Official FlightLine 1600mm B-25J Mitchell PNP Thread

[davegee]

While waiting for my B-25 to arrive via FedEx tomorrow, I printed a few items I plan to use on my plane on occasion. These are bombs and a bomb rack, and a tray to put small parachute items in so they hopefully don't snag on the airplane coming out of the bomb bay.

These designs are courtesy of Fast N Light. The bombs have holes drilled through them and mount onto 12 aluminum 1/8" diameter tubes. When the bomb bay doors open, they will fall out by gravity. Or that's the plan, I'm thinking it will work. Per Fast N Light, a 3 g. M5 screw 16mm long is screwed into the top to give it more stability and realism during the drop to the ground. You can drop from 1 to 12 bombs simultaneously. I have 6 made up now for Initial tests. I'll try to drop them in the ground just off to the side of the runway so that they don't break and I can find them again!

The tray that I printed up is designed to put soft items in, like parachutes. The hope is that they will fall out of the bomb bay without getting caught on some structure of the airplane.

The aircraft I am going to replicate, Cactus Kitten, was in a unit in the Pacific Theater that did strictly low level work; strafing and low altitude bombing. One thing I read they did was tie a parachute onto bombs that were going to be dropped at very low altitudes, hopefully giving them enough time to escape without "fragging" themselves on their own bombs! Unfortunately, this happened many times to pilots and aircraft doing dive bombing and low altitude bombing during WWII.

I'm hoping my B-25 will be ready for its maiden flight sometime this upcoming week. Once I have a few successful flights on it, I'll add the bombs and other scale details to the plane. I'll post developments here as they happen.

Cheers

davegee

I made some progress on assembling the plane yesterday. Got the wings on for the first time, painted white stripes on the outboard wing sections that this unit had, and did a test bomb drop in the shop just now. The main purpose for today's test was to be sure that the bombs (6 of them in this test) would drop clear of the airplane when the doors are opened and the bombs slide down the aluminum tubes.

I took note of the unfortunate accident that our friend Arthur from France had on his maiden flight of his B-25. I don't know exactly what happened there, but I did take away that is is possible for the pilot to get distracted watching the bombs or parachutes drop out of the airplane during flight. I took that to heart, as I could see I could be distracted for a glimpse of this just long enough to lose control of the aircraft. I'll be sure to keep my eyes on the plane at all times, and if a friend is around to snap some pictures or video that is a much better way to go for me.

I'll include a photo of the bombs in the airplane. I tried a10 second video of a static drop in my shop but it was too long. I might try another one later, but this one proved what I needed to know for now.. Each bomb (up to 12 max load) has a 5mm 16 screw that is screwed into the nose. This will hopefully give some stability and realism when they are actually dropped on a flight. We'll see.

Possible maiden has slipped to sometime next week, weather permitting. It will still be a work in progress for several months as I do some additional detailing and weathering of the airplane. So far, I'm liking this airplane.

[TiredIronGRB]

DUDE! It's been a minute!

I still fly, new runway, living off-grid over in the woods for a few years

[Aros]

I might get one of these…

DUDE! It's been a minute!

[davegee]

I just started in on my new B-25J that arrived yesterday via FedEx. The only things I've dome so far is add the extra header printed exhaust fairings onto the cowlings (now 14 per side as this was a 14 cylinder R2600 engine) and they came out pretty well. I also repainted the yellow cowls to red, per my intended replica of Cactus Kitten when I get done with it. In my reading, I found that the crew chief of this aircraft was from Wyoming, so he painted on a sexy cowgirl as the logo for the plane on the right side of the fuselage. Always like having a connection with Wyoming wherever possible!

The other minor painting detail I did was repaint the crankcase cover from silver to semi-gloss grey. I masked off and found that Tamiya spray Ocean Grey was a pretty close match to the bluish-grey crankcase covers on rotary engines at the time.

Thanks, Elbee. The printed fairings from Fast N Light were a very close match to the foam ones molded on the cowls.

davegee

[Elbee]

Very nice work, Dave.

[Elbee]

RRHandy, yours, too. Best, LB

[RRHandy]

I might get one of these…

Good to see your Avatar here again,

[davegee]

I just started in on my new B-25J that arrived yesterday via FedEx. The only things I've done so far is add the extra header printed exhaust fairings onto the cowlings (now 14 per side as this was a 14 cylinder R2600 engine) and they came out pretty well. I also repainted the yellow cowls to red, per my intended replica of Cactus Kitten when I get done with it. In my reading, I found that the crew chief of this aircraft was from Wyoming, so he painted on a sexy cowgirl as the logo for the plane on the right side of the fuselage. Always like having a connection with Wyoming wherever possible!

