Dennis7423

More pictures coming soon! Now that the wife and I have moved into and are settled into our new house (I have my very own hobby room!), I have been able to get cranking on this kit again. I am motivated to finish it before a regional show on September 28th, so the mojo is currently strong with this one. I have begun the final prep on the wings for paint, and will hopefully be getting some paint on them this coming Monday. After the wings are completed, all that's left are landing gear legs, a few fiddly bits, weathering, and the aerial wires. The end is definitely in sight! Stay tuned. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Ernie, you've outdone yourself. Truly an impressive and beautiful bird! You should be very proud. - Dennis S. . Thornton, CO USA

Looks great Ernie! You should be real proud of this one :-) - Dennis S. . Thornton, CO USA

Ernie that's what I was thinking too, but they seemed so round, and not so oval-shaped. Hence my suspicion/curiosity :-) - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Tons of it. I'm curious if this is a Mk.II, as the nacelles seem rather round. But I dunno! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

I don't suppose anyone makes SBC's (Small Bomb Containers) in 1/32, do they? I usually like to do things just a tad different than most ;-) - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Thanks David, I appreciate it. I intend to build her as her earlier war self, with less bomb tallies, and 100 Sq codes. The kit codes are a tad on the light side, so I will replace them with more suitable (read, masks) codes. She's so large, that all the markings, sans nose art, should be painted on. That's my intent. Eduard Big-Ed sets are on the way, and I'll grab up the Barracuda wheels once they are released. I saw Roy mentioned 10 new sets that he will (hopefully) debut at Nats in Chattanooga, so I'm curious to see if he has any others for the big Lanc. Maybe he'll bless us with a new pilot's seat! I presume, however, that most will be for Airfix's new Hellcat. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Ernie, I'll be picking up a set of the smoothies for my build, which I hope to get started in the next few months once the B-17G is finished. I plan on building mine as Phantom of the Ruhr:

Looks like the new wheels haven't hit the website quite yet. I wasn't able to find them. However, ordering these is a no-brainer. For those who haven't ventured into any of Roy's Barracuda resin products, do so without any hesitation whatsoever. His stuff is top notch, and priced beautifully to boot. He provides well-researched, thoughtful upgrades for many kits. I'm yet to receive anything from him that includes even the slightest hint of a resin bubble, broken part, or soft mold. Some of the best resin out there. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Those smaller vents in the lower wing were to eject the cartridge links that held the individual rounds together in the ammo belts. One vent for spent cartridges (joined together in one large vent), one for cartridge links (one small vent for each gun). You nailed it! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

I have to be honest, I didn't realize how much difference there was between a regular F-4 and the Spey powered ones! This was very, very informative; and very, very well done! Thanks! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Anyone else having any luck finding good interior reference photos of the nose? I've been striking out. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Moving right along! Looking good. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Eduard has a photo-etch set upcoming for the HK Lancaster cockpit. Interested to see what they improve on and what missing details they bring to the table. Additional scratch building/conversion seems inevitable, but curious to see what their set improves right out of the package. Window masks are on their way, too! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

I noticed too when fondling the kit the other day that the Navigator's upper hatch needs a little TLC on the exterior, and even more if you choose to open it (which I hope to do). It's shown as a metal rectangular panel that spans symmetrically across the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit windows. Shouldn't be too hard to correct. Excellent work so far, it's really coming along nicely. I am going to use your build to help correct mine, too, when its time. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Off to a great start Bill! Looking forward to progress shots. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Looking good Peter! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

