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David Kopielski
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1/48 Academy B-25B “Doolittle Raider”

March 12, 2020 · in Aviation · · 12 · 4K

This is the Accurate Miniatures B-25B “Doolittle Raiders”. I built it as the “Ruptured Duck” which was the aircraft followed in the film "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo".
The “Ruptured Duck” was the 7th aircraft to take off of the USS Hornet. It was piloted by 1st Lt. Ted Lawson. He survived the raid and wrote the book on which the movie was based on.

I added photo etch details and scratch built the incendiary bomb that was used in the actual raid. I placed this on a resin base depicting the flight deck of the USS Hornet. The tie down ropes were made with 80 lbs test braided fishing line and they were attached as they were in the movie. I even used the nose art from the movie as well.

You can read the details and and see all the build photos from start to finish in my build log. https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-b-25b-doolittle-raider/

Reader reactions:
18  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


12 responses

  1. Great build and presentation! Thanks for posting.

  2. Absolutely beautiful piece of work and a great tribute to one of the most daring events in WW II. Every time I see the movie (TSOT), I ask myself...Where do we get such courageous men?. Thanks for posting this.

  3. Nicely done! One of my first kits that I did in the before time was the Revell 1/64? version of a Doolittle Raider.

  4. Fantastic work.
    All the best!

  5. Nice build and I like your idea to present it with tie-down ropes. It is a pity Academy didn´t include decals printed by Cartograf (they did it with their B-25D and G).

  6. This is just great. The deck tie-downs really help sell the whole presentation of the build. Splendid work.

  7. David: Beautiful model. Great work.

    It looks like you have a decal silvering problem with the serial on the right vertical fin. Here's the solution: take a #11 x-acto blade and slice the daylights out of the decal, then flood it with setting solution. that will get the air out from under the decal and when it settles back down, you won't be able to see where anything was done to it. And then this beautiful model will be completely perfect.

    • Thanks Tom, As for the silvering, It is the decals that are the problem. The kit decals are thick and are not affected by the setting solution or solvent. Tried a couple of different methods to get the decals to lay down correctly. The kit decals are even slightly off register. It is the one thing I did not like about this kit. If I had to do it again I would either seek aftermarket sources or make my own.

  8. Did you all know that part of the success of the Doolittle raid was due to: A) the Japanese public not being familiar with the shape of other country's aircraft B) the red meatball in the center of the AAC insigna did look familiar

  9. I definitely know what a challenge that kit can be to build ( https://imodeler.com/2013/08/dirty-dora-by-accurate-miniatures-in-148th-scale/ ). I like your presentation on the kit, very nice job and great way to show it off.

  10. Nicely done! the Mitchell is perhaps my favorite WWII aircraft.

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