The other minor painting detail I did was repaint the crankcase cover from silver to semi-gloss grey. I masked off and found that Tamiya spray Ocean Grey was a pretty close match to the bluish-grey crankcase covers on round engines at the time.

[Elbee]

I might get one of these…

Hey TI, great to read your voice, Sir! I have yet to start working on mine. It is really a good-lookin' aircraft. Best, LB

[TiredIronGRB]

I might get one of these…

[Elbee]

Maybe others have seen this one already? The distraction begins ~12:50

Oops.

[Fast N Light]

Maybe others have seen this one already? The distraction begins ~12:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AeKV1wPMZk

[Elbee]

Fast N Light

Parachutes are a crowd-pleaser due to the lengthy hang/observation time. I give control to the bombadeer (aka SAFE) during the bomb run, which gives me just a moment to observe the release without flying the plane into the ground. Be careful folks. Common for models to be lost due to pilot distraction during drops



Best, LB

[Fast N Light]

FNL, ahh, a builder/designer after my own heart.

Very nicely done and thank you for your effort and the STL files.
Your picture showing all of the previous variants of the nose is very familiar to me.

It is part(s) of the process. Again, great work.

Best as always, LB

LB,
When I started the gunship nose, I decided to track the waste driven by my design process. A number of factors have made it a more challenging than most project. Eg having to eyeball the external shape, conforming to the 'greenhouse' attachment surfaces, printing a large overhung thin (0.9mm) shell and structurally capable gun barrel supports. A full size print is 10 -14 hours on an X1C. Plenty of 'that didn't work, lets try it another way ..." on this one. Frustrating in the moment, rewarding it the long run.


Thanks for your complements/contributions

These designs are courtesy of Fast N Light. The bombs have holes drilled through them and mount onto 12 aluminum 1/8" diameter tubes. When the bomb bay doors open, they will fall out by gravity. Or that's the plan, I'm thinking it will work. Per Fast N Light, a 3 g. M5 screw 16mm long is screwed into the top to give it more stability and realism during the drop to the ground. You can drop from 1 to 12 bombs simultaneously. I have 6 made up now for Initial tests. I'll try to drop them in the ground just off to the side of the runway so that they don't break and I can find them again!

The tray that I printed up is designed to put soft items in, like parachutes. The hope is that they will fall out of the bomb bay without getting caught on some structure of the airplane.

Cheers

davegee

Credit to Tom Hunt for the original design work for the ordnance and storage rack. With 3g nose weight, my drops have been flawless (meaning they released and 'flew' scale like😄)... Best to salvo before landing. Also scale for one or 2 to deploy on landing or other high G maneuvers.... Save the touch and gos until after the drop mission is completed.

I am pleased with how the M5 screw, basket and quick release modifications came out. Highly recommend using the printed fixtures to set the retainer clips precisely in the bay. Hope you like them as well.

As always, there is room for improvement. The tail fins on the ordnance tend to break on hard surfaces. I think they tumble after initial impact. Mine are ASA. Maybe a tougher filament (eg nylon?), a little less then 3g in the nose, design change to reinforce that location, reduced airspeed on release? Parachutes are a crowd-pleaser due to the lengthy hang/observation time. I give control to the bombadeer (aka SAFE) during the bomb run, which gives me just a moment to observe the release without flying the plane into the ground. Be careful folks. Common for models to be lost due to pilot distraction during drops.

[davegee]

Hi Fast N Light: great ideas there! I have printed up the exhaust header covers already, not knowing you had already designed them and put them on Thingiverse. They came out great!

I've settled on a glazed nose version of the B-25 I mentioned in a previous post, but I love the solid nosed B-25 covers with machine guns that you have come out with. If I ever get another B-25 after this one, or change the version of the one I'm waiting on delivery on Monday, I'll definitely use your designs on those. I'll probably do something like what you show for bomb racks later down the road when I get this plane together and some flights on it.

Thanks for all your magnificent designs.

Cheers

Davegee

While waiting for my B-25 to arrive via FedEx tomorrow, I printed a few items I plan to use on my plane on occasion. These are bombs and a bomb rack, and a tray to put small parachute items in so they hopefully don't snag on the airplane coming out of the bomb bay.

These designs are courtesy of Fast N Light. The bombs have holes drilled through them and mount onto 12 aluminum 1/8" diameter tubes. When the bomb bay doors open, they will fall out by gravity. Or that's the plan, I'm thinking it will work. Per Fast N Light, a 3 g. M5 screw 16mm long is screwed into the top to give it more stability and realism during the drop to the ground. You can drop from 1 to 12 bombs simultaneously. I have 6 made up now for Initial tests. I'll try to drop them in the ground just off to the side of the runway so that they don't break and I can find them again!

