GB-42 1/48 B-25J - MTO II

[Donivanp]

Username : donivanp
First name : Don
Category : intermediate
Scale : 1/48
Manufacturer / Model : Monogram (won't say Revell) B-25J Mitchell, Bottoms Up II 486th BS/ 340 BG Corsica
Extras : Kit World "Warbirds" KW148034 MTO B-25's

Most reviews open with the dialog between Yosaran and Doc in Joseph Heller's "Catch 22". I'm not going to run that but to say I have four copies of the movie and the decals for the Dumbo bird. But Orr does love to fly which means he is crazy and we can't ground him unless he ask for help which will mean he is not crazy, oh darn I gave it away!

I'll be using Bert Kinzey B-25 in detail and scale and Walk Around B-25 Mitchell Squadron/Signal Publication Walk Around number 12 and B-25 Mitchell in Action Aircraft No. 34 for much of my research. Paul (Micdrow) found some great pictures of Bottoms Up and Bottoms Up II.

 

[fubar57]

 

[Wurger]

 

[Micdrow]

Sweet, here you go Don, another present

 

[Donivanp]

Ah Gee Paul, your just too good to be true! Thanks.

 

[fubar57]

Beauty but what the H-E-double hockey sticks is "Lemon-Yellow". I get that it says "Designating "cast" of ZC" but what is that. I know of these....

 

[Donivanp]

As the B-25J arrived, they came in natural metal finish. The 340th BG painted the upper surface in an OD but left the lower surface NMF. As the J models came from the factory with four the side mounted .50 guns and there was still and issue of fuselage stress from the muzzle flashes, and the 340th was not flying strafing missions, the guns were removed but in many cases not before the OD paint was applied. Thus the NMF cut out of the gun fairings. In research on this subject I found that the B-25 G and H were both used in the MTO against shipping. These were afore thought by myself to have been used in the PTO only, this is not correct but it does seem that the PTO, in particular SW PTO got the lion's share of publicity for their use. It would have been cool to do an H or a J hard nose but could not find markings for MTO. The J models was the last model produce and incorporated all the changes through the life of the B-25. The nose of the J started with one swivel mount .50 and on fixed RT side mount .50, later there were two fixed mount .50 on the right side. some aircraft were field modified for two more on the left side nose mount. The ProModeler release of this kit depicts the four fixed and one swivel mount nose .50. I'll have to get a new nose glazing or find a way to fill three holes in the nose glazing. I'm listing to any inputs you have on this.

 

[Donivanp]

Beauty but what the H-E-double hockey sticks is "Lemon-Yellow". I get that it says "Designating "cast" of ZC" but what is that. I know of these....

View attachment 537617​

I'd guess that the Lemon Yellow is Yellow Chromate and my take on the cast is a zinc oxide, or bronze.

 

[Wurger]

Yep.. that's the general or another name for the primer. The Yellow Zinc Chromate of the Mission Models no. MMP-067 is the one of the correct tone.

 

[fubar57]

I wasn't aware of that one, I just went with the one on the left(not quite the yellow-green shade) and the two on the right.

 

[Wurger]

Yes Geo. In fact , the tinge of the YZC wasn't determinated strictly. It's tone wasn't the most important thing contrary to its properties.

 

[Wurger]

Chere a couple of examples ...

the pic source: Zinc chromate interior aircraft paint - FineScale Modeler - Essential magazine for scale model builders, model kit reviews, how-to scale modeling, and scale modeling products

 

[Donivanp]

Yellow Zinc Chromate can be dark yellow (testors Chrome Yellow to a lime green in hue). Interior green is a darker green though not a dark olive.

 

[Wurger]

Also true.. Don.

The "native" tone of zinc chromate crystalline salt is a bright yellow with just a hint of green. The raw Zinc Chromate primer gave a semi-translucent coating. As a consequence, the color of the underlying surface might have a significant effect on the final appearance. For example, raw Zinc Chromate applied on the white background would look yellow, while applied to bare metal aluminium it would look more like apple green. What is more any pigment might be added to the raw paint mixture to go with the Zinc Chromate modifying its color. In the 1930s to 1940s, the Zinc Chromate primer was frequently used in the raw mixture yellow tone. This is sometimes referred to as Zinc Chromate Yellow. Sometimes, Zinc Chromate was mixed with Lamp Black paste to give a bit more UV resistance. Mixing with black gave greener tones, which, depending on the amount of black added could run from apple greens to medium olive greens. Also the raw Zinc Chromate, could be mixed with black enamel and aluminium paste or powder. It resulted in getting the green tone as well.

And one more shot found via the net...

 

[fubar57]

And while ya'll are screwing with what's left of my mind, let's not forget the salmon pink primer used on F4Us....

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Author, modeller and part time aircraft restorer Tom Cleaver found this was still used on the later versions of the F4U

 

[Wurger]

Yes.. the Salmon was a pale pink-colored chromate primer used by Vought in production of the F4U Corsair. It was produced by mixing Indian Red pigment with raw Zinc Chromate primer. The actual tone was reddish orange.

 

[A4K]

Have a full 'walk-around/ crawl-through' B-25 photo shoot Don, from a 2001 issue of Scale Aviation Modeller. Drop us your address in a PM and I'll send you a copy. (Call it a 'Thankyou!' for your offer on my thread )

 

[Donivanp]

I got some terrible news Thursday afternoon, the older of my two younger sisters was killed in an auto accident coming home for picking up my grand nephew from the hospital. There were five in the vehicle and two were life flighted to hospitals in Dallas and Fort Worth, two were transported to the local hospital in Stephenville Texas and my sister was pronounced DOA at the sean of the wreak. Guess this is part of why I had to jump in and do this. Anyway I got started spitting paint and building sub assemblies. First thing I did was put together the basic forward section of the plane (Cockpit, nose wheel well assembly) so I could work on finding where to add weight. The nose wheel well is closed but for a small gear door that is opened so stuffing it full was not an issue, on the other side is the crawl space for the bombardiers access. I have form many years past have sheet lead that was designed for model train weights. I can cut it to shapes I need and almost thought of cutting the lower bulkheads out of it instead of using the plastic. Anyway I cut some to go inside the crawl space, I don't think it will be too much of an issue when done.

As should be expected on a forty year old kit (this was produced the same time I graduated high school and went active duty in the USAF, 1977), there is some fit issues. though as yet I don't see anything out of the truly ugly!

I was also pleased to note that Monogram had (Yeah I know they like to be called Revell) indeed put two sets of clear trees in the kit one with the five holes for the four fixed gun nose and one with just the swivel and single fixed gun nose.

 

[fubar57]

Christ Don, very sorry to hear this. Thoughts are with you and your family

 

[A4K]

Man, sorry to hear your news... our sincerest condolences to you and your family.

Re the canopies: not sure of the differences, but Falcon made some B-25B, C and D vacform canopies. They are available under the following brands:
Squadron #9645: B-25B
Squadron #9646: B-25C/D
Tasman Model Products #TA232: B-25B