Restoring a ‘Previously Loved’ Airfix 1/72 B-25 Mitchell

[Brigbeale]

Now that the Shackleton is finished, I once again stared at my restoration and new build stashes wondering what next to do. I looked at the Eastern Express Canberra but there’s something about the kit Which makes me hesitant to build it.
I looked at the old Monogram Phantom which is in need of restoration, but not yet….

I’ve just received an Airfix F-15 with the red faced box. It’s missing a nose cone, but I thought it’s time for another restoration.

I looked at the B-25 a few times now, but wasn’t really in the mood for it. I purchased it from my usual seller on eBay for about £2-£3 with another restoration project - i think it was an Airfix Sea Hawk.

Last night I was channel hopping and stopped on Pearl Harbor -at least half way through at the point where the two main characters get selected for the Doolittle Raid. 
That switched the little light on - not very bright as it’s only a 15watt bulb😆.

This morning, I got the model out of the bottom of the display cabinet (where most of the restoration projects are languishing waiting for some TLC),  along with its bag of loose parts and set about photographing them.

The model itself was put together in an ok fashion. Seams are visible, a small attempt at interior painting, decals applied although the fuselage stars & bars are upside down! 😱 (it’s the same on my to-be-restored later release Airfix B-17G😱😱.

The model is pretty much all there apart from one main gear wheel, nose wheel assembly, one main gear door, nose and tail guns and one aeleron all missing.

Its been hand painted silver and has the Lady Luck decals applied. 

Overall, I would say it’s been built fairly well by an above novice modeller, but I can do better - I hope 🤞.

It’s currently in the freezer to aid with some disassembly. Any stubborn parts will get the TET treatment.

 

Here are the photos of it prior to the restoration with the loose parts close to their relative positions - at least I’ve got both propellers in good condition!

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Brigbeale

[FPDPenguin]

I too caught the end of pearl harbour last night. Dawned on me that I've not really done any SEA aircraft. Will start with some Japanese birds I think. 

 

Model in the freezer? 🤔 Does this help remove stubborn parts then? 

[Brigbeale]

I find if the model has been assembled with polystyrene cement, the freezer helps with disassembly by flexing the joint. Most times the poly cement gives way. Other times it doesn’t so liberal applications of Tamiya Extra Thin softens the cement allowing disassembly.

[Brigbeale]

Success - mostly.

Most of the B-25 came apart fairly easily.

Just the port wing to fuselage is being stubborn so it’s back in the freezer again.

Ive noticed there’s a crack in the upper wing between the port nacelle and fuselage. It was so well covered with silver paint it didn’t show until I started flexing the wing/fuselage joint.

The parts that have separated are now in the usual bath of Dettol to, hopefully, remove the paint.

 

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent, I was wondering when you would do anther restoration.   Will tag along.   

Good luck with this.

Chris

 

[Brigbeale]

Well not everything went the way I wanted but hey ho and all that…..

The stubborn port wing still refused to release even after another spell in the freezer. 
That’s where I goofed up. In trying to coax it into releasing, the port fuselage half snapped in half just behind where the wing mounts.

Looking on the bright side though, it’s a fairly clean break and it should glue back together pretty well.🤞

The wing and attached fuselage along with the broken off rear section joined the rest of the parts in the Dettol.

 

This morning, I scrubbed the parts with an old toothbrush, washed each part with soapy water, rinsed and dried them. 
There’s still a silver residue on some parts which may or may not clean off. I’ll give it a try with white spirit/IPA/airbrush cleaner or even brake fluid later today to see what happens.

It might mean a coat of varnish first to seal it in before painting commences.

 

I have a plan to release the wing from the port fuselage so we will see how that goes.

 

[Brigbeale]

The remaining silver paint on the surfaces did clean off with my home brew airbrush cleaner and quite cotton buds/kitchen roll.

I managed to get the lower half of the port wing off using TET to dissolve the glue. 
Despite copious amounts of TET on the upper half, it still refused to budge - until I forced it a bit too much and with the plastic maybe being brittle, broke off.

Oh well , it’s out of the way now and the joint does go back together reasonably well.

 

Speaking of snapped parts, i refitted the port front and rear halves back together using TET. It was just a simple case of using the starboard half as the jig and fixing the front of the port side to it with a wire tie. then I just added the rear section and TET’d the joint. With a light smear of filler, it shouldn’t be visible once painted.

