Here is a B-25 Mitchell I am making for my 10 year-old granddaughter. I know some may like some build photos but I was really up against it for time on this one. I do plan to make one for myself and was hoping to refine my technique with lessons learned from this one. The detail has been reduced to increase durability (protection from her little sister). As of today she is already in primer and should be painted by tomorrow. I will probably use decals to save time so all should be ready very soon.
I need to get it finish for delivery this Friday so only one more pic of this one. The next one will probably be a J model gunship and I will present detailed build pics. This model also uses some new finish techniques I have learned from the woodworkers that seem to turn out well. I will lay all this out on the next one.
Ken Pugh
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Very nice look Mitchell. I like the way you carved out the engines and you blending of the pieces looks flawless from my perspective. I await your next one. Don't forget a finished photo.
Lou
Lovely model Ken,the old Billie Mitchell makes for a fine subject.
Barry.
Thanks, guys. The engines don't exist! When I use the spinning prop disc, I just hollow out the area and leave a bulge in the middle for the prop transmission (?). If the engine can't be seen I don't bother with it at 1/72 scale. There will definitely be a finished photo and I plan to start the next one right away with plenty of pics to show how to build this one. The wings can be a pain to get good joints that are strong and the tail feather alignment can also be a challenge. I will show how I finally overcame all that. I will also show the method I have learned for finishing wood that provides that "piano finish."
She did turn out very smooth, unless something comes through under paint. Again, I learned some good techniques this time to do that and will share all. I hope to paint it today, unless my disability gets in the way like yesterday, and she should be finished very soon. This will be my mini cookup since there will be two models (or more)!
Ken Pugh
Ken, have you considered doing the wing in one piece similar to the Corsair I made? It would solve your weak joint situation.
Lou
Looking forward to seeing your finishing techniques Ken.
Yes cranking outboard wings is a black art,the thicker the wing then more juggling to get the airfoil to line up nicely,your engine idea creates the right illusion,well done.
Barry.
Hi Lou,
I have tried the one-piece wing. Many of the techniques I am trying are definitely the hard way at 1/72, but would be helpful in other scales. I did solve the problem and will show how I did it (employing woodworker tips). I am still developing my preferred methods for the future so I may do things out of the ordinary then come back to normal practice. The thought of carving that much poplar on a Corsair wing makes my hand hurt! Poplar is my choice of wood for wings because of the stronger trailing edges. When I carve a one-piece wing, it is difficult for me to get everything symmetrical, so I am trying to make it in pieces. The shape of the B-25 wing took me three pieces, even after I originally tried to do it with two.
I may try a different technique for the tail, for that matter I may just make several tails to see what is the best way to do this.
Please, everyone suggest different ways of doing things than I am because I am evaluating and developing ideas for my future models. I hope to have some standard techniques to speed up my model progress (how else can I catch up with Barry!).
Regarding my use of the term "piano finish." I am not saying I can finish to that level or am I implying that anyone else is or is not. That is the term used in a furniture finishing book I found in a library. I thought it was a good term when I realized that furniture finishers do not try to remove the grain from the final finish. That is a specific technique that is used only on certain items, such as pianos. It is an easy technique but is different from the ones I normally hear used and it varies from whether one uses water-based or oil-based finishes. I only learned the water-based method because I don't want to mix finish types.
Ken Pugh
The prototype is finished and ready for my granddaughter. I'll take a day or two off then start another with a build thread. This one is low detail.
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Ken Pugh
Ken this is a delightful model,I am interested to know how you did the prop blurr etched into the clear discs ? I think the detail is just right for this type of model.
Barry.
Very nice Ken. Your granddaughter should be very pleased. I know I would be!
Mark
Thanks guys.
Prop discs are made from the plastic that encases everything we buy today. I use a compass with two metal points to draw the disk and mark the center. I enlarge the center hole with an XActo knife. The disk is chucked up in a dremel cutting wheel. These use a very fine screw, as opposed to the Chinese tools that use larger ones. Spin the disk at slow speed and touch a ScotchBrite pad to the underside and topside of the disk. Wait for the streaks to appear then move it further out on the disc. You can also true up the disk on sandpaper. When you are done, enlarge the hole as necessary to fit the shaft. Sometimes, like on this one, I use sandpaper. I have a big roll used to make sanding belts from and I just tear off a piece. It is 240 grit aluminum oxide. A soft touch is needed to get the streaks instead of just sanding it down evenly. I will try to remember to include this process in the photos I take for this build. I don't even glue the disk onto the shaft. Glued things can become broken things so I just slip it on and can slip them off for shipping.
