I’ve had an Airfix 1/72 scale B-17G in my unbuilt model stash for some time, having bought it from the Napier model shop Platform One just before it closed down. But when I came across a cheap kitset of the B-17F Memphis Belle I had to get it.
Now that I had TWO Flying Fortresses, and the series “Masters of the Air”, based on the story of the 100th Bomb Group in WW2, was streaming I had to build them BOTH.
I’ve been in love with the Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” World War Two bomber ever since seeing the movie “Memphis Belle” decades ago. It’s a beautiful aircraft!
An odd thing I noticed was that despite the Memphis Belle being an Academy kit, and the B17G being an Airfix kit, the sprues were all from the exact same mold!
(As a result, there were likely Memphis Belle bits in the B-17G and vice-versa…)._
I started with the Memphis Belle:
Giving the interior and exterior a liberal first / final coat to make later construction stages easier I went with “Olive Drab” top and one of my many “Sea Gray” Tamiya can sprays underneath.
Despite several fiddly, tiny interior parts, I was able to complete the cockpit and navigator/bombardier nose sections without issue or any lost bits.
I even “kitbashed” some cockpit oxygen tanks by cutting sprue pieces into short lengths and painting them yellow (above, left, just behind the pilots’ seats.)
Most remarkably, when I fitted and glued the two halves of the fuselage together (with all the bits and pieces, turning turrets, and interior details, there were few to no issues!
All glued together, painted and decaled the ‘Belle looked stunning!
You could even see the oxy’ tanks in the interior!
Up next was the B-17G.
The difference between the older Memphis Belle’s B-17F, and the B-17G was the newer G had a “chin turret” – A pair of co-axial 50 caliber machine guns remotely controlled by the plane’s Bombardier mounted under their big, conical aiming window at the front of the aircraft, under its “chin”.
I didn’t want to make these two big planes looking the same and, like the P51 Mustang the B17 really was blank canvas for paint schemes, variances and “nose art”.
Different groups, squadrons and units had different color combinations to help identify their own aircraft in the gigantic formations of bombers that flew over occupied Europe during the war.
The combination I picked actually came from a screenshot of the flight simulator “DCS”, with Gloss Aluminum fuselage, Matt Yellow tail and wingtips, Matt Red engine cowlings, and Olive Drab anti-glare nose top and in-board engine (so as to not blind the pilots from looking at bright, shiny aluminum.)
Once all the bits were put together, painted and decaled the B-17G looked absolutely stunning in its glossy metal finish
With the recent experience of building the Belle, (and already having painted/constructed most of the parts) this build went together even faster and easier.
These kits were a childhood dream, and a pleasure to build.
The only problem was finding somewhere big enough to display them…
