B-25J Mitchell by Tom E - Revell - 1:48 Scale

[mtaylor]

I think you're sand-bagging us, Tom, and those are actually full size.  Where did you find the 10-foot long clothespin?

[Tom E]

Morning,

 

Mark,

You can only get the really big clothespins at the really big, super size Wal-Marts. 

They work well for propping up a car for repairs!

 

Well, the virus holiday continues....hmmmm...what to work on today....B-25 or Niagara...hmmmmmmm….plastic or wood.....hmmmm…..God I love modeling!!!!

Maybe another cup of coffee and an update from yesterdays activities first.

 

I am mostly following the instructions as for a building sequence. 

Under the cockpit is the forward landing gear. There is some PE for this area.

I installed what I could. Some PE were painfully small. I tried, but, they ended up flying off the tweezers never to be seen again.

These will be painted with a Tamiya flat aluminum. 

I may try some Tamiya panel accent in this area to give it a gritty/greasy look.

I've never used weathering products, but this may be a good area to try.

Any recommended products for weathering? I've seen powders and paints. 

 

I've heard that airbrushing metallic colors can be a bear. 

With that in mind, I'll prep the rear landing gear as well and then paint all at once. 

I gave the PE for the cockpit area one coat of Mr Color flat black. 

I was going to give them another coat but I kind of like the "beaten up" look.

 

Boy, close up photography REALLY brings out the scratches in the plastic. 

Some of you more experienced modelers may have noticed my shaving plastic for PE skills are still a work in progress. 

Here's where we stand.

 

Good from afar but far from good!

I really need to stop zooming in too close to these pieces with the camera!!!!!!

Those PE foot pedals were a beast to install. 

Basically had to hold them with tweezers until the glue started to grab.

They were done before the control panel was glued to the cockpit.  

I hope to have the seats installed soon. 

I'm working backwards. Control panel, flight controls then seats. 

Wash your hands!

 

Tom E 

 

 

 

[Edwardkenway]

31 minutes ago, Tom E said:

Good from afar but far from good!

I really need to stop zooming in too close to these pieces with the camera!!!!!!

Tom they still look  pretty good to me close up!!

It's coming on 😉👍

[popeye the sailor]

nice progress........PE can be a coin toss.  sometimes the actual part looks just as good                                                                                                                                                

[lmagna]

Looks great to me even up close Tom. Keep it up and you will have it perfect by the next set of pictures!

[mtaylor]

Since the real deal was usually pretty beat up after a few missions, don't sweat the scratches, etc.  Just cite "realisim".  

[Tom E]

Morning, 

Hope everyone had a nice Easter.

VERY quiet around here! Oh well, just a sign of the times. We gotta do what we gotta do these days! 🧻

 

Admittedly, not much of anything was done in this house yesterday.

Most was done Saturday.

 

The cockpit has it's seats.

She's a bit snaggle toothed, but not bad for my first plastic kit in 15+ years. I've never used PE before. 

I've learned when working with PE, it's like deer hunting. When you have a deer in your sights, you start to control your breathing. 

When your working with really tiny PE, my breathing slows like I'm aiming a rifle. 

Could just be my Goblins!!!! 

I had an epiphany related to airbrushing recently. 

I realized that I have more control in the paint to thinner ratio than in the finger trigger it's self. 

I was using WAY too much paint and vice versa at times. Definitely a learning curve.

Here's the cockpit in the Starboard fuselage. I haven't glued it in permanently yet.

There's more to do. 

The fit of this kit has been good. Not perfect but not too bad either.

The normal shaving and the like, and the parts eventually nestle into place.

 

Port side. Not glued in yet. 

There were no fit issues on either side. 

All pieces were test fit multiple times before they were even painted. 

I think the one thing you learn with PE, is sometimes it's better to leave the original area as is. 

Don't get me wrong. Really liking the PE and what it brings. 

Looking back I may have left the cockpit instruments as they were originally molded. 

These PE pieces seem flat and add no dimension/depth to this area. 

 

Off to the kitchen for another cup of coffee!

 

Tom E 

 

 

 

[Edwardkenway]

Hello, the cockpit is marvellous, detailing looks great !👍

[Old Collingwood]

Looking great.

 

OC.

[Jack12477]

Agree ! Very impressive looking detailing.

[ASAT]

Looking great Tom, lots of hours of minimal breathing there!

[popeye the sailor]

don't kid yourself........the cockpit and instrument panel looks good.   sad that once the halves are together,  a lot of it won't be seen,  but you'll know that it's all there    

[Tom E]

Morning,

 

Thanks for comments and likes!

