gunpowder17 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Big Bad Bonnie was the first B-25 i ever saw flying. It must have been after it was in Catch 22 as it had the desert tan sprayed ove the olive drab. It was at Stapleford airfield in Essex. There was also Spencer Flacks G-fury and G-fire , Lyndsay Waltons "messershmitt" and Corsair amongst others. A few months back i found an issue of Aeroplane monthly from August 1978 with and Article on the film Hanover street. That started me off on the hunt for a glass nose b-25. Thanks to ebay i found this one. I will be using Kitsworld decals , profimodeller nose weight , Brassin wheels and the SAC u/c legs. Its been great fun so far, These were well used TB-25s they used for the film with water based paint on the outsides , but im assuming ratty on the insides , so it been guess work painting the interior. I have seen all sorts of greens on the interior in photos so i thought i would mix and match a bit! Im not adding any extra detail to the interior. I have used the kit guns and ammo belts for the waist and tail positions , but im guessing they would have been basic wooden mock ups. The bomb bay has been great for weathering.I sprayed it Tamiya Yellow green then used salt granules to mask before over spraying with my own mix of Interior green. Some chipping was then added followed by a dirty black wash. Again this has been guess work. I know they were originally bare metal , but the photos i have seen has BBB with interior green bomb doors , so i guessed the bomb bay would be the same. Edited February 13, 2015 by gunpowder17 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 The hardest part so far has been the carb intakes. The kit ones are B-25J and are smaller than the TB-25 , so i have had to modify / scratchbuild new ones. I didnt want to damage the surrounding areas so i removed the whole intake from the wing. This made it easier to work on too. I built the height up with plasitcard , made a rectangular intake and blended it all in. There is also some kind of outlet on the rear of the intake that i had to cut out. They are not perfect but good enough for me. I have stared at too many close ups of carb intakes in the last few days. Heres the basic new shape Heres the other one fixed to the wing Im sure they will need tweaking a bit more later on. All taped together to see how it looks. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Looking forwards to seeing this progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Lots of oil stains on #1 engine. Used to chuck out lots of blue smoke, but I suspect you knew that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Nice one so far. Tidy conversion work. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) No1? , port or Stb , Edited February 4, 2015 by gunpowder17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 (edited) Port. You number multi-engined aircraft (at least American ones) from port to starboard. Regards, Jason Edited February 4, 2015 by Learstang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 Thank you, Thats good to know. Thanks for the info too Bentwaters , that explains the leaks in the photos i have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Heres the modified cowling. I had to remove the exhaust stubs on a couple of the panels and add an opening for the exhaust pipe in the cooling gills. I have also lengthened the intake again so that it now sits in the proper position. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Here are the SAC white metal legs. This is how they came straight from the box. I have seen photos of these on the web and they look terrible , but these are beautifully cast , and very rigid. Around £10 cheaper than G-Factor ones too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I guess you must have watched this before... On the tube search for - B-25 Mitchells... do fly in IMC (couldn't copy/paste the link) Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 (edited) Excellent , i have just ordered the dvd. Heres a pic from google of a very worn out Bonnie! That would make one nice model but im going for the Hanover ST Bonnie Edited February 5, 2015 by gunpowder17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Tsk, Too much weathering! I have the Hanover street DVD I must watch it again. Incidentally, part of it was filmed at RAF Odiham. I was on gate guard one day when a small truck turned up carrying a mountain of filled sandbags. Very close inspection revealed that this mountain was made of fibreglass! (This would be 1977 or 78) In Clear & Present Danger Harrison Ford walks under an American street sign. Yep, Hanover street. Glad you like the youtube link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) Bit irritated today. Fitted the profimodeller nose weight , closed the fuselage , put the wings and tail on , stood it on its uc, and it promptly sat on its tail.Wonderful.... Edited February 6, 2015 by gunpowder17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 The conversion work is now finished. I put it all together again , just to check the nose weight situation. All seems to be good so i will take the wings / tail back of and they are almost ready for paint. Fuselage needs the seats , nose interior and clear parts and then thats ready for paint. It wont be all together again until its painted. I used an old grey matter resin part for the rear that i had kicking around. In reality the film version just had steel sheet. Artistic licence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Lots of work taken place on this. Paint is on , decals on. Its had a little weathering. Doing the oil leaks was great fun. I know the Mitchells they used in the film were very leaky! It needs the matt varnish yet.I have used Mon tex canopy masks. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Well today hasnt gone to plan. I gave the fuselage some matt varnish , and then unmasked the clear parts. All wwas going well. I noticed a little bit of fogging on the inside of the canopy. I managed to get a piece of old sprue with a q tip attached to the end through the turret hole and clean the fogg off. What i also managed to do was knock the seats out! Im now going to have to attach the seats back in position through the turret hole.........somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 bummer, that's a set back, looking great though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Well managed to get the seats back in. I fixed them to a piece of plasticard first then i put them back in with long nosed tweezers. Much stronger than they were too. Need to add a black anti dazzle panel here too I have also built and painted the Brassin wheels. These are absolutely beautful , a thousand times better than the kit ones. I used Tamiyas new Tyre black for the base coat. I then airbrushed german grey on the walls. I finally used semi gloss black and klear to replicate the oil that has dripped on them and then spun out with centrifugal force. I applied the klear around the wheel rim and then blew it outwards with a straw. Looks better in reality than the photos. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Amazing key hole surgery. What did you use to clean the fogging? Cheers Winenut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 I just used a dry cotton bud. Worked great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Heres a better photo of the wheel fitted to the model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 It gets better & betterer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suddensky Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 This is fantastic, very impressive stuff. Love the oil stains. I'm desperate to get hold of one of these, wish I'd bought one at the time! Regards, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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