Brian Sherman

Hello!!

I am a model airplane collector, who lives in LaSalle, IL. I mostly collect 1/200 die-cast model airliners, however I have tackled a few military customs in various scales, and I do have some leftovers from my days of collecting 1/400, and 1/250. I try to take pictures when I get new models so I will post those here. I also like looking up the information and history of the real life versions of the models, too. Enjoy the pictures, I will be getting a newer, better camera soon.

My Custom 1/48 B-17 "Thunderbird"

This one was really fun to do. I have been a B-17 nut ever since Memphis Belle came out in 1989, and I have never really made a good effort at a B-17 model until now. The scene where they are all waiting around for the clouds to clear in Europe was the inspiration for the diarama. I picked the Thunderbird because she flew 112 missions in World War II without ever being shot down. Her first crew went an entire tour without even being injured! It was built with a Revell monogram B-17G kit. I made several modifications to make it a little more acurate to the Thunderbird. One which I thought was interesting was that later in the war they did away with the radio man who was also a gunner, so most "G" model B-17s didn't have a gun at that position even though the Revell kit comes with one. I suppose my Thunderbird would be when she was brand new - the Thunderbird was one of the last B-17s to recieve olive drab paint instead of none at all, the coat was thin and probably only one at that, consiquently it faded and chipped alot - kind of not unlike the last United Airlines livery!

Also, I didn't make any bullet holes or shrapnel damage because if you screw that up there's no going back. So let's just say this is the B-17G Thunderbird in Molesworth England around Feb 1944 waiting for her next trip to Germany.......*enjoy*