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B-25G in RAF livery (FR-209)


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So after some genuine Scotland Yard style investigatory work about the mystery of B-25G's in RAF colours, which can be found here,

The mystery of what I think was unanimously decided as 2 the B-25G's that were given to the RAF and painted in their livery now solved, one of the pair being this ship:
c529347f947296d80eab8249f8f56852.png

 

I plan to paint the olive drab to emulate one of the B-25's in the film Pearl Harbour, obviously with roundels instead of stars. I figured a worn out, bust up, hand-me-down B-25 would probably look something similar!

91dbdcb71fc74eb5cbebd81f3ffff380.png

 

 

Now onto the build, the kit:

a5905904d5576dff06e726684e1a3a2d.png

 

a82630e8eed8962e8265c41f644b1293.png

 

0ef58a3cca4c9d492673732bc5e75643.png

 

Nothing impressive, a tooling probably at least as twice as old as I am. I had planned to build this OOB but something about the empty cockpit bothered me so I roughed a couple bits up, all just sat in place...

8e37855ca8b2f6dd272467cdafaa9116.jpg

 

A few bits need tidied up, seat belts and a coat of spray filler to prime the pilot's office for some paint! I was planning on making the kit quickly, to focus on the worn paintwork. That's all for now, hopefully get the two halves joined up together tomorrow, then I can start on fixing the raised surface detail. 


Has anyone got any advice for this kit? 
Cheers! 

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the film pic

91dbdcb71fc74eb5cbebd81f3ffff380.png

 

looks like art being influenced by to  many over pre-shaded models.....   

 

for weathering, look at the real thing,  there are a fair  few period colour images, a couple that should help

 

4000381203_3c4bbed8c0_o.jpgNorth American Mitchell by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

 

andNorth_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bo

 

note the fabric covered control surfaces faded more, and the upper turret is pieces of perspex glued together, so no panel lines.

 

they could get pretty mucky....

mitchell_II_180_sqn.jpg

 

while faded, and oil splattered, note how well the paint is holding up, and this is the same plane as the top image.

 

HTH

T

 

 

 

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

the film pic

91dbdcb71fc74eb5cbebd81f3ffff380.png

 

looks like art being influenced by to  many over pre-shaded models.....   

 

for weathering, look at the real thing,  there are a fair  few period colour images, a couple that should help

 

4000381203_3c4bbed8c0_o.jpgNorth American Mitchell by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

 

andNorth_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bo

 

note the fabric covered control surfaces faded more, and the upper turret is pieces of perspex glued together, so no panel lines.

 

they could get pretty mucky....

mitchell_II_180_sqn.jpg

 

while faded, and oil splattered, note how well the paint is holding up, and this is the same plane as the top image.

 

HTH

T

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for these! Really useful. Duly noted. Might shotgun it, aim for somewhere in the middle of these examples. The FR-209 was reaaaally battered as I understand it. 

Thanks again!

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25 minutes ago, Miggers said:

Murro,I can pull you some screenshots from a very good accurate Flightsim RAF B-25 Mk.II that I have if you want.

 

The I/P and pedestal are very good.

If its not too much trouble I'd really appreciate the photos! Thanks 

Each ship is so varied in the way it's ended up looking, if I do go for the heavily battered approach, I would like to end up somewhere in between the lot of them. The more imagery I can draw on the better, so if you don't mind I'd be really grateful Miggers! Cheers!

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17 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

I just typed Mitchell FR209 into Google and got this........

 

http://www.aviationphotocompany.com/p1004526858/h544C3C3C#h544c3c3c

 

First off, it's 1950. Then it's natural metal overall and of course the nose has changed!

 

Trevor

 

 

Never a dull moment with this plane, I'm only all too aware of this plane and its extracurricular activities. It was converted back to a regular bomber after the trials with the RAF, read somewhere that it was for research purposes with putting a large calibre gun in a plane (for the Mossie) Then I forget which bomber variant it was converted to after the war. Thanks for the concern though! 

