Joel_W Posted January 24, 2016 Author Share Posted January 24, 2016 I just checked back on this side of the forest and chanced upon this build. Youre like a machine, Joel! Beautiful work, so far, and very educational thread. crackerjazz, Glad you found my build, and thanks so much for those more then kind words. I'm really not like a modeling machine, but unlike the majority here on the list, I've been only working on one build at a time through completion, so they seem to go fast, but not really. Moving forward, I'm going to be expanding my model building to my other love: race car models from eras gone bye. I'll post them in the Auto forum here, but it will slow down my machine like approach a great deal. I'll most like work on two models at the same time, just alternating days. At least this way I have sometime to share with you guys without months going by between builds and posts. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Well, it's been give or take a month since my last update. Time sure flies when you're not making much if any postable progress. I'm at the ugly duckling stage of the build, putty, sanding, putty, sanding etc. for each sub assembly. I've finally got it close enough to install the glass, mask, and finally prime, so I thought I'd post a update. But once the 2 nose glass sections were added, it quickly became apparent that the real modeling work was just about to start. The bomber/gunner nose section is a completely separate sub assembly, so that the various versions could use the same basic fuselage. I built up the sub assembly as per kit instructions. Test fitted it, and it lined up perfectly with the main fuselage, so I figured all was well, or so I thought. Unfortunately, when I test fitted th two piece nose glass, the top glass section was to shallow in profile as was the nose gunners glass. If you look carefully under the chin, you'll see a rather nasty step. Now I could have filed and sanded it down, creating a greater slope then the real aircraft, which also would effect the install of the bombers look down glass. So I decided to build up the area in front of the step using Vallejo's white acrylic putty, at least for a base coat to work with. Af for the top of the main front glass, I started to build up the area behind it with .020 sheet, and blend it in with Bondo. Please excuse the rough look as I haven't done any sanding or blending as yet. I built up the basic wing assemblies, and drilled out the 3 ID lights, backing them up with some sheet. I was rather surprised at the poor overall fit of the engine Nacelles, but so be it. If nothing else, the "fit" was consistent on both sides. I then glued on the horizontal stabilizer, and had the expected cleanup and blending in. Fortunately, nothing major by any means. Several reviews of this kit said that the wings fit so well, that you could literally paint them separately, then glue them to the fuselage, so I just had to dry fit everything as see for myself. With a gentle nudge, one wing fit perfectly, while the other is just a tad off. Still, I think I'll do it the old fashion way, and install 1st, then paint. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
falcon20driver Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Great progress Joel. I know how frustrating the sanding stage can be. It looks like your work is paying off. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Getting there, great job, Joel :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jgrease Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Nice work so far Joel - Looking forward to your fix for the step! John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skinny_Mike Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Really coming together Joel! I love the look of the B-25. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Impressive work on the Mitchell. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marcopreto Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Nice work! Did you solve the nose weight issue? If not, you can try liquid gravity (I think it's called that way) from DeLuxe Material! As far as I know it's basically very small beads of metal (do not know the type) that you can fix in place with adhesives like CA or PVA glue. Here's their tutorial video: I hope it helps. Cheers Marco Preto http://mpminiatures.wordpress.com Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 (edited) It's been quite some time but I've finally gotten enough work done for a loooong over due update. I 1st concentrated my efforts on getting the fuselage ready for priming. Those two nasty steps where the nose glass meets the fuselage have been dealt with, with numerous applications of Bondo. I'm pretty sure that it's good to go, but only a coat of primer will tell for sure. I was smart enough this time to order the Eduard B-25B masking set. It took some searching as it seemed to be out of stock just about everywhere. I guess due to this kits release. My last update had the start of both wing sub assemblies. Other then the upper and lower wing halves lining up quite well, nothing else was even close. Here's just a quick reminder of how much work the engine Nacelles took to blend them into the lower wing. I also installed the exhausts which needed just a little filler to close the gaps on both sides of the insert. And finally I cut the demarcation lines between each cowl flap with a razor saw to add some much needed depth. The insert for the air intakes on the top of the Nacelles were too shallow and didn't have the right contour so quite a bite of sanding and Bondo was needed to blend them in. Here's one wing basically ready for Priming. I've also installed the wing landing lights in both wings, which was par for the course and needed quite a lot of reshaping, and then polishing. And finally the belly of the fuselage masked and ready for priming. I'm quite sure that a coat or two of MIG AMMO Acrylic Gray primer will reveal quite a few areas that need additional work. Joel Edited March 1, 2016 by Joel_W Quote Link to post Share on other sites
