've tackled the wheel wells and SAC metal main gear. Cheers! Gil daveculp, scvrobeson, themongoose and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ron Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Welcome to LSP!! great start so far! I moved your post to work in progress. Please keep us updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Great start! Its a BIG kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircommando130 Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Nice! The 32nd F is my favorite! Cheers...Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citadelgrad Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 I dont want to overstep, but i have bought some SAC white metal gear for a build, and heard here that the soft metal can droop over time. This os going to be a BIG, no doubt magnificent bird. This is second hand info, but from people i trust here, please be careful. Engines look really great. I love B17s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Great start Gil! I do love a B-17 build..... I'll be interested to see if the SAC gear legs are a more "appropriate" length. Really looking forward to following along on this one, especially for the armament setup for Old 666. Cheers and good luck! Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 A worthy start Gil! Looking good :-) As for landing gear, as many have mentioned, SAC are made of a softer white metal, and over time, will sag. This kit does weigh a fair piece once its complete. Our own D.B. Andrus with Synthetic Ordinance Works (SOW) is working on a set of beautiful metal landing gear with the correct squat, and you can guarantee they will never, ever sag! I know he hopes to lease them in the very near future. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA brahman104 and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaeone57 Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Go, Gil, Go!!! Always good to see, "Florida" Modellers anywhere!!! LoL Alfonso Ryan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 Looks good, Gil. Always been a fan of your work through the years. Hope to catch up with you again someday at Jaxcon. I do agree with the sentiments about the SAC gear. I have had some luck drilling a hole almost through the entire length of the white metal strut, and bonding in a piece of piano wire with JB Weld, which seemed to do the trick. Cant wait to see the next update! Thor LSP_Kevin and Kaeone57 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 32 minutes ago, bdthoresen said: I do agree with the sentiments about the SAC gear. I have had some luck drilling a hole almost through the entire length of the white metal strut, and bonding in a piece of piano wire with JB Weld, which seemed to do the trick. Would be easier just to do that with the original kit gear, I would have thought! Kev Kaeone57 and RLWP 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdthoresen Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 (edited) Me too, Kev. But my customer HAD to have white metal. I will never use them again. Now, G Factor, that’s another story! Thor Edited September 8, 2021 by bdthoresen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Hodges Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 Just a pic to show some progress...... Engines are painted and done, as are the cowling inrteriors. I decided to go with the kit landing gear legs, and frankly, I'm impressed; and believe they'll do the job. I've also started painting on the wheel well interiors (oil tanks shown) so I can work on assembling the wings. Thanks for all the insightful suggestions! Gil Lee White, themongoose, Landrotten Highlander and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Hodges Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 Plodding along....Got the wheel wells painted and assembled so that the wings could be built....which also allowed for adding the gear actuators to the gear so that they can be added at the end of the build. The fit of everything has been "tight", but overall quite good. The wing seams were pretty good overall, though the side exhaust inserts needed more filler than elsewhere. Wings are basically assembled, minus some pe details on the leading edge intakes, the landing lights, and the wingtip lights. Note the silver screening I added to some of the intakes...the kit has a couple of screens, but leaves just "holes" for the other 4 in the leading edge. The props and supercharger exhausts assembled...the detailing of the waste gates on the rear of each is very good. Also, the kit gives you a choice of the narrower blades for the "E (as here), but also includes the later paddle blades for the "F" too. It's nothing fancy, but progress is progress and the wings are 95% done, so it's been a good week! GIL Landrotten Highlander, Out2gtcha, Ol' Scrapiron and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircommando130 Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 Gen, Savage would be happy with your progress! Cheers...Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Hodges Posted September 17, 2021 Author Share Posted September 17, 2021 I've begun working on the fuselage....added the "E" nose and tail to both of the fuselage halves...the fit was a little better than I expected for such a large kit. The next step was adding a wash to the interior and many of the detail parts.... While not overly difficult, it was tedious....each fuselage half taking almost an hour each.... But, I can now actually start working on the interior parts themselves; AFTER first studying all of the Eduard interior sets to see what needs adding and/or modification to use them. There will also be quite a bit of detail painting that will be time consuming....but then that's the nature of this big beast. More pics when I have some significant progress to show! GIL Sparzanza, Landrotten Highlander, Dadeo911 and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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