Airfix, B-25B Mitchell “Doolittle Raid”, 1/72, Kit No. A06020

 

When I was about 10, I read Ted Lawson’s Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and ever since then the B-25 Mitchell has been just about my favorite WWII aircraft, so I was very pleased to see that Airfix had selected the B-25B to bring out in a modern kit.  There was a derelict B-25 at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey not far from my father’s company, and I really got a kick out of crawling through it on several occasions.

Airfix has produced some very desirable models in modern kit form that are truly wanted by the modeling community.  Airfix’s research tends to be accurate, and they select interesting markings, sometimes a bit unexpected.  And, the cost of the kits is more than reasonable.   I have built several and has described same here on this blog.

However, the kits are often bedeviled by poor parts fit, exaggerated surface detail (e.g. overly deep panel lines), and parts that are not nearly as petit and detailed as they could be in some instances.

So, one might ask why am I building them?  For a number of reasons - good ones.  They are often the only game in town, and once you work your way through, you are left with a  nice replica.  There is surprisingly good detail here and there. 

Eduard makes a mask for the Airfix B-25C/D kit (CX507), which differs from the B-25B in a few respects.  Ninety percent of the masks are on the sheet, but you will have to cut out ten percent on your own, which was much better than all of them.   Hannant’s says hey will be carrying Eduard CX579 which is designed specifically for the B-25B, but that is a future release and was not available when I wanted a mask set.

The clear parts are very nicely done and the canopy frames are raised enough to make cutting any masks much easier.  They really make the model.  I wish all the canopies I work on were that well designed.

Nose weight - I lost track of how much birdshot is in this model.  Luckily I have quite a bit around, and I thought that once I packed the front of the nacelles and forward fuselage, all would be well (see photos below).  The model is really heavy now.  Once I had the landing gear and wheels mounted, it barely lets the nose wheel touch down correctly.  If you touch the tail, it falls back on it. At least the nose wheel strut (which is somewhat delicate) has minimal weight on it as the model is just balancing slightly nose heavy. 

Of course, Airfix gives you no idea of how much weight to use or where to put it.  I have often seen models where the builder used a clear plastic strut on the fuselage just under the trailing edge of the wing where it will be less noticed.  All in all, I think if I do a tricycle landing gear model again, that is the route I will go.  The rear boarding hatch and ladder might be long enough to serve as such a strut, but Airfix does not say in the instructions, and since I already had it weighted, I did not check.

The instructions are vey clear and call out places where you need to make a choice depending on the color scheme you are using.  And, there are excellent, large four views that show all decal placements including a large chart of  common stencil placement.

Bottom line:  While this kit is a challenge here and there to assemble, I am glad that Airfix brought it to market, and the finished product is looks good.

Pros

Very important subject selection.

The bomb bay is nicely detailed with three 500 lb. bombs and an incendiary bomb (an early cluster bomb).  All aircraft carried this bomb load on the raid

Bomb bay and landing gear doors are designed to attach very sturdily.  No worries they will falloff at the slightest touch.

The clear canopies have nicely raised frames that make masking easy, and the finished product is very clear making the cockpit and nose position very visible.  (Spend some time making the interior look nice, because you will see it when you are done, unlike so many 1/72nd scale models.)

Cons

Some bad major parts fit, particularly engine nacelle wing attachment joints. 
Propeller shaft very much too large for propeller hub holes necessitating drilling out the props or shaving down the shaft.

Only one Doolittle Raider marking included.  A few more, particularly the famous “Ruptured Duck” flown by Lt. Ted Lawson, would have been nice.  (I splurged and got that marking from DK Decals’ (dkdecals.cz) “B-25B Doollittle Raiders” set of 8 of the aircraft.)  The kit decals I used went on well with Tamiya Mark Fit. 
 

Doolittle's plane taking off.  (Pubic domain photo)

Another B-25 taking off.  (Pubic domain photo)

The "Ruptured Duck" during preparation phase.  (Public domain photo)

Nicely detailed cockpit, which can be seen after assembly.

The space available in front was filled with No. 7 shot sealed in place with Elmer's glue.

A card plastic baffle allows the front of the nacelles to be filled with shot.

It is not often I need to get these clamps out to keep parts in place while the glue dries.

 

Airfix, Hawker Hurricane Mk. I, 1/72 scale, Kit No. A01010

It has been over a month since I posted something new. The time has partially been spent working on the Airfix B-25B “Doolittle Raid” version.   There are lots of fit problems on that one.  Along the way, I was getting bored and reached into the stash for a quick, fun build.  This Hurricane kit caught my attention, so I started it.  (These days, I am frequently building two models at a time.  It keeps me interested in both projects.)

It was just a quick build, so no after market (even canopy masking) and no weathering.  It is relaxing to build a model that way now and then.

This is a fabric covered wing Hurricane that was part of the British Expeditionary Force that vainly fought in France in May 1940.