All- Glad to finally join the forums here. Here's my first work in progress post, my HK 1/32 B-17G depicting my Grandfather's aircraft, 44-6888 AW-R, unofficially named "Ragged But Right". My Grandfather, Joseph Denver, was a bombardier with the 96th BG/337th BS, being stationed at Snetterton Heath and flying missions from Feb. 1945 until wars end. He completed 13 missions, received a purple heart for a piece of flak that went through his right hand, and remained in Europe after VE Day with the occupation forces, flying P-51's with the 55th FG stationed at Y-90 in Geibelstadt, Germany. I had always wanted to build a detailed and accurate representation of my Grandfather's primary bird (he flew missions of several different aircraft, which was common for a Bombardier late in the war), but 44-6888 was his main squeeze. The crew unofficially named her "Ragged But Right" and began the process of putting nose art on her, when the war ended and she was written off after a landing accident on May 11, 1945. She's the subject of one of the most popular 96th BG images since WWII, seen here: media-5331 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr She lost all power upon landing, and the pilot, Bruce Bronson (my Grandfather's best friend) was able to get the engines completely shut down before she rolled off the end of the runway, through a row of hedges, coming to rest across Eccles Road. My Grandfather slipped into dementia real bad about ten years ago, and passed away on Christmas Eve, 2017. Shortly after his passing, I came into possession of several hundred photo negatives he took during WWII, which I had developed by Film Rescue International, which does photo developments for the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. Upon getting the photos back, I was able to piece together my Grandfather's journey through Europe during and after WWII. Additionally, the photos contained dozens of detailed photos of the crash of 44-6888, which helped provide the last impetus to get this project off the ground. To this day, I don't have any photos of 44-6888 in flight or otherwise; only photos of her crashed on May 11, 1945. For the build, I decided on HK's 1/32 B-17G, complete with the full compliment of aftermarket do-dads. I didn't go through the process of fixing the shape inaccuracies of the kit, as it certainly looks like a B-17G when finished, and that was good enough for me. I added several scratch built and self-casted resin parts, to include the chin turret motors, parachutes, and individual crew life preservers. Eduard came to the rescue as well, providing several of the details for the interior. She's currently packed up, as I am in the middle of a move and don't have a desk at the moment. My wife and I close on a new house on 1/22/19, and I will have my own hobby room in the basement. Once I get a desk set back up, I will get back to work on her. The fuselage is almost complete, and the wings are near the paint stage. Not much left to do now! Without further delay, here's a smattering of photos taken along the way during the build: 18622250_10101958881323342_2387607033197495195_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Scratch build motor drive for the chin turret, along with Uschi wood grain decals for the floor. 18700134_10101971091049952_774865234760883703_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr The completed forward cockpit floor. 18581864_10101958881298392_1565577310635706018_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Starboard side of the nose, with Eduard and resin detail pieces. No interior green here! 19657209_10102040708461102_1171184228371285611_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Completed cockpit and forward nose interior. 19748461_10102040709414192_7445443816114921575_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Cockpit and Eduard instrument panel, complete with Boeing logos on the control wheels. 23472969_10102248939130172_313212922174476905_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Port side waist area. 23622374_10102248939030372_3174878160371067045_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Top turret, using the more accurate innards from the B-17E/F kit. 24232601_10102272818924872_1620211532282173634_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Ball turret. 24177082_10102271475796512_191279881460025936_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr All buttoned up, with the appropriately busy nose compartment. 20180903_102202 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 20180905_105139 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 20180905_105048 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 20180903_140122 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Paint has begun. AK Extreme Metals were used for the natural metal finish. 41045759_573396976425563_6324215403488739328_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Time for her red bands and nose stripe, using MM Insignia Red enamel. 41418398_10102634811119612_2424225514915889152_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr She's starting to look the part. The frame around the starboard front window was painted red, as was the front of the cheek gun on the port side. These little details were picked out of the several dozen detail photos from the crash. 41938677_242730879773721_2932020494754381824_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr Her smaller nose art/personal crew touch: Her buzz numbers, 888, had ears and tails added to depict 3 cats on either side of the nose. ... and here's how the stands today. The rest of the decals were applied, and a light wash as well: 42666812_2473702635979958_1751715373884899328_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42649082_270661936900512_5571247043101327360_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42633843_2201670630118226_9213430214061719552_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42627930_662491927483742_542971904454033408_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42612009_308207156634512_6888743405204013056_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42601091_281713176008644_6617723061791621120_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42611657_310386739787574_6135258768272785408_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42622703_2082137988766615_4282316491304468480_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr 42627934_691565847868586_3618207585477328896_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr That's about it for now folks. Comments and critiques are most welcome. Hoping to be able to post more progress here soon! Thanks for bearing with such a long post. And, before I forget, here's Joseph Denver, in his better years as a young hero in England during WWII: 26241290_10210747976678803_569739957_n by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Rick, I too thought the same. It would make the most sense considering how they were dropped, according to at least how the 96th did it. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Rick- Wanted to add one more thing here. My Grandfather took this photo, and it shows modifications to the Norden bomb site to accommodate low-level food drops and bombing. At those altitudes, the Norden just wasn't effective, so they went with a basic sight to assist in a little better accuracy. You can see it attached to the top of the Norden, looking like a standard crosshair: 0568.L.031 by Dennis SAuter, on Flickr HTH - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Is it just me, or are the seats really, really far from the rudder pedals and control wheels? - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Thanks! Long time lurker, first time poster. Bout time I got off the schneid and contributed around here. The B-17 is a passion of mine, thanks to my Grandfather. He passed along his copy of the 96th BG yearbook (volume I), which has lots and lots of info about Chowhound missions, of which the 96th was very active. My Grandfather, who was also rated as a pilot for the Fort, also talked about picking up groups of POW's after the war's end. He would fly them back to France and circle over the Eiffel Tower, to show them that they were indeed free. He also talked about flying to Dublin for the Picadilly Circus and parking their B-17 for a night of drinking. When they returned in the morning, another crew had taken their B-17 and flown it somewhere. They "commandeered" an A-26, which they flew back to Snetterton. He talked about how it was so war-weary that it would barely make it over the white cliffs. It just would not gain altitude. So many good stories! I am in the process of completing an HK B-17G in the markings of his bird. Perhaps I will get a WIP thread going here as well to show where I'm at. Don't want to derail this thread. Eager to see the progress on this one! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

My Grandfather was a bombardier with the 96th BG on a B-17G and spoke about the modifications for dropping food from the aircraft. They fashioned plywood floors in the bomb bay that could be released via the bomb shackles, that would then swing down and drop the food stores, which were just piled on top of the plywood floors via the radio room entrance. He said the floors were prone to break in flight or come loose once the bomb bay doors began opening, and he mentioned that they damaged many a bomb bay door during food deliveries! He loved the missions, but felt uneasy flying so low during war time. HTH - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA