Official FlightLine 1600mm B-25J Mitchell PNP Thread

[davegee]

They look great, sir! You have inspired me to order some as well for my Ruptured Duck. They arrived today.

Bob

Cool! I would have preferred being able to get a full body pilot for the nose, but that's ok. Things worked out.

Happy Flying!!

Davegee

[borntoolate]

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.

They look great, sir! You have inspired me to order some as well for my Ruptured Duck. They arrived today.

Bob

[Grossman56]

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.

Yep, definitely better!

Grossman56

[Charlee]

I'm not in favor of putting crew members in the nose, turret and tail gun. They are never there during takeoff and landing for safety reasons. The only time was when Alan Arkin gave the finger to the tower as his Catch 22 B-25 was taxiing. This is how the gunner should look in the top turret:

[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

[Aros]

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

[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.

[Elbee]

davegee

Nicely done.

Correct colors and super duper detail work.

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]

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

[Aros]

Get out the popcorn boys and girls!

[f4u ausie]

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

[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]

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]

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

[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

[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 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

[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.