Popeye, your right about the PE. It's a labor of love.

The majority isn't seen, but it will bug the heck out of me If I don't do it!!!!! 

 

I seem to have found a little rhythm while staying at home. 

One day I'll work on my Niagara build, then the next day I'll work on the Mitchell. 

The crazy part is, while working on one project, I'm usually feeling guilty for not working on the other!!!!!

Man! I've been at home WAY too long! 

 

Anywho…..

 

The bombs were assembled, as well as some ammunition boxes, and airbrushed a Mr Color flat black.

I've never used Mr Color paints before and I'm rather impressed.

Since I've never airbrushed before, the learning curve has been visible. 

Yet, the combo of Mr Color paints and thinner still produce a quality paint job even while learning the craft. 

Easily installed. 

The rear seat has it's seatbelts and glued into place as well. 

I could have done a better job "burying" the rear part of the belts into the plastic.

 

Both sides of the fuselage have ammo boxes. 

There is some PE ammo belts for these. 

They are a 3 part "sandwich" like construction. Should have some pics soon. 

Not going too crazy on the bombs, the fins were painted a Tamiya gun metal.  Almost imperceptible, but it's there. 

The very tip of the bomb will be a Tamiya flat yellow. The same yellow ultimately used on the front area of the engines. 

Well see what becomes of these. 

Check in on your neighbors,

 

Tom E 

 

 

 

[Canute]

Tom, you can never have too much ammo for those bomber gunners.

 

The yellow ring around the nose is pretty much a US standard for live ordnance. We still use that on free fall and precision guided weapons. The fuses (little propellers on the noses) are a metallic aluminum. Old USAF weapons officer and I did this stuff for  20 years. Hope this helps.

[Egilman]

6 hours ago, Tom E said:

Not going too crazy on the bombs,

Those are mk 65 bombs..... originally designed in 1939 for the USAAF they were the general purpose design used throughout WWII and Korea, they were also used in Vietnam when the supply of Mk 80 bombs got low cause they were dropping them faster than they could make them.....

 

It is an overall OD color with two yellow stripes fore and aft... fuses (there were three, nose contact, tail contact delay, and side radio altimeter) are colored steel or aluminium during WWII of painted green in Korea and Vietnam... the contact fuses were installed safed and had propellers that spun to activate them as they fell. they had two circular screw-in lugs on one side for hoisting and mounting into the bomb dispensers/racks

 

They did come in various sizes and marks for different purposes, but the design was basically the same Mk 65 throughout WWII....

An example of a 500lb GP bomb from WWII...

They still find several of these in Germany each year ranging from 250 lbs to 4000lbs.... unexploded.....

Edited April 16, 2020 by Egilman

[Tom E]

Ken, Egilman, 

Thanks for looking in.

The info is perfect timing. In my head I knew there was a yellow component to the nose, but the stripe looks better. 

I was going to paint the nose and fuse all yellow. 

Instead, that stripe looks much better and for the fuse I have a Tamiya flat aluminum.

 

Tom E 

[Old Collingwood]

Very nice work Tom, that interior is really coming on.

 

OC.

[ASAT]

Tom, how are you going to paint the stripes? I heard that is a difficult task because of the bombs taper....

[Old Collingwood]

I would also like to know the same as Lou.

 

OC.

[Tom E]

Lou, OC,

 

I'm wondering about that myself.

If I could go back in time, I think I would have painted the area yellow, used my smallest Tamiya masking tape, then spray with the black.

 

I'm kinda stumped.

Originally I was going to paint the front dome of the bomb yellow, then paint the fuse. 

It wouldn't have been a small stripe but a larger area that would be a bit easier to mask then paint 

 

I could use a compass with the needle on the fuse and try to trace out a stripe with pencil for a shot at uniformity.

Hmmmmmmmm……...

 

Tom E 

 

[Egilman]

15 hours ago, ASAT said:

Tom, how are you going to paint the stripes? I heard that is a difficult task because of the bombs taper....

 

14 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I would also like to know the same as Lou.

 

OC.

 

4 hours ago, Tom E said:

Lou, OC,

 

I'm wondering about that myself.

If I could go back in time, I think I would have painted the area yellow, used my smallest Tamiya masking tape, then spray with the black.

 

I'm kinda stumped.

Originally I was going to paint the front dome of the bomb yellow, then paint the fuse. 

