1/48 Accurate Miniatures B-25 B "Doolittle Raid" (Finished)

Mopar Madness

Well I’m a sucker for a nice engine, and those are nice engines!  Also, I’m loving the rivet detail on the fuselage. I’m really thinking I need one of these!

 

Thanks Chad.  Indeed AM did a nice job on the details.  You do need one of these. 

Merry Christmas! 

S9ome very nice work there, those engines look amazing.

Bish

S9ome very nice work there, those engines look amazing.

 

Thanks Bish. Merry Christmas!

Ha! Nope. I'm making lemonade over here the best I can. My photos are terrible and half of them have parts of my kitchen in the background. lol

Y'all have a safe, happy New Years! =]

Very impressive model. Waiting to see the finished article. Also fascinating to read and compare the posts of two people both building a "Doolittle Raiders" B25 at the same time!

bvallot

Ha! Nope. I'm making lemonade over here the best I can. My photos are terrible and half of them have parts of my kitchen in the background. lol

 

Y'all have a safe, happy New Years! =]

 

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade bro!  Happy New Years to you as well. 

ChrisJH666

Very impressive model. Waiting to see the finished article. Also fascinating to read and compare the posts of two people both building a "Doolittle Raiders" B25 at the same time!

 

Thanks Chris. I had a Ruptured Duck decal mishap. Fortunately I found another set on eBay. I should have some updated pics shortly. Thanks for following!

Mikeym_us

Thought I would let you know that My uncle helped to design the Norden bombsight. And I have a 25th anniversary book on the 15th AF in which Jimmy DooLittle was the CO back in 1943.

 

Very cool info!  Thanks for stopping by.  

So where was I?  Well It's been a rough road with this turkey so far (as you will see), but I'm getting there.  This will be a long one so please bear with me.  I got to work on the paint scheme. I fired down the underside with a mix of XF-53 Neutral Grey and XF-19 Sky Grey.  I used Blue Tac for the demarcation lines. Nothing fancy.

Time for the drab.  I was watching a guy on You Tube use a "black and white technique" on a tank with Olive Drab, which I though was cool.  It's basically painting everything black then filling in the center panels with white.  It's supposed to give the final finish a faded look. What the heck...I tried it.

I tried out USAAF Mission Models Olive Drab 41 for this project. I wanted to see if it looks better than my normal Gunze Drab.   

I have mixed feelings about it.  Maybe too grey?  I don't know.  I think I still prefer Gunze. We'll see.... 

I added some XF-57 buff and faded the control surfaces.

Engines and cowls attached...

The reason I rig my radials.....a lot can be seen in there.

I did some postshading with diluted XF-69 NATO Black and XF-64 Red Brown....

I tried to add a little extra around the engines...

I managed to find a set of Montex masks for the markings from a place in France (The Doolittle sheet is hard to find). When they finally arrived I got busy. 

I was pleased with most of the results. I faded the upper insignia with white a bit to represent some sun fading, however, I wasn't happy with it ended and up sanding and respraying it.  I didn't like how some white leaked which gave the circle a white "edge".  It seems these can be reused.    

I added an Alclad Aqua clear coat then realized I was having major pebbling issues in certain spots....... I sanded most of it out the best I could and eventually went with good enough.  I then went to add the only two decals used, the duck cartoon and date block on the port side, only to find these were utter garage and fell apart.  Apparently decals weren't Accurate Miniatures specialty.  Frantically I took to Ebay where I fortunately found someone offering Academy's sheet.  Thankfully these worked fine. 

I added a Flory wash...

See......much better on the second attempt. I'm glad I repainted it.

The duck.....

Next I'll be adding some oil washes....

Lovely paint Joe! Those painted insignia really make a difference. Looking forward to the finish

Looks great, Joe!  I think the OD came out good.  The Doolittle birds weren't the cleanest so I think the weathered look looks spot on.

I'm always amazed at that sheen you got on your birds, the steel really looks like steel... great job as usual, Joe!

Very nice so far Joe. No surprise.

Digital cameras make it difficult from the viewer's perspective to know the color actually in occurring due to the white balance. Only the photographer knows for sure. ;) I think you're right though. Possibly a little grey. Your fading method is working nicely and may be responsible for some of that greyer tone. I think it works though. Any browner or greener tone you want can be achieved after the fact with extra weathering. The undersurface looks amazing! The insignia also looks the part on top that wing. Nice save! =]

Hi Lawdog114 :

 Sorry to chime in so late .Health and such have me playing ketchup .Oops ! Catch-Up

 I have the old Monogram Bird and the old Revell one and I think I have an Italeri one too .I always liked the big Greenhouse . now that said , at $1,300.00 a pop I flew my restored one rather than go commercial . You shouldhave heard tower reactions when I cam into sight !

