1/48 North American B-25B Michell (Doolittle Raiders) Accurate Minatures [WIP]

[Guest]

Ok, this is my first attempt at a post in this forum about a kit under construction.

I dont consider myself as a real great expert but hopefully this will serve to add one extra aircraft to the list included here.

Ive ended my topic title with [WIP] meaning Work in Progress which I will remove when kit is complete. Please also note that at time of writing this post I have no experience with an airbrush, which I plan to learn to use to pain the outside parts. As a result this *may* delay the completion date. Also, due to work I dont have a great deal of time so this may take ages to complete.

[Ian M]

Looking forwards to seeing it!

You dont have to worry to much about WIP . Once finnished just fly it over to the Aircraft section and post the pictures in "Aircraft Pictures"

Good luck with the air brush.

Ian M

[Guest]

Kit and Aircraft Research / First Impressions

This kit is well documented on he internet so Im going to "borrow" pictures for his post, but future posts will be my own work

Sites Used for Research

North American B-25 Mitchell - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Accurate Miniature B-25 inbox review

Accurate Miniatures B-25 'Doolittle Raider' Online Build

Accurate Miniatures 1/48 B-25B

Accurate Miniatures 1/48 B-25

Zinc chromate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are other sites available, but these are he ones I use the most. I also plan a visit to the library, which I admit perhaps should have been my first port of call.

The initial box looks good, and its large. Being mainly a US Naval aircraft modeller coupled with the fact that Ive recenly convered from 1/72 to 1/48 I dont usually deal with anything this large, so this possibly presents a new challenge.

I must admit that one of the first things that struck me was he amazing detail of the parts, being a brush detail modeller I shall enjoy picking out the details

So what can we expect. Well if Ive researched correctly the kit has been researched well, with the possibility of creating any of the 16 aircraft but Im probably going to go with Doolittles own aircraft. The reason I choose this was that it was between his and Lawsons aircraft, he raptured duck. However, the reason I opted against Lawsons was the one of my research materials suggests that the decal has so much excess that it lightens the areas around the decal. Although there is a case that this may actually add authenticity the reviewer suggests a way to cover this up which right now may be beyond my scope of expertise.

The instructions are available online which I will link to here just in case you are interested in following along

http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/library/3430.pdf

[Guest]

Part 1 - Cockpit Assembly

Please excuse the flood of posts, Im kind of playing catch up as Ive actualy been working on this for about a week.

All photos of all my builds will appear in my gallery which I believe you can click on using the link on the left by my user details. All Gallery photos are clearly labelled and the photos are also titled to show you which part of the instructions they represent.

so, onwards and upwards

So, part 1

This is the first time I dealt with the instructions, which I have to admit I would rate as 11 out of 10. There are 10 main colours so this is ideal for someone like me who is returning to the hobby and doesnt have a big stick of paints (As I build more aircraft I will find that many colours I already own, but this being my first for a while, Ive got to buy every colour quoted). Obviously if you want to add extra detail (As I shall) you will need more paint, but Ive bought 6 different colours and that should see me through to about part 14 (Which at the rate of progression is gonna be about a month at least).

You will find that every single part will be painted on all sides and as Ive not yet seen it constructed I dont know which parts are visable and which are not. Therefore my advice at this stage is paunt it ALL. Therefore it may be an idea to paint on the sprue. Others may tell you different and if they do dont ignore them.

Research material also presents me with a problem, or a dilema. Apparantly many of the parts are not as good as they can be and even inaccurate. For example, even though it explains in detail the exact bomb load of each of the 16 aircraft it doesnt actually supply you with the pieces to make them, for example, there are no incendury bombs includd in the kit. IMO thats a real bad thing, but we are still able to proceed. You may wish to purchase resin extras which are available.

So, Ive painted the parts needed for part 1.

I then glued the Bombardiars access tunnel (K48) and the Rear Bulkhead (J218) to the cockpit floor (K43) along with the Instrument Panel (F44). In hindsight perhaps I should have left the instrument panel off for a while as it needs to be painted black with grey foot pedals.

The panel comes with two decals, but as there is great detail Ive decided to omit the decals and paint the dials instead (The rear decal is simply black, so I just panted it instead).

It should look something like this ready to be given a second coat

and Im happy with this picture that shows the lovely detail of the instruments

I have decided to leave the seats till last as I want to try something a bit special with them and it will be just too fiddly to do of they are glued to the cockpit floor.

Will update later

BTW - If you think I need to add another element please say.

[stona]

I'm not familiar with the kit but it looks very nice. Looks like you've made a good start too. I'm intrigued to know what you plan to do with the seats!

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

I'm not familiar with the kit but it looks very nice. Looks like you've made a good start too. I'm intrigued to know what you plan to do with the seats!Cheers

Steve

The set comes with decals for the seatbelts. I read somewhere though that if I carefully cut the decals out and stick then to a piece of tin foil it adds a bit of realism. The seats themselves are being painted n the sprue. I plan to paint them dark green, then paint the actual seat part leather then add a little dry brush detail to make them look a little worn from were the pilot and co pilot have been sitting there (Im sure the seats were not brand spanking new at the time of the mission)

[Guest]

I am looking forward to following this thread. My grandfather flew B-25s in WWII, and is the reason I am trying my hand at this hobby. My goal, when I have enough experience to do it right, is try and model his plane.

Good work so far!

