Been keeping this beast under wraps for awhile, but now that it’s with its owner (albeit somewhat mauled by FedEx [8o|]) I can finally share.
The subject is “Bottoms Up II” of the 340th Bomb Group, which flew off Corsica. The planes were originally NMF until a Luftwaffe raid in May 1944 (night raid, with the NMF birds making nice juicy targets). In the aftermath, they were hastily overpainted with olive drab and, in cases, RAF Dark Green.
The HK kit is epic…there could be some improvements (props, tires, guns, interior “busyness”), but overall this thing is very close to the top tier of kits on the market. I’d call it easily equal to Trumpeter and Hasegawa, but still not reaching the rarified air of Tamiya’s latest 1/32 efforts or those of Wingnut Wings.
Aftermarket includes Profimodeller gun barrels, Relish props, HGW seat harnesses, G-Factor gear struts and Maketar paint masks. Nose art, mission markings and a few stencils courtesy of KitsWorld decals. Paints are primarily Alclad and Gunze Mr. Color.
That is a beautiful build. I can’t imagine how satisfying it was to get it completed. A build that massive would put me in an institution. I do really hope that B-17 shows up on shelves in my lifetime. I wouldn’t be able to resist that one. The kit looks like it went together really well. Bravo!
Very nice model…I’ve seen one built-up before at Vic Hobby Centre in Melbourne…quite a monster! Very impressive, brother. Thank you for sharing the pictures.
Very nice job![t$t] Would love to build that one day. As a teenager I helped the crew in restoring a B-25J here in Ohio. I heard is crashed in the Chicago area some time later.
