Academy/ Minicraft 1:240 B-17 Flying Fortress "Sky Giant"

Of all the my model finds and the Nanton Model Show 2015, this was one I wasn't expecting. I have an older Academy model catalogue from 2006, and since the B-17 is tied for my favourite aircraft of all time I try and keep up with what B-17's have been built. But this one stumped me, as I've never been able to find good pictures of the sprue layout, or anything about the kit in general. The vendor I bought it from sold it to me for a $1, so I couldn't pass on that. Upon returning home form the show I was very surprised to find a pretty nice B-17 kit. It's missing a display stand and has a few inaccuracies but it's still a decent little kit.

So I began searching the web for the kit, starting with who built it, Academy or Minicraft? Neither, my search led me to discover it's actually a Japanese Company Entex, and that the scale is really 1:200 as the display stand says. Entex had a series of kits in the day called "Sky Giants", which is why "Sky Giant" is printed on the box, and it looks like Academy bought a bunch of these moulds. 

Now that I've discovered the origins of this kit, let's take a look. The plastic is a light Brown, and has quite a few inaccuracies. That being said this kit was made on the 70's, so I give a pass to the errors, but that doesn't mean I won't point them out. The cockpit is the wrong shape, the front windscreen should be bigger and a different shape with a divider down the middle. The bombardier's gunner window in in the wrong location (the biggest window should be in the middle). Bottom turret is too low, as are the waist gunner positions, and the tail is the wrong shape. Lastly the landing gear is moulded to the wings, so if you want it parked, you're going to have to do some extra work.

The kit's decals look pretty good, but have thick film edges, and are the older Academy style decals that don't like to stick to surfaces, so I know I'm in for a fight. No color guide, the box simply tells you to look at the box art. And no guns were ever built to the kit.

Final thoughts, despite all the wrongs with the kit, I LOVE it! This little B-17 looks great, I can tell its going to be a fun build all the way through. And nice to have a B-17 that doesn't take up all my desk and shelf space. I mentioned that the display stand was missing but that's easy to replace and I've already got another diorama in mind for it. I wish that more companies would produce small kits like this, they are simple builds and lots of youth desperately want to build a B-17, so why not a quick kit like this for $5, that would take an afternoon to build? I love that Airfix is coming out with starter kits, including Acrylic paints and glue, but some of those kits are a bit beyond the skill level of a beginner. Bring back small kits like this, with good detail, clear instructions, and above all a low price, and I think the hobby would start bouncing back again.