B-25J Mitchell (1st Group Build, First Plane Ever!)

[Piatchie]

Here is the Bomber I am Going to Attempt to Create!



Here are the Sprue Shots:





Can't wait to tackle these guys!



I must be insane! Please keep me in your prayers.....this is my first Group Build AND My first Plane!

[Yellowlazer101]

I love the Mitchell bomber, looking forward to seeing it completed

[Mike00]

Good luck, this is a great subject.

[Daishi12]

Brilliant choice ma'am, love the B-25, hope you enjoy the build and complete the threads

[T3hGuppy]

Nice choice for your entry dude.

And your first aircraft.

Will be watching with interest

[HWGuderian23]

Good choice Tracie !
Will follow your build with great interest ...
Good luck Ma'am .

[Jamesday1998]

looks like an alright old kit, i think it will turn out good!
good luck with this being your first plane build

[Piatchie]

So here is a little History Lesson!

The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engine medium Bomber that was manufactured by North American Aviation.it was used by Many Allied Air Forces in all aspects of World War II as well used by many other Air Forces after the war ended. It remained in service for 4 Decades.

The plane itself was name in Honor of General Billy Mitchell, who was a pioneer of U.S. Military Aviation. Nearly 10,000 b-25s were manufactured in numerous different models.

The B-25 first gained its Fame as the Bomber used in the 18 April 1942 Doolittle Raid where 16 B-25Bs led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle attacked Mainland Japan just 4 month after the Bombing of Pearl Harbour. This raid goes down in history as it alarmed the Japanese who until then, had believed their home islands were inviolable by enemy forces. While the actual damage cause was quite minor, it forced the Japanese to divert its troops for the home defense for the remainder of the war.

Following a number of modifications, including the addition of Plexiglass windows for the navigators and Radio Operators, Heavier Nose Armament, and de-icing and anti-icing equipment, the B-25C was released to the army. This was the second Mass-Produced version of the Mitchells which followed the B-25Bs that were used for the Doolittle Raids. Folowing the B-25Cs was the B-25Ds which varied only by location of the production Facilities. The Cs were manufactured at Inglewood, California, while the Ds at Kansas City, Kansas. a total of 3915 B-25Cs and B-25Ds were built by North American during World War II.

Because of the urgent need for hard-hitting strafer aircraft, a version dubbed the B-25G was developed, in which the standard-length transparent nose and the bombardier were replaced by a shorter solid nose containing two fixed .50 in machine guns and a 75 mm M4 cannon, one of the largest weapons fitted to an aircraft, similar to the experimental British Mosquito Mk. XVIII, and German Ju 88P heavy cannon carrying aircraft. The cannon was manually loaded and serviced by the navigator, who was able to perform these operations without leaving his crew station just behind the pilot. This was possible due to the shorter nose of the G-model and the length of the M4, which allowed the breech to extend into the navigator's compartment.

Then Came the B-25H which had even more firepower! The M4 Gun was replaced by the lighter T13E1 which was designed specifically for this aircraft. The 75 mm gun fired at a muzzle velocity of 2,362 ft/s (about 720 m/s). Due to its low rate of fire (approximately four rounds could be fired in a single strafing run) and relative ineffectiveness against ground targets, as well as substantial recoil, the 75 mm gun was sometimes removed from both G and H models and replaced with two additional .50 in machine guns as a field modification.

Finally the last and most built version of the Mitchell The B-25J, came into production. Looking very similar to earlier B, C, & D, having reverted back to the longer, glazed Bomber nose, but with the H version's relocated forward dorsal manned turret. the unsuccessful 75mm cannon was deleted and instead, 800 of this version were built with a solid nose containing eight .50 machine guns, while others Js featured the earlier "Greenhouse" style nose containing the Bombardier's position.


So now to decide which version to do. After doing a lot of Googling I can across this version:




I have not been able to find a whole lot of info on this plane but here is what I do know!

Jack Kellog as per his signature was from the 98-th CB (Construction Battalion of the Navy) aka SeaBees.
He was a Cartoonist! Here is a link to some of his work:

http://tarawatheaftermath.com/PhotosFoxholeA.html

I have not been able to find a lot of info on The Aircraft itself, but I was able to find the decals for it. Will be ordering them shortly. Based on the Decals, the Ink Squirts has a Black Band across its tail and I was able to find this info:

The Ink Squirts is 41BG probably on Okinawa late in the war; they didn't carry tail markings until 1945, horizontal or vertical bands in white or black/red as appropriate. I think the single stripe across the upper tail is the 48th BS . The 501st (345BG ) had theirs lower down .
The 41st's B-25s on Tarawa and Gilbert Is. in 1943-44 were plain OD-NG but nose art was common.
The Mitchells on Okinawa were both standard and solid gun-nose types.


