I am looking to build a 1/72 B-17G in the markings of “Shack Happy” of the 447th Bomber Group, 708th Squadron, which was the aircraft my grandpa flew in. I want this to be a nice model, so I want to get the best kit out there. Any suggestions? Also, if anybody knows about decals for that plane, bomber group, or squadron, I would love to know, as it would save me a LOT of time!
hey Cmotz;
well you have Academy & Hasegawa kits that scale I’ve built the Hasegawa’s kit a while back but the only draw back is that the panel lines are raise not recessed and the interiors are really great for that scale, I heard the Academy’s is a little bit better but the tend to have some mold release marks on some of the parts, as for the decals there is a few companies out there, try with Superscale they have Megga amounts of decals for the 17’s
I heard that Airfix re released a B17 a couple of years ago.
Does anyone know if this was a re-hash of the 60’s kit or did they
re box someone elses kit?
The academy kit is much nicer than the Hasegawa by the way.
I don’t know much about reviewing kits, but I’ve built both Hasegawa and Academy kits (well, the B-17F at least) and i would have to say that i liked Hasegawa better. Ascademy’s build process is a bit cumbersome (i can’t find a better word). Not to say Academy isn’t good, but you get different levels of detail. The Hasegawa kit will include dropped or raised flaps even. Don’t know where you can get decals. sorry.
The “new” Airfix B-17G kit (1/72) is a “copy” (under license) of the Minicraft kit.
I’d rank the kits, in ascending order,: Airfix, Matchbox, Hasegawa and Academy on top of the list.