Flaps
Having looked at a number of photos of parked B-17s I don’t recall seeing one where the flaps have been deployed. HKM do provide the option of lowered flaps and Eduard do a fabulous if expensive etch set in this area. For accuracy I guess raised flaps are the order of the day but to show a kit feature I elected to have mine deployed. Each flap has the ribbing and such like but is not in the class offered by Eduard which if you do elect to deploy the flaps, would be my recommendation. Still for the review what you see is what you get and I have done the best I can to bring them to life.
Undercarriage
The HKM undercarriage is well detailed and robust; it has a few moulding seam lines to clean off but otherwise looks very good. The only exception are the scissor links which need the triangular area between each link to be drilled out and filed but this is not too onerous a task. I used the Profimodeller turned stainless-steel options which are robust but you need to clean up the holes they sit in in the bays as there is a ridge in there that corresponds with that on the plastic kit legs. A few moments with a scalpel blade and it’s job done. There are a number of resin parts that make up the scissor links and such like; these need to be fixed with cyano but most importantly use the kit legs as a guide for these as the instructions are not great in showing the correct placement and I should know I got it wrong the first time!
I used the kit parts for the tail wheel and this all fits beautifully.
Main Wheels
I used the Eduard Brassin wheels which are fabulous but the holes for the axles are too small for the Profimodeller legs so these need some careful drilling. Don’t glue on the wheels until the aircraft is sitting on its legs to ensure that the flats of the tyres are in the right place. This aside it’s all pain free and looks great when complete. The eagle eyed will notice that the retraction struts are yet to be put on – this is my next job.
