Gird your loins, The Big Bell is due out soon.

[Heavens Eagle]

Free Time Hobbies has the new HK B-17 E/F kit up for pre-order. The pre-order price is $279.98 and is listed to be released in June.

Looking on the HK site, this looks to be a better kit than the old G kit. There are a number of extra parts as there are 3 different nose sections depending on the version you choose. I suspect that there could be even more than what I have seen on their facebook page.

Here is the box art.

 

[reconron]

1/32 scale !!! hmy: :woohoo:

 

[chukw]

I hope to buy an extra F nose from someone on down the line- could I use it backdate my G model?

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I know what you mean Chuck! What I want is the older type stinger tail gun. The Cheyenne emplacement was late G's while most of the interesting aircraft had the earlier stinger.

Also while I am sure this uses the same wings as the G kit I wonder if they made corrections to the fuselage diameter. I read someplace that the G was a touch thick through the middle.

You can see some of the CAD on their Facebook page here

 

[chukw]

The fuselage prob is that it's circular at the windscreen instead of being slightly flattened in that area. As a member of the quality control group I can only say- who knew? I just want to make a camo bird with racy nose art.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Yeah Chuck pretty much that way for me too. Most of the decal sets and markings for the G aircraft are early ones that had the stinger tail. Once the E/F are released and I can see what the sprues are, I am going to try and get the parts for the stinger tail. After that I already have all the AM available.

Or I might be inspired to get an E/F kit and move the AM over and build an earlier one.

Would also be nice if at some point a conversion came out for a C/D and we could build the SWOOSE or one of the early planes.

 

[moon puppy]

That's crazy...I doubt I would ever do it. Maybe when I retire at 85...

 

[Hawkwrench]

$280 bucks for the model, and thrown in probably a couple of hundred more for AM and decals.
Ummm, nope, I'll pass. The CFO would never go for that loan.
That would be an awesome and HUGE model though! Talk about superdetailing. This model would take that to a whole new level.

Tim

 

[SA Dave]

I am soooo glad I decided to build mostly in 1/72

 

[Heavens Eagle]

LOL! Not a few hundred for the AM I am afraid if you go full tilt. I believe on the B-17G kit I am it with both Eduard Big Ed sets, The Brassin Engines, Superchargers, Machine guns, and Master Model brass Gun Barrels to the tune of about $800. I look at it this way, $30 for a 1/72 Airfix Do17 with another $40 for the AM and I get a 1 or 2 month build.

The B-17 will be most likely a couple of years if not more. Will just have to decide and all the versions I have wanted to build use the older stinger type tail turret.

I picked up the Revell Fw190 F8 and dropped a chunk on the AM with it too. Fixing to lighten the load with a bunch of older stuff I have decided to let others enjoy.

Could be worse, I noticed someone on here saying their daughter and "War Dept" were into horses. That is a money pit.

 

[Hawkwrench]

$800 bucks?????? PLUS $280 for the kit???

Tim

 

[razordws]

Yeah it's pricey! hmy: hmy: hmy:

There are some kits like this one where I think to myself there is no way I would pay out that much. However when I stop to consider how much bang you get for your buck compared to other hobbies (like horses as Paul mentioned) I realize it really isn't all that bad. Golfing for example costs you around $100 here for an afternoon of frustration. A hundred dollar kit would keep me busy for months and I would have something to show for it at the end. The only thing that keeps me from buying the big kits is that I have a short attention span and lose interest in a build if it takes more than a couple of months to complete.

 

[Hawkwrench]

A round of golf costs 100 bucks??? Remind me to never play there!

Tim

 

[SA Dave]

A round of golf costs 100 bucks??? Remind me to never play there!

Tim

Thats a 100 Canadian dollars so propably like 50cents US (Oh no wayt that is SA rands I am thinking of)

 

[Jeeves]

Here in Saratoga where all the rich people play (nope- not me!), it's easily $120-150 for a round...