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Fascinating. I'm looking forward to seeing how this looks in 3D; for the first time in around 70 years in Olive drab it would seem ;).

 

Great subject.

 

Not wanting to wander OT; those other pictures adjacent to Max's link of FR 209 in silver...

 

The picture that states 'B-17 E Apron View'. They're not 'E's are they?? :shrug: 

 

http://www.aviationphotocompany.com/p1004526858/h544C3C3C#h51c4d996

 

I'm looking at the areas of 'eye' shaped gun blisters on the aft fuselage sides. Aren't these the twenty (?) B-17 'C' that went to the RAF in 1940 and had problems with freezing guns and so on?

 

Sorry to go OT Murrodels, I was just fascinated by all the photographs on that page, especially that of what I think (probably making a fool

of myself) is all of the RAF 'Fortress I's' together?

 

Looking forward to your work on the olive drab; a superb canvas for weathering and service effects :thumbsup2:  

 

All best regards

TonyT

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1 hour ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Looking forward to your work on the olive drab; a superb canvas for weathering and service effects :thumbsup2:  

 

All best regards

TonyT

Cheers mate! 
Interesting B17's, not off topic at all! 
Thanks! We'll see how it turns out haha

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So since last post, here's how its changed...

As it stands...

8321cd9b19853e4edb1842074e2f3e88.jpg

The cockpit...

b4bc50931113143507939b2f96ffb289.jpg

Even made some buckles, out of scale or not it was fun 

03a5f6887c9cb14a9e1e57ae109a016d.jpg

 

d49eefefc781e3bc362c68dac7e4ecf0.jpg

I decided to fill the rear of the plane with spars considering the G variant has a gondola tail so I hope it will be at least a little visible.

450a9469f35f0f31bd7dfa2b7629cccf.jpg

 

abf97eccdbb76ae7fc1d848f0e7c5471.jpg
The guns in the turret are waaaaay too close together I think, but I might try and detail the very bare gun turret.
5c964eeceb8433019c6d40b3ee847fa9.jpg

Reaaaaaally simple gun turret.

e9b3c021a867dacf7a6b86543da508e3.jpg


Hopefully get this primed and painted tonight, more to come!

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1 hour ago, Thom216 said:

Nice looking rib detail. Cockpit coming along nicely too.

 

I'm hoping the forthcoming Airfix kit will come with all of this detail!

 

I was toying with the idea of converting the Airfix kit to a G model, the more I see of this thread the more I'm inclined to do so.

 

Keep up the good work Murromodels!

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3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Nice looking rib detail. Cockpit coming along nicely too.

 

Thanks man! 
 

2 hours ago, Wez said:

I'm hoping the forthcoming Airfix kit will come with all of this detail! I was toying with the idea of converting the Airfix kit to a G model


Thanks! I'm sure they will, its what is putting me off going nuts with the detailing. The stuff I have done is all rough, simply hinting towards detail, nothing properly pulled from plans or anything. I don't see the point in a kit of this age as I am certain the fuselage shape is off. I was planning on going quite heavy on the riveting detail on the exterior though. Also I'm sure Airfix will do a G. If you look at a lot of their new offerings from the start of this year, they're all just reboxings/remarkings of other new tools they've done! Thanks again man!

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  • 1 month later...

So, since last post, I had to deal with my pesky education, but now I'm off for summer and back at this with my undivided attention. I started on the exterior finish, it's gonna take some doing to say the very least. 
As it stands, out of box the finish on the model looks a like this...

3848f401def72894ce7d8d687fe7219e.png

 

91afe03b3aba2f3b47f661d10815c7d9.png

Raised panel lines, weird blemishes on very glossy hard plastic, I imagine it would be difficult to get paint to settle well. 
I sanded raised details off with a couple different grits, until I found out about this little gem...

92ae24a4c65cf67c428a68a178620f0f.png

With a little water, it polishes dulled plastic to a nice soft satiny finish really well! On the fabric texture of the flaps you can see how bright it was before.

be40b0cf8c506131b7d874ce3f09ce79.png

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  • 2 years later...

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