Tokyo Raider Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 (edited) Greetings Friends! I am late in submitting my latest kit build for your inspection! I finished this one about a week ago and have about 4 weeks into this thing! As my handle implies, I am impressed by the Doolittle Raiders and what they accomplished early in the US involvement in WW2. I started research on what airplane to build as the excellent AM (from1999) kit lets you build all 16 aircraft... I got the kit on ebay and the decals were moisture damaged, fortunately some one is selling extra decal sheets for this kit on ebay and they worked great. I decided on building 'Harri Carrier' which has the documented nose art in photos left and right, and I was surprised to find out it's the only plane with good nose art documentation. The photos of this plane on the USS Hornet have a painted out patch just in front of the nose art on both sides. The photo appears to paint out some words or a slogan... Too bad this was lost to history! Apparently someone thought the words or rest of the nose art may be too incriminating or were told to paint over it! I faithfully created a painted out patch on my model in front of the nose art like in the photos. The color of which is unknown but likely a blue or gray or black as that would be from paint available on the ship. These planes were freshly repainted in Olive Drab 41 just before the mission and loading on the deck, so are not very weathered... In reading on Harri Carrier, it was one of the lead planes on the strike... So it was loaded with (4) M7 Incendary Bombs to set a marker for the following B25's... Most Tokyo Raiders were loaded with (3) 500-lb GP bombs and (1) M7 Incendary Bomb. Harri Carrier attacked Yokahama... Some things I read described that Harri Carrier was intercepted by fighters on the mission and fought them. So more reason to build this one plane. I was able to find 3D printed 1/48 scale incendary bombs on Shapeways and ordered (4) of them which came from New York. You can see they are unique looking in that bomb bay! I tried to fix the inaccuracies in the kit: I filled the outboard Fuel Fill Cap; Used nav lights from a hasegawa P40 kit to represent the correct wing lights for the B-25B and cut off the kit molded lights; Added a Nav light on the top of fuselage; Used (original not repro) Cutting Edge Resin replacement cowls liberated from some guy's stash in California; Scratch built a Mark Twain Bombsight instead of using the kits Norden, and added the nose plexiglass patch as seen on the deck photos. I was unable to find the correct exhausts and had to use the kit parts al though they are not correct. I stowed the nose gun in the compartment like this plane had it on the Hornet. I used resin wheels for the B-25B which were excellent! I am sure I am forgetting some kit mods, but its been a week or so... It's painted in Gunsie Mr. Color Olive Drab topside and the Testor's Model Master Air Mobility Command Gray underside which represents for early war underside gray. Decals are replacement kit decals. It came out nice and my tribute to the Raiders! To you guys that complain about my backgrounds, I got a carrier deck panel from Taiwan, but it was too small for the bomber, so I used cutting mat to hide the workbench! Enjoy the pics... I liked the history lesson during the build and I tried to get this proper to the photos on the Hornet! Edited November 17, 2021 by Tokyo Raider 36 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Screech Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Very nice clean build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t15dja Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Brilliant rendition..well done! .....and I am literally just watching the new "Midway" movie, including the Dolittle Raiders! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyo Raider Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 4 minutes ago, t15dja said: .....and I am literally just watching the new "Midway" movie, including the Dolittle Raiders! Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Brantley Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Man, that is excellent Bob! Great looking Raider; a superb scale model (those canopies!! )! Thanks for building it and sharing her here! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VolkerR. Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Awesome. Very clean build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28ZComeback Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Wonderful build and finish!! It perfectly captures the look of the real thing, (no weathering; broom sticks in tail). The execution is flawless. (BTW See "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", launch scene. When the engines rev, to max power, it's one of the great battle scenes in film history). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyo Raider Posted November 17, 2021 Author Share Posted November 17, 2021 1 hour ago, 28ZComeback said: Wonderful build and finish!! It perfectly captures the look of the real thing, (no weathering; broom sticks in tail). The execution is flawless. (BTW See "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo", launch scene. When the engines rev, to max power, it's one of the great battle scenes in film history). Hi 28Z... I have the DVD... i will watch it again tonite! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Fantastic finish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Definitely a wonderfully built model! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 What a beautiful model and a fitting tribute to a brave crew. Those incendiaries look great, and it looks like you really paid attention to detail in making the corrections and adding the details left out in the original kit. So sad all the Raiders are all gone now. I had the honor of meeting and visiting with Dick Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot, on a couple of occasions when he was a guest at our IPMS chapter's annual contest. What a gentleman and class act. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remus389 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Perfect looking B-25, I am trying hard to find any flaws, but could not find. 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 Nice clean and tidy build and paint. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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