B-25 Mitchell

[Christer A]

Wow! I very much like that paintjob. Did you do that free hand ?

[Nikolay Polyakov]

Excellent artistic paint job, Ian! Your photos is a pleasure to watch. 

[Ian]

On 6/8/2019 at 5:14 PM, Christer A said:

Wow! I very much like that paintjob. Did you do that free hand ?

No Christer, I used Blu-Tack 'worms' to define the pattern.

 

 

Ian.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Ian

[Ian]

Good afternoon from a strangely warm Middle Earth - considering it's almost midwinter it's as warm as Spring here today.

 

So quite a bit done since the last update. I faded the upper wing, fuselage and tail panels by dry-brushing and blending various oil paints, first time I've tried the technique. I can see it's uses but not for all builds, but certainly ones like this that are exposed to severe weather & sunshine. Also applied (my favourite) overall wash with Flory 'Brown Grime', following that, it was decal time. I've used Xtradecal sheet 72-273, decided even before the sheet had arrived that I was doing a North Africa based USAAF machine.

 

I've sprayed the larger exhaust plumes with thinned Tamiya 'Smoke' and the individual exhaust stains from around the cowl are Mig black pigment. If you look closely you can still see the marbling (another first-time for me) showing through the camo, especially on the underside. Finally before starting the matt coats, I added (sparse) chipping on the 'greenhouse' framing and leading edges with Tamiya enamel Metallic Grey using a piece of torn sponge held with tweezers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I took these pics, the model has had it's first coat of Mig matt clear which I cut 50/50 with satin clear. This has dried a little to shiny for my liking so I'll hit-it again with a full matt coat. As ever thanks for taking the time to look and / or comment. Have a great weekend all. 

 

Best from Middle Earth.

 

 

 

Ian.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Ian

[bbudde]

Nice looking one. Like that scheme and it's outcoming here. Cheers

[almac]

Looking good there Ian. I really like that paint scheme I'm tempted to get the xtradecal sheet myself.

 

Cheers Allan

[Bstarr3]

Nice work, Ian! Did the decals come with that faded effect, or is that the result of your oil painting?

[Ian]

On 6/15/2019 at 8:17 AM, Bstarr3 said:

Nice work, Ian! Did the decals come with that faded effect, or is that the result of your oil painting?

No matey, I added two drops if Tamiya 'Buff' to my paint cup and topped up with thinner then carefully hit each blue section. 

 

Saw a guy on YT do that on a B-17 build so simply copied what he did.

 

 

Ian.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Ian

[Ian]

And finished this evening.

 

 

Just a quick'n dirty phone photo, I'll post more (better ?) pics tomorrow as I have the day-off work.

 

Thanks for following along with this one. Have to say in all honesty that this has been an utter joy from opening the box to gluing the last machine gun barrel in place. The fit and engineering is exemplary. Detail just right for a 1:72 kit in my view and the choice of subject... well, it's one of my all-time favourites so I'm very biased. If you have one, then build it, it's bl**dy superb, if you're sitting-on-the-fence, well, hopefully my effort may inspire,

 

AFN, see you in the RFI forum. On to my next build.

 

Best from a decidedly chilly Middle Earth.

 

 

Ian.

[Bstarr3]

Great work!  Never seen a B-25 in this camo scheme before - looks fantastic.

[72modeler]

Ian,

 

Very, very nice! You have done a great job of replicating the well-worn and faded look of the N. Africa based Mitchells! Well done! 👍

Sure would be nice if Airfix could do a new-tool A-26B/C to go with this one, but I bet they will do a 'vintage' release of their original kit instead. BTW- are you considering doing  a suitably worn A-20C to go with your Mitchell?

Mike

[Ian]

5 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Ian,

BTW- are you considering doing  a suitably worn A-20C to go with your Mitchell?

Mike

 

Thank you Mike, and everyone else.

Not planning  an A-20, Mike, but I'd love to do a Boston III, either DAF or UK based. So can you (or anyone) reccommend the best of the Boston / A-20 kits around ? - the only one I ever built was the old Airfix S3 kit way back in the 1970's.  In fact having done this Mitchell, I also went-out and bought the Airfix Blenheim IV (and another set of decals - already on their way from Hannants) and am thinking about investing in their Dornier 17.

 

AFN

 

 

 

Ian.

[rob85]

17 minutes ago, Ian said:

 

Thank you Mike, and everyone else.

Not planning  an A-20, Mike, but I'd love to do a Boston III, either DAF or UK based. So can you (or anyone) reccommend the best of the Boston / A-20 kits around ? - the only one I ever built was the old Airfix S3 kit way back in the 1970's.  In fact having done this Mitchell, I also went-out and bought the Airfix Blenheim IV (and another set of decals - already on their way from Hannants) and am thinking about investing in their Dornier 17.

 

AFN

 

 

 

Ian.

Get the Revell p-70 kit as it comes with the nose/engine for pretty much every a-20 type, other than the turreted a-20j/Boston mk v. 

 

The kit builds nicely on the mk v but the nose glazing is a PITA! So be careful, it can be fixed with a strip of plastic and filler.

 

the b-25 looks beautiful, fine work! I feel I need to start mine!

 

well done

 

Rob

 

 

[ArmouredSprue]

Fantastic and straight forward building.

 

Are these markings for the Earthquakers squadron?

Cheers

[72modeler]

2 hours ago, rob85 said:

So can you (or anyone) reccommend the best of the Boston / A-20 kits around ?

Ian,

 

What Rob said is true- the two best A-20 kit makers  are Revell and  MPM/Special Hobby. I built the Revell  A-20C back in the day, and it went together easily, fit pretty well, and was pretty accurate in shape and dimensions. No detailing in the wheel bays, nose, cockpit, or gunner's position, but this can be added; the props weren't the best, but  can be reworked, and it had a lot of rivets. The transparencies are thick and have heavy framing. I rescribed mine, but didn't detail the areas mentioned. The MPM kits cover almost every version; are scribed, have decent proper wheel bay, cockpit, and gunner's position, but are tricky to assemble- I haven't built any of them, yet, but have three different boxings and they look very nice in the box and built up.  I still have the Revell P-70 and A-20C and will build them, as I have much better references now, and there are resin and photoetched parts available to improve the sparsely detailed areas.  Matchbox also did an A-20G/K, but it has some dimensional and shape issues, as well as pretty poor detail parts; IIRC the cockpit also needs to be moved either forward or aft- I forget which. I think @tonyot  and @Troy Smith might be better sources of information on this subject.

Mike