The tray that I printed up is designed to put soft items in, like parachutes. The hope is that they will fall out of the bomb bay without getting caught on some structure of the airplane.

The aircraft I am going to replicate, Cactus Kitten, was in a unit in the Pacific Theater that did strictly low level work; strafing and low altitude bombing. One thing I read they did was tie a parachute onto bombs that were going to be dropped at very low altitudes, hopefully giving them enough time to escape without "fragging" themselves on their own bombs! Unfortunately, this happened many times to pilots and aircraft doing dive bombing and low altitude bombing during WWII.

I'm hoping my B-25 will be ready for its maiden flight sometime this upcoming week. Once I have a few successful flights on it, I'll add the bombs and other scale details to the plane. I'll post developments here as they happen.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Davegee,

Both FW-190 and Tigercat require 40%+ throttle on landing leg to a 2-point landing , I don't want to get behind the curve and stall. learning more about throttle management each flight and know the Corsair requires this also.
Today club had a display at our city airport day and the airport manager asked me to taxi my Corsair ( have a sound system installed) around the display area for people to see a model and hear a P&W sound. Pretty neat w/lots of videos being taken. Most people didn't realize the complexity that can be involved in this hobby.

A Day in Paradise, Rex

How Fun!! And How Fun for all who got to see and hear your Corsair!! Well Done!!👍👍👍

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Both FW-190 and Tigercat require 40%+ throttle on landing leg to a 2-point landing , I don't want to get behind the curve and stall. learning more about throttle management each flight and know the Corsair requires this also.
Today club had a display at our city airport day and the airport manager asked me to taxi my Corsair ( have a sound system installed) around the display area for people to see a model and hear a P&W sound. Pretty neat w/lots of videos being taken. Most people didn't realize the complexity that can be involved in this hobby.

A Day in Paradise, Rex

[davegee]

Glad you're having fun flying with your friends, Rex. I used to have that in Denver, but up here in Cody I pretty much fly by myself, which is fine, too. I was going to fly this morning, every flag was still driving through town, but once I got to the field it was out of limits to take up my F-15 or Beech 18 without possibly damaging them. I'll wait for another less-windy day.

I had a pretty small F-35A and then a Red Arrows Hawk for a very short time. They are pretty small, and I had nothing but problems with them, especially landing on our rough runway. I had to "harvest" both of them and will not fly another little jet again, like those. This B-25 should be fun being so much larger with good compressible gear to handle the potholes and other defects in our runway. The larger 90mm jets work out much better for me to fly than the little ones.

Have a great weekend! I hope you get to fly that Corsair sometime when you find the time is right to do so. I think you'll find it maybe not a *****cat, but not as bad as you might think. The biggest thing on landings that I can think of is carrying power into the landing right up to touchdown in a two-point, tail low attitude. With my Robart tire mod from stock tires, virtually every landing "sticks" with no bounce. A really great plane and well designed by Flightline.

Best,

Dave

[jetfool]

Davegee,

Doing well here. I have flown more this year than I ever have. Our small club now has 18 members and its more fun with good company, 3-4 days each week. I'm flying the Tigercat and FW 190 and learning how to get my glide scope using throttle more than elev. before flaring on landing. Flaps on tigercat really slows it down but steady as a rock, this plane is really a *****cat. Corsair is next for first test flight and hoping it has similar landing qualities. These larger scale foam planes gives me a better feel on the sticks vs my sport planes.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Congratulations on your purchase of the B-25. I'm sure you will do it justice. If Flite-line doesn't offer a new WW2 plane this fall this might be my X-MAS present. I'd do a dirty SW Pacific version.

Best Regards, Rex

Thanks, Rex. Mine is a subject from that Theatre. I'm trying to come up with printing some cool bomb racks that would allow the bombs to exit the plane in a more realistic manor. Still hung up on some details of how to get my printer to do that, but I hope to be successful at it in time.

I found it interesting doing some research that most of the MTO B-25s (Mediterranean) were modified as higher level bombers and they removed the fuselage side guns as a result on the J models. However, in the Pacific Theatre, the J models retained those guns as the plan for these airplanes was low level bombing and strafing missions. The aircraft that I am replicating, Cactus Kitten, was lost on a low level bombing run on enemy ships near Saigon, Indochina (now Vietnam) with all hands lost, unfortunately.

The plane really looks great from the MRC website photos. I haven't seen one in person yet, so I'm champing at the bit to see it when it arrives via FedEx on Monday! Already have Callie working on the specific markings I need for the plane.

Hope all is well with you.

Cheers

Davegee