 

I’m going to have to take a bit more care when it comes to disassembling the engines as the port one is broken off and the spindle is glued solid, and the starboard one rotates but has a lot of front to rear movement as well as sideways movement, enough to make the propeller droop against the engine cowling - which bugs me.

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Robin-42]

I have been watching these with interest. Re-building a built out of date kit that can be had unbuilt for peanuts........ Makes me building a Novo Attacker that was missing an entire upper wing seem logical!

[bigbadbadge]

Nice bit of progress on the dismantling,  what a shame the port fuselage half broke although I am sure you will make any trace disappear.  

Chris

[Brigbeale]

Last night was spent generally cleaning in the raw edges on each part and sanding back the old glue to bare plastic to enable the TET to work properly.

The fuselage halves were the obvious choice to start with and they’ve cleaned up reasonably well.

Next were the the internals - flight deck and bomb bay. 
The flight deck had been previously broken in half as it’s got a big rectangular hole in it leaving a thin strip either side. It’s been butt joined with a lot of glue. I’ll repair it by adding strips of card top and bottom over the joint to reinforce it.

While cleaning up the parts, I’m checking them off against a printed copy of the instructions.

Thats when I noticed the flight deck forward bulkhead with instrument panel is missing - I don’t remember it being there when I dismantled the B-25, so maybe the original modeller left it out fir some reason?? Oh well - I’ll just have to make one.

I’m aiming to remove the pilots and crew, but they’re pretty well glued in with excess glue. The top turret gunner will simply be cut down to leave Airfix’s novel way of mounting the guns. 
At the moment, I’ve not revisited the engines - I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

I did however find these on eBay for £5. They will be a big improvement over the original offering and as the model’s only got one main wheel, it’ll help out there too.

[Brigbeale]

Tonight saw a shortened time allowance for my modelling tonight.

I started by repairing the aforementioned broken flight deck. Once I had trimmed the excess repair ‘patches’ and filed them back, it was offered back into its intended position. The fuselage was then put back together and taped closed.

Masking tape was then placed over the front of the fuselage to enable a replacement bulkhead to be made. A sharp pencil was used to outline the shape and a sharp blade was used to cut the shape out. The tab on the front of the flight deck was ‘traced’ where it pushed against the tape.

This new template was stuck to a piece of plastic card and then cut out. The flight deck locating slot was drilled at each end and then cut out with a knife.

When it was offered up to the front of the fuselage, it fitted first time. 
TET was then applied to the bulkhead/flight deck joint and it’s now being left to dry.

 

 

I’ve decided to make it an RAF operated B-25 and looking for a picture, I found one of Grumpy, with invasion stripes. I printed it off and framed it, as I have done with the last half dozen builds/restorations to help keep the faith!
It will mean moving the upper turret rear wards behind on the fuselage and maybe adding a lower turret while deleting the rear gunners blister canopy, so it should be fun….

 

[bigbadbadge]

Nice choice of airframe to model and a great photo too.  I like the tape idea and it worked well, cracking job.  Good luck with the turret move.

Chris

[Brigbeale]

Yesterday evening saw me not visiting my ‘bench’ as I wasn’t feeling ok.

I’m happy to say that’s passed and I did get tot the ‘bench’ tonight.

 

I started by removing the gun packs fitted externally either side of the cockpit area. The remaining pins and poly cement were  gently filed down to keep as much of the raised rivet detail as possible..

The waist gunner’s position fairings were filed down with masking tape around the opening to again, protect the raised rivet detail.

I then decided to tackle the moving of the turret to the mid fuselage area.

I started by placing a piece of masking tape over the opening and carefully marking it with a sharp pencil. Guide lines were also added for the centre fuselage joint. \the hole was then cut with the tape still in place using a sharp blade..

The tape was then removed and placed to a spot which looked about right just above the old waist gunners positions and marked with the pencil again. 
I then drilled a series of 1.5mm holes around the circumference of the masking template which was then snipped between each hole to remove the waste. 
This kit must be very old as it’s quite brittle - noticeable as a crack appeared from one hole to the tip of the port waist gunner position. I’ll just TET it again as it is a clean crack. 
With the two fuselage halves still taped firmly together, the now jagged hole was filed with a small half round file. The shape was constantly checked by trial fitting the top turret canopy. Eventually, it was filed to the correct size to allow the canopy to fit easily.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Brigbeale

[bigbadbadge]

Excellent turret transplant on the Mitchell. 

