Week 29 – One week closer to completing this project! The B-25B’s are now complete. I spent the early part of the week painting the aircraft, building the propellers and painting them, applying the decals and installing the canopy and nose. They are then set on a grid so I can place them on the ship in order. It was a little time consuming as I had to let the paint dry then the decals set. During these little breaks I started to layout the base. I needed to do this so I can get the exact measurements to order the display case. The case ended up being 33” long, 12” wide and 10” tall to accommodate the base and ship. Once the case sizing was established I contacted Grandpa’s Cabinets ( https://www.grandpascabinets.com/ ) Display Cases for Collectibles - Custom Display Cases and ordered the case. I then figured out the position of the ship and where the wakes will be. Since I am using sheet styrene for the base I decided to use some Milliput to for the wakes. Also during one of these breaks I packed up all the electronics in the hull and glued on the waterline base.

After installing the canopy and nose on the aircraft I then added the propellers and painted the tips. This now completes all sixteen B-25B’s of the Doolittle Raiders. I then grabbed the dish with all the 3-D printed crew and sorted them out (Navy enlisted, Navy Officers, USAAF pilots, and USAAF enlisted). I will be painting them and then placing them and the B-25’s on the flight deck. I will then build up the base.

You can see the numerous photos and details from the start of the huge project in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-350-uss-hornet-cv-8-doolittle-raid/

10 attached images. Click to enlarge.

From the pictures I would say that these Mitchells are in 1/72, David @davids_models
They look much bigger than the 1/350 scale. Amazing modelling in this tiny scale.

Section 2 – Creating the base. I used two sheets of 1/8” sheet styrene. The sheets are 24” long and 12” wide. After gluing the sheets end to end I trimmed it back to 33” long. Side note: I gave these measurements to Ron and Grandpa’s Cabinets so that the case would hold the base inside the acrylic cove. As usual, Ron’s artistry in making quality display cases was right on. The base fit perfectly inside the cover.

Moving forward, I mixed up some milliput putty to create the bow wake as well as the trailing wake. I then sprayed the base colors. I use dark sea blue on the open areas, regular blue closer to the ship, and intermediate blue for the wakes. I began laying the first coat of acrylic gel. I used a round brush typically used for applying eye makeup. When applying the acrylic gel it is best to make the strokes horizontal to the ship. This gives the waves an even direction. For the trailing wake I dabbed the acrylic gel vertically. The ship model was the glued to the base. The second coat of acrylic gel was then laid down. This coat was to build up the bow wake as well as the splashing along the hull. I also did some vertical dabbing around the bow to give the surface the splashed look from the bow. The third and final coat of acrylic gel was mostly the aft wake to build up the sides even with the hull. After the acrylic gel was fully cured the surface was then painted using Tamiya X-23 clear blue gloss. This gives the “water” a Pacific blue tone as well as blending the three shades of blue. Once dry, I then used Tamiya XF-2 flat white to paint the top of the wakes. The white was then dry brushed on surrounding wave detail near the wake. White was finally dry brushed vertically on the bow spray and the aft wake. Then using the same large brush I used to apply the acrylic gel I dipped it in thinner and lightly brushed all the white areas. This blended the white and clear blue giving various shades of blue and white for the visual effect of the wakes. Finally, once everything was dry I used Pledge Floor coating over all the water to give it a super high gloss (wet look). I then applied a second coat along the bow and used fiber fill (like what is used in stuffed animals or throw pillows) to create the bow splashing the water. I then lightly sprayed some Pledge onto the fibers to add water droplets. This completed the base! Later this coming week I will make a Tips and Tricks page on creating the sea base for anyone who would like to use this method.

11 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Speechless, David @davids_models
Just saw it on the headlines.
Congratulations on this amazing ship.