-Matt

[Ian M]

Part 1 - Cockpit AssemblyI then glued the Bombardiars access tunnel (K48) and the Rear Bulkhead (J218) to the cockpit floor (K43) along with the Instrument Panel (F44). In hindsight perhaps I should have left the instrument panel off for a while as it needs to be painted black with grey foot pedals.

The panel comes with two decals, but as there is great detail Ive decided to omit the decals and paint the dials instead (The rear decal is simply black, so I just panted it instead).

I think you will find that the decal you say is just black is a cunning trick: all the dials are on the back of the decal, so when you put the decal on the BACK of the intrumant pannel, you can see the dials.

But as you are going to paint the dials you didnt really need to know that. Just thought I would mention it for the next time you stumble upon one.

Looking good so far. I must say that those building instructions are by far the most comprehensive I have ever seen. Beats the hell out of most of the jap ones with pictures only and pictograms and secret codes and having to race back and forth from the section you are on the the front page to find out what colour nr X-83 is!! Brilliant!

Keep it up!

Ian M

[Guest]

I think you will find that the decal you say is just black is a cunning trick: all the dials are on the back of the decal, so when you put the decal on the BACK of the intrumant pannel, you can see the dials.But as you are going to paint the dials you didnt really need to know that. Just thought I would mention it for the next time you stumble upon one.

Looking good so far. I must say that those building instructions are by far the most comprehensive I have ever seen. Beats the hell out of most of the jap ones with pictures only and pictograms and secret codes and having to race back and forth from the section you are on the the front page to find out what colour nr X-83 is!! Brilliant!

Keep it up!

Ian M

OMG - Ive just realised Ive made a monumental error by not reding the instructions properly. I thought you had to paint the instrument panel black and then apply a decal. Thats why I decided to do away with the decal as whats the point in having raised (Or sunken) detail if you are going to cover it up.

However, I jut checked the decals and the instructions and I can now clearly see that it says "Carefuly paint the front of the panel with the exception of the dial faces"

You then apply either one of the decals to the front or the other one to the back, not both.

So, Ive made my first cock up but luckily not too major.

Just an update, Ive painted the dials a scruffy silver and applied some gloss red to a few buttons. Next stage a few blobs of yellow and it should look swell. However, Ill save that for the next update.

And here it is. Excuse the poor photo, doesnt seem as good when the light isnt 100%

As you can see Ive added red handles and bits. Next stage is to add 1 or 2 yellow ones and then go over with black to tidy it up a bit. You can (sort of) see the lovely contract between the aluminium (Bottom), the green floor and the yellow zinc chromide door panel. Im quite pleased with the results.

[Guest]

looks great Penny and do'nt worry about the airbrush skills I had'nt used one in years until the Uhu build and did fine despite my worries ,you'll pick it up quick!

Trey

[Ian M]

Thats looking good Penny.

As for the cock pit cock up, how do you think I discovered the back to front decals. :smile11:

Ian M

[Guest]

Looking good Penny, sounds like an interesting build which you have well researched. looking forward to seeing it progress.

[Guest]

Just for fun, Ive dry fitted my B-25B and taken a picture comparing the size to a B-29 and an F-14. The B-29 and F-14 belong to a friend. The F-14 is the only one thats been glued together (Just in case you were wondering why they looked a bit odd).

Now here is the bit that got me thinking.

The F-14 has a designation of "F" meaning Fighter. It has a crew of 2. The crew sit one in front of the other, which makes space easier to cope with. Now, I know that the F-14 was not a small aircraft, but you think carrier based Fighter and you think small.

We know the B-29 was huge and the picture cleary shows that. It was a long range heavy bomber with a large crew.

Nw, think about the B-25.

It was a bomber, and it was designed to have a crew of up to six, although this particular model had a crew of 5 as their was no lower gun turret.

It was a medium Bomber, so you could be thinking its a large model.

Now, when you are making aircraft in the same scale you get the "feel" of the size of aircraft based on past experience. My time away from models coupled with the new scale Ive been making means Ive probably lost that although I do get the impression that a 1/48 B-25 is roughly the same size as a 1/72 B-17. However, this actually means very little right now.

The food for thought is at just how small the B-25 actually is. When I read "Crawl Space" in the instructions Im now starting to get the feeling of what that actually is. Te whole aircraft is actually very very small, consderng its a medium sized bomber. Those crawl spaces must have been like going through a tractor tyre. I had a lot lot of respect for the men and women who served in WWII, but that respect has doubled when you consider the conditions they fought in.

[spanner570]

This is looking good Penny.

It's nice to have an informed and detailed read as the build progresses.

You have obviously done a lot of research on this B-25 before kick off and during the game!

Nice one,

Ron

[Guest]

Now, this may not work but below is a (poor quality) photo of a planned improvement on the seats.

The seat is quite plain and according to the instructions should be painted green. This is all well and good but IMO this makes it look like the pilot and co pilot will be sitting on metal seats. I was planning on painting the top and back a leather, but being so flat means that I then wouldnt be able to dry brush additional detail.

So, here is the plan.

Make 4 little "Splats" of milliput. When they are semi set cut them to shape. To do 2 seats I need 2 squares and 2 rectangles. The rectangles will have a rounded top to represent the top of the seat.

Once fully dry I will dry fit them and then paint them a leather colour, to match the navigators seat and the upper turrets shell collection bag.

Then I will glue them i place and dry brush. Then I wil attach the seatbelts.

The photo above shows one milliput seat unpainted in dry fitting position while the other seat is left bare for comparison. To the right you should see the remaining 2 milliput "Splats"