Official FlightLine 1600mm B-25J Mitchell PNP Thread

[davegee]

Here are a couple of pics of my B-25 flying at the JMEFF event in St George, UT last month.

The background scenery there is simply beautiful.

Nice photos! I like the 'blur" of the props in motion with the rest of the airplane sharply in focus. The background is beautiful, just beautiful place. I have been there before in a light aircraft, but that was before I started into RC flying. Gorgeous area.

Cheers

Davegee

[Charlee]

The ultimate book about the 345th is Warpath Across the Pacific by Lawrence Hickey. It contains these photos of Cactus Kitten. The one with the Jap frigate was taken by the camera mounted on the bottom of Cactus Kitten. I haven't come across any close-up photos of this camera that was mounted on many of the strafers. Davegee, the camera is just about the last thing that stands out in photos that you haven't added to your Kitten.

[davegee]

Hi Charlee: Thanks for that great info! Those are dramatic photos of Cactus Kitten and the Japanese ships being bombed by the airplane. I will try to get the book you mentioned on the 345th BG. I did buy the one by Jay Stout called Air Apaches which you may already be familiar with. I got to see a video of Stout giving a talk to a group and he was very informative about the unit.

I'd like to add that camera or a reasonable facsimile of it, if I can find any more drawings, photos, etc., exactly what it looked like and where it was installed on the aircraft. In the last profile view of Cactus Kitten that you posted, there is some sort of contraption below the star and bar on the right side fuselage of the plane on the bottom of the fuselage.. Do you think that could have been the camera? I can't explain what that might be in the photo, but it would be a good place to put a strike camera, and I know other cameras were placed in the same relative place on B-17s and B-24s to get good strike photos of the damage they did to a target for debriefing the mission.

Appreciate your expertise and offering these great additions to help me or others accessorize their model for more accuracy. I'll have to see if I can get a little more info to go on, or if you have any suggestions, that would be much appreciated, too!

I've done some projects where I had almost nothing to go from, but just enough, a photo or something to make what I wanted. I helped a friend of mine in Denver with some details for his 1/6 scale RC model built from sticks, like a camera mounted on the right side of the fuselage for the observer to use. The plane was called a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, and was used mostly for observations like photographs taken of the Front to help plan strategies for battle. All we had was a frame taken from a movie and we deduced the approximate size of the camera from comparing it to the plane in the film. So, it Can be done, with even the barest of drawings, photos, etc. to go by.

Here's a few pics I found in my archives taken about 4 years ago. The straps were added after we after we mounted it on the fuselage. The first photo is a still we went from in the movie. Of course, this was in the very infancy of aerial photography!

[Charlee]

I started a tread about the strike camera on WW2Aircraft.net. The great guys there came up with some photos.

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/b-25-strike-cameras.64358/?post=1988751#post-1988751

This photo also has good details of the trailing antenna:

[davegee]

I started a tread about the strike camera on WW2Aircraft.net. The great guys there came up with some photos.

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/b-25-strike-cameras.64358/?post=1988751#post-1988751

This photo also has good details of the trailing antenna:

Thanks, Charlee. It seems there were several different variations of strike cameras on B-25s in WWII. I did find one that shows Cactus Kitten in flight that I went from for this first iteration of the camera. The one in your photo shows a rounded, fixed windscreen to lower drag and protect the camera while it is in position in the windstream. The one from that photo of CK shows a more squared off windscreen,and very possibly retractable. Just a guess at this point. It also shows what appears to be a large camera lens sticking out of the open end of the windscreen, towards whatever targets they just bombed and are behind the aircraft.

My trial version (without more supporting data on the camera and this windscreen) is attached with a simple magnet and two pins. The magnet sticks onto the small steel screw on the bottom of the fuse that attaches the main and aft fuselage sections together during initial assembly. I added a pin on either side of the windscreen that fits into corresponding holes drilled into the plastic part of the fuselage in that area to prevent any movement in flight. So, it sticks on pretty well, I think it will be ok when I fly it again as a test, but we'll see.