I said I would wait a couple of days to start the next one. After posting that, I turned around to my work desk, looked at the templates, then started on the new parts. So much for a break.
Ken Pugh
Ken,
That is a very effective prop blur technique. Nice stand, too! I still need to make a stand for my VKA-23 spaceplane. With the blended delta wings, I can't suspend it from a thread harness from a magnet stuck to an overhead heating duct like my WW II planes.
Seeing your B-25 is an inspiration; I have a relative who was a B-25J navigator with the 499th Squadron of the 345th Bomb Group in the Pacific, and I've always wanted to make a model of one of their planes (they had bats painted across the nose, and were known as the "Bats Outta Hell").
Thanks Ken for the detailed description of how to construct prop disks. I've been toying with the idea of only replicating a portion of the props that seem to be most visible in aircraft photos.
Cliff.
I thought about the blurred prop we see in pics and how to duplicate that, then it occurred to me, the blurred prop is only visible in photos, not in real life. In reality, we see the whole disk blurred. Sometimes we also see the tips if they are painted, but the prop sections are photographic effects. Because of this, I went with the entire disk being blurred. Of course, all I really am doing is putting grooves in the disks just like the old vinyl records. The grooves are not uniform though they are circular. I think the nonuniform nature of the grooves adds to the effect. You also have to be careful to sand off the edges of the disk neatly so they are circular and there no bits hanging on from the knife cuts.
Ken Pugh
Really interesting and much to reflect on. Thanks again Ken.
Cliff.
Thanks Ken for the excellent description,I will give your idea a try sometime as it does look most effective.
Barry.
Gave the B-25 to my granddaughter last night and she loves it. They went home today and we got this snap. I asked her what she would like me to build her next and she asked for a bomber. She likes all planes but especially those that blow things up.
I had bought her a snap together plastic kit just in case she wanted to give that a try. We were up together until midnight putting it together. Her dad came in when it was almost finished and I was trimming the decals for her. I finally told him that she actually built the model and he was stunned. After a while of holding his mouth open he told her, "You can't believe how proud I am of you right now." Overall, a great day.
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Ken Pugh
She is lovely Ken,what a little sweetie ! she is so lucky to have you do this for her and will always remember these days,the model is a true gift in every sense as it was hand crafted with love,you can see the way she is holding it that it will be looked after and treasured,it will certainly outlive any plastic model for sure.
Barry.
Great job Ken. Bravo! I still have a wooden toy soldier my grandfather carved and painted for me when I was about seven. He passed away when I was eight. It's the only thing I have from him other than my middle name.
Mark
I haven't been posting anything here to date because I wanted to see how some things turned out first. I did take pics along the way so all will be caught up, eventually. As Lou is now starting a B-25 I figured I better get to posting in case any of my trials can help.
First off, my finishing technique. I am still not a master of it yet but it is getting better. I realized that woodworker finish techniques did not really try to get rid of wood grain showing through. A trip to the library produced a book just on woodworker finishing methods. It was filled with the methods used in different desired results and using different types of products. I focused on water-based products because I would be using water-based paints and I want to keep my solvents the same. A small section of the book was dedicated to what was referred to as "piano finish." This was the description they give to a completely smooth finish with no grain visible at all. They showed the way to do it with all the products and I learned the water-based way.
"Piano finish," water-based style.
The key to understanding the technique is that you are filling the pores of the wood. Filling the pores and filling low spots are two completely separate issues and are dealt with separately and with different products. Don't worry about filling your bad spots during the early stages, though small problems can be addressed.
Since you will be working with water-based products, the first step is to raise the grain of the wood. I keep a spray bottle of distilled water on my bench as it has many handy uses and this is one of them. Spray or wipe water over you part and let dry. When dry, sand off all the raised grain. If you get carried away with sanding in later steps and sand down below the surface you have now, you will have to raise the grain again. Develop a light touch with your sandpaper.
