Brigbeale

A further update…. Tonight saw the vertical stabilisers being fitted, which makes the B-25 more or less complete shape wise. I noticed in photos that the gear doors are closed when the wheels are down with just the small doors open next to the main gear. That is a little issue to deal with as I’ve only got 3 main gear doors. That looks like some learning on the design app to get the compound curve…. The nose gear doors were placed in, although the odd shaped door had to be open as the gear is in the way. Superglue dots were added to the closed in tail gunners position to emulate rivets. Some are too big so I’ll see what they look like once painted. The original wing landing lights, although present, were just a glued up mess. Replacements were made from clear sprue and TET’d in position. Once dry, they were filed to shape, and then sanded (using a cheap nail sanding block) using the various grades of ‘grit’ to get them to a nice shine. while doing that I knocked off one vertical stabilisers, so I had to sprue-goo it back on again. I then hand painted the propeller hubs Aluminium, the propeller blades Flat Black, the spinner Chrome Silver and the tips Yellow (although I should have put white on first as the yellow is a bit dull. I’ll try a second coat to liven it up a bit. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just lightly sand the tips and repaint them using the white first). I also 3D printed two simple pots to insert into the engine cowlings to protect the engine from paint. a dab of white tac is holding them in position and the y can easily be removed. I had an idea for the Perspex dome on the tail. In my Falcon Vac Formed canopy sets, is a clear nose ‘cone’ from a Mosquito. According to some images I’ve seen, if I turn it upside down, it will be almost the correct shape. The problem is, I’ve only got the one so that should be fun…….

Chris, I will see what I can do regarding the rivets. I fitted the cockpit canopy to seal that part of the fuselage up. A fresh blade was taken to the masking on the navigator/bombardier’ s canopy to clear the raised frame detail ready for painting. The forward nose section was also masked up. I want to have this B-25 with the two machine guns in the nose section, so I drilled a 1mm hole through the upper front hole. I still have the body of a waist position gun. so I clipped the clear part from around it and tidied it up with a file. a 1mm hole was then drilled in the end and a piece of 1mm styrene rod was fitted into it. A small amount of sprue goo was placed at the joint and it was place into the mounting hole. Once the glue had sufficiently set, the forward section was glued to the nose section. The barrel is deliberately long so I can shorten it later. As one of the aelerons is missing, I needed a replacement. I designed and 3D printed a replacement using the original for the shape and size. A little clean up and a tweak with a file had it firing nicely, so much so, I printed one for the other side. They were fitted with sprue goo. I went round the B-25 filling all of the holes with sponge to keep the spray out when I get round to painting it.

The first thing I did this evening was sand back the filler around the now closed in rear gunner’s position. I left the masking tape over the wings to keep as much rivet detail as possible. It’s had two fills and sanding sessions and looks like it still needs another light fill and sand to get it smooth. I then returned to the business of masking the cockpit canopy. I used the toothpick to mark the framing and then a bright light behind the canopy while I cut the shapes with a knife. I’m glad to say the cockpit canopy masking is complete. Remember when I said earlier that fixing the bomb bay/cockpit canopy would mean I’d probably regret it later? Well I kind of do with the nose section. As the nose section is now fitted to the fuselage, I cannot get a light behind it, so, I cut strips of masking tape and placed them either side of the framing lines longways and crossways. I’m going to let the strips sit for a while to set a bit before I cut the areas where they cross out to clear the lines. I just added some Mr Neo Masking Solution to the centres of the windows to complete masking them off. A couple of other filled areas were tidied up and then I had to address what could have been a small calamity. Where I added the styrene strips to amend the wings dihedral, I think it in turn had squeezed the nacelles. This is where the problem occurred. As the main gear was still moveable, I went to tuck them away when I went to work on it a few days ago. The port one tucked in ok, but the starboard one moved a little and then broke off - fortunately right where the oleo joins the pivot. I fixed this this evening by drilling the leg and the pivot with a 0.6mm drill bit and supergluing a metal pin through both parts. Excess glue spread around the joint to hopefully reinforce it. I just need to remember to be careful when I go to get the gear out again. Finally, as a ‘lets see what it looks like’ moment, I dry fitted the engines again with the prop assemblies pushed back into their proper positions. It looks more like a B-25 now so it is getting there. I just need to mask the front section of the nose glazing and the top turret and then, after a couple of tweaks here and there, I can get round to applying some paint. With the cockpit canopy and engines dry fitted