If I could come up with some period closeup photos showing the camera and windscreen setup on CK or another airplane similarly outfitted, it would be an easy task to just remove this trial version of the camera and fabricate a more accurate one. For now, I think it should work. I'll probably add that trailing antenna, too.

[Fast N Light]

I wanted to improve my landings, mostly due to the Robart nose tire not staying on the printed scale wheel properly. Using more E6000 for one wheel, and clear Gorilla Glue for another nose tire, I think I have that problem licked, and touchdown and rollout is now much more realistic and less jarring to the plane than before.

I also had some issues with the G16 rim front tire rolling off the rim. I made an improved version G 16.2 and posted it May 5th. That one has worked fine for me w/o requiring glue. After reading your comment, I removed the original G16.

[davegee]

Hi Fast N Light: thanks for that update. I’ll keep it n mind to print up the 16.2 nose wheel hub. On mine, I did reattach the Robart 2.25 inch tire using some E6000 glue. I let it set up for 48 hours and then flew it a bunch, with no issues. I had a second nose tire that I glued on with clear Gorilla glue, and although it hasn’t flown yet, I’ve pushed and pulled on the rims without dislodging the bead of glue keeping it securely on the wheel. I’ll probably swap that out at some point just to see how it holds up on some actual flights.

I’ll probably print up your 16.2 wheel hub as an extra and test it down the road.Appreciate your doing that!

cheers

davegee

[Charlee]

This book was written by a pilot that was on the mission which resulted in the loss of Cactus Kitten and its crew. Peppy comes across as thinking he won WWII almost by himself, but it is a good read with a lot of details about the final mission.

[davegee]

Hi Fast N Light: thanks for that update. I’ll keep it n mind to print up the 16.2 nose wheel hub. On mine, I did reattach the Robart 2.25 inch tire using some E6000 glue. I let it set up for 48 hours and he flew it a bunch, with no issues. I had a second nose tire that I glued on with clear Gorilla glue, and although it hasn’t flown yet, I’ve pushed and pulled on the rims without dislodging the bead of glue keeping it securely on the wheel. I’ll probably swap that out at some point just to see how it holds up on some actual flights.

I’ll probably print up your 16.2 wheel hub as an extra and test it down the road.Appreciate your doing that!

cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Hi Charlee: thanks for the heads-up with Peppy Blount’s book. That’s on my list to get a copy and read it. I have ordered the Warpath book and it should be arriving in a week or so. I love actual stories of real aircraft and the men who flew them. It’s a great learning experience for me.

davegee

[Elbee]

Mitchell Mob,

Yesterday I received the graphics from the talented Callie Callie Graphics for my B-25 build.

I am converting the Flightline “J” to a “C” (+/-) replicating the “Desert Warrior” B-25C-NA41-12860 assigned to the 12^th BG of the 9 Air Force in North Africa 1942.

Desert Warrior served from July 1942-September 1943 before being shipped home to serve in moral boosting war bond campaigns across Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, and onto California.

During her combat service which stretched from El Alamein to Sicily she flew 73 combat missions, dropped in excess of 10 tons of ordnance, and shot down 3 enemy fighters.

I hope to recreate her 'stateside look' with the newly painted mission tally nose art on a semi-clean battle worn airframe.

This should be easier than ‘weathering’ a Pacific Corsair.

This will involve some foam surgery of yet to be determined complexity, though very doable.

The livery paint is AN 616 or FS30279 Desert Sand. I found Cross Link Paints a company that kind of specializes in FS colors http://www.crosslinkpaints.com.

The color is pinker than say Tamiya Desert Sand, so with a bit of fading, it should make for a decent representation of what we all expect the color to be.

More when there is more and I will most likely start a build thread so not to clog this one.for the duration.

Best, LB

[davegee]

Mitchell Mob,

Yesterday I received the graphics from the talented Callie Callie Graphics for my B-25 build.

