FSM reviewer Chuck Davis, known for tackling big projects, has his hands full with HK Models’ 1/32 scale B-17. Follow along as he sends periodic updates of his progress. After part cleanup and preparation he has begun painting and interior construction.
HK's B-17 is a huge kit with lots of detailed parts. That means the toolmakers had their work cut out for them making sure the parts trees popped out of the molds cleanly. This results in marks from the pins used to do this, known as ejector pin marks. There are quite a few as you would expect, but most won't be visible and the others are easy to fill or scrape away.
Here’s a shot of the interior showing the ejector-pin marks. Some are “outies” that require scraping, and some are “innies” that require filling.
I used a couple of different fillers for the ejector-pin marks — Tamiya gray putty for most and Deluxe Material Perfect Plastic Putty for the hard to reach areas.
In order to create the earlier E/F fuselage, HK mold a fuselage with unstaggered waist gun windows. They did this by creating an insert that blocked the late-G window — but you can still see the outline on the right hand fuselage. A bit of filler should address this.
HK made a couple of errors on the ailerons. First, engraved outline for the trim tabs are missing from the lower surfaces and, second, on a real B-17 the right hand aileron does not have a trim tab.
I filled the trim tab outline on the right aileron, and scribed the tab underneath the left. I experimented with a couple of ways to replace the ribs I sanded off in the process. I tried using wire and stretched sprue. Looks like sprue is the way to go …
Large ejector-pin marks mar the flaps and it’ll require major work to remove them. Then again, most photos of B-17s show the flaps up; I like that solution!
HK executed the substantial landing gear well; even the brake lines are included.
The detailed parts for the Wright Cyclone engines fit together perfectly. Painting and weathering will make them a visual highlight of the model.
That’s a ton of ordnance — so to speak. Each 500-pound bomb comprises five parts, including a separate fuse for the tail.
The nose is stuffed! In addition to the many parts, numerous details are molded on bulkheads and fuselage walls.
Ooops! Don’t load that ammo box or the rounds will fall out. Let me add a bottom to the box …
That’s better. A little thin sheet styrene and cement took care of the problem on this and several other ammunition boxes.
The .50-caliber machine guns look nice out of the box. Each consists of separate main receiver body, handles, sight, and barrel. The appropriate mounts are also included for each position. I did think the cooling holes on the barrels were a bit indistinct, however.
HK cleverly engineered the kit so most of the gun barrels can be installed from outside after construction and painting — very handy for avoiding broken barrels. However, the ball mounts for the nose guns are molded with the barrels rather than the guns. I found a replacement at my local craft store: perfectly sized metal beads with a hole in the center. These will allow me to assemble the ball to the gun and mount the barrel after finishing the kit. The kit includes spare barrels, so I won’t even need to modify the kit guns.
Many hours pf preparation later, and I was finally ready to paint. Contrary to popular belief, most B-17s were natural metal on the inside except where there was insulation. For visual interest, I used a dull dark green shade for the cockpit (Testors Model Master European dark green) and a standard interior green for the radio room and nose (Tamiya NATO green). The center section will be natural metal.
At some point, I think I’m going to have problems taking pictures — this is a huge kit! I added the separate nose and tail sections to the main fuselage to ensure good fits and alignment, and prevent ugly seams. The bare plastic areas and the tail will be painted with Testors Model Master Metalizer aluminum.
I made a start on the radio room. A patchy coat of NATO Green breaks up the monotony. I also added the nonskid texture to the center walkway, a common feature on Flying Fortresses.
Cockpit construction began with a coat of Testors Model Master European dark green. Notice the detail on the center console with all throttle, mixture, and other controls represented. Clever engineering and smart molding makes assembly simple.
To save time during wartime production, wood was used for some equipment on B-17s, including ammo boxes, tables, and doors. This is the navigator’s table from the nose. A cost of Tamiya buff followed by a clear coat allows me to add wood grain with oil paint.
Looking more like bizarre pieces of candy, these are the assembled and painted oxygen bottles that will be attached throughout the airplane. I use as many containers and part holders as I could find to organize items as I built the kit — this plastic bin came from a dollar store.
HK supplies a decal for the instrument panel that you apply to a backing panel. The decal just has the instruments though — there are no markings to align it with the instrument openings.
I made marks at opposite ends of the backing plate through the instrument faces with a silver pencil. Placing the decal instruments over these marks aligned the dials with the holes in the panel.
I’m always looking for time savings when doing a review. Here’s one of my favorites: Why apply dots of clear paint to simulate glass when you can use gla ... well, plastic? I cut a piece of .005-inch clear sheet plastic to size and placed it in the recess for the backing panel.
Mounting the instruments behind the clear sheet creates a sandwich — much neater and a lot faster than trying to place clear paint in each opening.
I took a break from the interior to prepare the exhausts and turbochargers for metallic paint. The molded in holes in the exhausts seemed too shallow so I bored them out. (This kit is so big I did this with a power drill!)
