1/48th Mitchell II - Allied Advance and Defense of the Reich WWII.

Nice work on the interior bits Terry! The canopy cleaned up nicely.

Thanks very much chaps !
No further progress - yet !
Been busy chasing around to get a couple of small jobs done on the 'Tin Tent', ready for this year's airshow and air museum tours, and working on the GB28 scores.
I might get a bit done later tonight - I'll post pics when there's something to show.

Just catching up on your progress Terry as I had not looked in since Thursday or Friday. Great to see that you are able to get some significant work done. Your knowledge of your subject and attention to detail never ceases to amaze. Well done my friend!

Thanks very much indeed Andy !
The Mitchell, particularly in RAF service, has been a favourite of mine ever since I was a kid, so I've managed to learn quite a bit about it over the years.
That said, due to this build, I'm learning a lot more as I go along,
I've now got the 'new' seats painted, seat harness made, fitted and painted, and they're currently drying - one of the Humbrol colours used to mix the shades is yet another marginal batch, and remains semi-matt, taking a long time to dry too.
I should get these fitted into the cockpit, and the canopy fitted, sealed and blended into the fuselage, some time tomorrow, when I'll post pics of the these stages, before continuing with the wings, then moving on to the nose section.

Lovely work so far Terry!

Thanks Hugh.
No further progress yet - I've been trying to work on the scores for GB28, but there's been a series of very brief, but bl**dy irritating, power cuts here today. Don't know what's been going on, presumably some work on the local electricity grid somewhere, as the power has gone off for a couple of seconds, then come back for maybe half an hour, only to repeat the off/on thing again most of the afternoon.
Seems to be stable now though, so if I can get the scores completed, I'll get back to the Mitchell.
More pics when I'm able to post something.

The 'new' seats have been completed and fitted into the cockpit, the canopy is in place, and work is continuing on the wings.

PICS 1 and 2 Show the Revell/Monogram B-25J seats in place - the sanding dust has since been brushed off - which are a great improvement over the original kit seats. Further research has shown that, in many cases, the seats were either bare metal, or finished in a 'silver' colour. However, as the majority I've seen have been in various shades of green, I opted for the latter colour, with the 'dirtied yellow' back-rest cushions (possibly flotation aids) and the trademark green seat pan cushions. Note that RAF Mitchells were fitted with Sutton seat harnesses, which have been crudely replicated here for the shoulder straps, with the moulded lap straps painted to match.
A bit rough, but good enough when viewed through the rather thick canopy.
PICS 3 to 5. The masked canopy has been fixed in place, using a couple of dabs of polystyrene cement to give a firm 'hold', whilst the remainder of the rim is fixed with Humbrol 'Clear Fix'.
The joints have been sealed all around, again using 'Clear Fix' and, once fully set, the frames and joints will be painted in the interior colour. The joints will then be checked again and, if needed further filler, probably diluted 'Milliput', will be applied, in order to obtain as near a perfect 'blend' into the fuselage as possible.
PIC 6. When cutting following the moulded line of the port landing lamp recess on the underside of the wing, I found that the opening was slightly too large to match the transparency from the B-25J kit. This is in the process of being corrected, by 'Superglueing' a length of square section stretched sprue around the rim, which will be carefully sanded to final shape once fully set. Any gaps showing once the clear cover has been fitted will be filled using PVA or, if severe, by running-in a thin bead of 'Milliput'. The lamps will, of course, be masked before painting the model.
PIC 7. The air intake for the port oil cooler had a small lip around the upper edge, and this is in the process of being replicated, again using square section stretched sprue, which will be sanded to shape one set.The starboard intake has a shallow 'fairing' on the underside, which will be made from thin plastic card, sanded to shape. Both intakes will have the front part of the trunking, complete with vertical separator, fabricated from plastic card.
PIC 8. A view of the underside of the wing, with both halves taped together, showing the landing lamp recess and the oil cooler intake.
The port lamp housing also had a red 'passing' light fitted outboard of the landing lamp, which will be made from a short, rounded piece of clear sprue, painted with transparent red paint. (The starboard side did not have the corresponding green/blue lamp .)
The landing lamps themselves will be made from plastic tube, with discs of silver foil for the reflectors.

