Chip's B25 Mitchell***Finished***

[Molly-new]

I will be doing an Italeri B-25 Mitchell, as flown by Lt. Col. J. Doolittle in the "Raid over Tokyo" in 1942.

[Martin R]

Chip,

Looking forward to this as well. It may just give me the impetus to get cracking on mine.

regards,

Martin

[Molly-new]

This is the kit I will be building ;



and the chosen scheme:

[PaulBradley]

Very cool. Will you build a carrier deck to display it on?

[Molly-new]

Will you build a carrier deck to display it on?

I may do, I built one before for a F-4 Phantom:

[fredk]

Don't forget to remove the m/gs and replace with whittled down cocktail sticks painted black,
It'll be interesting to compare kit details with the other two being built.

[Molly-new]

Don't forget to remove the m/gs and replace with whittled down cocktail sticks painted black,

Yes indeed, but don't let the Japanese know.

Having seen the other B-25's being built in this GB I seem to have the one with the least amount of parts:







The kit enables two versions to be built, a 'B' or 'C', so some parts won't even get used.

[Martin R]

Hi Chip,

Don't forget the nose weight!!!! Here's my DNF from the D-day GB.



regards,

Martin

[Molly-new]

Thanks for the reminder Martin, it suggests in the instructions to put 10gm in each engine bay. Let's hope I remember when the time comes.

I have made a start by cutting out the panels for the central windows:



This was followed by painting the insides "Green Zinc Chromate"(ish), and assembling the cockpit:



There are quite a few parts that need fitting into the fuselage before it gets joined, so I am slowly working my way through them so as not to miss anything.

[Dazzled]

Thanks for the reminder Martin, it suggests in the instructions to put 10gm in each engine bay. Let's hope I remember when the time comes. .

If I were you Chip I'd chuck in as much weight as I could in every available space. B-25s are sods to tail sit.

[Martin R]

I think I filled up the space in the cowling behind each engine, and I also fitted more behind the nose gear bay. I use steel bike ball-bearings that wouldn't be as dense as lead, though.

regards,

Martin

[DavidWomby]

Looking good and Doolittle's raid is a great choice of scheme.

David

[Molly-new]

All the relevant parts have now been fitted into one half of the fuselage, and the wings have been assembled:



After reading some of the other threads, and having 'poked out' toooo many side windows in the past, I coated the windows (which had already been glued in with PVA) with klear and then stuck liberal amounts of Superglue around them. Good to see that there was no fogging of the clear parts, and they seem fairly secure, only time will tell I guess.



A point to note if building this, the bomb bay doors are only just attached to the fuselage, probably to give the option of having them open, though a lot of scratch building would be needed as there is no bomb rack supplied. To prevent breaking them off I have filled in the recesses with Superglue.

I think I filled up the space in the cowling behind each engine, and I also fitted more behind the nose gear bay.

I have a couple of 10gm bolts to fit in behind the engines, but have taken your advice and stuck a nut below the cockpit floor:



Once the engine nacelles have dried I will attach them to the wings and do a dry run:

[Molly-new]

I decided to deviate from the instructions and glue the engine nacelles to the wings, then the wings to the fuselage so that I can ensure that all the wheel axles touch the ground:



The angle looks good but it has left a couple of areas that require filling on the wing roots:





Whilst this was drying I painted up the engines, Anthracite with a silver dry brushing:

[iggie]

That's looking good; especially the engines!