1:48 Boeing B-17F/G

From Chelveston to a flying museum

The pair of Fortresses on this sheet links the war with the present. The second subject is a machine of the F version with the serial block 42-29, which carried the name Old Bill, the code JJ-S and in May 1943 flew with the 365th Bombardment Squadron of the 305th Bombardment Group from Chelveston in England. This was the period when daylight raids over Germany still went on without a fighter escort along the whole route and losses were the highest of the entire war.

A machine that still flies today

The first set belongs to a Fortress of the G version built under license by Vega and today operated by an American organization of historic aviation enthusiasts under the name Aluminium Overcast. A model from it therefore need not be a reconstruction of a period condition but a portrait of an aircraft that can be gone to see. For a modeler that is a pleasant thing, because incomparably more photographic documentation exists for a present day machine than for any wartime subject.

• one wartime and one present day subject
• the code JJ-S and the personal names of both machines
• scale 1:48
• sharp printing of the small letters on the fin surface

Varnishing over a decal: with the present day aircraft in bare metal choose a satin rather than a matte final varnish. A matte surface suppresses the metal look that is typical of the subject, and the border of the film stands out instead. A satin layer evens the difference in sheen out better.

Combining two such distant forms of one type has a practical advantage as well. Anyone who does not feel up to the complicated camouflage scheme of 1943 can reach for the present day appearance, where the main work is a smooth metal surface. The second set meanwhile waits for the time when the more demanding build feels within reach.