 The Razorback Wing CAF was my flight . Now I fly a modeling desk at a Museum ! Oh well , the models bring back some fond memories .  T.B. I am sorry , I think you are doing a Kick A#$ed job .

So I’ve been thinking about buying a set or two of those Montex marking masks for a couple Luftwaffe subjects.  Looks like you got fantastic results!  

rooster513

Lovely paint Joe! Those painted insignia really make a difference. Looking forward to the finish

 

Thanks Rooster

redraider56

Looks great, Joe!  I think the OD came out good.  The Doolittle birds weren't the cleanest so I think the weathered look looks spot on.

 

Thanks Raider. I did a little experimenting on this plane, and I’m pretty happy with it. I was going for faded but not too bad.

Hobbie

I'm always amazed at that sheen you got on your birds, the steel really looks like steel... great job as usual, Joe!

 

Thanks Hobbie.  It’s just Alclad with a wash on it. 

bvallot

Very nice so far Joe. No surprise.

Digital cameras make it difficult from the viewer's perspective to know the color actually in occurring due to the white balance. Only the photographer knows for sure. ;) I think you're right though. Possibly a little grey. Your fading method is working nicely and may be responsible for some of that greyer tone. I think it works though. Any browner or greener tone you want can be achieved after the fact with extra weathering. The undersurface looks amazing! The insignia also looks the part on top that wing. Nice save! =]

 

Thanks Britt.  Actually that’s the real color. My iPhone does a pretty good job, enough to where I have completely replaced my Nikon with it. I used to have white balance issues with my Nikon. I’m certainly no photography expert though.

Rambo

It's looking great I'm really going to have to get me some of them masks painted on looks so much better than decal.

 

Thanks Rambo. Indeed the masks work great ( except for the occasional operator error). 

Tanker - Builder

Hi Lawdog114 :

 Sorry to chime in so late .Health and such have me playing ketchup .Oops ! Catch-Up

 I have the old Monogram Bird and the old Revell one and I think I have an Italeri one too .I always liked the big Greenhouse . now that said , at $1,300.00 a pop I flew my restored one rather than go commercial . You shouldhave heard tower reactions when I cam into sight !

 The Razorback Wing CAF was my flight . Now I fly a modeling desk at a Museum ! Oh well , the models bring back some fond memories .  T.B. I am sorry , I think you are doing a Kick A#$ed job .

 

 

 

That certainly sounds interesting. Nice to have you along tank.

Mopar Madness

So I’ve been thinking about buying a set or two of those Montex marking masks for a couple Luftwaffe subjects.  Looks like you got fantastic results!  

 

Do it. Once you get the hang of them they are well worth it. 

Thank the lord I am done.  It's been quite some time since I've had something this challenging on my bench. I had quite a few issues with this kit, some self inducted, some not.  For starters, the nose weights I horked from the C/D kit I had in the stash were not sufficient to keep the tail from dragging.  I only discovered this when I added the landing gears, so by this time it was way to late to add more.  My solution was to add a brass pin to the front wheel with a corresponding hole in the base to hold it down. 

Next, the glass, mostly the front end, fit like dogsh#t.  I eventually got tired of messing with all of them and went with good enough.  I tried to blend in the bottom of the windshield with the body using Perfect Plastic Putty and I liked how it turned out.  Then I removed the masks only to find that the putty seeped under the windshield leaving white residue inside the glass.... I was able to wash most of it out with water on a paint brush.  I ultimately sealed the area with Micro Crystal Clear mixed with some Mission paint. It surprisingly worked ok.  I should have done that in the first place.   

The decals are crap.  Don't use them. You will regret it. 

Overall, I must say I'm fairly happy with it. It's been a long time since I've done a bomber.  Additions to this kit were Quickboost seats and 50 cal barrels. The main markings were painted on with Montex masks.           

My research showed that Doolittle bombers carried 4 500 pounders and they were either light grey or yellow.  After seeing this picture I went with grey.  

I'm going to do Doolittle's plane eventually.  Hopefully it will go smoother.  Thanks for following.  

That turned out really nice despite your issues.  Great tribute.

keavdog

That turned out really nice despite your issues.  Great tribute.

 

Thanks John..

Came out great! I finished mine last week. I did not have the issues with the fit of the front clear parts but a big YES that the kit decals are horrible. (I used the nose art as seen in the movie and made my own decal. The only decal I did not have problems with) I also had the same issue with nose weights. I filled the area behind the dashboard, the rear of the nose gear bay, and weights just behind the engines and it was still not enough. I should have weighed the weights I used as I was at least 2 ounces too light. I ended up mounting it to an aircraft carrier deck base and using 1/48 scale rope to create the tie downs as seen in the historical photos.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/180693.aspx

Just a quick note the Ruptured Duck carried three 500lbs and one 100lbs incendiary cluster bomb. From what I have been able to find out, the payload varied slightly with each aircraft depending on their assigned target.