Tonight, I decided the removal of the tail gunner’s bulge was called for. I was intending to manually saw it off, but a trial of the blade the placement of the bulge meant attacking it from 3-4 different angles, so I opted for the electric rotary tool on its slowest setting. I used the inverted cone stone bit (shown in the photos) as the discs need a screw to hold them in position and I didn’t want that chewing up the wing. Anyway I took small swipes at it rather than cut it off on one. The plastic melted a bit in places which actually helped hold the part as the bit cut through. It was then a simple case of snipping the rest free. A file was used to knock back the rest of the bulge to as flat as I could get it. The next step was to fill in the hole where the old gunner’s canopy used to be. 0.5mm styrene card was trimmed and filed to shape before TET’ing it into position. Once that had dried and didn’t move I used my Revell filler to fill the forward one of the two holes and go around the patch on the rear one. While I had the rotary tool out, I opened up the prop shaft holes in the front of the nacelles as mentioned earlier. I also stuck the nose section on but left the very front part off for now as I need to sort the guns on it as both are broken off. The cockpit canopy is just placed on as I’m slowly masking it off.

Thank you Brandy for the support. I wouldn’t have said no to your old stash of models- but oh well……

Tonight I made a bit more progress on the engines, first by running the 2mm drill bit through both and inserting the propeller assemblies. They were placed in front of a fan and they both spun - one freely the other with what appeared to be engine trouble. A quick clean up of the 2mm styrene prop shaft had it running freely as well. Then Chris’s image of his 1/48 B25 , which I’ll say again is a beauty, inspired me to give mine some exhaust openings in the nacelles. I started by marking the rough position and then drilling through at an angle with a 1mm drill bit. It looked too small, so I went to a 1.2mm bit. That looked about right for the scale so I stopped there rather than make an oversized hole which would look awful. I then placed each engine on its nacelle and drilled a 2mm hole in the ‘firewall’ of the nacelles. These will be drilled out larger to accommodate the protruding prop shafts coming out the back of the engines to allow the props to still spin freely. The next job was to put some .5mm styrene strips in the gaps between the under wing panels and the nacelles to alter the overly droopy dihedral??. With the model sitting on the stand as centrally as I could get it, I measured the wingtip bench top on each wing, the starboard is 0.2mm lower at the wing tip than the port which, for a 1964 era model which has been roughly built, probably played with, had bits broken off it, been sold on eBay at least twice (my usual seller buys the models as jobs lots then sells them off individually as I found my Sunderland in exactly the same condition as I bought it in an earlier completed sale), posted and then taken apart and rebuilt by me. Given that lot, 0.2mm can be forgiven as some new kits sometimes have more than that. Test fit of the engines and propellers The drilling if the exhaust outlets. Oh, and I nearly forgot, I glued the top and bottom of the nose section together.

That’s a beauty. Looking at it shows how much detail is missing from the 1/72 early Airfix kit ie, no exhausts on the engines, the air inakes in the wings are just simple slots, etc. The polystyrene base looks great as well being tailored to the landing gear - helping to stop the nose gear working forward over time I assume. I might have to get some 1/48’s …… It’s a pity I can only give one like - so here’s some more!

It was the same with my recent visit. The nurses were the cheeriest ones there keeping up morale which in turn leads to a better recovery IMO. We had one who called the six of in our bay ‘her lovely boys’. She is a brilliant nurse. She had her shift yesterday afternoon and was disappointed to find three of us going home. The doctors weren’t miserable but they seem to have that distance thing which kind of alienates them. We kept winding up the nurses when they come to give meds and ask the date of birth. We’d then give random dates. One patient said his right date and month but said 1564. The nurses cheery attitude almost had me wanting to stay longer.

You can’t just say you’ve got one, it has to be confirmed apparently Can you post a picture of your B-25 say….. for inspiration?

Where the undercarriage leg broke, it’s a bit thin, although I might get a 0.6 drill and metal pin through it. Nice suggestion, as I’m thinking about it. I’ll print another and use that as a test piece. It’ll be nice when my brain (yes the hospital said I had one!) get back to normal functioning.

