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1/72nd Airfix Mitchell II,..... No. 3 PRU, India, 1943. FINISHED!!!


tonyot

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Hiya Folks,

               Well this is my third Airfix Mitchell kit so far and the second in this GB, which joins a larger 1/48th US cousin! The RAF in India found itself the proud recipients of a small number of B-25C`s from a Dutch order that was re routed following the fall of the Dutch East Indies and due to their range and relatively high speed and the huge area of operations which needed to be photographed as a matter of urgency following the fall of Burma, the type was pressed into the Photo Reconnaissance role with No.3 PRU in India.

 

I`ll be using photos inside this excellent book as my main reference and having a good thumb through it tonight;

Image result for eyes for the phoenix raf book

 

 

Amongst other references;

 

40714967715_06f36bba3c_b.jpgd5ea3d5fb85d3f0117f07badf305723a by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

 

I`ll probably be using this decal sheet from DK Decals;

Image result for mitchell raf pru india

 

And here is the Airfix kit ready to start!;

41299150131_1171928a2e_k.jpgDSCF2821 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Cheers for now,

                    Tony

Edited by tonyot
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Busy little B withe the B-25 aren't you!?? Am liking your choices so far.  Looks like my one will be th eonly one I will do and feel a long wait for my chosen decals to come.

 

Have you got more lined up??

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16 minutes ago, Paul J said:

Busy little B withe the B-25 aren't you!?? Am liking your choices so far.  Looks like my one will be th eonly one I will do and feel a long wait for my chosen decals to come.

 

Have you got more lined up??

Busy bee,... thats me Paul! I`m toying with the idea of doing a 72nd Hasegawa B-25J too,....as either a French one from 2 Group in 1945,.... or a gun nosed strafer from the post war Dutch East Indies or wartime USAAF. 

 

Looking forward to your RCAF one,.... if the decals show up!

 

Cheers

         Tony

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A new one already, you are producing  B-25 fastest than north american themselves !

 

Are you putting the french one on hold ?

 

 

Cheers,

Joseph

 

Edited by beppe
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There's just no stopping you is there!

An excellent choice of subject from an excellent book, there are some very nice subjects for future projects in there.

I like the sound of the French Mitchell III, sure I had a very old Air Enthusiast somewhere with them as a feature, will have to try and dig it out.

 

Craig.

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17 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

There's just no stopping you is there!

An excellent choice of subject from an excellent book, there are some very nice subjects for future projects in there.

I like the sound of the French Mitchell III, sure I had a very old Air Enthusiast somewhere with them as a feature, will have to try and dig it out.

 

Craig.

Cheers Craig,.....yes I have that Air Enthusiast edition,..... very helpful it is too. 

 

23 minutes ago, beppe said:

A new one already, you are producing  B-25 fastest than north american themselves !

Are you putting the french one on hold ?

Cheers,

Joseph

19 minutes ago, beppe said:

I notice the option 11 on the DK sheet, did the RAF also use the B-25 H ?

Haha,..... yeah probably! No the French one will be built,.... I am just finalising whether I have the correct decals in my spares box and deciding whether the codes were grey or red,..... it seems they may have been red then changed to grey.... I also want to include the Lorraine insignia on the nose along with a relevant name,.... so it is a matter of comparing photos and doing a bit more research! 

 

Well it was an earlier B-25G,...but yes,...... FR209 was a test aircraft for the armament (75mm gun) and it was later fitted with a standard glass nose and used well into the 1950`s for comms duties and as a VIP aircraft. 

Image result for mitchell fr209

Image result for mitchell fr209

 

Image result for mitchell fr209

Related image

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

           Tony

 

Edited by tonyot
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2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Yes it is a good edition, did you also notice the B-25C on page 10 used as a hack by the Brazilian Fighter Group in Italy?

Yup sure did,.... and it is very tempting to build one alongside a Brazilian P-47,.... but I`m trying to be good,...haha!

