Quickboost

1/72 B-17 Corrected Engine Cowlings For the Academy kit

Stock Number: QB 72 114

Reviewed By  G.L. Weeks, IPMS# 42007

MSRP: 3,30€ (about $4.75) www.quickboost.net or order direct from modelchoice. This review started with a trip to the IPMS show in Moscow, ID last month. I won a door prize, and not having done a B-17 in quite a few years, I chose Academy's 1/72 scale B-17G. While on the aircraft forum seeking the latest word on aftermarket parts and such, John Noack offered to send me Quickboost's Correct Engine Cowlings (QB72114) for this kit if I'd write up a product review. Hey, great! My next thought was why do I need these? What's up with the kit part? I'm not going into B-17 history here; you will find far better information at the library or on the net than I could give you. The B-17 and other radial engined aircraft had cooling flaps around the aft circumference of the cowling. The Academy kit doesn't have them. It happens. Between the plastics engineer, the draftsman, and the CNC operator cutting the molds things can slip through the cracks. Interestingly enough, Step 6 in the kit instructions show the cowlings with flaps.

The Quickboost cowlings are nicely done gray resin, just a hair darker than the kit parts. They are also a cowling flap longer than the kit parts. The resin pour stubs have holes around the attachment points to the cowling. The razor saw blade fits in the holes so you cut around and don't hit the cowl. I sanded the remaining parts of the pour stub inside the cowl away with the parakeet's sandpaper type perch. Presto! Four cowlings done in twenty minutes. In go the kit engines; the fit is the same for both kit and Quickboost cowlings. Both use the tab on the rear of the engine to locate in a slot on the wing. Here's a news flash … clean up the seams on the wing before installing the new cowls. D'oh!!!

This is a great little correction set. No four letter words were used in this little project. The pictures show the difference between a kit cowl and a Quickboost cowl. I'd like to thank Quickboost (quickboost.net), IPMS, John Noack and the parakeet for the review sample and allowing me to further my anal rete...(no, that's not the word) Advanced Modeler Syndrome.

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