When the grain is raised, you can now apply water-based wood filler. I could not find the exact product recommended and can't remember the name of the stuff, but I was stuck using Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Filler. When I first used this product it was not getting into the wood the way I wanted. I now thin it some with distilled water. The filler now flows into the grain of the wood nicely. Because of thinning, it is imperative that you raise the grain first. Wood filler only fills about 80% of the pores, so two passes is not a waste of time, though you can probably get by with just one. One thing is critical. If you are going to use a wood filler, DO NOT USE SANDING SEALER. You can't fill the pores if you can't get to them. Apply per the instructions and sand off. Once this is done it is important to vacuum out the part. You are actually sucking the dust out of the unfilled pores. This is important for future steps to get into those pores. When applying this stuff, just apply what is needed to go over the surface of the wood. Any extra you put on there has to be sanded off. I use a small stainless steel spatula to apply, then scrap off most of it. Remember, you are not filling bad spots, you are filling the pores. Sand this surface lightly. Don't sand past the filler and into the wood or all your work turns into dust.
After you finish using the wood filler and have vacuumed out the part, it time to apply a finish. Use your favorite water-based polyurethane. I like the Minwax Polycrylic. It is a good finish that I will experiment with using as a clear coat. I have used it to seal silkspan and to apply fiberglass and it works great. When using water-based polyurethane (not oil-based products) use a synthetic bristle brush. This Polycrylic will completely remove the nice tip you have on a natural bristle brush and it will get sloppy. I don't think it is permanent, but it makes application a pain. Use the synthetic brush and the tip stays intact. Polycrylic dries to sand in 2 hours. They recommend three coats but I find two works fine in this process. Sand with 220 grit sandpaper between coats. When you are done, let dry 24 hours before next step. At this point, if you have any low spots that need filling, do it now. I use Bondo glazing putty. This is an automobile product for filling small areas. In our models, even our big areas are small to the car guys. When this is finished, you should have a nice, smooth surface sanded over with fine sandpaper that is ready for finish.
Once you have your polyurethane coats done, you can now spray on a primer. I like Dupli-Color Filler Primer. This is a high build primer used by the auto paint industry to fill the scratches in the bare metal before painting. You can spray that stuff on as thick as you want and it just builds up. Follow the directions for whatever product you decide to use. You don't really have to sand between coats with filler primers and can just lightly sand the final coat.
Once this is dry, paint with your favorite water-based acrylics. If done properly, there will be absolutely no grain visible at all. If you are like me, there will still be a little, but you will have a very smooth surface. I haven't tried it with balsa but I bet it would work well.
Ken Pugh
Excellent tips here Ken,the biggest problem this end is the un-availability of the products that you mention in the UK,no doubt there are similar products out there just waiting to be tested that would give similar results to your own findings.
One of the best ways to fill balsa is to use the cling film technique,suitable primer is applied to the wood and cling film is pulled in all four directions across the surface,once cured the surface is like glass and requires very little sanding,the edges of the cling film are simply wrapped underneath say the wing until the curing has been completed,by doing different components at a time it can be more labour intensive but the end results are worthwhile in my opinion.
You can use a variety of materials including conventional sanding sealer which works really well applied as a generous coat,the cling film smooths out and forces the sealer into the surface.
Barry.
I don't know their methods for making the masters for resin models, but if you scroll down on this link for Unicraft models and take a look at the photos of the master model http://www.unicraft.biz/germ/do19/do19.htm (http://www.unicraft.biz/germ/do19/do19.htm) the results look a bit like what you described.
Of course, it is possible that it is not made of wood, but a laminated man-made material.
That cling film method sounds like the latex method a German uses for fiberglass on model boats.
I may have to find that book again in the library and see what it says on oil-based products. They may be more available in the UK.
Another thing to consider, this is done to the parts after they are glued together. This wood filler can make a weak glue joint. I fill some parts before gluing together, but I leave the joint areas untouched.
Ken Pugh
Thanks for the link, Dave. I have considered making resin kits before and that site shows a lot of kits broken up into parts. Something to consider when one is a solid modeler.
Ken Pugh
I quite often partially pre fill the grain on the parts before assembly, especially with awkward types like biplanes etc when it is virtually impossible to sand at times.
