Do-17's in Sims and games, and as models:
©2004-2006 Joe Kudrna

Very few simulation games have the Do-17's out of the dozens of WWII genre sims produced in the last 17 years.   This may not be a complete list, but it covers the most common ones. Two excellent sites to find informaiton on the lates sims are MiGMan.com and Virtualfighters.net, that is if you can read Czech!

•The first game to model the Do-17 most likely was Lucasart's 1989 "Their Finest Hour".   This amazing game for the time played on fast 386's and used simple bitmaps for the aircraft with the Do-17z painted in a brownish color to help identify it from the other Luftwaffe bombers.   You can fly this aircraft and shoot from 5 of the gun positions, but it uses the same graphics for all the positions, so it's not historically accurate at all!  It is easy to find the game today, but the challenge is to find a computer that can play it!   New computers run the game so fast what used to be a 20-minute mission is over in 20 seconds!

•Early 90's -present"Microsoft Flight Simulator" has grown a huge community of model makes.   For instance, for FS 98 there are some 30 Ju-87 models; a few of them are very detailed.   Despite this, only one person has made a Do-17, and that is by making a new skin for the American B-25 bomber!   Well, at least it looks pretty good.  
Microsoft's continues to updates it very good simulation series, creating a spin-off Combat Flight Simulator (CFS), and that has also spurred some more models of various qualities. CFS1 had a very simple model that looks more like a Do-217K then a 17, and the latest version, CFS3, now has a Do-17 and 215.

•1992 was "Rowan's" first Battle of Britain sim, called "Reach for the skies".   Developed by Rowan (published by "Virgin").   It has all the well-known BoB aircraft, except the Ju-88 and Defiant.

•1999 "Rowan" came out with "The Battle of Britain", an excellent sim with the full set of aircraft from the great battle, but with one major caveat, the Luftwaffe bombers were not pilot controllable!   One could only man the defensive guns.   It was created in the late 90's to take advantage of the then high end 500MHz computers, so the detail and features was limited.   Seemingly reflective of the lack of playability, the company closed.   Fortunately, a group has taken it over releasing improvements to the game, but still limited flight model.  
(this Do-17z shows battle damage, in the form of painted 'bullet holes' all over the aircraft)

•1999 also saw "Talonsoft" released a BoB game in 1999, but this is more of a Strategy game, no actually sim like flying.
(overhead view of Do-17 form KG2 under attack by Hurrican)

•2004 "The History Channel: The Battle of Britain".   Using the venerable Warbirds III game engine, it has a complete set of BoB aircraft, all flyable; however, the WB engine is dated compared to the latest sims, but is fun to fly and is online playable.   Surprisingly the box game does not have all the models including the Do-17z, so one has to download a 180MB patch, and of this writing is still not completely finished.   Externally the model is of very high quality, but internally from the crew perspective it is still in Alpha state (pre-beta)!   The creator of the model "Lemsko" did an excellent job on the exterior (and thanks to "Randon" for having it in set), and this author is now involved with "Target" in correcting minor errors and the unfinished cockpit.  

•2005 The latest is "Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory", and if the "II" makes you think its an update, you are right! It is a modernized version of Rowan's BoB game, with very much the same game play as the 1999 game, but with greatly improved visuals and "'RealWeather' Technology, for both historical and dynamic real time weather conditions exist throughout the theater". One still cannot fly the Do-17z, nor is online play supported, but at least it has a Do-17z you can defend in. Still, the spectacle of seeing large foramtions of He-111, Ju-88, and Do-17z's is very impressive! One word of warning, the game requires much higher system requierments then listed on the box!

FUTURE:

•Oleg Maddox and his 1C:Maddox Games team who created the incredible IL-2 Sturmovik series recently announced its next title would be (yet another) Battle of Britain sim.   Pushed back to 2006 , the company continues their impeccable design excellence and high model accuracy.   Not only is the 17z-2 in production, but the 215b-1 is also being made, a very pleasant surprise!   As you can see in the 3D models below, the group starts with the original blueprints, and then modifies it to work in the game.

•The team that makes "WW2 Online" (now renamed "Battleground Europe"), "Cornered Rat Software" (CRS), has the Do-17z on its list for its ever-expanding game.   Since its release in mid 2001, the number of aircraft models has more then doubled, and is better each time.   However CRS's production capabilities are limited and so the best estimate on doing the Do-17 is "soon"!   2005 saw only 1 new aircraft (DC-3/C-47), much to the consternatin of the fliers in the game. 2006 does not seem much better, but the British Wellington or French LeO-451 are very likely. Lets hope the new product release will bring more players and attention to the strong and long lived game!

3D computer models:

Some poeple have created wonderful 3D models of the airplane, I guess simply to do something.

Do-217's in Sim game:

The ONLY known sim game with the Do-217 is a model for CSF3.   Considering it was the Luftwaffe's first, most successful, arguably its only 'heavy bomber', one of best aircraft, and of a large enough number, it never gained the attention it could have.

Plastic and flying models:

A number of the plastic model kits and collectables where made of the 17, 215 and 217's series. Most sizes are 1/72; only the Hobbycraft made a 1/48 that I know of (3 versions, E/F, M/P, and Z). The Bachmann miniature shown first may be 1/144 scale.
A review of the Hobbycraft 1/48 can be found here.