The B-25 was certainly a very versatile aircraft from the Doolittle Raid to medium level bombing in Southern Europe to low level strafing in the Pacific. I have always found the latter particularly interesting with their heavy armament and striking paint jobs.

Monogram first released their 1/48th B-25 as an H in 1977. A few years later it was followed by the glass nose J and the eight gun nose so it is possible to build about any version of the late airplanes you would like. My goal is to build the basic kit with some detailing but only scratch built, no aftermarket. Just want to dress it up a bit, not go overboard

I started out with the intention of building an open eight gun nose bird and made a floor and forward bulkhead for the nose. Then I looked at the guns provided and found they had taken the guns meant for the waist, with recoil adapters, and mounted them, upside down, to some Mickey Mouse excuse for structure. Not acceptable. So the particular version is on hold for the moment.

I partially corrected the bulkhead aft of the bomb bay and added some floor sections as well as the waist armor, some structure around the entrance hatch, and the strike camera window. Forward, I added the floor and structure under the top turret. The cockpit sidewalls were a bit soft so I removed the molded in detail and added some formers. Additional detail will be added.

So here is the start:

Karl,
Something tells me that we're in for one fantastic build blog to follow. Your detailing already looks more then impressive starting with all the added details to the cockpit floor.

With all your information, I would have expected another B-17 build, so the B-25 is quite a surprise.

Joel

Watch out for the extreme lack of space to put nose weight in this kit. I ended up needing to fill the entire nose.

Thank you Joel. This will not be anywhere near the sort of build Brian is doing. I have not been doing much in the way of scratch building or detailing for the last several years as my job kept me away from home all the time. But, having recently joined the ranks of the permanently unemployed (i.e. retired, hooray!), I can now get back into it. Mainly this is an experiment in using styrene, knives, and files. The B-25 is pretty straight forward, no bulkheads to build and it is another of my favorites that I have collected a fair amount of information about. As an aircraft mechanic (no, strike that, FORMER aircraft mechanic), I have a great deal of interest in the structure and systems of these airplanes.

Jessica, you are soooo right! I built a couple of the H's and was able to weight them fairly well. I did a glass nose version and ended up with weight in the floor of the nose, some in the nose gear well, added a bulkhead in the closed bomb bay for weight and added bulkhead behind the engines for more weight. This one I will add a bulkhead to the crawlway (can't be seen anyway) and a small bulkhead around the nose gear. Then add weight (lead shot) before I put the nose on. And since it will most likely be an eight gun nose (closed), I can add more there. We will see anyway!

Karl, hope you don't mind me following along, I have several of the Accurate Miniatures B-25's (B, C, D and G) and a Monogram/Revell glass nose J awaiting the time when I get bored doing ships. So I'll take notes for when the time comes.

Karl,
By your picture, you look way to young to retire. I, on the other hand am approaching 70 as I'm 68, and I'm still working 4 days per week. Can't wait to fully retire in less then 1 1/2 years.

You're way to modest about your modeling skills from just what you've shown in your post. As for building to the level that Brian is working at, that's a huge commitment, and requires such dedication that it's mind boggling. But I have no doubt that if you wanted to, you could.

Joel

Joel, one is NEVER too young to retire ! A little luck, a bout with cancer, and a change in mismanagement enabled/encouraged me to move on down the road.

The last couple of days I have been taking little pieces of plastic and adding littler pieces of plastic to create radio gear. Or at least what looks like radio gear... This way lays madness!

By these pics it's clear you have far more talent than you claim, Karl!

One interesting connection I have between the B-17's in the ETO and the B-25 strafers in the PTO is the tail gunner of Luscious Lady on the Bob Hullar crew. Remarkably, he did a second tour of flight ops as a tail gunner with the 345th BG "Air Apaches."

His view was that the 345th pilots were s, but that flight ops lent themselves to such an attitude. He recalled almost no fighter encounters, but many long over-water strikes against shipping and ports. These included strikes against locations in French Indochina and Taiwan, IIRR.

Most of his shooting was against targets that were just struck, people running away in the wake of attacks, etc. Best to maintain an impersonal mindset for work like that.

Karl,
Those little pieces with littler pieces sure ended up looking like rather fine examples of scratch building.

Sure hope that you beat the Big C permanently. So far I'm 6 years cancer free (skin cancer). Kind of took my mind off the heart attacks.

Joel

BTW Karl, which B-25 are you modeling?

Kit is the Monogram 1/48th. My intent is to build it as "Mabels Stable". 345th BG, 498th BS (Falcons). Nice photo of it on page 210 of "Warpath Across the Pacific".

Well, I wanted to "busy up" the cockpit a little bit. But the Columbo effect took over, you know "Just one more thing" I had no intention of things going this far although it was kind of fun. But I am quite certain that Brian must be completely insane. He has been doing this stuff for months! Just bits of styrene, some string and some wire. Not perfect and the close-up's with the camera really show the errors but it will be fine under a closed canopy.

Karl,
Errors or not, it certainly looks good!

Gary

Karl,
Om my! Your detailing is right up there with Aeroscale's master: Brian.

Just remember that there is a fine line between genius and insanity. Brian's been on the genius side since day one, and now I'm quite certain that you're also on the right side of that equation. For the rest of us mere mortals such as myself, it's a combination of wishful thinking, and accepting a much less set of standards.
Joel

Been slacking a bit (well, as far as modeling goes ) But I have built the wings and the tail. Getting ready to close up the fuselage, so one last look at the interior:

Karl,
The fuselage halves are really looking good. Just enough detail in the right places for the full effect.
Joel

Really nice build so far, Karl. I like the wiring in the cockpit!

I have not totally dropped the ball on this build. The major components are together and painted. Need to gloss it and decal it. Then I need to work on the nose paint job. My PLAN is to mask and paint it - we will see how that goes. The airplane I am doing came from the factory with a glass nose and had a bare metal eight gun nose added. And of course, the falcon head on this one is not quite the same as any of the decals I have so it may get interesting !



This photo is from "Warpath Across The Pacific" and is the only photo I have found of this aircraft. Just like the look...

Karl,
Glad to see that you're making progress on your build. Painting that nose should prove to be quite an undertaking. Your a braver man then I.
Joel

Nice picture! Really coming along too.

A great modelling subject, and very nice detail/ paint work.

I masked and painted the fuselage portion of the nose art, it turned out acceptable. The gun nose will be more of a challenge I fear, but you can't learn unless you try.

Nice!

More like outstanding. Great masking.
Joel

Yeah, that looks really nice! Nice parallel lines.

Gary