Flying Fortress indeed! I painted the .50-caliber machine guns and separate barrels with Testors Model Master Metallizer gunmetal, then dry-brushed them with Model Master steel; the handles were painted flat black. Because the guns, differ depending on where on the aircraft they are mounted, I tagged each one for ease of identification later. After painting they went back into bins based on which room they occupy.
In common with many B-17 kits, HK allowed a shape error to creep in at the nose. Just ahead of the cockpit windows, a real B-17 fuselage flattens out in cross section. HK — and others — mold this as a true circle, which distorts the cockpit windows. I am fortunate to live near a B-17E being restored, so I shot this photo that shows how the top of the nose flattens near the cockpit.
This shot also shows the flat spot just in front of the windscreen. Almost impossible to fix, this error doesn’t detract too much from the overall look of the kit.
Interior detail includes the pilot’s panel affixed to the roof of the cockpit. I kept the supports molded into the windscreen opening to avoid breaking the thin cockpit sill; I'll remove them once the section is mounted to the airframe.
Here’s the navigator and bombardier office fitted out with Norden bombsight and wood ammunition boxes. There are no positive locators for the boxes, so I didn't glue these until the nose guns and ammo chutes were fixed in place — an interesting challenge. Note the gooseneck light; look inside the shade and there’s a bulb molded in there!
There’s a lot of detail on the bulkheads. A superdetailer could have a field day wiring the back of the instrument panel. Be careful of part alignment: The ammo box attached to the roof of the nose actually rests on top of the black box on the right.
The cockpit looks complete after painting the throttles, mixtures knobs and other details. A black wash in the slots adds depth. I wish HK Models had included a Boeing logo for the center of the control wheels; I simulated one with a white pencil.
Cockpit wall details include various cables, controls, and other items. The circuit board panel was detailed with a white pencil run vertically in three lines to simulate switches. The panels are also home to some of the many oxygen tanks in the aircraft.
Here’s the full cockpit ready for install — plenty of detail and everything fits well. About the only thing to be added would be fabric seat belts and some placards.
Here are the bomb bay items ready for install. The bombs lack stencil and band markings, and the fins are hard to align. I trimmed the front and back edges of the side panels holding the bombs a little so they fit against the bulkheads without messing up their alignment in the fuselage.
HK’s Fortress is fitted with a set of radios all molded as separate items. This helps detail painting considerably. Note also the wood table for the radio operator, again using artisit’s oils for the grain.
Here’s the radio room. There is plenty of detail fore and aft which will be visible if you leave off the radio operator’s window.
Note how tight thing fit, especially between the ammo box up high, the ammo chute and gun, and the table and bulkhead. Thankfully, all of these subassemblies wen together splendidly. I probably should have left the bombsight off until near the end though for its safety.
The cockpit, including the large, sturdy wing spars molded in place, fits snuggly.
Here you can see the aft spars running through the radio room. Look like the wing has plenty of support.
The waist features numerous details including the ball turret support and mechanism. It lacks ammunition boxes on the support however. Notice the wood ammo box for the waist gun and the black nonskid texture in this area as well.
Detail crams the tail position and includes ammo racks that you’ll never see again — especially since one of them broke loose when I glued the fuselage together … oops!
I was right: This kit pushes the boundaries of my photo booth. But it was worth a bit of overhang to see all that gorgeous detail in place.
HK molded substantial reinforced locating pins for the wings. Also, a unique and sturdy “tab and slot” arrangement provides positive placement and support at the wing root.
The wings feature cleanly molded and petite surface detail. However, a sneaky line of flash mars the inside the gear wells and needs to be removed.
The detailed landing gear bays build up as a roof with four walls. Be sure to clean up the sprue attachments points and tightly clamp the units during assembly to prevent problems fitting everything into the inboard engine nacelles.
Big kits require a lot of muscle. Clamping didn’t eliminate seam lines on the engine nacelles, but the assembly was sturdy.
Airbrushing base coats of olive drab and neutral grey on this beast would have taken forever, so I brought out the heavy artillery to paint it and used Tamiya spray cans instead.
I post-shaded the base coats with lightened shade of the base colors applied in random patches. This big B-17 present quite the canvas for modelers wishing to go all out with weathering and finishing techniques. I could have spent many more hours on this aspect alone — but my deadline was approaching.
Continuing with the turbocharger work, I discovered that drilling out the ends was wasted effort. I’d assumed the ends would be visible like an exhaust, but they aren’t. Rather they are tucked neatly behind the engines. You can see the detail, including the separate exhaust with vane.
I started painting the turbochargers with a coat of Testors Model Master Metallizer burnt metal.
Patches of Tamiya clear blue and dark brown replicated heat effects on the pipes.
Finally I dry-brushed the turbo-chargers with Metalizer aluminum followed by a Flory Models black wash, then installed the equipment in the wings.