North American B-25G Mitchell, RNMFS, Italeri 2787, 1/48

Started by John vd Biggelaar · 48 · 5 hours ago · . 1/48, B-25G, Dutch, Italeri, Mitchell
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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Time to work on a twin engine aircraft this time. I received this kit from a friend for my birthday. After opening this Italeri kit, which originally is Accurate Miniatures, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of parts and how detailed they are.

    I ordered some extras for the interior, IP and 3D printed seats, and more accurate wing air intakes.

    Even though the kit is provided with various colorful schemes, I discovered that the Netherlands have used the B-25G as well, I did know about other variants but was not aware they used the G. With my recent Dutch builds, I decided to go for this one in Dutch markings as well.

    Starting May 1942 the Royal Netherlands Military Flying School (RNMFS) was formed in Jackson Mississippi. This school was formed to train pilots from Dutch East Indies. Not many pictures are present of the used aircraft but the most interesting one is aircraft 42-65102 seen while escorting Princess Juliana on her travel from the US to Suriname.

    Started the build by cutting some of the interior parts and painting them.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Excellent entry and ditto progress, my friend @johnb!
    Will be striking and really make a difference in Dutch markings!

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Another great idea for a model, John (@johnb). I don't think I have ever seen a B-25 model in Dutch markings, so this will be really special. Save me a seat for the build.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 4 days ago:

    @fiveten, thank you, Spiros. Unfortunately the Dutch scheme is not as colorful as the ones provided by Italeri.
    @gblair, thanks a lot, George. A reservation has been made, welcome aboard.

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    capt. R said 3 weeks, 3 days ago:

    Great! My B-25 waiting for NEIAF paiting too! I will start in close future.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 3 days ago:

    @lis, thanks a lot, Bernard. Looking forward to yours in NEIAF painting. The aircraft I'm building has never been in the East Indies, it was only used at the flying school in the US.

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    David Odenwald said 3 weeks, 3 days ago:

    Great progress and thanks for that photo of "102."

    Some history on the plane. It was the first B-25G-10 built. It was sent to the boneyard in August 1945.

    I have the same Italeri release and the Dutch Decal sheet with "102" so will follow aling.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    @kahu, thank you, David. I was not aware such decals did exist of the 102, I was thinking about creating them myself. Can you share which decal set includes the 102, thanks.

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    David Odenwald said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    I just stumbled across them on eBay in early January and immediately snagged them.

    Dutch Decal #48017. It is a small decal sheet from 1998 it looks like.

    Here's "102" on the sheet.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    @kahu, thanks for sharing. I found this sheet but thought 102 was not in there since it was not shown on the frontside label, but it seems to be inside of the instruction sheet. Going to look for that one.

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    David (@kahu)

    John (@johnb)

    Even if I can't find the decals, I try to find a copy of the instructions because they usually have a good 3-view diagram that has markings, camo, etc. Sometimes you can find the instructions on Scalemate or by searching online. It is hard to judge colors on a black and white 80-year old photo.

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    John Healy said 3 weeks, 2 days ago:

    That looks like a nice kit, John. NEIAF stuff is always interesting.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 2 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Progressing very slowly. Finally placing some parts of the interior. Nicely detailed in my opinion.

    Next preparing the parts for the bombbay.

    @kahu, I searched the internet to find this Dutch Decal sheet but without any luck. It is however possible to buy decals of the Dutch national flag separately. For the number on the side of the aircraft I am able to print them myself. The USAAF stencil font is the correct one to do this.

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    Carl Smoot said 2 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Nice start on the B-25G John (@johnb). Let me give you a heads up on a few things to watch out for on this kit. First, it will take nose weight to keep it on the front wheel (unless you prop it up at the back). The nose landing gear strut is very thin and could bend if the weight is too much, so watch out for that. It can support the amount of weight that Accurate Miniatures originally supplied with their kits, but it can be broken quite easily (ask me how I know). The nose piece for this kit may have a few fit issues, so take some time fitting that before gluing the fuselage halves together. You may want to consider an alternate order of assembly (for example, gluing the nose to one fuselage halve, then assembling the fuselage halves afterwards). The kit plastic was molded in a way that different noses could be joined depending upon the version of B-25 you bought and I had fit issues with mine.

    Other than that, it's a nice kit. There were some inaccuracies noted at the time it came out, but nothing to really worry about.

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    capt. R said 2 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Great interior!