WW2 Medium Bomber GB

Ends March 31, '09.

 My A-20 has been sitting for a while but I'll edit this post this weekend with some of the work I've gotten done this week.  Funny how you get on to other builds and get distracted for a while.  I'm ready to get this one done.

Some progress to report on my builds.  I've had some unexpected time at the bench due to Hurricane Ike, in and around hurricane winds, loss of power, and clean up activities.

B-25 - not as much progress on this kit, just finished up the window maskings (Acc.Min provides masking material like Eduard canopy masks but some of the pieces are cut too big for the actual kit).

B-26 - have finished constructing all of the individual components and have put down a nice coat of Krylon gloss black in preparation for the Alclad II painting sessions to come.

Dr. Faust wrote:

Hey Guys!, Glad to see all the great work happen' here! I want to report my progress on my Italeri/AM B-25 Here is a overall (Or a fornite spck o' me rum runnin maiden wench????) HA HA HA!!?     and a few close ups I know some of the interior details will never be seen. but I am having a blast painting and building this twin engine bomber. I hope to have more progress to post soon. Untill then, carry on my fellow modlers!   (Pirate talk optional(

Wow that is really great looking. The detail level looks awesome!

Hey Guys!,

Glad to see all the great work happen' here!

I want to report my progress on my Italeri/AM B-25

Here is a overall (Or a fornite spck o' me rum runnin maiden wench????) HA HA HA!!?  

and a few close ups

I know some of the interior details will never be seen. but I am having a blast painting and building this twin engine bomber.

I hope to have more progress to post soon.

Untill then, carry on my fellow modlers!

(Pirate talk optional(

browsing the back pages of the group builds.... :)

nice work going on here !

gotta find me a kit... my JU86 wont qualify! too wimpy!

Aggieman that marauder is really coming along! Most of the pics that i saw of the turret showed that it didn't have any framework, thanks for your help. 

I've made a lot of progress on my builds for this GB but for some reason have been so focused on building that I've forgotten to take a bunch of photographs.  Sorry!!!!

So I've taken a few today to post.

Accurate Miniatures B-25B Doolittle Raider - it's been a while since I put together an Acc.Min kit, but I don't remember having so much fight to get one together as this one.  All of that wonderful detail is crammed into that tight fuselage and it was difficult to get the pieces to mate together properly.  In the end I believe I only have one small seam to fill, because once I got them to click together, they acted like they had been that way all along.

Here's a decent shot of the seam I'm going to have to deal with:

The bomb bay with the additional fuel tank that was collapsible once it was empty:

The upper gun turret - instructions said to install it but I'm going to get it in there through the upper turret opening:

The nose floor board:

Monogram B-26 Marauder - this is one of those old kits that fights you most of the way.  This example included a bunch of resin extras but most of those pieces I've had to leave out.  Had I installed the cockpit side walls I would not have been able to install the resin floorboard, ditto with the front wheel well.  I have put together the fuselage and masked all of the windows (except for the observer windows located in multiple places, I'll get to that later).  I also installed all of the gear doors as this bird will be "flying" along side my other medium bombers currently hanging in my garage.

The bomb bay:

Here the wings are simply hanging from the fuselage frame, they are not attached yet.  I'm still debating whether I'm ready to attach the wings at this point.  I plan to paint this in an all aluminum scheme using Alclad II paints on top of a Krylon gloss black primer.  I already know there is going to be some seam work required on both the wings and the engine nacelles, but I may elect to leave all of that off and paint each piece individually, weather each, then attach and do the putty work, then paint over the seams from there.  Not sure yet.

Side view:

Ryan, sorry but I don't have a scanner to send you the picture I am using from the book I have, the Warbird Tech series on the B-26.  I'm not even sure I can describe it, but the big rounded part appears to be completely free of any framework.  There's a smaller window on each side directly beneath the stabilizers, and perhaps a second even smaller window below that.  Hasn't been real clear even with the book.

Edit - ooops, I got mixed up on which turret you were talking about and mistakenly thought the tail gun.  Well, today is the first day of school here, so perhaps I should go back for some reading comprehension? 

does anyone know how the framework on the rear dorsal turret of the B-26 looked? pics and any other info would be appreciated

thanks,

I now have the major assembly done. Because this is such an old kit the wings and fuselage needed lots of putty as you will see in the pictures.

12Wings wrote:

lewbud wrote: Thanks Arki.  According to Wikipedia it does so I'm in with a RoG He-111 in 1/72 scale.   sorry lewbud that i didn't catch your post earlier, must have been too excited to see viper's finished plane. I'll add you to the list your in!

No prob.  Thanks.  Got some other GB's ahead of this, but it's great to be thinning the stacks a little.

lewbud wrote:

Thanks Arki.  According to Wikipedia it does so I'm in with a RoG He-111 in 1/72 scale.

sorry lewbud that i didn't catch your post earlier, must have been too excited to see viper's finished plane. I'll add you to the list your in!

Thanks Arki.  According to Wikipedia it does so I'm in with a RoG He-111 in 1/72 scale.

I'll try again.  I'd like to join this build but was wondering if the He-111 would qualify.

Picked up this little set. Really neat looking barrels for the B-26.

Josh

Well, caught another snag. Waiting for a photoetch bender to come in. I've seen a few different ways of going about bending it and this just seems the "safest".

Seeing if there isn't a few other things I can do on it while waiting for that to come in.

Josh

Well, though it was an uphill battle all the way, my B-25 is finally done.  This is the Revell B-25, box scale [around 1/96th] and the mold is from 1953. I built it mostly OOB, with only minor scratch building to add a rear bulkhead to the cockpit and nose gunner [to hide the lead weights.] The color is a mixture that I had made up for my P-39Q, however it came out very different on this model due to its grey primer base, versus the OD base of the -39.  Enjoy!

Would the He-111 qualify for this build?

Well, I finished the Romeo 57 Bis.  So I decided to go back to my original entry and do it as well.  Its the Monogram 1/72 Classic B-25.  I'm building this for this build, the bomber/escort/tanker build, and the classic kit build....since it goes for all three.

The figures arent the best, so they got basic painting.  I did manage to scratchbuild some bulkheads in the ockpit and nose to block off the open fuselage [showing the nose weights].  Speaking of weights, I THOUGHT I was good when I put 4 pine wood derby weights under the cockpit....wrong.  I had to add two to each engine nacelle [front of it] and another 3 to the nose before it would sit right.  And speaking of stance, when on its wheels, should a B-25 have a nose up cant, or should the fuselage be parallel to the ground?  The kit gear gives it a very visible upward cant.  Oh, and masking the canopy was a nightmare.  The molded in frame....is on the inside. The outside is perfectly smooth.

Here's a few pics so far. 

Here are some pics:

This is the completely scrachbuilt radio compartment:

Here is the rear turret: 

Nice work FastasF on the turret. I should have some WIP pics by Sunday on my Italeri B-25. Keep up the great work all!  How bout some pics 12, I want to see your excellent work! Thanks for hosting this GB Bro.

Picture of the gunner without the glass on.

Got my Eduard kit in the mail and my True Details USA wheel kit will be in either tomorrow or Friday.

I can finally resume progress on it now, YAY!