I recently built a B-17 and detailed the interior then covered it up when I joined the fuselage halves. Does anyone know of a good kit that I could build and make into a cutaway/has anyone done this before? I’d prefer to stay away from a B-17 just because I’ve already built this model and don’t want a squadron hanging in the living room.
AFV club had a T-34 with a clear hull.
Thad
Trumpeter has a clear-body SBD-4 and pretty much any kit can be a cut-away if you devote enough time to the innards… someone recently posted a Ju-87B that they cut away to show off all their scratchbuilding.
There are a number of kits out there with transparent parts to do that- some in virtually every genre. They do not stay in production that long, so you may have to pick them up at show flea markets or eBay. Oldest kit I can remember is the old Monogram transparent Mustang. All exterior skins were transparent.
thanks for the suggestions. I saw one at my local hobby store but wasnt crazy about it. I guess my real question is…in your opinion what would be a good plane to do a cutaway. I plan on buying a regular kit and making it a cutaway…partially cause I want to use my new dremel! haha I want to do a plane and I was thinking a bomber so I could cut away to see the radio room and bomb bays and such. Just trying to get some different prospectives
Back in the '70s either Scale Modeler or Scale Aircraft Modeler had an article on a cut-away build of Hasegawa’s, IIRC, Bf 109E. Historic Aviation sells a few cutaway kits. I’ve seen the Space Shuttle and F-14.
Squatch88- are you looking for kits with good interior parts included, or using after market and scratch-built items to make the interiors?
HI :
I have recently completed the TAMIYA ? ME 262 with a clear fuselage ,wings and engine nacelles . this would be a good plane to do . it fits well and , you can see any part you super-detail very clearly .
The other option is find a plane you like in 1/48 scale such as a P-40 , P51 etc . and have at it . Tanker-builder
Currently building a 1/32 Trumpeter P-40 B. It has a beautifully detailed engine. Then I realized that when I closed up the fuselage, so you can’t see any of it. I was planning to do a cutaway of one of the side panels, when I noticed that the engine turned out off-center, by a noticeable amount! My fault or Trumpeter’s, I’m not sure. But I lost interest in showing off the engine when I saw that, and closed everything up tight. Could have save a lot of time by not building the dang engine!
yes I am looking for a any model that has good cutaway potential, it doesn’t have to be designed to be a cutaway. Preferably one with already good detailed interior, the Revel B-17 I built had great interior parts, and I covered them up when joining the two fuselage halves…wish I hadn’t. I’m not much for scratch building the entire interior at this point. I was thinking bomber just because there is a radio room and bomb bay and navigators and gunner positions.
Check out some of the Zoukei-Mura kits:
Nowhere cheap, but chock-full of enough details, they are begging to finished as a cut-away.
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
that ME 262 that tanker suggested is a really good clear sided kit that builds up superfast and easy just like all of Tamiya’s kits. Maybe just maybe if you would consider another B-17 Monogram makes there B-17 with a clear side I was just lucky enough to find one at my LHS a few weeks ago the owner bought someones stash so my gain
I think one requirement is whether you can get good interior reference material. Not all aircraft will have enough reference material. My suggestion is to go through reference material looking for an aircraft that has the best drawings of interior detail. You can find some kits for most aircraft today. Reference material should show colors of all interior parts in the area where you anticipate cutaway.
I will mention too that some folks start with a Guillows balsa wood kit and make very detailed static scale models from them. You can leave the covering off in areas to make a “cutaway” model. Instead of tissue, if the prototype was a metal skinned aircraft, use thin sheet styrene, or card stock to simulate the outer skin. If you do cutaway of wing areas you will have to do your own ribs, as the ribs on those flying models typically do not use scale rib spacing, nor is the shape and construction of ribs scale.
Hi :
Seems I remember some of the old MONOGRAM kits did have clear sides on some releases .I don’t remember any offhand ,but the B-17 . Now TAMIYA and HASEGAWA have had some as well as for armor there are a few The " BRONCO" light armored recon vehicle comes to mind .
I don’t remember what it’s called , but there’s some out there .Come to the ALAMO SQUADRON doings and hit the vendors. That’s what I do .