WWII B-25J Mitchell Bomber. 1/48 scale, Revell

 

Another completed build… This was the second kit built after reentering the hobby back about a decade ago, which I picked up from Michael's Craft Store for about $12 with a half off coupon. She was all hand-painted with Folk Art acrylics, as I'd not yet figured out airbrushing. It was a decent kit, and you couldn't beat the price! I looked upon it as a learning kit, as I found my way through trying to advance my skills.

As I don’t have a lot of pics that survived from back then, this abbreviated build log from memory will have to suffice   The nose of the bird was a tad more tricky than I’d anticipated, figuring such a big bird would be more tame, but there was a bit of a challenge to it. Apologies for the blurry pic below, but it is an important one, showing the wheel gear assembly

  

The instrumentation was totally new territory for me back then, as I’d never bothered with such things as a kid, to my memory, but it came out pretty good for a first try!

 

I’d not really done any weathering at this stage of my building career, so these were pretty bland looking… but luckily, the seatbelts are nicely molded on this kit and look presentable.

   

Like I said, some tricky placements but, this was definitely the most intricate cockpit I’d ever done uo to that time!

 

The kit was very nice, considering it’s low cost. The molds were nicely done and the plastic was solid with no warpage.

The main fuselage was a good fit. I don’t know if that was a firewall, but it was painted for viewing through the forward gunner’s bubble. Note the Green Surgical Gloves… those are what I started building in and they were horrible… strange fit, as I recall.

 

Fitting the bomb was a challenge, as it needed a bit of help staying in place, done with a plant stick held by my magnifying glass and gator clip gazizmo.

 

I needed to prop the birds’ midsection up for some reason…probably the aforementioned bomb! …a sanding stick did the trick. Like o mentioned earlier, the fit on this kit was very nice, with no need for seam work with putty, or alterations in fit adjustments. Tail section went together perfectly… it’s a meaty kit!

 

 

The machine guns are killer!

 

This was also the first time I needed to pre-paint interior bits before assembling exterior bits!

 

I was jazzed how this kit was coming together, but truly wondering how I was gonna paint the dang thing! Everything was *figure out as I go* back then!

The answer to the paint question was, hand-painted Folk Art Acrylic craft paint! …cheap, but effective. The main issue of course, being the weightier pigments, as opposed to the Finley ground ones used in hobby paint used on models and wargame miniatures. I was able to find a color that matched the usual color on these ships, with just a little altering.

 

Looks kinda factory fresh at this stage, and spoiler alert, that wasn’t about t9 change anytime soon, as weathering just wasn’t in my wheelhouse yet at that time.

 

The “glass” pilots and gunner pits were nicely molded, but another first was trying to figure out how to paint the glass supports! OMGosh. I also decided at this time, to name her after my wife, with her nickname, “Kari”. You know, now that I look at this after so many years, I’m half tempted to go back into the kit and write “Killer” before her image! “Killer Kari” sounds a little more ominous!

 

Decals were very nice! This was before I discovered Future acrylic for pre-decaling, but I managed to avoid silvering through use of MicroSol/Set.

 

 

And yes, I knew enough back then to dry-fit first, and glue with clear plastic glue after… with a little help to hold that lower “glass” piece in place to cure.

 

 

“Kari” started to look like a sexy gal at this point!

So here, presented an interesting dilemma! …a machinegun fell out! I can still hear it rattling around inside the model…I somehow managed to get it to pop out of the underbull hatch, flipping the bird all around like it was careening out of the sky! What to do, what to do?!?

 

Well, I fortunately decided not to put the pilot in the model earlier, and the kit came with the ability to keep the bottom crew hatch open and a stairs unit included so, I sat the pilot outside, in the step, holding the machinegun in a rather mocking way, waiting for the ground crew to show so he could rip them a new asshole for forgetting to remount it after needed servicing!

 

Ain’t she puuuurty?!?

 

The finished work…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along!

Excellent stuff, good use of the magnifying glass and clips.

Fritz wrote:

Excellent stuff, good use of the magnifying glass and clips.

Thank you!!! Yeah, that little clip gizmo has come in handy quite a lot, and it’s weighted very nicely.