CANicoll

John, I am very surprised at the fit problems you are having with the Revell kit. Like you, I've built several of each - Tamiya and Revell - and never ran into the fit problems you are having. Yes, Tamiya fits perfectly, but what you are seeing with the wing root gap is a huge surprise to me. But agree that the Revell wing is a better representation of the actual Mustang puttied wing. Not sure why Tamiya didn't pick up on that. I remember trying to fill in the wing with Mr. Surfacer and went mad with all of the coats needed to fill in the wing. I do seem to remember that neither Revell or Tamiya captured the oil canning of the flaps. I used AMUR's resin flaps - beautiful things! Your grafting of the Tamiya tail looks perfect. Nice work John!

Cool, thanks, Fran! I may have to splurge...

Not sure what to do with all of this. I was about to put the plane up for sale but then I opened the top and found ALL THESE GOODIES!!!. Trying to figure out if they will fit any other 1/48 B-17 kit... I have built at least half a dozen of the Monogram B-17s, including the ProModeler kit with the interior. But this takes the cake... And the goodies!! I was shocked to open the box and find all of these add-ons. I didn't know this stuff even existed, but I must have at some point as I did buy them!

US, Virginia. I bought this a while ago but settled on a different system. This one is complete, but without the various adapters (No clue where they went off to...). Does have the moisture trap attached. Here is one reference on EvilBay... And on Amazon...

I'm clearing out my closets and have finally hit the hobby closet. NOT a lot of good stuff here, but if you are interested, happy to ship to you. Warning - shipping to Canada has proven to be a problem (sorry Martin!!). This kit is still in the original wrapping - un-opened! Opened but also has a resin cockpit of unknown origin... I haven't opened these kits in YEARS!! The Fokker Kit is unopened! I've never seen this kit before. It is interesting. Bond Gyrocopter is spoken for!

Hubert. Thoughts are with you, your family and your son. 😢 Hugs, my friend.

John, Beautiful job grafting the Tamiya tail onto the Revell kit! I've built both and actually prefer the Revell kit especially for the cockpit detail. Merry Christmas! Chris

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. You all are terrific!

Carl, That is pretty much what I am thinking, too. Maybe even modify the camo scheme so that the fuselage join line is one color on each side. I still have a fair bit of body and seam work, but I want to get started painting the engines and wings. That's a whole 'nother project onto themselves...

Ernie, SOOO good to have you back! This has not been a great year, but how much can one person take? I feel for you and Joy. Glad to see you with us again. We missed you! Chris

I'm not sure how I am going to paint the beast!!!

Dry fitting all the main pieces together to see what I am up against. Size for one thing!! I think there is more styrene in the tail pieces than in most 1/72 aircraft kits. The fits don't seem horrible (he says now...) but we will see when it comes time to really put it together. First up is painting the engines and pylons which get camo colors, then painting the underside of the wings and fuselage, then the topside camo. Mostly decided how to attach the Hound Dog missile and pylon which will take a bit of work using the Dremel tool to get the pylon to meet up with the underside of the wing. Still figuring out what to do with the clear pieces...

Just some building notes before getting back to actual building. While this kit has some challenges, in a way it is like building an old kit - you have to kind of know what you are doing to make it work. There is some guess work to how things fit together (the best way, versus just fitting) and lots of opportunity for additional detailing - which, like in all bombers, nearly none of it will be visible once the fuselage is closed up. A real shame since the MC kit accurately shows the multi-level cockpit and so much could be done with the electronics - ditto the instrumentation - lots of space to take up. The lack of clarity in the clear pieces is a disappointment but will have to see if polishing helps with that at all. The fuselage is in four pieces, which makes for a much smaller box than the Italeri kit, but also now have three places where a tight fit will be needed to make the plane look right. Speaking of the fuselage - the lack of pins to properly align the halves is a big challenge. I'm literally going inch by inch with the Extra Thin trying to keep the two halves aligned. Thinking back, I probably could/should have put in some long sprue pieces under the joins to help align the fuselage pieces. Why didn't I think of that sooner? The alignment issue I hope does not come back to bite me when I get the engines attached. They COULD have put another pin at the back of the pylon to positive align the engines correctly. We will see!!

Oh, I'm sure it will! I hope the B-29 gets there soon! Must be getting there on horseback...