Once the internal work on the wings has been completed, attention will then focus on adding detail to the nose compartment section, before fitting this to the fuselage. All being well, I hope to have more to show sometime tomorrow (or later today, as I've just noticed the time !!!).
Thanks again for all the kind comments and continued interest.

Doing great my friend.

Thanks Andy, it's much appreciated. Some of the delicate work has been a bit of a struggle due to my darned hands - hopefully the new meds, when they eventually start again, will improve things at least a little.

Hoping with you.

Great work Terry! This one is just flying along!

Thanks very much Wojtek and John.

Bit p*ss*d off, as I painted the canopy frames with the interior colour well over 12 hours ago, and the darned paint is still tacky and 'rubbery'.
I used a new tin of Humbrol No.159 'Light Olive', thoroughly stirred and mixed with yellow, as I did for the interior, and it's another example of the poor quality of some of the Humbrol paints over the last few years, particularly the green paints.
It goes on virtually translucent, and streaky (with a paint brush), rather like trying to paint plastic with a water colour paint, and when it eventually does dry, it's semi-matt.
It's a real pain, as when it comes to sanding what is thought to be fully dried and cured paint, it lifts and clogs into a sticky, grainy mess.
I had intended to use this shade as a base-colour for the upper surfaces, when the painting stage is reached, before misting on darker areas, as it's just right for the faded Olive Drab look, but it looks as if I'll have to mix the required shade, using a different green, and almost certainly not Humbrol - time to try out the 'Model Master' paints that Andy very kindly gave me last September.
Hornby Products are aware of the problems, as I know of at least two people who have written to them, complaining about the poor quality and inconsistent colour batches, when Hornby asked for photographs of the results, the paint number(s), date and place of purchase, and so on, so that they could 'look into it' - in other words, they buy-in the paints, and know b*gger all about the cr@p that they're sending out to the shops (or don't want to know ?).

On a brighter note, whilst waiting for the paint to dry on and around the canopy frames, I've got the landing lamp housing 'filler' sprue sanded to shape, as well as the small lip on the oil cooler intake, and if my hands are up to the task, I hope to fabricate the lamp housing and 'passing' lamp, as well as the oil cooler intake trunking and the oil tank, later tonight, before starting work on the 'master' for the Mk.XIV bomb sight computer, which I intend to mould using the PU resin I received today.
More pics and up-date when I've got something worthwhile to show.

I din't think to include an interior green from MM Terry but, for your purposes, given that a lot will be hidden, would the RAF Dark Green with a mix of Medium Sea Grey maybe work? I don't exactly remember what I brought you but perhaps there is a combination of colours that might do the trick.

No problem Andy.
The Mitchell had a few interior colours, depending on factory, production batch etc, with Bronze Green, standard US Interior Green, and a shade sort of in between the two, as well as a mixture of some or all of these.
I can use the MM RAF Dark Green, or one of the Luftwaffe greens, mixed with yellow, and possibly a touch of blue, to get the interior shade for the canopy frames, and for the the camouflage colours, I can use the MM RAF Dark Green, mixed with Dark Earth, and adjusted with yellow as required, and the same for the underside, using a mix based on one of the MM greys.
And, of course, I also have some suitable paints to mix from the Xtracolor range, gloss finish, ready for decals, although that means adjusting the methods of weathering and paint 'fading' etc.
I'll get it sorted, it's just a pain that a simple thing like cr@p paint can slow things down, and cause a problem where some paint might need to be removed before proceeding further.

Been out for awhile, Terry your work is still very good. Meds or no. Always enjoy reading up on your builds.

Thanks mate !
Hoping to get a lot more done tonight and over the weekend - pics when there's something to show.

Wow Terry, really making great progress and its looking awesome

Thanks very much Paul !
I was just starting to think that the rest should be plain sailing - but then I remembered I have yet to graft the kit cowling flaps and carb intakes, onto the new resin cowlings. Oh, deep joy !

Maybe but your the perfect man for the job!!!