The kit decals have alternate squadron markings for this ship, either VY*G or VY*C.  The box cover and instructions show G rather than C.  My library includes Camouflage and Markings, R.A.F. Fighter Command, 1936-1945 by James Goulding and Robert Jones (Doubleday, 1971).  This book has some of the most detailed information on this subject.  And, it shows this aircraft in a profile drawing with “C”, so that is what I used.

I have a number of Squadron “In Action” and Bert Kinsey “Detail and Scale” books, as well as several dozen other publications.  All of these were collected in the 1970’s through 1990’s.  These books were much cheaper then, but, more importantly, the Internet had not bloomed and provided us with vast sources of information for the asking at our fingertips.  I have added a couple of Brett Green’s superb books to my collection in the past few years, but that is it.  I often wonder where the historic aircraft research book field will end up.

I painted the basic camouflage with Vallejo Model Air paint:  71.096 Panzer Olive and 71.032 Golden Brown.  Maybe not exact prototype matches, but they look good to me and have some contrast.

Pros

Excellent subject and marking choice.

Excellent decals which go on easily and react well to Tamiya Mark-Fit regular strength decal setting solution.

Nice detailed cockpit and landing gear bays.

Surface detail is excellent, especially the recreation of the fabric covered areas of this aircraft.

Cons

Fit is an issue, as always, with these kits.  Not really that bad on this one, but annoying in a modern kit.

The color guide is printed on the back of the box rather than in the instruction manual.

 As always, thank you for visiting my blog.  Comments are always welcome.

Tamiya, M20 Armored Utility Car, 1/35 Scale, Kit No. MM234

Originally, the M8 Greyhound was adopted by the U. S. Army as a light anti-tank and reconnaissance vehicle armed with a 37 mm cannon in a turret on top of the vehicle.  The cannon proved too light to penetrate German armor, and the British were uninterested as the bottom of the vehicle was weak and offered no ineffective protection from landmines.  Therefore, the M8 was removed from anti-tank service and used for infantry support and as cavalry screening, where it proved successful. 

The M20 was essentially the same vehicle and was used for reconnaissance and as a command vehicle.  It was low, fast (55 mph maximum speed) and provided protection from small arms up to .50 caliber.  The M2 .50 caliber machine gun it carried was mounted on an anti-aircraft ring, and it had a light armor aggressive punch via the Bazooka it carried.  A total of 3,680 M20s were built by Ford Motor Company during its two years in production (1943–1944).  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Greyhound.

The M20 may not be quite as sexy as the cannon armed M8, but they were seen all over Northern Europe and Italy with U. S. Army units.  Both these vehicles are examples of American ingenuity in bringing new weapons to the battlefield in record time in record numbers.  Many of them soldiered on with foreign countries for decades after the war.

A 1999 release, this kit is virtually the equal of current releases.  It includes the M2 machine gun, M-1 Carbine crew weapon and landmines on exterior racks.  Also included is the Bazooka that gave it an anti-armor capability.  The crew compartment is nicely detailed, and the suspension and drive line are nicely represented underneath.  A driver figure and a commander figure are included. 

I looked at a bunch of photos of the M20 on the Internet trying to figure out if in WWII these vehicles had the driver’s compartment painted white.  With the M8 Greyhound, the inside spaces of the vehicle were painted white, as it had a turret on top and no open fighting compartment as the M20 had.  Most restored M20 vehicles seem to have been painted white, but that can be misleading.  I did find a few contemporary photos that showed a much lighter driver’s compartment, so I went with white on my model.  It makes sense because once the hatches are closed, it would have been somewhat dark in there.

Recently, I have built a few armored models with link and length tracks.  Once the tracks, bogies and drive sprockets are assembled together, it is almost impossible to paint all those pieces the appropriate colors.  When the tracks are off it is easy.  But when I try to wrap the painted tracks around the various wheels, they invariably break in a few places.

So, I have taken to painting and assembling the tracks on the road wheels, mounting side skirts (if any), and then masking those assemblies off while I paint the upper parts of the model.  This prevents overspray getting all over the tracks and road wheels messing up the paint job on them.  Works well for me.

With this model, there was a similar issue with the six wheels.  I painted the tires and wheels, but the armored skirts had to be added after the wheels are mounted to the axles.  I mounted the wheels after I masked them with some aluminum foil, and then I glued the armored skirts on.  The foil was easily removed after I was done painting.  See the photos below.

For whatever reason, I liked the look of this model freshly painted, so I did not add any weathering other than some dust pigment on the wheels.

Pros

Detailed fighting compartment and driver’s area.

Includes all the small arms that would normally have been in the TO&E for this vehicle.

A nice model that filled a very important reconnaissance and command role for the U. S. Army in Europe during WWII.

Cons

Nothing to dislike.

Foil was used to mask tires which needed to be mounted before the armored skirts could be added.

Foam and tapes was used to mask the already painted fighting compartment.