1:72 Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

Nose art as a crew's signature

A name painted beside the side window of the cockpit was not merely decoration. For a crew of ten it was a way of making their own the machine that had been assigned to them, and during the war the American command tolerated this custom rather than suppressing it. It is precisely this artwork that today turns every Fortress into a story of its own.

The markings offered come from the 546th Squadron of the 384th Bombardment Group, whose aircraft took off from Grafton Underwood in Northamptonshire. Among other things the unit wrote itself into history by taking part in the raids against the ball bearing works at Schweinfurt, which cost the Eighth Air Force its heaviest single day losses.

The first of the machines was called Buckeye Belle, had serial number 44-8541 and beside the fuselage roundel carried the pair of letters BK together with the individual marking Y. The second is Devastating Lady with the number 43-38994 and the marking Q. Both aircraft therefore belonged to the same squadron, which allows a pair of models from one station and at one moment in time to be built.

Once they are applied it pays to pay attention to the edge of the carrier layer. A motif is trimmed as close as possible, so that no visible glossy border is left once dry, and the whole model is then covered with a uniform varnish that evens out the difference between paint and printing. Only then do the shadows in the panel lines stand out.

The consignment holds a printed sheet. Everything else, that is the model itself, paints and varnishing chemicals, is ordered separately according to your own choice.