LB's FlightLine B-25J to B-25C "Desert Warrior" Build

[f4u ausie]

Ye ide luv one of me on a carrier,,fully loaded,flaps down canopy back..in a Corsair... Just about to launch...:partying_face: thanx Steve,,helps a lot(I'm getting with the program)... Still alota work..for U,, but oh U love it so.... Clearly your imagination still,runs very well .. coming along nicely... Bsafe

[Grossman56]

Hilarious Steve, now get her to take a pic of the Corsair or the B 25 and put you in the cockpit!
Heck, I'd love to have a pic of me sitting in one of my airplanes, isn't that what we all dream about?!?

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[jetfool]

Elbee,
Ain't technology great

Everything coming along nicely.

Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

f4u ausie

Craig,

This is what I was writing about about using a 3-view or 5-view drawing and cropping it, increasing the dimensions to actual size needed and going to work from there.

This is a cropped canopy from an Airfix 1/72 scale plastic model color and decal placement sheet.

I scanned it, opened it in Adobe Photoshop, cropped the portion I wanted, resized the image and 2D printed it.

These never match the OEM R/C model exactly, but it gives me the correct layout and I can go from there.

Hope this make sense.

I can mask the canopy closely enough and use narrower (wider) cut strips to mask the out the panels and 'compromise' from there.

It has been my experience the molded lines are too wide mostly, so I do cheat or narrow those where possible.

Hope this explains my method better than I did in an earlier post.

Best, Steve

[Elbee]

I have not seen that body since I was 19.
I asked Tamms, "Who is that guy? Should I be worried?"

[f4u ausie]

Bucking bronco steve..Funny as hell ..:scream: Is that body on your bucket list..
Or U still pumping. Iron!!!?:hot_face:

[jetfool]

Didn't realize you were quite the adventurous type. LOL

[Elbee]

Hey Y'all,

Baby steps.

Port Bubble Window and Starboard Bubble WIndow/Escape Hatch glass cut and complete. :partying_face:

Next is locating each window on the fuselage in "X" & "Y".

Scaled up the plastic model plans for the "C" variant to see if that could be used as reference.
Per usual, lines on the drawings almost never correspond exactly to any panel line on an scale R/C plane.

So, we play the cards we are dealt and do a little math and get as close as is possible.

More when there is more.:pop

Best, LB

[Elbee]

Hey Y'all,

Quick update.

Windows, windoes, windoze...

First design round hot off the printer.

Like the matte black frames which will cover myriad sin...

I am using Plexi-glass for the Plexi-glass and it looks quite good, very clear and rigid, but occasionally tough to cut accurately w/o breakage.

I am also using Clear UV cured resin as the adhesive which seems to be holding up well.

I experimented using that same resin to actually be the glass, though it 'gasses-off' a bit during curing which leaves flaws.

I'll not give up on that idea, however, as it has merit and could be used to print compound curved clear parts, as well.

More soon...

Best, LB

[Elbee]

By the time you're done, that will be a work of art and I would not be happy if I lost it in a mishap.

As my Grand-pappy Thomas used to say, "Son, we pays our money and we takes our chances."

Glad you like it thus far.

Best to you and yours,

Steve

[RRHandy]

By the time you're done, that will be a work of art and I would not be happy if I lost it in a mishap.

[Elbee]

Bomber Brats,

Holes cut out and window frames in for the Navigator's Compartment.

Observation Bubble completed with box for the Celestial Sextant (found a drawing of the shelf in my book and a picture of the sextant and box on the web).

The book I have been referencing is "North American B-25 Mitchell-The Ultimate Look" by William Wolf published in 2008 by Schiffer Military History Books.

The book does a good job of covering the different variants, but lacks continuity.

The author bounces around from model to model in each chapter and is thorough, but it is hard to find the variant you want to study without looking at everything else.

Many factory drawings and pictures. Is it worth it? Yeah, considering I've seen things in this book I've not seen anywhere else.

You just have to go through every page over and over.

More when there is more....

Best, LB

[Elbee]

f4u ausie

Craig, it's a labor of love, Mate. Best, LB

[f4u ausie]

Thanx guys... Yas all do an awesome job,,as I've said b4,, but I wonder if an average person who sees these beautiful representations has any idea. On the hours spent(they likely don't care)..I'm sure some are in the hundreds,, over a year or so...

