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PBJ-1J, Marine Mitchell


Christer A

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Here's my contribution to this GB.

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For once I do not intend to add any AM at all, just a set of masks will be used, but with this many glass panels it's a must.

To create a PBJ-1J from their standard B-25J kit Hasegawa provides a radar pod in resin.

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It allows for the late type installation, so no "Hose Nose" (the radar pod located in the nose glasing) is possible to do, unless you start with some surgery adn I don't want to do that.

My first action will be to sort out the little tailsitter dilemma.

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With the tail in place, this is not enough!

i'll add some more to the nacells and maybe squeeze something in the nose gear bay.

 

Oooops, I started another kit :angel:

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Thanks Simon!

I'll mark it as MB 10 of VMB-611, a fairly anonymous machine but Marines are not known for lavish noseart...

I guess it could be quite weathered and bleached to due the Pacific, but that should be fun!

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Looking forward to this one,......I  like the Marine Mitchell`s,... Semper Fi!

 

You`ll have to sit a little Japanese traitor  2nd Lt Minoru Wada)in the waist position pointing down to the position where his comrades were hiding underground! 

Related image

 

Cheers

          Tony

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Ejector pin marks showd up after primer.

Ugly hideous things!

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Hopefully some PPP will sort that out.

I've alse decided on the interior colors.

It will be interior green everywhere, except the bomb bay which will be painted aluminium.

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I was toying with the idea of some dark dull green in the cockpit, but a B-25J walkaround shows IG there and that corresponds to what IPMS Stockholm says inte the US interior colors guide, so that's how it'll be.

Edited by Christer A
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US interior green was stipulated, and Gunze Interior Green was sprayed in the general direction of the kit

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It hals also recieved a clear coat, so it should be ready for more detail painting and washes next up.

I've also taken the liberty to file the engine exhaust vents for a more scale appearance.

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The left one is stil untouched.

 

The pictures of my chosen machine shows HVAR rocket stubs under the wings.

Time to look for some references of where to place them and how to do them, since Hasegawa don't provide any.

I guess I could raid a Airfix Mustang for HVAR:s though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

No, this one is not forgotten or put on hold. Just being busy!

 

But I've done a wash on the interior to get it dirty.

33340383_10208945364750053_6836370702845

 

Seats are done as well, so I should be able to close the fuselage soon!

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Here's a better picture of all the inner gobbins

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Sadly, not much will be seen but that's how we roll in this hobby!

Tried my best to paint yellow stripes on the 1000lb bombs, not easy at all. I probably should have used some other method than trying to tape it.

After that, it was time for some hot clamping action

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No turning back now.

The previously installed counterweights in the engine nacelles were not heavy enough, but the pellets added to the nose gear bay did the trick.

 

My small order from Hannants arrived last week. Included there were a set of resin HVAR rockets from Pavla.

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In the pictures I've seen the stubs are attached to a plate and not directly to the wing itself, so I tried to replicate that with some plastic sheet,

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16 stubs later. These little buggers pinged away in all sorts of directions but I got lucky and managed to find them each time. I'm probably using up all my luck at this rate. The Stubs were included in the Pavla set, but I'm not totally convinced of their shape, but they're still bettern than what I can produce in plastic so they'll stay.

Also the Hasegawa resin radar pod was installed.

 

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A test fit of all the major components shows no major gaps fortunately.

With 5 weeks to go for this GB time is definitely running out! Let's see if I can speed it up a little. It would be great to approach primer this weekend!

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18 hours ago, Christer A said:

...some hot clamping action

Great to see your progress in general, but this was the highlight for me... I'm still chuckling...

 

I'm enjoying watching this build unfold Christer; the coming steps promise to be very enjoyable.

 

Andrew.

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That looks fantastic, the interior is amazing, such a shame to close her up!

 

Cant wait to see the exterior colours go on

 

 

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Thanks guys!

I tooke the plunge and started to paint the wings.

First up, a UMP grey primer coat and som preshade with black and brown.

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Then, a thin coat XF-55 Deck tan to kill most of it.

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This was quite grey, but it's supposed to be white, so for the top layer, I went with thin mists of white

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That turned out about as I expected! 😀

The hard part will off be to match the fuselage to this...but that's a later problem!

I might be able to finish painting the wings today atleast.

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Thanks Beggsy.

With 20 days left I started to look at the main landing gear. It did look a little boring, so I decided to add a little to it. That's the thing to with a deadline looming closer?

Here goes:

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With that out of the way, let's shoot some paint onto the wings, which I should've done sooner.

Oh well...

The Engine nacelles was masked with a combination of tape and masking putty, like this.

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I prefer masking putty to painting freehand, especially since I like a tight demarcation line,

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The goo worked as advertised again, so let's paint the bottom fuselage the same way, and verify that the shade matches the wings.

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Sorry for the blurry pic, I was on mobile at the time, but to me it looks like it matches.

Whew!

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Gloss Sea Blue time!

But lets start with masking.

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This masking goo is definitely sensitive to heat, since it kind of melts in direct sunlight.

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Maybe not melting quickly, but surely during a few days.

Ok, so now we have Gloss Sea Blue, by means of Gunze Midnight Blue (H55 I think?)

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Then, I decided to have a go with postshading.

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Some highlights here and there, but the effect is a little bit too pronounced I, so out with a thin coat of GSB again.

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Looking good!

 

Right, just a gloss goat, and then we're on to decals.

But wait!

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This can't be right...naturally I but the cowling the wrong way around 🙄

Ok, that requires a tiny repaint.

Too bad the entire weekend disappeared in a fluff of family fun...

Edited by Christer A
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Thanks!

Yeah, the cowling is sorted now

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I didn't manage to match the white shade perfectly, and I was a little to eager to remove the masking creating a little scratch in the not fully hardened paint but I think I can hide it all with some overdone weathering...

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Not much time left now!

I've got all the stickers on now, all 14 of them (there are 22 in total, counting prop-logos and dashboard...)

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However:

I shall not allow Micro Sol to pool.

I shall not allow Micro Sol to pool.

I shall not allow Micro Sol to pool.

I shall not allow Micro Sol to pool.

I shall not allow Micro Sol to pool.

 

I must not touch a pool of Micro Sol.

I must not touch a pool of Micro Sol.

I must not touch a pool of Micro Sol.

I must not touch a pool of Micro Sol.

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This could be tricky....

Edited by Christer A
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  • 1 month later...

So I missed the deadline of this group build (no one saw that coming, right?) but now we have only 4 weeks before the model show season starts, and If I'm going to have something to show there, I need to finish something.

Make it so!

 

I decided it was high time to finish the weathering job.

With the help of various pigments from Ammo, Tamiya make up kits and a few tools I soon got the look I was going for.

I finished it of with some streaks of Tamiya XF-57 Buff on top:
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Then it was finally time to marry the wings to the fuselage, but disaster soon truck and I spilled a drop of cement on the rear fuselage, right behind the bomb bay.

Fortunately, I resisted temptation to wipe it off, and instead let it harden.

Now I can either call it weathering and be done with it or try to lightly sand and polish it away, and hopefully match the paintjob (yeah, right)

Edited by Christer A
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Very nice PBJ-1J! I've seriously thought about doing the version with the 'Pinocchio Nose' radar mount. However, I also want to finish my B-25J as a Soviet lend-lease aircraft. I suppose I just have to buy a second kit.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

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