Great work.

Chris

[Brigbeale]

Just a quick update.

SWMBO wasn’t feeling too special a couple of evenings ago, so I made sure she was ok instead of re-modelling the B-25. Happy to report it was just a sicky feeling which came to nothing.

 

Last night, I filled in the two side waist gunners positions with plastic card and let that set for a bit. 
I then got the tail wings out of the bag where all the parts are stored and trial fitted it. I didn’t know if it was fitted correctly originally as the tail wings were off when I bought it. Some fettling was required to get it to sit properly, partly due to the old glue and partly due to the moulding of the part. It seemed to want to sit at a slight angle anti-clockwise when viewed from the top. The front lined up but the rear was off to one side. I’m suspecting the rear locating pin is the culprit to I’ll either drill it’s hole slightly larger or remove the offending pin. Other than that, it seems to fit pretty well now.

I also sanded down the rear gunner canopy fairing on the fuselage to make it flat. The fairing in the middle of the rear wing assembly will also need cutting off and a small patch fitting to level that section off. 
 

Regarding the upper turret, I’m pretty sure I have a built optional one from my Revell Halifax - which is fitted with the ‘brussel sprout’ type turret. The option one was the more conventional type turret. It might be just what I’m looking for. Now where did I put it??🤔. I last time I remember seeing it was beside the Halifax but the shelves have been reshuffled since then…….

 

I didn’t take any photos last night as the phone battery was flat because I forgot to charge it. I’ll get some later on today.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Brigbeale

[bigbadbadge]

Glad SWMBO is okay, the turret is in a safe place, you just need to remember which safe place it's in!!!

Chris

[Brigbeale]

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Glad SWMBO is okay, the turret is in a safe place, you just need to remember which safe place it's in!!!

Chris

I found it. Good job I looked in the same place twice! 
It fits - kind of…

The hole needs enlarging a little as it’s a bit big and is spreading the seam on the fuselage - oh and it has 4 guns🙄. So I might revert back to the original turret🤫

[Brigbeale]

Tonight saw another late arrival to the ‘bench’🙄.

I set about getting the original upper turret mounted by separating the fuselage halves and placing it in the new opening. I then marked a line on the fuselage where the base of the turret would be.

I cut a piece of 1mm styrene card and trimmed it on one side to fit the shape of the fuselage side and where it meets the rear bomb bay bulkhead. 
At that point I decided it would probably be a good idea to fix the bomb bay and flight deck in position. I’ll probably regret that later!
That allowed me to fix the new turret mount into the fuselage with sprue goo.
Thats when I noticed the original mould date of 1964! Blimey - that’s older than me!
After a short while it was firm enough to work to get the other fuselage half to close up. I’m happy to say that went quite well.

I then guesstimated the approximate centre for the mounting pin hole on the upper turret. I drilled a 0.8mm hole first and then opened it to 2.4mm to accept the pin.

The turret was then fitted and it was a good bit of guess work as the turret sits nicely and rotates cleanly. It also appears to be the correct height so I’m happy with that.

 

In the photos, the cracks seem like chasms but they look worse than they really are. I’ve run my fingernail across them and can barely feel them. A smear of filler should ensure they get hidden - hopefully.

 

The Halifax’s option turret has been returned to the spot next to the Halifax itself in the display cabinet - so hopefully I won’t lose it again.

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Brigbeale]

On a further note, I’ve been buying more models - nothing spectacular, just a couple of older kits - both Glosters

 

1) a Frog Gloster Gladiator MkII - I remember building a Matchbox one many years ago so this is a long waited replacement after the destruction of my previous collection. 
Chris - it looks like another rigging exercise following the Swordfish.