It wouldn't have been a small stripe but a larger area that would be a bit easier to mask then paint 

 

I could use a compass with the needle on the fuse and try to trace out a stripe with pencil for a shot at uniformity.

Hmmmmmmmm……...

 

Tom E 

 

It's easy to paint the nose of the bomb one color it can be done in several ways, my trick is to dip the nose vertically in some thinned yellow paint.  Once that is dry, dip it again in some Olive Drab paint thinned the same way, just not quite as far into the paint as you did the yellow....  Leaves a nice yellow ring, the only difficult part is making sure you have it vertical on each dip.... 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Egilman

[ASAT]

I’ve heard of using o rings as masks after you paint the yellow - roll them down to where you want the stripes then paint the drab, trick is finding the right size o ring... and hoping they stay put on the taper.... or maybe jig them up in a drill motor and spin while you use a small brush loaded with yellow paint? I’m sure they weren’t perfect stripes....

Edited April 17, 2020 by ASAT

[popeye the sailor]

I'll be looking at this as well......I have bombs for the Memphis belle too.  freehand might be the way to go about it..........but I wonder if there are decals to be had.

[Egilman]

I think these will do the job.....

The website is here....

 

Print/Scale

 

They have them in the usual scales.

 

I think that solves the bomb markings problem...

 

Here's another set....

 

WBD48006 1:48 Warbird Decals - US WWII & Korean War Bomb & Rocket Markings #48006

 

That's from Sprue Bros, in stock.....

Edited April 17, 2020 by Egilman

[lmagna]

While it is pretty certain that either of EG's methods would work you may want to try another possibility.

 

If you have a 3/4" drill with a chuck to hold bits, you should be able to open them enough to hold the bombs while spinning them slowly. Then it is just a matter of holding your brush in place while the bomb spins and you have your stripe or stripes. 

[Old Collingwood]

Another possiblity  - re bomb band markings,   how about those metal  cut out  things with different size round cut outs  in them, could use  two slightly different size  round cut outs  - slide them over the bomb  just over the  nose  and the other one just forward of that  then  paint in between.

 

OC.

[Tom E]

Afternoon, 

Hope everyone is well. 

 

The build continues!

 

Started to piece together the wings and the engine area.

The engines themselves are starting to come together.

These were easy enough. 

Not too bad fit or flash wise. Some seams, I'll see if I can fill these. I do have a putty.

All of the landing gear have been painted. 

A basic Tamiya flat aluminum with Tamiya thinner. 

There are some PE pieces for all three.

I had some fun with it, see what I could do.

I find myself gaining confidence handling PE.  Not perfect, but fun. 

I finally realized I had forgotten to install support struts on both the rear landing gear. 

The fix is not seen in these pics, but has been done. 

Continuing with the "extra's", time to see what the resin gun barrels bring to the table. 

The kit supplied part is self evident. 

These should add a nice look. 

As for the yellow stripe on the bombs...…...

I am not knocking myself out on these. 

Yeah, sure I would love engineered precision, but what ya gonna do!

Found the longest, thinnest, finest brush I had and gave it a go!

Meh...…..

Looks like the bomb techs were out late at the USO the night before. 

And four feet away buried in an enclosed fuselage...…...they look perfect!   

Dinner time!

 

Tom E 

 

 

 

 

[lmagna]

Like you say Tom they look the part and will do just fine when placed in the bomb bay ready to go.

 

Besides, all evidence of sloppiness will be eliminated shortly after dropping!

[popeye the sailor]

looks good and does the job   

[Tom E]

Evening, 

 

Full belly from dinner, house is quiet.

Good time to update Mitchell. 

 

The engines have been started.

There are a few pieces of PE for this area, not all have been used. 

The worst piece of PE I've had to do battle with was the below spider web of wires. 

It eventually fell into place.

I realize the wires probably have specific areas where they should be attached. 

I'm not too worried about it as it will be eventually covered. 

Everything just sort of stacks on top of each other. 

The band of PE around the engine has tiny miniscule little brass pieces that go underneath to open the flaps up. 

I didn't use these. It looked like they were putting stress on the flap it self as I was bending it up to get the small piece in. 

I was a comedy of errors. 

Looks fine without it. 

All buttoned up, but not glued yet. 

The engine itself will be flat black. The outside of the engine will have it's distinctive yellow stripe.

The rest will match the exterior. 

 

 

The propeller will be black with flat aluminum accents. 

Everything lines up well.

No wonky prop. 

The second engine was assembled soon after. 

I have a lot of painting to do. 

 

Tom E