Experimentation is the answer to try out different methods,and we are all learning things along the way as well.
Barry.
The way I will build this one is slow and overkill for 1/72 scale but I am learning new techniques. The tail and wings will be built up with separated surfaces that will not move. This is done for strength. I like very strong and durable models. This also allows me to get the grain of the wood going to the best benefit of the part.
First up, marking out parts for cutting.
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I use some of the points already on the templates for peg locations. The fuselage is built in two halves so I have a perfect centerline from above that does not go away. Notice that I marked on the template the thickest part of the airfoil. This is also drilled out. A peg will go through and will be used to align the wings and provide a stronger glue joint. It will also provide clamping but I will show that when the time comes.
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Here is another trick I use. The outside of the line is in heavy black ink. The inside is in red ink. When the parts are glued together, I have an indicator when I am getting close, black ink, and an indicator when I am at the line and going too far, red ink. Because the parts are pre-drilled for pegs, the ink will be inside at the centerline and will be visible as you carve.
Ken Pugh
The nacelles are made up the same way as the fuselage. Here are some tricks I use to shape them.
When making square stuff round, I draw in the round shape in the front then carve that in. This then becomes the guide for the rest of the nacelle. I also mark where it changes from round to a ventral shape. The front is a little long and will be trimmed off and shaped later. Up is marked early because the aft end of the nacelle is not round and orientation of the part is important.
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I noticed on the Japanese solid model sites that they sometimes had a lot of vertical lines drawn on the fuselage. These did not match the cross section points of their plans. I still don't know why they did it, but it occurred to me this can help. As I am finalizing the shape of a curved part, I draw some contour lines in. They don't have to have perfect spacing and they are done free hand. When you rotate the part around and look at it on end, you can see how your contour lines are lining up. This is great for determining what shape you have along the part. You can get your shape right and symmetrical this way. As you carve/file/sand down, just draw in some more lines. The closer the lines the finer the contour you can see.
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Ken Pugh
The tail is built up of several parts as will be the wing. This eliminates carving of lines and makes the part stronger. When you get to the stubs, the grain needs to be in a different direction than the tail, so I used square stock for this.
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Notice the diamond drill bit is chucked up in a handle. This can be used like a burnishing tool to shape your parts. I mainly use it when digging out the front of nacelles. This works great with diamond tools because there is not directional cutting surface and you take off less material at a time compared with using a moto tool. You can do some intricate carving like this, a trick I learned from the ship modelers who need to do ornamentation carvings.
I cut the parts separately instead of making one part and cutting it into two pieces. The stubs are marked so I can put square stock there.
Here is the rough part.
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And here is how the part looks cleaned up a little.
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And now the built up tail section.
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When gluing on the vertical to the horizontal, I first made sure everything was squared up. Instead of wood pegs I am using brass nails, which are stronger. When you can get everything to line up without a lot of pressure and fiddling about, you are ready to glue. If you need to put pressure on something to get it lined up, the drying glue will shift the part. Everything must sit together nicely with no aligning pressure needed. To glue up the parts, put wood glue in the joint, but CA on the peg/brass nail. Press the parts together and hold until the CA sets. This will provide the clamping pressure needed for the wood glue, which gives the strongest joint. I do this with wings as well and don't have to set up clamping rigs. The peg and CA glue provide plenty of clamping pressure.
Ken Pugh
Very neat workmanship Ken and your second B-25 is coming alive,the ring idea is excellent and I use a variation of this whilst carving,slip a piece of string around say the fuselage and eyeball from the front/rear as you carve,slide the string along checking for high spots etc,you will see them appear like magic as you do so ! simple and effective as your drawn rings are.
Barry.
Excellent tutorial on your project. Have you looked at my one piece wing?
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It should give lots of strength to the finished model.
Lou
I'm going to keep that string idea in mind for quick and easy spotting.
I tried carving a one-piece wing with fairings on the P-47 and had several things I didn't like about it, including carving up so much wood. Getting the wing of the B-25 lined up and symmetrical is a task I shy away from. Plus, I am still developing ways of making larger models but on a small scale. Big chunks of wood get hard to find. I had so many glue joints fail on my first B-25 that I almost gave up and carved a new wing, but then I found the solution and all was well.
