1/48 B-25 Group Build! All Invited to Join!

No sweat, Shipper..

Handsome Rob

Natural Metal it is...now I am thinking after market decals....any recommendations?

Yupper, that's th' stuff...

As for AM decals, I dunno.. I don't have any prferences, and generally, I build aircraft with spurious markings and serials, so the Rivet Counters can't critique my build by telling me that "Jersey Bounce had a nine-man crew at the time-period you modeled your B-17 in, it only had one waist gunner.  You've added the name of the right-waist gunner that no longer was assigned to any 479th B-17s...:".

I make up my own serials and squadron codes, often putting mine and folks I know names on the canopy rails and fuselages, and make my own names up to go with the nose art..   Ain't historical, but it's fun, lol..

Thanks for the response, Hans. It sounds like a winner to me. I will try to buy some tomorrow!

No I don't decant.. I shoot right from the rattle-can...  But make sure you practice with it.. I can't really describe how I do it by typing, and I don't have any way to make a video... Basically, I just make ordinary asses that one would do with a rattle-can, although the Krylon nozzle is one that will allow you to change the spray-pattern, like from a vertical to a horizontal "fan"...

It's an 8 oz. can, and I've done two P-51s, a B-17, an F-84, and two P-38s with the same can, still have about a third of it left, according to my calibrated arm...

Should be able to do a B-29 and as many single-engine fighters as you want, as long as you only want five or six...

Hans von Hammer

Yeah, it's good stuff.. "Krylon Premium Silver Foil Metallic" is the name...  About 6 bucks for an 8-oz can, but it goes a LONG way...

Hans, I have a Revell B-29 in my future, and am starting to think about NMF. How are you using the Krylon? Do you decant it? And, how far does it go; a couple of 1/48 fighter plan kits?

Natural Metal it is...now I am thinking after market decals....any recommendations?

Yeah, it's good stuff.. "Krylon Premium Silver Foil Metallic" is the name...  About 6 bucks for an 8-oz can, but it goes a LONG way...

Just be sure to give it a good 48 hours to fully cure before you handle it, and make sure it doesn't rub off on your fingers by spraying a test-piece after you get done painting.. When you can handle the test-piece without marring the surface or getting metallic on your fingers, your model's paint is cured...

I am probably going to do "Juanty Jo" since it is not MF and I want to try some chipping techniques.  I just got back into scale modeling after a 7 year hiatus so I plan on keeping it simple until I can get some of the more advanced skills.  Although I saw a post you wrote someone about a craylon rattle can for NMF and I am dying to try that!  So to answer your question....I don't know what the final paint scheme will be

Good work so far, Rob..  Any thoughts yet on which final paint-scheme?

Here are a couple of shots of the cockpit I finished tonight.  I like the way it looks inside the fuselage.

Above is the fuselage after a wash of burnt sienna and a dry brush of aluminum.  I was generous in my dry brush because I wanted to create more light in that dark air frame once it is closed up.

I just started a B-25J last week so count me in...I will go snap some pics of my progress and post them a little later.  I will be building the Revell B-25J OOB.

Gotta mark this group for when I start my Mitchel in the spring Way to go Hans starting this group, err thread, or well, yeah

Bilgerat

By deeper, do you mean longer or the belly hangs lower?

 

Lower...

Yeah, I think I got one around here..

Does any one have a set of the Accurate Miniatures decal sheet for the Doolittle B-25 that they could scan and send to me?

So yesterday I cut the tail section from the rear of the elevators,back,  at a 75 degree angle from the perpendicular to accommodate the glass dome tail section of the "B". Now when I look at the fusalage from the rear, it looks kind of like a square hole. My question is; was the "B" more rounded at the point where the glass meets the frame work?

According to B-25 Mitchell in detail by Bert Kinzey, starting with the "H" variant the fuselage was 7 inches deeper. According to Kinzey, this was done to accommodate the new Bell turret. The "H" and "J" variants have a distinctive greenhouse on their tails.

By deeper, do you mean longer or the belly hangs lower?

Don't forget that the J also had a deeper rear fuselage...

Ok, so I started cutting and grinding the fuselage ,wings and engine cowls of the "J" to look like a"B". I like to take the road less traveled I guess. Does any one have a good scale drawing of a "B" or can tell me the dimensions of the small windows on the sides of the fuselage? I hope to have some photos up tomorrow night.

There was a documentary at the Lake Murray Visitors Center; but I was not able to get a copy of it. If my memory serves me, it was not that helpful. If you are interested in photos; Google Lake Murray B-25 and you will be busy for awhile.

I have a 1/72 AMT B-25C in my stash that is destined for a diorama sometime in the distant future. I vision is to depict it on the bed of Lake Murray. It was 150 feet below the surface and got twisted up a little, lost an engine. and a vertical stabilizer. It may take a couple of AMT kits before I can get it bent correctly!

Shipwreck

We have a 1/72 Hornet with a deck full of Doolittle B-25's in the SC State Museum. It is BIG! During the war they trained B-25 crews out of Columbia airport. One was recoved, a B-25C, from Lake Murray a couple of years ago.

Were the fixed 50's in the nose suspended with cables or do I have to scratch build an assembly to hold the guns and the auto loader eqt?

This is about the best I could find.. The guns are mounted along the wall of the nose with the ammo cans located in the center. A four-gun ship would be about the same set-up, but obviously you'd leave out the Norden and  bomb-panel on the left side-wall..

We have a 1/72 Hornet with a deck full of Doolittle B-25's in the SC State Museum. It is BIG! During the war they trained B-25 crews out of Columbia airport. One was recoved, a B-25C, from Lake Murray a couple of years ago.

I have a workshop in my back yard for assembly purposes but I rent space at an indoor storage facility not far from where I live. I used to build in the basement, but my wife was getting tired of the clutter.lol

Bilgerat

I only build for myself, but never turn down an opportunity to help others. Right now I am just finishing up an eight foot Destroyer and a twelve foot cruiser. All my models are transported in a construction trailer. The Hornet will be moved in three sections. I will also be detailing the hanger decks with carrier aircraft.

I only build for myself, but never turn down an opportunity to help others. Right now I am just finishing up an eight foot Destroyer and a twelve foot cruiser. All my models are transported in a construction trailer. The Hornet will be moved in three sections. I will also be detailing the hanger decks with carrier aircraft.

A 17` Hornet model, eh?  Maybe if you scratchbuild some cushions it could double as a couch...

All kidding aside, the biggest carrier model I`ve seen was a 1:72 scratchbuilt Essex class. Is this being built for someone or just for yourself?  If I had the room to do it I`d surely give it a shot. Good luck.

Len

Thanks Shipwreck, I still have all my reference material from my 1/6 scale B-25 so I think I will have to make my own conversion kits. I will post photos as I progress and you folks can steer me in the right direction.