Airfix 1/72 Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

AIRFIX 1:72 BOEING B-17G FLYING FORTRESS

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 15 March 2009

Kit Details:

Airfix 1/72nd scale Boeing B-17G (Kit N° 05005). Produced in France

Aircraft History:

The B-17? You really should know. The “G”-version was the major plague for the Reich, with an exsanguinous Luftwaffe unable to stop the bombing raids, which seemingly only feared the FLAK artillery. The intervention of the Me-262 and the Me-163 was so marginal, that the Bombing Command not even bothered to camouflage their planes! Otherwise, how should a sturdy fortress with 12 (!) MGs be successfully attacked?

The Kit:

Poor old Airfix! Where have the days gone when you were state of art? Before another statement, let me tell you that I have 118 Airfix kits in my collection (72 of them still to be build), i.e., I do like Airfix kits.

But this one…

In a sturdy top-opening box you get some 80 parts in “silver” styrene and about 20 blurs of clear transparencies, with no sprues to speak of, just the usual “trees” and many parts floating around loosely. You notice immediately that the molds are very worn, especially the ugly, distorting and malformed “transparencies”. There are also lots of flash to be cleaned off and it's very heavy in some places. Surface detail is raised, this kit clearly being from the riveter era. Also the usual gimmicks are present (rotating turrets, movable control surfaces, retractable landing gear), no separate engines, very basic cockpit/bomber area, broomstick-like MGs., etc. I’m very far from being an expert, but the canopy seems totally wrong to me (see boxart).

Instructions:

The old style fold-out longish sheet, with a short history/data in 5 languages, the usual recommendations/symbols explanation, 10 clear and unmistakable construction steps [*] and a four-view coloring/decaling diagram for one version. No detail painting instructions, external colors coded for the extinguished Airfix range.

Construction:

I won’t bore you. I will sum up: Lots of X-acto-cleaning, test fitting, filing down, filling and sanding - bad fits everywhere. Each “transparency” needs filling, sanding, polishing and brushing with Klear. The gear legs have to be mounted from the inside of the lower wing halves, the movable control surfaces are better being glued fix. All MGs are mounted before assembling the fuselage and, of course, they all will break up later. Take care to not splotch your suit with the elbow grease. All OOB.

Normally I glue the wings before the tailplanes, but this time I went the other way around: I glued the tailplanes first, taking care to get them in a right angle to the vertical fin. After filling/sanding this, I glued the left wing, getting the dihedral as good as I could (which in my case always means an approximation to what it should be) and using the tailplanes as a guide. The next day I built a rig with Lego (see pictures), which had a movable column under the right wing, the later being positioned by moving the column and comparing the wingtips with a caliper.

I brush-painted (something I nearly never do with camouflage, and a sign that my patience-tank was nearly empty) the leading edges with Gunze´s H12 matt black, the rudder and elevators with Humbrol H10 glossy service brown, the upper nose and the inner sides of the cowlings with Revell R66 matt olive, the fuselage bands with Humbrol H2 glossy emerald green and the wings “Vs” with Humbrol H14 glossy French blue. After masking I airbrushed 2 coats of Humbrol H69 glossy yellow, which maybe was too old and showed rather “creamy”. More masking and the final coat of Humbrol H11 silver was airbrushed. At least the model looks colorfull! Decals please see further below.

Colour Schemes:

Just one, the overall silver “a bit o`lace” (must have been a very sexy girl), 8th Air Force, 447th Bombardment Group.

Decals:

Typically Airfix: excellent (but sparse) decals for a bad kit! The decals are thin, matt and with very transparent carrier film. They performed superbly on the riveted surface, only needing a drop of MicroSol for the “final touch”.

Conclusions:

Dear Mr. Airfix: you have a glorious past, so why defame yourself with kits like this one? You are even selling it at a higher price than Academy’s B-17s! Although I really like Airfix kits, I will be honest about this one: recommended for nobody!

References:

Some incense sticks and herbal tea to keep me calmed. Ommmm!

[*] It is a fact that Airfix instructions, although not “modern” and despite the lack of detail painting information, are always understandable for everybody, this being supported by the different grooves, rails, guides, etc in the fuselage and wing halves which help positioning. Perfect for beginners and AMS-cure.

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