1:48 B17F/G Flying Fortress

A clipper and a mouse from the outhouse

The names on this sheet could not have been more different. The name Miami Clipper evokes the elegant interwar flying boats that linked Florida with the Caribbean, and sounds almost nostalgic. Outhouse Mouse, by contrast, is typical military humor without embellishment, the kind the crews cultivated precisely in order to keep their distance from what awaited them over the target.

The first of the machines is a B-17F with the serial number 42-29815 and the squadron code LG-P, the second a later B-17G, serial number 42-31636, code OR-N. The printing also contains the marks by which the combat activity of the second aircraft was recorded; they were set out in a string under the cockpit window. The combination of both versions on one sheet is practical, because it makes it possible to build a pair on which the development of the type is immediately visible. The difference between the glazed nose of the earlier machine and the turret of the later one is unmissable in profile, and a pair of models side by side tells of the change that losses over the continent forced on the type.

Procedure and order of work

Start with the part of the model that is hardest to reach, usually the area by the windscreen frame. The drawing is laid on a hard gloss surface and must slide smoothly rather than being dragged; an extra drop of water under the edge helps. Apply the symbols of combat activity right at the end, because they are tiny and easily shift if you run a brush over them. Before the final clear coat, wait at least a day so that all the moisture evaporates from the carrier layer and no milky stains form under the clear coat. Haste at this stage comes back as a permanent fault.