1:48 Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress radio compartment

The real subject

The B-17 Flying Fortress was an American four-engine heavy bomber with radial engines, the machine on which the daylight bombing campaign over Europe rested. The F version belongs to the machines from the middle of production: it has a one-piece glazed nose without dividing frames, which is how it is told apart from both earlier and later versions. The radio compartment lies behind the bomb bay; it was a working corner with a desk, a radio set and instruments, that is a place that tends to be visible on a model through the roof opening and the side windows.

What the photo-etched set solves

Photo-etched parts are etched out of a thin metal sheet, and they can therefore manage shapes that injection-molded plastic cannot handle: instrument panels, consoles, brackets, belts and small placards a few tenths of a millimeter thick. It is exactly in an enclosed space, seen only through a small opening, that the fineness of a part matters more than its size. The extent of the set and the procedure for fitting it are given in the instructions enclosed with the package.

Building and painting tips

Cut the parts out of the sheet with a sharp blade on a hard surface and make the bends in a bending tool or by pressing against a straight edge. They are glued with cyanoacrylate glue in minute drops. Finish and paint the interior before you glue the fuselage halves together; after that you will no longer get into it. Degrease the metal before painting and give it a coat of primer, otherwise the paint will not hold.

Terms of supply

This is an accessory photo-etched set. The aircraft kit, paints and glue are not part of the delivery, unless stated otherwise.