1:48 Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress

Piccadilly Lily and Lady Luck

The markings belong to two Boeing bombers in the earlier F version. The first is the machine with serial number 42-5864, the name Piccadilly Lily, of the 351st Bombardment Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group. The second is the aircraft 42-5434 with the name Lady Luck of the 360th Squadron of the 303rd Group. Two units with very different reputations meet here, both flying from English bases in the make-up of the daylight bomber force.

The group that was nicknamed bloody

During the fall of 1943 the 100th earned the reputation of a unit that met exceptionally heavy losses on several missions. That reputation stayed with it long after the war and the name of the first of these aircraft was popularized by a postwar film about the daylight raids as well. The 303rd Group, by contrast, was among the most experienced and was known among crews for its high number of completed missions.

How to avoid silvering

The commonest flaw on a finished model appears when a microscopic layer of air stays under the film and then shines like frost. It is prevented by a glossy base, a sufficient amount of water under a motif and soaking off the excess right after settling. Pricking large areas with a needle and going over them with a product that settles the film into the surface also helps.

Why the F version

The F still had a glazed nose without the chin turret and narrower engine cowlings, so they can be told from later machines at a distance. There are fewer of them in the modeling range than of later G examples, and markings of particular aircraft of this series are therefore sought after.