 

and 2) a Mistercraft Gloster Javelin FAW7 - I’ve also wanted a Javelin for a while now  as I’ve never had one, but kept getting outbid on the usual auction website on the Airfix ones. I’ve read the Mistercraft ones have a weird swirly plastic and has issues, but it should be ok once painted.🤞

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Brigbeale]

I had an email from Airfix saying that the Bristol Beaufort was back in stock at £19.99

So I ordered one. 
Somehow, between the checkout and payment confirmed pages, an extra Beaufort had been added so I paid for 2 plus a cheap brush to get the order over £20 to get free postage. Bit of a shock when you see the total price is £41 instead of £21! 

 

I rang Airfix immediately and was told the order hadn’t been confirmed on the computer yet and it would take about an hour to show up.

An hour later and it was all sorted by Airfix Customer Services, who couldn’t actually cancel the order itself but could void the payment essentially cancelling the order, which they did. I then re-ordered one Beaufort over the phone along with the cheap paint brush.

 

The Frog Gladiator was delivered this morning by the seller as an act of kindness as I’m under hospital orders to self isolate until Thursday when I go in for my gall bladder ‘procedure’ and we live approx 2 miles apart as the crow flies (if he’s not been drinking!).

On with a pair of gloves and mask to see what I’d got. I’d forgotten how small the Gladiator fuselage is. I did notice two parts were missing - the two blade prop and it’s mounting shaft. 
I bought a Gladiator 3 blade propeller a while back - I can’t remember why, but I think it was something to do with the Swordfish incase the remedial work in that propeller assembly didn’t go as planned.
As the Gladiator kit was very reasonable and the seller delivered it personally, and I’ve also got the replacement part, it’s not worth raising an argument about.

 

Also the B-25 replacement wheels turned up today. I’m eager to see what they look like on the model but patience is the name of the game here.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Brigbeale

[bigbadbadge]

Great job on the Turret location, tgst was a phew moment!!! The cracks and lines always look worse in the silver plastic, it's  a nightmare when rescribing but once you get some paint on should look good.  

Some nice purchases there  too.

Get your rigging practice in again although simpler than the Swordfish.  I have a Gladiator lined up as one of my next builds it's the Sword Sea Gladiator and luckily I purchased a pair of Blenheim props from SBS as the kit 3 blader is not a good shape at all.  I am doing a Malta Machine. Got a few in the stash 3 Airfix ones  one Heller, Sword, Eduard ex Roden and two ICM ones. I do like the Gladiator.   Will start when I get one of my current 4 builds cleared.

Good luck with your builds and also your Op too.

 

Chris

[Thom216]

Glad that both you and SWMBO are doing good. Had a bit of a temp myself the other week, and I think it will be a long while before Covid is not the first thought that pops into the old head!🙃

 

Great work on the old -25 too! Like your choice of livery. Classic!

[Brigbeale]

Thank you Chris and Thom for your messages of support.

 

Not a great deal got done last night. 
I simply brush painted the cockpit area with cockpit green from the front to rear bulkhead along with the nose-wheel area. 
A smear of filler was added to the cracks in the fuselage. The one by the new turret hole was a little deeper than I first thought but it looks ok now. a little more work/filler is needed around the now blanked off waist gunner openings, but it’ll get there eventually.
The two Airfix pilots are adamant they are not getting off their seats, they must be very comfy!!, so I decided to make simple replacements again using the 3D printer.

 

Here is the simplified design which is the same size but I’ve added the top extrusion to emulate the b-25’s flight deck seats a little close than Airfix’s original offerings.

[Brigbeale]

And here are the 3D printed seats with the original seats with the stubborn pilot and co pilot.

A light sand, paint and some home made seatbelts and they should look the part.

[Brigbeale]

Tonight, apart from getting things ready got my trip to hospital tomorrow when I finally get rid of this troublesome gall bladder, I fiddled with the two seats.

I saw an image where the seats have off yellow padding/cushions, so I painted the infill from the 3D printing with yellow ochre acrylic paint to represent the padding leaving a grey frame - which is the grey filament I used when I printed it.

Once the yellow ochre was dry - which didn’t take long - I made some simple seat belts using thin strips of standard masking tape.

The seats and centre console were then fitted to the flight deck.

The fuselage halves were then taped back together to make sure the seats were positioned properly before the sprue goo dried (I find it’s better for fixing 3D printed parts than plain TET).

 

 

looking at the photos, the painting of the seats could have been better. I’ll see if I can improve them in situ when I next get back to the bench.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Brigbeale