I am converting the Flightline “J” to a “C” (+/-) replicating the “Desert Warrior” B-25C-NA41-12860 assigned to the 12^th BG of the 9 Air Force in North Africa 1942.

Desert Warrior served from July 1942-September 1943 before being shipped home to serve in moral boosting war bond campaigns across Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, and onto California.

During her combat service which stretched from El Alamein to Sicily she flew 73 combat missions, dropped in excess of 10 tons of ordnance, and shot sown 3 enemy fighters.

I hope to recreate her 'stateside look' with the newly painted mission tally nose art on a semi-clean battle worn airframe.

This should be easier than ‘weathering’ a Pacific Corsair.

This will involve some foam surgery of yet to be determined complexity, though very doable.

The livery paint is AN 616 or FS30279 Desert Sand. I found Cross Link Paints a company that kind of specializes in FS colors http://www.crosslinkpaints.com.

The color is pinker than say Tamiya Desert Sand, so with a bit of fading, it should make for a decent representation of what we all expect the color to be.

More when there is more and I will most likely start a build thread so not to clog this one.for the duration.

Best, LB

Sounds like a great project, LB! I remember when I was a little kid, a friend of ours who was an air force pilot, I believe, bought me a B-25 model molded in silver plastic. To my amazement, he assembled the model, painting parts as he put it together. Even cooler, he didn't use any of the stock decals that came with the kit. Instead, there was a faint raised area showing where the stars and bars and other decals went on the skin of the model. He expertly hand-painted all those markings with a paint brush! As I recall, it was an outstanding job. And later, being a stupid kid I played and played with it, breaking off pieces here and there, and eventually had to throw it out. AND, I never got to take a single picture of it, along with other projects I did back in the day. All we had was a 1920s era pinhole box camera from my grandmother.

I'm glad that today, we have great cameras to document the skill and knowhow of putting these RC models together, and detailing them as you will be doing in a particular famous paint scheme. Looking forward to following your progress!

[Elbee]

Much appreciated, Dave, my goal is to do her justice.

BTW, great memory to have and I, too, destroyed more than my share of childhood gifts.

It is just part of growing up and learning about what is important.

Best, Steve

[f4u ausie]

Yep, another work of art coming also looking4wrd to snippets and progress..

[Aros]

Get out the popcorn boys and girls!

[Elbee]

Yep, another work of art coming also looking4wrd to snippets and progress..

Whoa, no pressure, right? I will 'endeavor to persevere'.

All joking aside, I am looking forward to this build as it should go quickly in comparison to the "Bent-wing Beauty".

It is such a cool Warbird, and much like the Corsair has earned some love.

The mods for the F-14a "Tam"-Cat I want to do will take longer, so it's on the back burner for now.

Best, LB

[davegee]

I ordered three 1/13 scale pilots for my B-25 from RC Geek Chris Wolf, and painted them up this afternoon in Pacific Theater type uniforms. Came out ok, I think. I modified one of the "Toy Story" pilot busts that came with the kit a bit to fit in the top turret gunner position.

[Elbee]

davegee

Nicely done.

Correct colors and super duper detail work.

Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee

Nicely done.

Correct colors and super duper detail work.

Best, LB

Thanks, Elbee. I had removed the "Toy Story" looking pilots and replaced them with very detailed pilots I got for a B-24 years ago. They were too small, I knew it, but couldn't stand the cartoonish looking OEM pilots. Chris Wolfe's pilots were a reasonable substitution to make, and were in the correct scale, too. I ended up repainting one of the OEM pilots, trimmed him down some to fit in the top turret, and although not perfect, should be adequate for this model.

[Aros]

Looks good Dave! I can't stand "Toy Story" pilots, lol!

[davegee]

Looks good Dave! I can't stand "Toy Story" pilots, lol!

Thanks, Aros. I've been having a ball flying the B-25J. Been doing tests/experiments dropping little bombs and parafrag bombs that descend on little parachutes.

Davegee