B-25J Betty's Dream(ing) of a French Kiss

[BloorwestSiR]

12 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Exceptional build Carl, I like the level of detail and cleanness. Joy to follow. 

 

12 hours ago, harvey said:

Well said martin !!.........Harv

 

Thanks Martin and Harv! You guys keep me going on this. 

 

12 hours ago, Phantom2 said:

This build is nothing but stunning! 

 

...and a great inspiration as I bought this kit just a few weeks ago.

 

Your tread just makes me want to build the thing NOW (...and I will...) 

 

Excellent work!  

 

Stefan  

 

 

 

Thanks Stefan! It's a great kit and I'm still enjoying the builds. It's taking longer than I thought but I think you have fun with your kit.

[BloorwestSiR]

I must really have a case of the "Oh look, Shiny!!" as I got distracted yet again. Must be something in the water.  This time, I blame my childhood as here's what I got into:

 

 

After a couple hours not working on the B-25, I ended up here. 

 

 

 

This is the Italeri LCM3 kit. I remember getting the old Airfix one in 1/72(?) that came with a Sherman and re-enacting the Normandy landings as a kid. This time it'll be a Firefly instead of a Sherman.

 

Once I got back on track, I was able to finally finish the cockpit and get it installed. 

 

 

 

 

The radio rack got knock out so I'll be reinstalling that next. I'm also going to redo the bulkhead frames over the bomb bay. 

 

Carl

[Dukie99]

Hi Carl,

 

this looks amazing. Closing up the fuse is not far away. Did you put any detail in the bombardier tunnel? I spent a few hours on mine to do that with the Profimodeller set and once all is done you do not see any of it. I would not do it again if I build another one. Keep up the great work. 

 

Cheers,

 

David

[BloorwestSiR]

11 hours ago, Dukie99 said:

Hi Carl,

 

this looks amazing. Closing up the fuse is not far away. Did you put any detail in the bombardier tunnel? I spent a few hours on mine to do that with the Profimodeller set and once all is done you do not see any of it. I would not do it again if I build another one. Keep up the great work. 

 

Cheers,

 

David

Thanks David! The strafer nose doesn't even come with the tunnel so that's an easy one to skip. I'm definitely getting closing to closing ilthe fuselage up. 

 

Carl

[BloorwestSiR]

Got a bit more done. I've finished and installed the cockpit for French Kiss.

 

 

Next up was the radio room floor and bomb bay followed by the floor for the waist section.

 

 

 

 

The last thing I did was start the cleanup of the cast zinc gear legs for French Kiss. These came with my kit so I'm using them instead of the G,-Factor ones.

 

 

So I'm making some decent progress and hope to continue to do so until our vacation.

 

Carl

 

 

[Dukie99]

Wow, you’re cruising. The fact that you are building two at the same time, with that level of quality blows my mind. This is epic.

 

Are you going to join the night bird GB with the MH-6? My MH-47 needs some fire support to clear the LZ...

 

Cheers,

 

David

[BloorwestSiR]

51 minutes ago, Dukie99 said:

Wow, you’re cruising. The fact that you are building two at the same time, with that level of quality blows my mind. This is epic.

 

Are you going to join the night bird GB with the MH-6? My MH-47 needs some fire support to clear the LZ...

 

Cheers,

 

David

Thanks David! The plan is still to do the MH-6 but I want to get these done first. So I'll be there getting you fire support .

 

Carl

[BloorwestSiR]

Since this GB has ended, any chance I could get a mod to move it to the WIP section?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Carl

[LSP_Kevin]

4 hours ago, BloorwestSiR said:

Since this GB has ended, any chance I could get a mod to move it to the WIP section?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Carl

 

Done! Looking forward to your continued progress with it, Carl.

 

Kev

[BloorwestSiR]

Thanks Kev! I'll post an update tomorrow.

 

Carl

[misha71]

fantastic work. 

[BloorwestSiR]

3 hours ago, misha71 said:

fantastic work. 

Thanks Misha!

[BloorwestSiR]

So after taking a bit of time off from the builds, they've been back on my bench for the last while and I've made a bit of progress. Also, a big thank you to Patrick Sparks who graciously sent me a set of waist windows after I misplaced one pair. 

 

First up was the trickiest part of the build for me- the waist guns. On the J, there are a pair of cables that help suspend the guns in place. I originally tried using EZ line for this as I thought their elastic properties would keep them taut. Unfortunately I couldn't make it work so ended up using 0.30mm wire. It's not as taut but was the best I could do.

 

 

 

With the ammo belt and can installed:

 

 

The 0.50 ammo belt is from Master Details and the ammo can came from the Eduard set for the B-25.

 

[BloorwestSiR]

Next up was the tail gunner's position. 

 

 

The initial test fit looked promising.

 

 

At this point, I decided to use a second length of Master Details ammo belt on each side. The dark green section is a guide and I had to add a booster motor and chute near the armour plate. This conveniently helped to hide the joint between the two belts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BloorwestSiR]

It was pointed out to me that the seat was the wrong shape so I made a new one. I used the turret gunner's seat as a template and shaped one from styrene.

 

The turret gunner's seat on the left with the kit tail gunner's seat on the right.

 

 

 

 

The new seat installed along with a set of belts.