More from the Nose..

Construction begins with the instrument panel and centre console.



Again, there's a choice here. A resin panel is offered as well as an etched one. While the resin one has all the switches moulded on, the brass one is superbly engraved.



Having chosen the brass panel, I begin preparation of this and the associated parts. The centre console is well-moulded, and the apertures for the throttle and pitch control levers is very good. Also, the bomb selector box and upper fuel console are crisply moulded. The instruments themselves, although made of paper, are very clear and match up well with the instrument panel.
After careful painting, all of these parts were assembled using cyano.


I drilled out the attachment points for the control levers and fitted them, and went on to make the pitch control lever from some brass wire, since it's not provided in the kit. A little fine painting and some gloss varnish really brings the instruments to life.

MPM's B-17 Nose Segment Part One

The sharp eyed modeller cannot have missed the recent release of MPM's unique kit - an entire nose section of the B-17F in 1/18 scale. And not just any B-17, but the Memphis Belle!

I am in the process of building this kit on behalf of a client, and I was very pleased to take it on. I had just added two new desk surfaces to my workroom, and I've needed both of them.... Once I'd had a look at it, I couldn't say no - it was rather like a map, there was no way of folding it back up the way it came! About two thirds of the kit is in resin. The transparencies are vac-formed and are doubled up in case of cock ups.


The choice of fitting individual windows or cutting off the entire roof section to fit a transparent area is offered.

There's a second bomb aimer's glazed nose section so that the builder can install two .50 caliber machine guns in the nose. The nose itself is made of fibreglass with a plastic coating. This makes for beautiful surface engravings. There are also pieces of shaped balsa which make up in to the bomb aimers's/navigator's chart table. There's a 'back door' too, that fits into the rear bulkhead.