My Grandfather was a pilot in the Eighth Air Force.  He was shot down on July 26, 1943 by a German fighter.  I have been researching him, his plane, his crew, etc. for the last 4 years.  After gathering as much info as I thought I could find, I decided I was ready to build a model of his bomber, a B-17F named "War Cry".  It was my intention to display the bomber in flight, struggling to get home.  My ultimate goal was to capture a moment of the drama that these heroes faced on a routine basis.

This kit is the original "Memphis Belle" release by Revell.  Or at least part of it is.  I did use the fuselage halfs and one stabilizer.  The wings are from the Monogram "G" kit, as is part of the interior.  Also used were the Verlinden detail set, Eduard exterior photoetch set, True Details damaged tail surfaces, and some minor scratchbuilding.

I started with the interior.  Using mostly parts from the Monogram "G" kit, I stripped off the molded on detail and added my own parts, using the excellent set by Verlinden along with some scratchbuilt parts. 

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 The fuselage halfs had no detail in them at all.  Ribbing was added with strip styrene, and more Verlinden details were glued in place.  

The Eduard set provides intake vents and screens, which once installed look very nice.

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The crew came from the Monogram ProModeler version of the B-17G.  A friend of mine gave his up so I could crew my bomber.  I'm not much of a figure painter, but they came out pretty good.  I wanted a man in the top turret, but couldn't squeeze him in there no matter how I carved him up.  I ended up putting him standing behind the pilot with his arm on the back of his chair.  Others are manning the machine guns.  Spent shell casings were made by cutting styrene rod and painting them brass. 

 

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To mount the B-17 in flight, I glued a section of copper pipe into the bomb bay.  This pipe would later accept a clear acrylic rod.  This system turned out to be very sturdy.

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The wings from the Monogram "G" kit were better detailed than the Revell offerings, so with slight modification to the mounting system, they were used instead.  The engines also were better than the Revell parts.

 

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I wanted the bomber to show some battle damage, so I picked up the parts from True Details.  These were nicely cast in resin and saved me quite a bit of time.  In addition to these, I added several shell holes in various places by thinning out the plastic from the inside, then poking through from the outside with a sharp blade.  This creates a jagged hole with scale thickness.

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I wanted to display an engine that had been shot out, caught fire, and shut down.  When a pilot of a B-17 shuts down and engine in flight, he could feather the prop to reduce drag.  To model this, I cut off the blades and reattached them in the feathered position.  Here you can see what looks like compared to a stock prop.  

 

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All machine guns were replaced by Verlinden parts, but the tail gun has flash covers on them.  I added these with bits of tube styrene, cut to shape.

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At this point, the model has been fully assembled, all seams fixed, windows masked, and is ready for the paint booth.  I first primed the model in silver.  A silver undercoat not only shows any unseen flaws, but provides a great base for a realistic paint chipping effect. 

In part 2 we'll see the addition of the small details and the finished model.

Kelly

1/48 Revell B-17F  Part 1	1/48 Revell B-17F  Part 2
by Kelly Quirk	by Kelly Quirk