falcon20driver Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Looking great Joel. It's really gonna pop with paint on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rightwinger26 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 That's a good looking bird, nice job filling the gaps. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Looking great Joel. It's really gonna pop with paint on it. Falcon20Driver, Thanks for stopping by. I just primed it yesterday, and unfortunately, but not entirely uninspected, the engine nacelle/wing joints still need more work, as well as one small area on the bottom of the one nacelle. So it's back to Mr. Bond again. But I'm slowly getting there. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 That's a good looking bird, nice job filling the gaps. Rightwinger26, Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look. But as I told F20D, I've still got more body work to do after the 1st priming. one thing for sure, the Accurate Miniature's kit, is sure showing it's age. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Looks like you're in good shape, Joel :D Far better than the state of my mitchell :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Looks like you're in good shape, Joel :D/> Far better than the state of my mitchell :P/> Janne, Thanks for stopping by. I didn't even know that you had a Mitchell on hold. I just finished reshaping, re-sanding, and re-puttying the engine Nacelles. This so called OOB build is really a lot more involved then I thought it should be. But such is how my modeling always seams to go. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Janne, Thanks for stopping by. I didn't even know that you had a Mitchell on hold. I just finished reshaping, re-sanding, and re-puttying the engine Nacelles. This so called OOB build is really a lot more involved then I thought it should be. But such is how my modeling always seams to go. Joel Yeah, I put it on hold after I managed to pop the windows. ..it kind of deflated from there :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Hard to believe, but it's time for a another update. I primed the fuselage and both wings as separate sub assembles. I expected to see several areas that needed additional work especially around the engine Nacelles, and I sure wasn't disappointed. I reworked those areas and primed again, but those nacelles were giving me quite a bit of grief. The 3rd time through the process finally got me over the hump. Then I glued on the wings. From the earlier test fitting, I already knew that a little filler would be needed in a few places. I had decided to use Vallejo's White acrylic putty for that, which only requires a damp Q-tip and no sanding. Worked perfectly. Top side: Bottom side: Engine Nacelles: Cockpit and nose glass masking: Looking at the pictures of the nose glass, I see I missed one area that needs a little more filler. Another job for Vallejo's White Acrylic putty. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Looks like things are moving ahead in the right direction :D Great work, mate! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Just finished to see the whole post,nice job Joel!The Mitchell is one of my prefered medium bomber of WW2,especially the solid nose variants. I love how you solve the problems popped out during the build! Cheers, Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Looks like things are moving ahead in the right direction :D/> Great work, mate! Janne, Finally, some steady progress. So naturally this afternoon I had some time to start the undercoat black basing which will be very little outside of the fabric flying surfaces since they were fairly new aircraft. What weathering will show on the upper surfaces will be with a lighter shade of Lifecolor OD paint. So I load up my Iwata M1 and right from the start the paint just won't flow smoothly. I ended up having to tear it down, and do a full cleaning. So today I got zip done. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Just finished to see the whole post,nice job Joel!The Mitchell is one of my prefered medium bomber of WW2,especially the solid nose variants. I love how you solve the problems popped out during the build! :thumbsup:/> Cheers, Gianni Gianni, Thanks for stopping by. Glad that you agreed with most of my problem solving. For an OOB build, it sure has it's share of issues. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hey Joel, Good to see you slugging through this! I did notice your first post thinking this would be relative straight-forward. BTW, if that Vallejo putty is like Deluxe Materials' Perfect Plastic Putty, make sure you have a good seal over it. FWIW, I found a careful application of thin CA did a great job before priming as I was able to get a surface indistinguishable from the surrounding plastic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hey Joel, Good to see you slugging through this! I did notice your first post thinking this would be relative straight-forward. BTW, if that Vallejo putty is like Deluxe Materials' Perfect Plastic Putty, make sure you have a good seal over it. FWIW, I found a careful application of thin CA did a great job before priming as I was able to get a surface indistinguishable from the surrounding plastic. dnl42, I kind of figured that since the kit is the old Accurate Miniature's kit, that it was state of the art back then, and still should be close to it today. But I've won all the battles with fit, so I'm that far ahead of the game, and made the needed corrections so that the fuselage is as close to the B's from Doolittle's raid as I can create. I never used the Deluxe Material's Perfect Plastic putty, but the Vallejo is really only good for small seams and cracks, nothing much more. It's greatest plus is that you just wipe off the excess without damaging the surrounding areas. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 This week I finally started the painting process. The bottom of the B-25B was painted with Lifecolor Neutral Gray #43 fs36173. I thinned the paint with LifeColor's own paint thinner rather then with my usual Tamiya X-20A. After quite a bit of experimentation with LifeColor paints, I settled on a basic thinning ratio of 4 parts paint to 1 part thinner, air brushed @ a flow rate of 16 psi. The Olive Drab top coat is a going to be a 3 part process. The basic color is LifeColor Olive Drab #41 fs34088, thinned and air brushed with the above specs. Using Silly Putty for worms to aid in painting a somewhat soft edge demarcation line, and then filling in the rest of the space with detacked Tamiya tape. The paint was applied in 3 light coats for the bottom, and 6 very light coats for the top. I didn't have any clogging issues with the Gray coat, but the O.D. coat constantly clogged my Iwata M2 AB with a .35 needle and cone. Go figure. These pictures show the two base coats. In a day or so the next top color will be LifeColor's O.D. #41 weathered for a slightly faded blotchy effect, then a final sporadic blotchy coat of #43 with a few drops of Flat Black. The Silly putty for the `1st time left a oily film when I removed it. I tested a damp Qtip with tape water, and it comes right off. I still have some areas to do, which is the darker areas you'll see in some spots by the demarcation line. I'm really quite happy with the base O.D. color for a change, and didn't have to tint it as I always have to do with the Tamiya Acrylic O.D. paint. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skystreak80 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Another very nice job Joel Lee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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