1/48th Monogram B-25J as USMC PBJ-1J
Here's one that I completed about a year ago and wanted to share with the group. The kit was the fine ole Monogram 1/48th B-25J. When originally issued, it was pretty much a 'state of the art' model. By today's standards, it's still a pretty nice basic kit that can be built to a fairly nice model with some after market parts and a lot of TLC. My PBJ-1J build included the wing mounted resin radome from Mike West and Lone Star Models, True Details wheels with some of the extreme bulge cut and sanded off and the Eduard B-25J color cockpit detail. The decals were pieced together from my decal stash box. The finish of the PBJ-1J was airbrushed with Model Master enamel paint using dark sea blue (lightened just a bit), intermediate blue and neutral gray. The reason for using neutral gray rather than white on the bottom of the tri-color finish was that the B-25 Mitchell bombers that were transferred into USMC service were factory painted in OD over gray. When the Marines got them, many were left with the gray bottom and had the dark sea blue and intermediate blue paint applied to save time and material.
Jim Sullivan
A lovely build there Jim.
With all the glazing around the nose the cockpit detail will able to be seen.
Nice lookin' build, Jim...(shoulda taken more pictures) 🙂
B25 in those colours looks great, nice job Jim.
N.
Thanks Neil. One of the biggest challenges with that kit was where to put and hide the weights to keep the model on all three wheels. With all that 'glass' in the nose the weights had to be hidden. I resolved the issue by removing the kit consoles in the nose and reforming them with flat automotive stick-on weights cut to the dimensions of those consoles and stacked together to achieve the height needed. A gun nose version would have been much easier to work with but I never saw a PBJ-1J outfitted with a gun nose.
I have a similar problem, I'm working on a Monogram B29 in 1/48 and will be squeezing in flattened airgun pellets wherever I can.
N.
Those pellets are great. Mash them with pliers and they fit everywhere.
Get Terry Dean's nose weights for the B-29, which are molded to fit in the nose under the cockpit around the wheel bay.
e-mail him at [email protected]
You will never get enough weight in the B-29 otherwise, but if you have assembled the fuselage already, then you are SOL.
Tom, I will have a look ,I was thinking of filling the forward gun pods and also around the side of the wheel well, would you recommend using white metal wheel legs or are the kit parts strong enough for the extra weight ?
N.
The PBJ-1H did have the B-25H nose. VMB-611 also managed to "bargain" some of the 8 gun noses from USAAF groups while in the Philippines for their PBJ-1Js. Whether they actually got used in combat is another matter.
Jim,
This is excellent. I absolutely love what you have done with this model. The PBJ puts a real nice color choice on the B-25. But then I am prejudiced toward USMC. I find it interesting what you have said about the neutral grey underside. This would be easier to paint than using white. Again, excellent build, I love it.
beautiful build jim...i just picked up panchito very cheap on e bay myself and i'm getting anxious
Hey Bob, what's Panchito and why would it make you anxious ?
N.
Panchto is the first release of the B-25J kit.
Fantastic work, I love it.
You guys certainly know how to make the best of these classic Monogram kits, and here's another example. Very nice build, well researched, and a good job all round.
I love those old Monogram kits, it is always great to see one built up so nicely. The A-26 in my stash keeps looking better and better to me every day!
Until you take a second look at the nose...
As others have said,. nice work. The CAF SoCal wing is restoring the last existing PBJ-1J at Camarillo.
Great work on a little known variant of the B-25 Mitchell. Just one thing...MORE PHOTOS PLEASE!
For My B-25J build, I placed the weights in the engine nacelles, using double adhesive tape applied to model rail road weights. It was cheap, quick and worked out rather well when it came to keeping the model on all three wheels. However, the weight was on the heavy side and it started make the plastic landing gear bend or splay out ...I then bought some white metal gear and up graded with resin wheels too.
Two thumbs up on the Marine version. I've never met a Monogram B-25 that I didn't like.
Nice job on the PBJ Jim,
One of my all time favorite kits i.e. the Mono 48th B-25's. Don't even ask me how many I have in my stash.
Again, nice work!
Mark
Very nice conversion Jim and interesting paint job. Thanks for the information you included about the paint scheme. I will add my voice to the others and ask for more photos as well.
Thanks Alan and all the other fine folks who responded to my PBJ post. I had a computer crash a few months back that wiped out many of my model files containing WIP and completed shots. The PBJ-1J was among those lost. However, since I still have the model, I can take more photos of it and post them. I'll do that in the next day or two. Thanks again for your kind words.
That's a very nice B-25! Great job on a great older kit. I have one in my stash that really needs to move up in the queue. Thanks for showing her to us.
Gary