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17 hours ago, tonyot said:

but I`m trying to be good,...haha!

Just failed on the being good bit, came back from the Milton Keynes model show with an Airfix Whitley GR VII, a Revell Fw-200 C-5/8 and...... 2 Airfix B-25's!!! Oh and some books too, but books don't count, right?

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Right,..back to the model,..... a bit of an update!

 

Today I`ve pre painted most of the interior on the sprue,..... as an undercoat I used a spray can of Humbrol Grass Green and then added a brushed on coat of Humbrol Enamel Interior Green and Polly Scale acrylic RAF Dark Green,.... to represent the darker colour of green that I have noticed in some B-25 cockpits. For the engines and wheels I sprayed some Humbrol matt Black and then added some detail by dry brushing silver,..... which I also did with the cockpit;

40923615504_9cb3498f95_k.jpgDSCF3026 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

40923615064_9dccfa2ed9_k.jpgDSCF3027 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

40923614764_653da2c3a3_k.jpgDSCF3028 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Tonight I`ve assembled the wings and tailplane so that they can be left aside to dry and also the cockpit has been assembled,.... although I`ve saved closing the fuselage up so that I can take a photo of the interior in the morning,

 

Cheers for now,

                       Tony

 

PS,.... In case you were wondering about the plastic tub (the lid from a McDonalds ice cream sundae!),..... they are perfect for keeping the smaller parts safe from damage once they are cut from the sprue and to prevent them from getting lost in the box. 

 

Edited by tonyot
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A quick update,.....here is the completed interior from last night;

 

26780895277_7a329cfc7b_k.jpgDSCF3031 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

26780895997_c455a863ae_k.jpgDSCF3030 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

And then the fuselage halves were joined, with the tail set in place,.....

26780869317_8b37050255_k.jpgDSCF3068 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

,.... ready to mate up the wings and nacelles next. The closed bomb bay doors were fitted as these PR aircraft had a 2,000lb fuel oberload tank in place here;

26780861827_48887e9679_k.jpgDSCF3069 by Tony OToole, on Flickr

 

Cheers for now,

                      Tony

 

Edited by tonyot
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Gosh Tony that is fast work. I have so far resisted the B25 on the grounds I will wait for the RAF version later this year, but now you have sent me to my copy of 'Eyes for the Phoenix' and set me thinking. 

I have come the conclusion that BM is the root of depravity with all these beautiful models on display and are leading an innocent simple soul astray (and I love every minute of it!) 

Keep up the good work Tony, hope you are OK. 

Martin

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Coincidentally I've just posted looking for info on the 3PRU/681/684 Mitchells... Which livery are you looking at doing?

 

Do you have any references as to where the cameras were mounted on these and if they carried the bomb bay fuel tank (I'm assuming they did) - All I've found so far are a couple of Black/white mages from "Battle for Burma" which aren't that good for detail... I hope to be home Saturday eve from my latest work trip and hope to get stuck in then! ;)

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12 hours ago, CraigB said:

Coincidentally I've just posted looking for info on the 3PRU/681/684 Mitchells... Which livery are you looking at doing?

 

Do you have any references as to where the cameras were mounted on these and if they carried the bomb bay fuel tank (I'm assuming they did) - All I've found so far are a couple of Black/white mages from "Battle for Burma" which aren't that good for detail... I hope to be home Saturday eve from my latest work trip and hope to get stuck in then! ;)

I`ve updated your thread Craig,....... I`m probably going for the earlier Royal (Bosun) Blue scheme here,..... but intend to build a PRU Blue one too,...maybe even the initial OD/NG scheme applied to the ex 10th AF aircraft which arrived after the Dutch Mitchell`s.

Just for clarity,....here is what I posted on your thread; 

 

Hiya Craig,...... from what I can gather from research I have made, here are some pointers re these aircraft;

 

-Operated by T (Twin) Flight of 5 PRU(India),.....later 3 PRU(India),....then 681/684 Sqn`s.

