HK B-25J as "Vestal Virgin"

[jimbo]

Ahhh, thanks for that intel Carl, both bits. Since the rocker cover fitment looks tenuous at best, I may indeed not bother with the rear set then. These will be closed cowls. I read somewhere the reduction housings were “off” but not that they were upside down! Too late for a fix there I’m afraid. They do look a little weak for sure but hopefully the props, and data plate decals, will help hide the mess. Im not looking to enter any contests, well just a contest of my will to get a build done! Thanks again to all. 

 

Jimbo

[Out2gtcha]

Great work so far!!   The HKM kit  is really nice, and other than adding what you already are going to (Master barrels, G-Factor gear, new props, wheels) the kit doesnt need a ton. Looking forward to more! 

[jimbo]

Thanks Brian! Just looking for more time. I know those plug wires are absurdly oversized but I don’t mind. I’m trying not to get too bound up in dreaded analysis paralysis. Onward then!

 

Jimbo

[jimbo]

Some small progress on a rainy Friday morning. Seems rainy days are made for hot coffee, playing hooky     and modeling!

 

This morning I worked on the empennage parts, gluing them together:

 

 

After fighting a trailing edge that wouldn’t quite close up nicely, on closer inspection I found raised areas on the mating surfaces that resulted, I think, from the molding process:

 

 

You can see the zig-zag pattern of very slightly raised plastic that corresponds to the fabric detail on the outside. With some diligent scraping and sanding I was able to relieve these areas for a tighter glue join at the trailing edges of the rudders and elevators. B-25 builders if you haven’t gotten this far check your parts. If left as is considerable sanding to achieve a thinner trailing edge would have wiped away the nice surface detail.

 

Now back to the WNW channel LOL....

 

Jimbo

[jimbo]

Two of the things that frustrate me when building kits are paint order and build order. Chicken or the egg? Which comes first? I spend a lot of time spinning my wheels trying to decide which, usually to then just plunge ahead and just do it for heavens sake!

 

Here I’ve painted the cowl interiors aluminum:

 

 

And here I’m painting the exhaust stubs, first a dark brown base and then a mist of red primer for a rusty effect (I might hit them with some rust powders during installation):

 

 

I think I’ll do the cowl exteriors prior to bringing these all together. Onward!

 

Jimbo

[BloorwestSiR]

6 hours ago, jimbo said:

Two of the things that frustrate me when building kits are paint order and build order. Chicken or the egg? Which comes first? I spend a lot of time spinning my wheels trying to decide which, usually to then just plunge ahead and just do it for heavens sake!

 

Here I’ve painted the cowl interiors aluminum:

 

 

And here I’m painting the exhaust stubs, first a dark brown base and then a mist of red primer for a rusty effect (I might hit them with some rust powders during installation):

 

 

I think I’ll do the cowl exteriors prior to bringing these all together. Onward!

 

Jimbo

That's sort of where mine are stuck so I know exactly what you mean Jimbo. 

 

 

As for the control surfaces, I haven't come across the extra material that you have on yours. Maybe a qc issue? 

 

Carl

[LSP_Ray]

Exhausts turned out nice, Jimbo!

[jimbo]

Thanks as always fellows for the kind remarks. Bench time is precious lately but, and I’m sure I’m not the only one here susceptible to it, a new tool has pushed me to take some time to do a little work. In this case I purchased a UMM-USA PropMaster prop jig. Wow, do I love this tool! My thanks to Mr. Vojtech for ridiculously fast turnaround and for a great product. 

 

I have mentioned previously that that I thought I’d use the spare blades from my HK Lancaster kit to replace the somewhat misshapen B-25 blades. Since these blades had a different mounting lug than the B-25 blades, and were a bit long, I first removed about 2.5 mm or .100 inch of material from the hub end with my trusty razor saw:

 

 

This effectively removed the squared-off mounting lug:

 

 

Thereby, with a little cleanup with a sanding stick, the blades were ready to glue directly to the hubs:

 

 

All that remains is is to fill a few voids on the back side at the joins and the props are ready for paint. Onward!

 

Jimbo

[LSP_Ray]

Nice!

[Out2gtcha]

Good show.......Having built a lot of resin kits my Propmaster jig had long since paid for itself. Very handy bit O kit

[Thomas Lund]

Hmmm interesting

 

I tried to get the (loon model?) resin prop, but couldn't. And since I dont have a lancaster lying around, what needs to be done to get a reasonable B-25 prop ?? Can I shape the blades in the kit or what ?

[petrov27]

Build is looking great!

 

31 minutes ago, Thomas Lund said:

Hmmm interesting

 

I tried to get the (loon model?) resin prop, but couldn't. And since I dont have a lancaster lying around, what needs to be done to get a reasonable B-25 prop ?? Can I shape the blades in the kit or what ?

 

AMS makes improved B-25 prop blades - out of stock at Sprue Bros but you might find elsewhere or if you use their "email me when in stock" function I have had success with that....

http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/ams32061.htm

 

 

 

[jimbo]

Thanks fellows;

 

On 4/9/2019 at 9:22 AM, Thomas Lund said:

Hmmm interesting

 

I tried to get the (loon model?) resin prop, but couldn't. And since I dont have a lancaster lying around, what needs to be done to get a reasonable B-25 prop ?? Can I shape the blades in the kit or what ?

 

Well, Thomas, hmmmm indeed! So even after fabricating my props from spares I still never gave them much thought. An egregious error to be sure as there are clearly many varieties of aircraft propellers!

 

Here is a photo from my main reference book (North American B-25 Mitchell The Ultimate Look) of what looks to be a proper B-25 propeller, shared with “fair use” for educational purposes in mind:

 

 

The book I'm using states the following for propeller specifications for B-25s:

 

C/D models equipped with Hamilton-Standard Model 23ESO-473

 

H/J models equipped with Hamilton Standard Model 1301F

 

So it appears those are the HUB specifications, the BLADE specs are Model 6359A-18.

 

Here is a photo of a 6359 blade from the “Aeroart” website:

 

 

And finally a photo of the HK B-25 blades. You can see they are too wide. I’ve drawn with a black marker how much could be shaved off to better replicate the 6359 blades:

 

 

If you shave the first one to your liking and then trace it on plastic sheet to make a template I think you can quite easily re-shape these blades. You’d likely have to thin the trailing edges a bit since you’re cutting in to the meat of the blade some. I’m almost tempted to draw a jig to hold the blades and trim them with the laser but it doesn’t like pure styrene, too melty.

 

Let us know if you try this out!

 

Jimbo

 

 

[Thomas Lund]

Thanks Jimbo - great info.

 

Doesn't look too bad - a little modeling skills should settle that just fine. Will try as soon as I get back

 

Thomas

[LSP_Kevin]

Just moved this from the Multi-engine GB at Jim's request.

 

Kev