Doolittle raid

[Cklasse]

Starting this build for an event, so I am planning to finish it by November. I have been gathering the parts for this Doolittle raid build, PE parts, figures and flight deck. 
 

Had trawled the internet for information of plane tie down during ww2 but couldn’t get any decent pictures. 
 

Does anyone know how are the B25s tied to the carrier deck? Any pictures will be helpful for my little diorama. It looks like the B25s were tied to the deck by ropes but I can’t find pictures of the anchor point on deck and plane. 
 

This is the Airfix kit with the extras.

The build starts with removing some areas for the PE parts.

 

[Tail-Dragon]

Many fine tie-down images here ...

 

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/halsey-doolittle-raid.html

 

https://ww2helmets.com/the-doolittle-raid/

 

https://www.gettyimages.ca/search/2/image?phrase=doolittle raid on tokyo&sort=mostpopular&license=rf%2Crm

[Cklasse]

Thank you for the links. I have found mostly black and white pictures but the picture of  anchor point at the wing is hard to get. I will likely imagine it to be a hoop somewhere under the wing for the rope to loop around. 

[Cklasse]

Interior painted and washed. I have read so many versions of internal colors in the web that I have decided to paint the colors base on pictures and gut feel. I like the primer color, just like what I see at work everyday.

The PE parts will be next. 
 

I have been using tungsten carbide cutter for weight but this time I may have a problem of limited space to use it. 

 

[Cklasse]

Have been doing some metal “origami” every night, bit by bit. Starboard fuselage completed, so are the cockpit panels. One more fuselage and seats to complete before I can close the fuselage. 

 

Went for a walk in town today to catch some sights of military vehicles for the coming National Day parade next week. It’s a full dress rehearsal for next week. Seen here Chinook flying the flag escorted by Apaches. 

 

[Cklasse]

This is always one of the exciting moment of building, closing the fuselage. 
The missed out paint areas are visible after one side of the fuselage was fixed to the cockpit. 

 

 

[Planebuilder62]

Where will the weight be put in to keep this model on its nose wheel?😉😊

Regards Toby

[Cklasse]

There is a space under the cockpit floor for weight. Half of it is the access tunnel for crew to get to the front gun. Airfix indicated 25g of weight but the space is limited. I decided to use the full space including the access tunnel since it’s going to be dark and not visible. 
 

 

 

[Cklasse]

Fuselage closed. Slowly filling and sanding to fit all parts onto the fuselage, including thinning the trailing edge of the wings. Painting will be next. 
 

 

[Cklasse]

The plane is finally standing on its landing gears. My 16 grams weight is barely enough to keep the nose gear on the ground but fortunately I am going to mount the plane on a carrier deck, so that’s not going to be a problem.

 

Scratch build a hydraulic line with brass rod and a flexible hose into the wheel hub. Added the PE  tie down loops too. 

 

[Cklasse]

While waiting for putty to cure, the pilot seats were completed and fixed into the cockpit. Started the assembly for carrier deck. Have to build up the deck to give it some height and fix the PE parts for tie down ropes. 
 

 

 

[Cklasse]

The assembly stage is almost completed. I am sure there will be some fill and sand touchup once I put on a layer of primer. 
When I build the Lancaster last year, I had told myself that I am not going to build another ww2 bomber. The masking of the bomber “canopy” is painful and now I am getting into another bomber build. 
 

 

 

[Cklasse]

The deck completed assembly, moving to paint plane and deck. 

I believe the deck is some sort of a blue grey, will have to paint it to see the result.

 

 

[Cklasse]

Masked and ready for Paintshop. 

The deck was painted with diluted blue grey and it turned out pretty well. Touching up the remaining exposed wood with black panel liner before I give it a coat of clear Matt. 

 

[Chuck1945]

Are you going to do the painted over but still visible white cross from the 1941 war games on the outboard starboard wing appearing on photos of at least one Doolittle raider?

[Cklasse]

14 hours ago, Chuck1945 said:

Are you going to do the painted over but still visible white cross from the 1941 war games on the outboard starboard wing appearing on photos of at least one Doolittle raider?

Just paint with what Airfix indicated in the kit. Now that you mentioned the different painting, I googled and read some interesting comments on all the planes paint conditions. Do you have any interesting pictures to share? 

[Alex.B]

Everything looks fantastic!

 

I just have one concern, and is the color of the carrier deck.

AFAIK at the start of the war they were not painted, they were just wooden decks. They have been painted later on but unfortunately I don't remember the exact time frame.

1943 rings somehow a bell inside my head, but I can be wrong.

 

I am pretty sure anyway that during Doolittle raid they were still natural wood

[Cklasse]

Looks like I will have to live with a painted deck. I may just sand down a bit to expose some wood. 

Edited September 16 by Cklasse

[John_W]

Looking good.

The B25 does seem to be one of those kits where getting enough weight in the nose is a challenge. My 1/48 Monogram had splayed legs.

[Cklasse]

Olive drab painted, deliberately sprayed thin and uneven to hopefully gives a weathered look. 

 

Masked for the grey bottom.

Using blue tac for the first time and loving this method. 

I like how the blue tac masking produce a little fuzzy border between colors compared to masking tapes.

 

[Cklasse]

Now that the plane is painted, the panel lining starts, followed by decals application. Since the plane is going to be mounted on a carrier deck, any tiny decals below the wings were omitted. These wordy decals will come in handy for future model build. 
 

 

[Cklasse]

My first attempt to weather using AK water color pencil. Still need some tweaking of the color application.
 

 

[Cklasse]

Like I said, first attempt to use color pencil to weather and another surprise after I gave the plane a matt coat. The hours of colouring and blending were toned down after the matt coat, some almost disappeared. I will need to touch up with some colour pencil again after the plane is mounted and not handled by hand anymore.
 

The best part of painting has finally arrived, peeling masking tape to reveal the cockpit.

 

The final assembly can start now with antennas, PE boarding ladder, top turret gun and landing gear doors. Will be leaving some protruding parts and props for the final, after the tying ropes.

 

The plane is finally glued mounted on the carrier deck. 

 

[Cklasse]

This rope tying made me think if I was rigging a ship. 
Painted the sewing thread and applied glue to smoothen it. After lots of struggling to tie knots and ensuring threads are taut, I finally finished tying down all the landing gears. Looks like I am on time for the November competition.

 

 

[Doolie]

On 9/15/2025 at 3:15 PM, Alex.B said:

Everything looks fantastic!

 

I just have one concern, and is the color of the carrier deck.

AFAIK at the start of the war they were not painted, they were just wooden decks. They have been painted later on but unfortunately I don't remember the exact time frame.

1943 rings somehow a bell inside my head, but I can be wrong.

 

I am pretty sure anyway that during Doolittle raid they were still natural wood

The decks on all the carriers had been stained with Norfolk No. 250N by the time of the Doolittle raid.