Ken Pugh
I draw reference lines all over my fuselage while carving. I tend to carve one half of the fuselage completely up to the center line and then carve the other side to match, using the pencil lines to let me know if I am close to the right shape.
I like the one piece wing Lou.
Saw your pictures in the gallery. I like the way you made the wing to nacelle fairings. This is a problem area for me, but your method has given me new hope in this area. Are these pictures from the this Mitchell or your new one?
Lou
Pics are of the new one. I made a big post of pics but have not gotten to posting here yet. The methods used here will definitely be explained in detail, though I am already thinking of new ways to do some of these things!
Ken Pugh
Sorry it has been so long since I have posted on this build but there have been many challenges here that interfered.
From the previous post, I got the aft end of the nacelles made then moved to the front. The front circle was carved out as a guide for the rest of the shape. Up needs to be marked because at the rear end there is a definite up and down that is easy to lose track of. An error was made here that I had to correct later after the nacelles were glued to the wing. Since the blanks are cut over-sized, one has to be careful to get things down to size as carving proceeds. I forgot to do this and had to saw off the front end.
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With the front of the nacelle shaped, I then drew in the inside of the engine fairing. Notice I use two pieces to make the nacelles just like I do with the fuselage, so the centerline is permanently visible. Just need to mark the other centerline and the center axis of the engine is easy to find for drilling later.
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From this point I carved in the prop transmission. I just hollow out around this and do not bother with engine cylinders because they can't be seen at 1/72 scale with my spinning props. Cylinder area is just painted black but the transmission is painted gray because it is very visible.
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Completed nacelles.
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Ken Pugh
Please make as detailed as you can. I keep the putty makers in business around here.
Lou
On to wing construction. The B-25 originally had simple dihedral on the wings but there was a nasty dutch roll tendency that would have made bombing especially difficult. This was corrected by using several fixes, one of which included breaking the wing outboard of the nacelle and re-attaching straight outwards. It is an optical illusion that there is anhedral in the wing at this point. The taper of the the outboard wing makes it look like it is drooping down when it is actually straight.
On the model, the inboard dihedral was sanded in with the same angle sanded on the outer surface of the inner wing panel. The outer wing is then glued straight on with the aid of a spacer until the glue dries. With care, the taper can then be shaped to get the distinctive B-25 wing shape. On my first version of this model all of my wing joints failed no matter what glue was used. I then used proper joinery techniques used by carpenters and they are now very strong. All joints along the wing are reinforced, just as all parts glued to flat surfaces now have pegs. It makes a tremendous difference in strength and also aides in alignment. Get it right then glue and your parts won't shift while the glue is drying. Boy, I hate it when that happens.
The individual wing components were cut out. Make sure you have the grain running in the direction of greatest strength, another benefit of building in pieces. The outer tips cut here were not used and I later made them of thinner material with the grain running perpendicular to the span.
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After the parts are shaped and the airfoil is complete, I drew in the control surfaces and carved them out. The dihedral is also sanded in at this point. Test them against the fuselage to make sure all is correct and make sure you hold both wings on at the same time to make sure everything is symmetrical. Remember, get everything to fit now with no effort so the drying glue does not distort things later.
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I use Swiss chip carving techniques for my control surfaces. This requires a special knife and a specific technique to do it easily. You cut along your line at an angle, the cut along the other side at an angle. The sliver then pops out and you have your engraving. This knife is made so you can have the tip of the blade inserted like in the photo and have your thumb running along your wood as a guide. Look where you want to go, not where you have been and you will get surprisingly straight lines. When you get used to holding the knife the same way every time, your grooves will get very uniform, though it is a little difficult at this small scale. One can also do this with other knives but it is more difficult and slower. If your knife gets dull it will tend to come out of the wood and could end up in your hand (trust me on this one). If you have to force it, sharpen your knife.
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Here is a comparison of two chip carving knives. The top one is made by Two Cherries. They made excellent knives but this is not a Swiss-style chip carving knife. The bottom on is a Wayne Barton model. He is a proponent of Swiss-style chip carving. He specified this knife and has several books on the subject. Just search for Wayne Barton if you are interested. The top one does not properly align your hand and thumb, making the job more difficult.
