Scale Aviation Modeller International – April 2019

THE B-17 FLYING FORTRESS

T

he B-17 was primarily

employed by the USAAC

in the daylight strategic

bombing campaign of World

War II against German industrial

and military targets. The United

States Eighth Air Force, based at many

airields in central and southern

England, and the Fifteenth Air

Force, based in Italy, complemented

the RAF Bomber Command’s night

time area bombing in the Combined

Bomber Ofensive to help secure air

superiority over the cities, factories

and battleields of Western Europe

in preparation for the invasion

of France in 1944. The B-17 also

participated to a lesser extent in

the War in the Paciic, early in World

War II, where it conducted raids against

Japanese shipping and airields.

but as usual, I remain sceptical

about trying to replicate tubes

using lat etched, preferring

to consult my references and

use some 0.2 and 0.3mm lead

wire ixed with self-adhesive

aluminium foil. The engineering

of the main wheels is neat,

with separate hubs and tyres

and a tapered it allowing them

to be mated after painting,

the hubs with semi-gloss

black and the tyres with Mr

Hobby H77. Typical of Airix’s

recent releases, the tyres have

prominent lattening, so some

care is needed in inal location.

I left of the dorsal turret until

this point to simplify masking,

but there’s no problem in

constructing it as a stand-

alone item and just slotting

it into place at the end of the

build; there’s not a great deal

of detail in the internals, but

in this case I built up the guns

with the Master barrels before

itting. The inal details were a

few antennae scattered around,

the Master barrels added to

the tail turret, and the waist

guns itted with the etched

ammunition belts added as

part of the interior detailing.

CONCLUSION

Airix are to be commended

for bringing us a modern

model of a remarkable and

unsung RAF aircraft. The

Eduard etched parts increase

the level of inesse markedly,

but perhaps go a step further

than most modellers will want,

especially in some of the detail

in the darker regions of the

fuselage! Using them will be a

case of balancing enthusiasm

and practicality, which the

individual will need to judge.

Thanks to Airix for

the review sample, and to

Eduard for the etched sets.

APRIL 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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