GB-55 1/48 B-25D-1 Mitchell - MTO III

[Wayne Little]

Safe trip Andy....!

 

[CATCH 22]

I was thinking of a grader but you already have one.

CATCH 22 thanks for the reference. When I was googling the plane I came across a one with the name DGFB but it was a B-24 IIRC. Will see if I can find it again.

Yep, there are a few B-24 called "Dirty Gertie" (but not from Bizerte), 2 B-17 ("Dirty Gertie" only), even a C-47 (full DGFB) and probably some more too.

 

[Crimea_River]

Back home and sweltering. The basement workshop offers a cool spot to hang out so that's what I did.

Assembly of the internals has begun and requires a bit of care. The bomb bay and navigators station are supposed to be assembled into a single large component before gluing it into the fuselage. The lack of stout locating pins and ledges made me think that I had better pinch the parts into the fuselage halves and adjust the various bits while the glue was drying. The cockpit floor and bulkhead had been previously glued together and I pinched this in as well to see how things would work out.

The shelf on the port side behind the bulkhead had to be tilted down a bit to line up with the cockpit floor and there is a sizeable gap there that will need filling. Looks a bit wonky but it's the best I can do.

While all this stuff was together, I glued in the sidewall pieces. Really nice details here with little need for embellishments as far as I can tell. In the below pic, you can see the gap I talked about above.

I've started work on the seats now and am not sure of what I'm doing. More on that later. Thanks for looking in.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Welcome home Andy, hope you had a good and happy trip. Nice to see you back in the workshop so quick, usually takes me a couple of days to get over the jet lag when coming back from up north. So you have come home to a gaping hole in your Mitchell, looking at it, its quite a big one (as models go) good challenge to get your hand and mind back into the groove.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Vic. The jet lag is not too bad for me. Flying from Europe west to my home is easier than going the other way as we chase the sun the whole way and the flight time is almost the same as the time change (7-8 hours) so we end up arriving home at close to the same time we left Europe and usually in daylight. It's then a matter of staying up until one's normal bedtime and sleeping the lag off. Of course, I have been waking up in the middle of the night because the old body says it's lunch time but the tiredness allows one to go back to sleep, all being well.

Anyway, seats. The kit provides some pretty crumby looking blobs that won't pass muster right next to the clear canopy and so I'm trying to spruce them up a bit and also add the armour plates that Yves pointed out. The seats in the 1/32 HK model look like this:

Source Review & Mini Construction: H-K Models Co. 1/32 B-25J "Glass Nose" Bomber

It seems that AM has tried to emulate these per the characteristic flare where your butt goes. The question is, would the pilot and copilot have sat on their chutes or were these seats provided with cushions? I'm hoping that cushions were used (this seems to be the case of one believes after market resin seats and other internet references) as this make modifying the seats a lot easier. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

From what I've seen of Mitchell aircrew photos, admittedly mostly RAF, with some U.S,, chest-pack parachutes were worn, therefore the seats would have cushions.

 

[CATCH 22]

The question is, would the pilot and copilot have sat on their chutes or were these seats provided with cushions? I'm hoping that cushions were used (this seems to be the case of one believes after market resin seats and other internet references) as this make modifying the seats a lot easier. Anyone know for sure?

Hi Andy!
Check your own post # 25. Even if the seat shown is for J-model, the type of cushioning is the same for C/D.
Then check the "How to fly the B-25"-video: @ 02:33 you'll see this:

Note also the standard armour plate with cushion/headrest behind. You can do this type of armour (as mentioned before) if you want.
Cheers!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Yves I wasn't sure about the seats I posted earlier as they were of a different type than what the kit provided. Anyway, let there be cushions.

CATCH 22 Yves, I will also do the armour plate. Both seats I assume? Also, in one of the pics you showed earlier, is there a piece of side armour as well that protected the pilot's right arm or am I seeing things?

 

[CATCH 22]

Thanks guys. Yves I wasn't sure about the seats I posted earlier as they were of a different type than what the kit provided. Anyway, let there be cushions.

CATCH 22 Yves, I will also do the armour plate. Both seats I assume? Also, in one of the pics you showed earlier, is there a piece of side armour as well that protected the pilot's right arm or am I seeing things?

The one I've shown before ("Made in M.T.O") differs from the standard one greatly. I think it looks better - that's the reason to "offer" you this possibility. We don't know exactly id DGFB had it, but why not.
The MTO-mod has additional steel plates on the EXTERIOR side of each seat: left side for the pilot and right side for the co-pilot. In the photo I posted we see the co-pilot's seat armour:

The pilot's seat armour is visible through the window. I kind of like the curved lines and the mending plates with heavy bolts. Both seats had the same armor in this case.
The manuals I have, show both pilots having standard armour plates as well.

I've seen photos of early B-25C/D with only one (pilot's) armour plate though. Maybe Paul has some information from a different manual.
Cheers!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Yves. I see now that it's the copilot side I was thinking of. Makes sense that the armour would be on the outside. I'll need to a check for fit before tackling those as the canopy and sidewall thicknesses might make it difficult to make these work.

 

[Crimea_River]

Starting on the seats. I wanted to show a comparison of the kit part at left and the start of the mods at right before modifying the other seat in parallel. The seat edges were thinned with a Dremel tool and cushions were added with styrene card overlaid with masking tape. If anyone sees me going astray here, let me know!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nothing wrong with that Andy.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Army14Bravo]

Super Job!! man, you guys really put the detail in these models. I am totally impressed. Back in the '80's we didn't have the internet. So, I have a huge library of WW2 aviation, especially allied. Very pleased you picked the B25. I would have done the same. I had an Uncle William who flew 25's across North Africa and up through Italy. Great guy, taught me to fly back in the late '40's. In the early '80's I was in the CAF and had an opportunity to fly the right seat on a J model. Great airplane. My Uncle had some great pics which he left to his sons (who were not interested in flying at all). They are both gone now and no one has any idea what happened to all the great stuff that Uncle William had.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the finished model you are doing. That Ireland trip sounded like a winner. We have been there a few times.

Meanwhile, I will plod along with this very old Matchbox 1/32 SBD. I will not be doing the detail like you. Eyes bad and these 85 year old hands won't hold still long enough to get the very small stuff together.

Cheers

14B

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks gentlemen.

I continued work on the seats today and installed them on the rails in order to test fit these to see if I can added the side armour. Also, the control columns were cut up and moved outwards with spacers, seen in white. Finally, the center console had the clunky levers and trim wheels cut off and replaced with scratch-built details. All this is now ready for paint, though I need to decide if he side armour will be added.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Great attention to detail Andy.

 

[Maty12]

Nice looking innards, Andy! Love seeing the level of detail you're putting into this. Hit me up if you want to discuss your Emerald Isle experiences as I had a blast there myself for in July.

 

[rochie]

Nice work Àndy