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

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Terry!

And Hugh, I'd guess you will now know the effects of an intra-muscular steroid injection. Some I had in the past only just 'eased things' slightly, but this one has done the trick, or as good as it can, and given me some relief from pain, stiff and wasted muscles, and if nothing else, it has allowed me to get relatively comfortable enough to sleep, instead of muscles locking-up and causing pain and discomfort all night.
If you don't go for the 'combat surgeon' role, then look at Rheumatology - only a few real 'Specialists' in the UK, and still a long curve of discovery towards control, and possible cures. A very worthwhile and interesting field, I would think.

Indeed got to get them in the right place and so on. Certainly not overlooking any specialities yet (except Psych, Pathology and Radiology ). Still learning towards surgery though.

 

[Catch22]

Haven't caught up on anything in this GB for a while, brilliant work Terry!

 

[Wayne Little]

Doing great there Terry.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks all.
Not much to show at the moment - masking the nose canopy and fitting the nose to the fuselage, then planning the engine cowling conversion and seeing if the main landing gear can be fitted after assembling the rest of the model.
I'll post some pics soon.

 

[Airframes]

At last, I feel I'm making some meaningful progress, as the nose section has now been fitted, and work can continue with the general construction, and sorting out the mods needed for the replacement, resin engine cowlings.
Before fitting the nose section, the nose gear leg, and its mounting point, had to be modified, in order to fit the leg after the main construction and painting of the model. The locating pin on the leg had sheared within minutes of joining the fuselage halves, always a real risk when such items have to be fitted early in the build. The pics below show the repair and modification process.
I'm hoping that the main gear legs can also be adapted so that they can be fitted after painting the model, as the instructions call for them to be fitted into the nacelles before continuing with the assembly of the engines, and wings to fuselage, meaning they'll not only get in the way, and risk being damaged, but they'll have to be masked before painting the model, with the risk of damaging any added detail such as brake lines etc.

PIC 1. A mounting point for the nose gear leg has been fabricated and fitted into the empty wheel well, and a rudimentary 'wall' added, to at least hide the lead and 'Plasticine' nose weights. The mount is made from two gauges of plastic tube, cemented and re-inforced with CA adhesive, into which a steel pin, glued into the leg, will fit and be fixed with CA.
PIC 2. The top of the original, round, locating point was shaved and filed flat, and a hole drilled into the top, down into the actual leg. A paperclip was then 'Superglued' into the hole, and cut off to the required length to fit into the tubular mounting point inside the wheel well.
PIC 3. The kit 'retraction jack', which had already been thinned-out, had a notch cut into its rear face, and a length of plastic rod cemented into the notch, again re-inforced with CA. This will locate into a short, angled tube on the 'roof' of the wheel well, and hopefully take the strain of the large amount of lead weight directly above it !
PIC 4. The nose canopy framing has been painted, on the inside, at the areas which could be reached easily, concentrating mainly on the escape hatch frame and release latch areas. The canopy was then masked - a job which took around three hours - and the internal frame colour painted on the outside of the raised frames, before fitting the canopy in place, and fixing with tube cement, and Humbrol Clear Fix, whilst trying to ensure the best possible alignment with the peripheral frames, of which more later. Note that some of the paint has worn off due to handling.
PIC 5. The void in the forward fuselage has been packed with strips of roofing lead, folded, and flattened with a hammer, held in place with 'Plasticine', and a couple of strips of lead were also inserted beneath the nose compartment floor, with a total of just over 52 grammes of lead being used (1.9 ounces !!).
Even with this amount of weight, which is all I could pack in, and following a 'balance test', I'm not wholly convinced that the model will sit on all three wheels - I guess I'll find out eventually !
PIC 6. The nose section was then glued to the fuselage. The white arrows indicate the areas where some light filling will be done, using 'Milliput', around the nose joint, the nose glazing, and the cockpit canopy joints, in order to blend these into the fuselage convincingly, whilst the red arrow shows the vertical line of the escape hatch, which, although it will be partly filled with the putty, needs to retain the line of the frame where it buts against the fuselage, visible on the real aircraft.
PIC 7. This is where things are up to so far, with the main fuselage and wing construction completed.

Next step is to check to see if the main gear can be adapted to fit later in the build, and then start work on the engine nacelles, engines, and adapting the resin cowlings to fit, which will include making individual cowl flaps.
back soon with another up-date.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[JKim]

B-25 is starting to take shape!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Wayne and John, and yes, she's starting to come together.

I've done most of the blending around the nose and cockpit canopies, and fitted the landing lamp transparent covers, sourced from spare items in the Revell / Monogram B-25J kit. I'm quite pleased that these were a reasonable fit, into the 'holes' I'd cut into the leading edges of the wings, and will only need a small amount of filler, probably 'Clear Fix', around the edges.
I have a little more work to do with the 'Milliput' around the canopies, just to get them as neat as possible, and hide the joints, then these areas can have another coat of the interior colour.
I hope to start on the engine nacelles and the test-fitting of the resin engine cowlings once I've had a quick tour of the forum, and I might be able to post some more progress pics later tonight.
As I have a day in hospital tomorrow, to get the first of two infusions of the new meds (at last!), and I'm supposed to rest and do absolutely sod all for 24 hours afterwards, it's unlikely I'll get any more work done until Sunday, at the earliest, so I want to try to get as much done tonight as possible, although I'm guessing most of the time will be spent test-fitting, adjusting, and more test-fitting, rather than actual construction. But, the time won't be wasted as, once everything is sorted and planned, the cowling assembly can go ahead, and then it's down to the basic construction of the rest of the kit, before prepping for the first coat of paint.
Meanwhile, the pics below show the 'Milliput' applied around the nose section joint, the nose canopy joints, and around the base and vertical joints of the cockpit canopy, the aim being to blend these into the lines of the fuselage, making the parts look more like part of the aircraft structure, rather than bits 'stuck on' afterwards.
The landing lamp covers will be filled around the edges when totally set, and then masked.