Righty then ~ I’M HOME. The first thing I did was study the model by taking it off its stand and studying where I’d left off. While I had it in my hand (I’m talking about the B-25! blimey you lot……) I started removing the excess ‘filler’ from the joints. Thats kinda where I should have maybe put my glasses on or looked a bit longer. While rubbing the forward section, I rested what I thought was the very front of the nose section on the bench. The crack with a jolt told me that wasn’t the nose section - yep - you guessed it - it was the newly printed front landing gear. No big problem though, it’s a clean snap and it’ll glue back nicely with superglue, now once the models nearing completion as I’ll probable knock it off again! I looked at the engines and one of the 3D printed hubs looked crooked so I put a propeller blade in and it was. I drilled out the old on carefully and printed a new pair - yes I expect there’s a design on thingiverse for that somewhere. I just tidied up the print and glued it into the hole now vacated by the previous one. I double checked this one was sitting how it was supposed to and carefully put it down to set. I just TET’d the engine nacelles back to the wings and, despite the pegs, she’s starting to take shape again. In this photo the grey bit in the middle is the spare hub insert as I printed them as a pair. The fuselage with pegs clamping the nacelles on. . Thats as far as I went tonight. I’m getting tired so I’m going to have an early night - thanks to the bloke in Bed 1 next to mine (Bed 2). His mobile alarm kept sounding every 5 minutes. He didn’t know how to turn it off or turn the phone off. After about 25 minutes he went to the sink by the door, filled it with water and chucked the phone into it. Damned thing was still blaring underwater. So I got up, went and fished the now soggy Alcatel flip phone out, dried it off and told him I’d sort it. He just said throw it away. It turned he had 4 alarms all set to midnight and active. As he didn’t have his glasses on and it was dark, he kept hitting snooze thinking that would turn it off. I deactivated all 4 and gave the phone back to him. It must be a good phone as it was still working perfectly this morning when we checked it and he used it normally during the day. So I want to sleep eventually about 1.00am. Then about 4.00am, a nurse dropped something big like a cutlery tray and woke me up again. Now I’m home I should be able to get a decent nights sleep - hopefully.

I (and other people on Britmodeller) use the abbreviation TET for Tamiya Extra Thin cement. It’s a lot quicker than typing the whole thing out each time I use the stuff somewhere.

AAND HE'S OF THERE!! Yes, it's confirmed I can go home today to my beloved wife, son and dog. That's enough emotionals - makes it hard to type with tears in your eyes. The doctors came round with yet another version of events. Apparently, a stone was removed - as in 1 not 3. I've been told there will be some discomfort but if any big pains emerge, I'm to ring them immediately. I'm hoping that won't happen again. I feel up for some plastic surgery, so I'll see if I can get back to the B-25

Just a quick update. I went down for the ecpr (camera down my throat - the procedure they said I'd probably have about a month after the gallbladder removal op - which they had a slot for today (Monday) as an outpatient). As I was already in hodpital, it saved me an early 20 minute trip. When I got to the department, they explained the procedure, which was actually going in search of 3 gallstones which the CT scan showed. That was the first I'd heard of it! The staff were great. I was very anxious at first but they talked me through each stage of it before the start. I wasn't completely out but near enough as I don't remember anything until I woke up in the recovery room. I was then told there was no sign of any of the stones, so once again, it appears they exited by themselves! Either that or the person in the CT scanner room needs to clean their screen!. I've been resting up today and I'll see what the doctors say in the morning. Hopefully it's good news but I won't count my chickens just yet!

Anyway back to the B-25. On Friday -when I was feeling ok - I set about working on the engines and propellers. The port engine was glued solid and the propeller had been snapped off. Fortunately it was a clean break. As I like my propellers to turn (who doesn't?) more work was required. The starboard engine rotated freely, but had too much sideways and longitudual play. So much so that the propeller blades touched the engine cowling. I drilled the port propeller shaft out right through the whole assembly. I then picked 2mm styrene rod for the replacement shaft and drilled the appropriate size hole in the back of the propeller hub after I had filed it flat. I decided to work on the starboard propeller at the same time so I snipped the blade/hub assembly from the starboard engine. I then filed the propeller assembly flat and drilled a 2mm hole in the underside of that as well. The styrene rod was TET'd in position and the blade assemblies were placed on two small plastic shot glasses (which have only had isopropyl alcohol in them - not drinking alcohol!) with the shaft hanging downwards to help with the alignment. While that was setting I decided I'd use a model saw to cut the radial flap assemblies from the cowlings as they were fitted on crooked. That went quite well. The removed parts came off in two pieces which actually helped in me re-fitting them onto the nacelles. The rear of the cowlings were filed so they would fit the nacelles squarely. As the simulated engines had a front and rear part, I used this to my advantage and drilled the fronts out to 5.5mm. I then designed and 3d printed two replacement bosses with 2mm holes (cleaned up with a drill bit) for the now eventual refit of the propellers. I used the drill bit to align the holes in the rear of the engines and new bosses. The fuselage and wings have had an initial dose of filler which will get cleaned up when I get home again. But - first things first as they say!