I am taking a short break from commission builds during this holiday season. So for the first build of 2025 I am building Academy’s 1/48 PBJ-1D (B-25D). The scheme will be “The Fork-Tailed Devils” of VMB-433 for the U.S. Marines located on Emirau Island, New Guinea 1944. I will be adding some resin seats as well as photo etch details to compliment the model. For a reference I am using William Wolf’s “B-25 Mitchell – The ultimate look” book. This covers everything on the B-25 from drawing board to flying arsenal as well as all versions including the PBJ’s. One nice thing is this lists out all the various colors used on the interior. Surprisingly there are three different “greens” used throughout the interior. The book has color images of various interior sections including the variances from version to version.

As usual I am starting off with the cockpit. The resin seat is way more accurate than the kit version. The cockpit floor and control sticks required some clean up due to mold marks. The instrument panel in the kit is molded in clear. This allows you to place the decal with the gauges on the backside and paint the front flat black. This gives the instrument panel gauges the depth of the real gauges. The control sticks and the center pod was detailed using photo etch levers and the adjustment wheel. For the cockpit floor more photo etch details were added. I am working of finishing the cockpit and then moving onto the Navigators station and the bomb bay which houses an internal fuel tank.

You can all the photos and details in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-pbj-1d-b-25-mitchell/

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great entry of this Mitchell variant, David @davids_models
Perfect start on the interior.

Happy New Year as well, David @davids_models
You started 2025 with some impressive interior work.
I will definitely use it as a reference for my upcoming B25 build.

It looks like you are off and running for the new year, David @davids_models. The interior of your model looks very detailed, as usual. Looking forward to the rest.

The third week of the Academy 1/48 PBJ-1D (B-25D) build was spent detailing the nose area. To start with the starboard side has the ammo boxes, electronic gun and the spent casing bag. The gun is molded and only half of the frame. The ammo belt was just a blob of plastic. I had a set of Eduard Brassin resin guns so I decided to use these instead of the kit versions. I started by cutting the starboard wall apart. The kit “blob” for an ammo belt was cut off and replaced with a photo etch ammo belt. The resin gun was then mounted on the spent casing bag. The upper ammo case for the nose gun was then modified for the belt feed and mounted on the starboard side.
For the port side I detail painted the wall and the bomb sight. I then used some solder to replicate the air duct for the bomb sight. The nose gun was then detailed with the photo etch handles and added the chute to the ejection port. The ammo belt was then routed from the upper ammo box to the gun. Another detail I added was the elastic lines that hook up to the rear of the gun to hold it up in place when not in use. The clear nose and the top canopy of the nose were then sanded slightly to clean up the fit to the nose section.
I am currently reviewing details of the tail gunners section. The kit only has a twin gun mount to stick out the back. I will be making the entire section using photo etch and scratch building. I will be using some more Eduard Brassin resin guns and will need to make a tarp that covers the opening of the tail. The reference photos show this was used to keep sand and dirt out of the gun assembly. I will detail how I make the tarp when I get to that point.

You can all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-pbj-1d-b-25-mitchell/

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Excellent progress, my friend @davids_models! Indeed, very realistic gunner position!

Another week of amazing detail work, David @davids_models
Very nice result so far.

The fifth week on the PBJ was spent adding the final details to the interior and then I was able to get the fuselage halves together. The fit was OK. Trying to get the halves aligned with the interior sections lining up required some minor sanding. The bulkheads in the bomb bay have gaps as the bulkheads do not conform very well to the fuselage curves.

The next area I worked on was the canvass cover for the tail guns. I started by using some clinging plastic wrap on a scrap styrene sheet. The clear tail for different versions was used as a guide. I covered it with a layer of plastic wrap. I then used a mixture of acrylic gel and water. I used 3 parts gel to 1 part water. I then used tissue lightly brushed with the gel and laid it over the part. Using the brush I carefully shaped it to the mold. I ended up using 3 layers of tissue. I opted to use the acrylic gel over the typical white glue as the gel version allowed a better item to form the sags and folds of canvass. I actually made two versions one with white glue and the one with acrylic gel. The acrylic gel was a little better to work with and shape. The white glue version tended to crack/tear when attempting to shape it. Once dry I drilled out the two holes for the gun barrels and trimmed the part to fit the aft of the fuselage. I ten glued the tarp to the fuselage using CA glue. Finally I used a wooden stick to press and shape the tarp. It is hard to see the details of the tarp in the photos but it will look much better once painted and highlighted with weathering.

While the tarp was drying I worked on the tails and the wings. These went together well but the tail section to fuselage has some gaps which will need to be filled. The wings required some minor sanding and shaping for alignment to the spars but the fit to the fuselage was very good.

I am currently working on the nose. It looks like there may be some minor fit issues when I did a dry fit. I need to mask the canopies and then start on the main landing gear. I am hoping to start the painting process by the end of this coming week.

You can see all the photos and details from the start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-pbj-1d-b-25-mitchell/

6 attached images. Click to enlarge.