Thanks again for your interest and comments, and I'll be back as soon as I'm able.

 

[Micdrow]

Wow Terry, looking really good, will be kind of sad when its all done and over with. B-25 holds a special interest to me

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Paul and Wojtek - and Paul, I have another B-25 kit to do yet, a 'J' model, which I've yet to decide which colour scheme to do.
So far, I have a choice of a US bird in the MTO, using info and decals sent by Wojtek, or another RAF example, this time probably from 320 (Dutch) Sqn, or maybe a RCAF kite in bare metal.
And i might even get another B-25C kit, to do as a 'normal' Mitchell MkII, rather than the 'series ii'.............

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great so far Terry!

 

[Crimea_River]

Good stuff Terry. It's really taking shape now.

Good luck with the infusions mate!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Dr. Hugh (Dr Who ?) and Andy, and thanks for the good wishes. Looking forward to having the drip bunged in my arm for 8 or 9 hours, and as soon as I've posted this, I'm off to bed, as I have to be up and on the move early-ish tomorrow. Then home tomorrow evening, and probably sleep for hours, as the stuff makes you drowsy.

Anyway, on with the up-date, and the first stages of trial-fitting for the undercarriage and resin cowlings have been completed, and it's looking encouraging.
The build sequence calls for the main gear legs and diagonal braces to be fitted into the nacelles at this stage, a sure recipe for a mini disaster, when the gear legs will not only get in the way, and be a pain to mask for painting the model, but could also break (like the nose gear leg), due to the rather flimsy mounting pins. Consequently, I wanted to find if it would be possible to mount the gear legs, at least, at a later stage, and the answer was 'Yes'.
Next stage was to work out how to attach the resin cowlings, which are devoid of cooling gills, and actually designed for the Italeri and Revell /Monogram kits, and this is explained and illustrated below.

PIC 1. First, the engine nacelles were assembled, and the joints, somewhat rough in parts, were filed and sanded.
PIC 2. The starboard nacelle had the hatch for the starter trolley plug opened up, the edges reamed, and the hole backed with scrap plastic sheet. The model will eventually sit in a diorama setting, with a 'Trolley Ac' plugged in, and the hinged hatch cover will be added at this time.
PICS 3 and 4. The mounting frames for the main gear were cemented into the nacelles, and the diagonal brace fitted and cemented, after first cutting a couple of millimeters off the cross pin, which locates into a hole in the main leg. This will allow the main legs to be slipped into place later, after detailing and painting, and only a very short length of the diagonal brace protrudes from the wheel bay aperture, which shouldn't be a problem when handling or masking.
PIC 5 Shows one of the rather basic main gear legs, which will be cleaned-up, and have the torsion links thinned and drilled out, before adding brake pipes and hoses, and hinge pins for the diagonal brace.
PIC 6. A trial fit of the resin cowling to the lower nacelle, shows that it fits over the flange, although the 'rib' for the carb intake, on the top section (not shown) prevents fitting to the complete assembly. However, the cowling needs to be further forward, both for the correct appearance and fit over the engine, and also to allow room for the individual cowling flaps, which will have to be fabricated from plastic sheet or thin alloy, and fitted after assembling the engines and cowlings. The 'nose' of the carb intake also occupies the same space, on top of each nacelle / cowling joint.
PIC 7. After trial fitting with the engine mount in place, and some careful measuring, the solution will be to extend the 'flange' on the nacelle, top and bottom, and allowing space for the flaps and intake, by fitting a 'ring' of plastic card around the circumference of the nacelle, as roughly indicated by the white lines and dashes in the photo.
This, together with the engines themselves, will support the resin cowlings, which will slip over the flange extension, and also provide a base where the cowl flaps can be fitted, along with their actuating rods.
The 'trough' for the single exhaust pipe from the kit collector ring (indicated by the white dots) will need to be filled and sanded to match the nacelle contours, with the replacement resin cowlings having the later 'S' pattern individual exhaust stubs enclosed inside the separate fairings.
So that's the plan, and with luck, I should be able to get to work on the modifications to the nacelles, and assemble, paint and fit the engines, on Sunday.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Same here...

 

[le_steph40]

Same here...

And here also !!! Excellent Andy

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps - and thanks Andy for the 'stealth help' !!!!!
Just got back after 9 hours in the hospital, getting the first infusion of the new meds, and can already feel some benefit, although I can hardly keep my eyes open - a side-effect of some of the stuff pumped in to me.
Going for a kip - and I might be gone some time ! (Been told to rest for 24 hours, and I'm not going to argue !)
Should be back at the bench on Sunday, all being well, and I'll post another up-date then.

 

[Micdrow]

Thanks Paul and Wojtek - and Paul, I have another B-25 kit to do yet, a 'J' model, which I've yet to decide which colour scheme to do.
So far, I have a choice of a US bird in the MTO, using info and decals sent by Wojtek, or another RAF example, this time probably from 320 (Dutch) Sqn, or maybe a RCAF kite in bare metal.
And i might even get another B-25C kit, to do as a 'normal' Mitchell MkII, rather than the 'series ii'.............

Humm mind meld Terry, am I close on your options. If so I think I have some extra pictures of the MMR one

 

[Wurger]

BTW... Paul, the pic was too large and Terry could have a trouble with downlading of the page. Therefore I've resized it a little bit and re-uploaded.