I spent couple hours a nite after work for 2 or 3 weeks hand brushing the art work on the al37(b4 it drifted off into the sunset ). Just paint. So all you mods 3d printing. Changes etc. And then U paint it.. big kudos to your patience and skills. B safe

[jetfool]

F4u ausie,

I use a good 3 -view, pictures, measure and use the good ole TAR method. So far this has worked for me and no one has measured my models at the field.

Best Regards, Rex

[Elbee]

Would like to ask lb,, when U scale guys do these awsome mods ,,how do U no the right size etc, for the right scale on each .... Part.. reference books,, I'm sure ,, r part of that. I imagine original drawings would b handy....... Just wondering

Craig,

Well, I can't speak for others, but personally I do this always:

1) lick the tip of my thumb so I know there's no dirt on it,

2) close one eye,

3) hold my hand out with my thumb up,

4) extend my arm to its' full length,

5) site down over the top of my thumb nail,

6) measure off of that.

Works almost never.

Best, Steve

ps: I use a ton of reference pictures and a search for a decent 5-view which includes top-down and down-up shots.

For me, I scale based on what I know, could be a panel, a part like the canopy, just some known something I can scale to the both the model and the drawing.

I will take a reference photo, open it in Photo-Shop, crop it, size it and guestimate as needed to find the scale.

I will also print a part or a portion of the 3 views to the size of my model and design from there

I use a little math and get an accurate (enough) scale to the 1:1 versus the model.

That is to say, if the FlightLine B-25 has a wingspan of 1600mm and a length of 1280mm and the 1:1 has a wingspan of 67' 7'' and length of 52'11'', do a little math to find the ratio of each.

In this case, a conversion would give me a wingspan number of 67'7'' divided by 1600mm or 1/12.875 of the actual wingspan and the length would be 52'11'' divided by 1280mm or 1/12.6.

I add both the scales and average, so 12.875+12.6=25.474 and divide by 2 = 12.7375.

That number gives me my constant when I know the actual measurement of a part I am designing or going to print.

So if I am going design a 500 lb bomb for this model I take the actual bomb size and divide it by 12.7375 to get my scale size.

Make sense?

Motion calls the B-25J 1/13th scale; however, when you're designing parts it's better to use the actual average of 1/12.7375, IMHO.

In any event, it is always a compromise and I mean always.

My greenhouse for the B-25C conversion filled up quickly with all the parts.

I thought I had over-sized some things and sometimes a fraction of a inch shows up in the part.

That is where 'artistic license comes to play.

I will print the part until I 'think' it looks like it belongs there and matches the references best I can.

Also, I have realized the B-25 foamie model doesn't always allow me to have scale paper thin fuselage walls or floors and I can't always allow for that as a variable.

Cutting back the foam sides was a start, but I still lost almost 0.625" of floor width, which would have given a better perspective of the space.

In the Corsair it was simpler as I had most the entirety of the cockpit to place my cockpit parts, but was still squeezed in by the thickness of the foam structure.

Anyway, the scale police would arrest me without a warrant for the artistic license I shamelessly apply to my builds.

Hope this at least muddies the water enough that you don't actually realize I have no clue what I'm doing.

Your friend, Steve

[f4u ausie]

Would like to ask lb,, when U scale guys do these awsome mods ,,how do U no the right size etc, for the right scale on each .... Part.. reference books,, I'm sure ,, r part of that. I imagine original drawings would b handy....... Just wondering

[Elbee]

Mitchell Mob,

Observation Bubble in place. Woo-da-hoody!:star_struck:

Not sure whether to cut out the hole all the way through or just print and 'gray out' a base for it.

There's no real detail in there and the OEM view would be the battery top, so....we'll see.

Any who, more when there is more. :pop

Best, LB

[Grossman56]

You're as bad as me, I've always got my eye out for interesting shapes and things that could be used for modeling.
Good find!

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[Elbee]

borntoolate

And everybody who is still tuning in

Found these acrylic ornaments which are split into 2 parts on @m@z0n.

3 different diameters and the middle size one arch is perfect for this Observation Dome.

Cut it down to 0.545+/-" on my drill press.

I made a "C" shaped 0.6 on the 3D printer to set the height correctly and cut slowly.

Looks 'spot on' and measures well against the scale drawing.

More when there is more.

Best, LB