So that's all I have for now. Still researching this specific plane, would love to know what happened to it or if it is still in existence. will continue to try and find info on it and if anyone knows of anything I'd really appreciate the info!

Stay tuned for Photos of the project!

[Piatchie]

So here is the start of my first Aircraft....Ever!

Storage Lockers and Radios....Check!




Sanding the injector points off the Rear Bulkhead....was told I was being "Picky" But I think it looks good!


Start of the Cockpit:


All Ready for Primer:


Building the Bomb Bay:

[Daishi12]

Looking really good Tracie

[Paul]

Nice start Tracie

[Piatchie]

Started Priming yesterday! Think I got more paint on me then on my Bomber!









And then today, Airbrushed for the first time





Now comes the fun part! I get to detail and weather all this! Wish me luck!

[Rob]

Happy to...good luck!
Looks like it's going to be a cracker!

[Daishi12]

Superb idea putting the paint numbers and description on the crocodile clips - think I'll start doing something similar

[Mike00]

Looking Good!

[DBMiller]

Wow, you've done so much work on this! The interior looks great!

[Nige201980]

WOW great work so far mate

[Paul]

Great job so far the interior is looking great

[Piatchie]

Meanwhile on my Bench........

I know a lot of this detail won't be seen once the aircraft is all together but it gave me a chance to play with the paint as I am new to this hobby and definetly need the practice! Also it will make me feel better know that inside my tiny little plane are tiny little details, and even a couple tiny little Fire Extinguishers should it ever Spontaniouly Combust!

[T3hGuppy]

The interior detail will really start to come out nicely with some paint

This kit is much better than I expected great stuff.

[ludicrusmaximus]

For someone new to the hobby, thats excellent work on the interior . Mine stink compared to that. This build is going to be very good

[Piatchie]

Thank everyone

[ridgers22]

this looks fantastic.. AND this is your 1st aircraft?

[Piatchie]

Haha yes first aircraft and 2 and model in about 15 years!

[MakingModelsAgain]

Looking mighty fine!

[Trainboy153]

Wow, that interior work puts my b-17 to shame.

[conradschmid99]

classic bomber
great job

[HistoryRider]

WOW!! Great job so far with your first!!!! I love the B-25J! I can't wait to see further progress! Keep it up! Any further luck finding more info on your plane? The Ink Squirts?

[Piatchie]

No luck. Can't seem to find anything on it! You would think a paint job like that would stand out a bit more!

[Piatchie]

Cockpit Update!

Did You Know????

We are all used to calling it the "cockpit" or "flight deck," but the North American B-25J Flight Manual refers to it as "Pilots' Compartment" when designating the different areas in the fuselage arrangement. All the diagrams in the manual are labeled that way, as well.

Now that I have shared my useless, but cool, Knowledge, on to the Update!

I struggled a little with this.....As you all know I'm kinda new, never done weathering before....using paints I've never used before doing techniques I've only read about.....how much do you do? what colors do I use? How much do I thin it down? Does this look good? what if I did just a little more? Shoot....I shouldn't have done that......haha I went back and forth a lot.....here is the process in picture form!

I did a lot of Google-ing to decide what I wanted to do. I opted to do a different green for my interior then the kit called for cause I thought it looked better so I decided that I wanted to keep some of it in the "Pilots Compartment" So it starts with my Instrument panel, keeping the bottom half green and only painting the panel itself black.



I also decided I wanted to keep some green through my control yolks as well so this is where the creativity started to show!



Next I decided I wanted cloth covering my Seats. and here is my first attempt at dry brushing!



And now....all glued together. I'm pleased with it but would appreciate any coments you might have!









Here with some of the interior detail I did!



What it will look like inside the Fuselage





whatcha think?

[Daishi12]

Absolutely cracking stuff. You have nailed the dry-brushing technique. Thought you may be interested in this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YQmkjpP6q8 "How to fly the B-25"

[HistoryRider]

whatcha think?

NAILED IT

[Piatchie]

Thanx guys!

[DBMiller]

I'll say girls can model! This is super work!

[T3hGuppy]

Hows this one coming along.

Great work so far. Looking forward to the next update.

[Piatchie]

Haha sorry been off the grid trying to get training done for my new travel Business!

Will update this week promise!

[eightfooticeman]

Great looking plane. It's great to see another build of the same kit. It sucks to see an idea that you thought of and I didn't. Again very nice build bro, I like.

[75thRanger]

Beautiful work so far. I built the same kit several years ago and I don't think that i did near as good as you have done so far. First airplane huh? Wow, I feel really bad now. That is pretty much all I have ever done. Keep up the awesome work and good luck!