Hi Bernard (@lis): Some aircraft carried a type of radar or sensor instead of the belly turret. These large radars were used on planes like the B-17, B-24, Lancaster, Wellington, and so on. Smaller sets were eventually developed that could be used in smaller planes. The domes that covered the radar were in several different shapes. Here is a pretty good article about the planes and their equipment: http://hud607.fire.prohosting.com/uncommon/reference/usa/sead.html

I don't think the dome would be too hard to make, if you wanted to do the "C" plane. I took the easy way out when I found out the newer Revell B-17G already has a dome in the extra parts. I think one of the options for this kit is a plane with a dome. Some time ago, someone made a resin dome for the B-17 and the B-24, but I haven't seen them anywhere for 10 years or more.

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More hurry up and wait, which is fine since my wife keeps adding stuff to my list of chores. After getting the windscreen section all nice and shiny, I glued it to the plane and discovered a step that was impossible to get out. I ended up doing a few rounds of putty, sand, and repeat on the joint between the fuselage and the canopy. This, of course, destroyed the clarity of the canopy. I sanded the canopy using progressively finer grades of sandpaper, then I reapplied the "Looks Like Glass" and got a clear canopy again. This stuff is great.

Got the tail surfaces glued on using another of my high-tech jigs. After several rounds of putty and sand, I think the wing joint, the elevators, and the bomb bay, and tail section are all ready for some paint. I still need to glue the nose glass onto the plane, following by some sanding, smoothing, and "Looks Like Glass". Eduard masks are warmed up and ready to go.

An interesting dilemma popped up yesterday. I have only found two photos of the plane I am building, and both were taken from the rear quarter. Great for looking at the camo, but not so good for seeing the deicing boots. There are no deicing boots visible on the rudder or the elevators in either photo I have. The front of the wings can't be seen in either photo. I did a little research and discovered the deicing boots were often deleted in theater, especially on older planes. Apparently there were a lot of reasons for deleting the boots: if they were damaged in combat they produced a lot of drag, they were difficult to maintain in the field, the depots didn't like to mess with their repair/replacement, etc. When a specific boot was damaged, it was often deleted rather than repaired. Apparently it was relatively common to see bombers missing some or all of their deicing boots. Once I realized this was true, I went and looked through some books I had with photos of B-17s and B-24s, and you can find a lot of photos of planes with at least one (or some, or all) of their deicing boots missing. For my plane, there are no deicing boots visible on the rudder or the left elevator. My plan is to leave the rudder and elevator boots unpainted on my model. I am still trying to decide if I want to add the boots to the wing. These were war-weary planes that were transferred to the electronic countermeasure squadron, so it is possible that all of the boots had been deleted. I may paint deicing boots just on one wing, just to be contrary.

I hope to have more progress after I finish sealing our fence. Several people have commented on the heat. I live in central Texas. In June, we have already had more days over 100 degrees than we normally get all year. 12 of the days in June set new records for the high temp. We haven't had any rain this month, and June is usually one of our rainy months. Anyway, I need to stop whining and go out into the heat and seal my fence. Cheers.

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Great result on the canopy, George @gblair.
Seems indeed to be a miracle liquid, "looks like glass".

@gblair This radar was to detect enemy planes formations? This radar plane flew in normal bomber formation? On photo of Airfix B-17 sprue, in red line could be parts of the radar?
PS. I hate deicing boots so I always searching planes that have painted on OD this places 🙂

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Hi Bernard (@lis): I just found a really good article in the Journal of Aviation History about the ferrets, their mission, and equipment. It has a lot of info on how these planes were used. Here is the website:
https://www.aerosociety.com/media/15088/2020-06-36-bs-rcm-ops-18-nov-20.pdf

@gblair, thanks for sharing the article, George.
I love that picture with the entire wings packed full with people.
An amazing strong wing structure those Liberators had.

Other types of radar could be put into the domes. The British used a ground scanning radar called H2S to map terrain features. Pathfinder aircraft could be equipped with this radar to locate targets. It is possible your "C" aircraft is something similar. Finding good sources is the key.

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Good question, Bernard (@lis). I know the B-17 that I am building was also used to drop bundles of chaff (foil strips). I think the British did a lot more of that than the Americans did. They used several different bombers to drop chaff, or insert agents behind enemy lines, etc, such as the Short Stirling. I don't think that a plane used to drop chaff would necessarily look externally different than any other bomber.