Level 4 Model Kit Boeing B17-G Flying Fortress Bomber Aircraft 1/48 Scale Model by Revell

This kit's molds have been around for a long time and despite that it is still a great, highly detailed model. The interior is super detailed and fairly accurate for the scale. Problem is that most of it is not visible as is. You'll have to be creative with some battle damage if you want to see any of it. This kit is in 1/48 scale, so a man in that scale is about 1.5 inches tall. This kit is huge then! It will take up alot of shelf space. And remember this is a model kit. You will need to paint, build and finish the kit. It's really for display and will be a most impressive sight in your collection but it will take alot of time and work to make it so. It is not a toy to play with although there are moving parts. As a child my first one was just slapped together and played with, but did not last too long as some of the small parts (guns, turrets, wheels etc) are fragile even in this scale. But my intent then was for a toy, not a display piece.Overall a modeller will have a great time with this kit, and you mostly know that already if you build models regularly. For the novice, this is a hard kit to get started on, it's way too busy. But with some experience you'll be able to make a beautiful model even without many aftermarket parts.The main problem I had was with Amazon itself. I searched for "visible B-17" as Revell-Monogram has recently reissued that classic. That version has a clear half of the fuselage to display the interior, a great concept that they didn't repeat with some of the other classic models. Regardless, this kit came up on the search and I jumped on it. However I did not read through the description and ordered this instead. Again, this is NOT the VISIBLE B-17 kit even though their search took me there.Returning the kit was a very odd experience. I printed the return label and shipped the kit back. Then Amazon charged me approximately $7 each to return when the total amount was about $7. Still not happy with the way they handled that. I somehow have a credit but have been unable so far to use it, doesn't show up when I check out. So beware with any returns to Amazon.

What a fun build! I used to build tons of models as a kid since all of us would build our arsenals and wage war in our yards in California. Ships, planes, tanks, etc. I decided to get back into model building, as my older brother has been doing for many years now, and have a hobby as I have basically retired and started working part time for my employer. It took me a couple of months to put this puppy together but I am a detail person (some say I'm an anal perfectionist). The parts fit together quite well overall and I had to use very little putty to fill in what gaps there were. I took the time to do all the detail painting of the compartments of the interior and found, as my brother said, that you can't see any of it. Don't care, it was r and r for me. I spent a lot of time painting the details and glad I did. The overall finish is worth building a glass enclosed table to put her and avoid the dust factor. The only real defect was a molding problem on the bottom of one wing with a small hole and indentation where it was an incomplete fill.......... took a bit of silver and black paint and ...... flak damage! Looks great. Good model, good instructions. Hope this helps if you are wondering if it's a fun project or a chore.

This B-17G model kit is a Monogram, now Revell-Monogram, classic. It is a huge model that is fun to build. The kit has been around for a long time and is the only 1/48 scale kit available of this magnificent World War II bomber. The interior, engines, guns, and landing gear have plenty of detail for the novice and expert modeler alike. The kit also includes a bomb cart, 4 bombs and a few aircrew figures for display purposes. The instructions are straight forward, the decals are the normal Monogram-Revell quality, a little thick but fairly decent. The decals allow for two different paint schemes, either olive drab over neutral grey or an all natural aluminum finish. A nice brochure with photos and tips on how to build a diorama is also included if one desires to make a diorama to display the finished model. Plenty of aftermarket decals and other accessories for the B-17 are avialable through online hobby retailers like Squadron.com, MeteorProductions.com and SprueBros.com, to name a few. I built my model just using a set of aftermarket decals, with some hand crafted details and an airbrushed finished paint job. The completed model more than met my expectations. Most of the pieces fit together very nicely. I had to apply some putty along the bottom edge of the wing to fuselage joints and to one edge of both waist gunner windows. Other than that everything came together quite well. I am more than likely going to purchase another one soon and hang the next one from my ceiling.