 

- there were five ex Dutch aircraft, B-25C`s,...serialled;

N5-139,.... coded E 

N5-143,......coded C

N5-144,......coded B

N5-145,......coded C

N5-148,......coded A,..... later M,

 

There were later 2 x B-25`s received via the US 10th AF,..serialled;

MA956,.....coded E

MA957,.....coded K, then X or Z (conflicting reports on the latter codes)

 

- They had a 2,000gal of extra fuel in an overload tank/tanks in the bomb bay,...giving a 1,000 mile radius of operations flying at heights between 26,000-30,000 feet.

 

-Camera fit;

3 x F8 or F24  cameras fitted in a fan across the plated over lower gun position, one vertical and one on each side to give an overlapping coverage.

1 x smaller camera fitted towards the tail.

 

-Modifications/Modelling points;

ex Dutch aircraft had the mid upper and lower gun positions plated over, the clear tail position often had a mock up gun fitted.

ex 10th AF aircraft had a clear bubble fitted in the mid upper gun position and the lower position was plated over.

-Early forward nose glazing.

-Early engine cowlings with single exhausts.  

-Bulges over the outlets above the right hand wing.

 

I have found this info out from various sources as I`m currently modelling a couple of these aircraft,

 

Cheers

          Tony

Edited by tonyot
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That is fantastic Tony!! Many thanks... I'll probably be looking at an ex-10AF to start with then likely the Royal Blue later on :)

 

I've got copies of the ORB for 681 from Sqn February 1943 and 684 Sqn from November 1943 (from the AIR27 files in the National Archive) and that mentions the Mitchells (along with various Hurricanes, Spitfires and Mosquitos), it's good to pad this out with more info :)

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The ORB from Feb 43 681Sqn Shows ops for N5-143, N5-144 'B', N5-145 'C' and N5-148 all with a crew of 4

 

From November 43 just after 684 Sqn had formed shows ops by 2 airframes N5-144 and MA957, with listed crew varying between 3 and 5. If you PM me your email I'll send them over to aid your research (about 5mb each)

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Very nice work, Tony! The overall blue schemes look great - I am tempted by this kit, but was planning on doing a Soviet version, but now I'm not so sure. A PRU Blue Mitchell would look nice next to one of my PR Spitfires.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

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Cheers fella`s,...... I`m quite tempted by a Soviet B-25 myself Jason,.... I like the tri colour camo with black undersides on the J,.... but some of the earlier variants with snow camo look great too,..... We`ll see!!

 

Well I`ve attached the wings now and sanded the model,.... with a left over underside gun position plate left over from another kit fitted over the mid upper gun position! It was smaller than the hole so I cut some sections of sprue and used them as stringers to place the turret onto,..... then the gap was filled using glue then filler was added later and sanded smooth. While waiting for the glue to dry I`ve also assembled the engines (you really have to follow the instructions to get them correct)  and sanded the nacelles ready to fit them, as well as fitting the cockpit canopy;

40798683395_1f228140d2_k.jpgDSCF3107 by Tony OToole, on Flickr 

 

Cheers,

          Tony

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She is coming along nicely, Tony! I already have the Hasegawa B-25J with the Soviet markings (did you know the Soviet used a few 'Gs'?), although I do think a winter-camouflaged B-25C/D may also be in my future.

 

Regards,

 

Jason 

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42 minutes ago, Learstang said:

She is coming along nicely, Tony! I already have the Hasegawa B-25J with the Soviet markings (did you know the Soviet used a few 'Gs'?), although I do think a winter-camouflaged B-25C/D may also be in my future.

 

Regards,

 

Jason 

Cheers Jason and no I didn`t know that the Soviet`s operated G`s too,.....but then I`m not surprised either,.... the Russians love their big guns after all!

This is the decal sheet that I have my eye on;

https://www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/authentic-decals-mitchell-russian-4849-p-40366.html

 

Cheers

          Tony

 

 

Edited by tonyot
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