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10019/normal_b25028.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5992 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5992)
Ken Pugh
Wing joinery. You will use a key piece with the grain running along the span. Test your saw blade on scrap would to see how big your kerf is. If you are lucky, it will match a standard thickness of wood. That is how it works out for me. In this picture, carefully notice that both pieces of the wing panel are lined up and held together. You then saw in the slot that will have the key. Two work best to keep alignment. These do not have to be perfectly aligned with the wing span, just make sure you cut them together. Since they are not perfectly aligned, the keys really hold the joint tight and alignment is easier.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5993 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5993)
Check your work and clean up your slots, if necessary. Cut some keys with the grain running along the length of the slot. You will glue along the joint and inside the slots. This makes an extremely strong joint that does not shift as the glue dries. Notice the spacer wood under the inner panel to hold in the dihedral. This holds everything so tight I don't have to keep things clamped for a long time. The slots are tight to the keys and not perfectly aligned, so the joint holds together nicely.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5995 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5995)
Ken Pugh
Nacelles to wings. As I said before, glue joints need reinforcement. Using two pegs assure the parts will not shift as the glue dries and keep everything aligned. Hold the parts together and drill through. Make sure everything fits well before applying glue. If you have to use force for your parts to align, don't be surprised if they are not right after the glue dries, even with clamps. I use a simple Clark Y airfoil though the original had a semi-symmetrical. This gives a flat surface for the nacelles to glue against. One could just cut in a flat area if the proper airfoil is used. At this point the nacelle is too long, a problem I corrected later.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5996 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5996)
Once the glue was dry I drew in the nacelle top fairings. All of these areas are filled with wood. Some just use filler, but I like to use as much wood as possible for durability. You will use filler over this later, but get all this blocked in nicely with wood. Just glue on scraps until all areas are filled.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5997 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5997)
This view shows the fairing as assymetrical, though it is more symmetrical after I carved it out. If you make sure there is plenty of wood, then you can just carve off what is not necessary later.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5998 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5998)
The leading edge of the wing is only a little more challenging. You can carve and fit these areas, but I just fill in with square stock until all the areas are filled.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5999 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=5999)
At this point the top nacelle fairings are carved in and the wing tips are installed. They are small but they still have two keys. If you don't do this, don't be surprised if they pop off later.
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All is glued up and ready for scrutiny. I still wasn't pleased with the shape and further refined it. Remember, carve first, then file, then sand. With a nice, sharp knife, you can slowly carve off extremely fine thicknesses and get the shape you want. This is an area the beginner easily neglects. When carving, you get to where it looks right. Leave it laying around for a few days and you notice it is still rather thick. There is more wood that needs to come off. Shave it off thinly and slowly until it looks right. After I reached this point with everything glued up, I still fiddled with it another couple of hours getting the shape to look right.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6001 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6001)
Ken Pugh
Excellent advice Ken on the carving sequence,I like the way that you have done those engine nacelle mid portions,the shape is tricky but you have pulled it off well,the pegs and plugs are most effective and make for a tough model,your enjoyment of building solids comes through.
Barry
Now it is time to detail the nacelles. The exhaust ports of the engines had individual covers in later models of the B-25. This gave a significant performance boost. The first time I did these I glued on pieces of wood and carved them down. Unfortunately, the wood would frequently split halfway through. For the other one, I planed the wood down to the proper thickness. You then curve the leading edge, glue on the nacelle with CA, then cut it off. Before you do any of this mark out the locations of the covers, including guide lines to show where they start and finish lengthwise. In this shot you can also see the cowl flaps are carved in. They are carved too deep, but the filler putty that fills the wood grain will fill this in some and bring the detail down some.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6316 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6316)
Here is a completed nacelle.
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10019/normal_b25039.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6317 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6317)
Ken Pugh
The wood added in a previous step is carved down and filler smooths everything out. At this point, I also filled the grain as done previously.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6318 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6318)
Ken Pugh
In this shot you can see the cheek gun fairings and the nose drilled out.
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10019/normal_b25041.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6319 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6319)
Ken Pugh
The tail has been slotted in and the wings drilled. Everything is mocked up and checked. If it doesn't want to stay in the proper position without glue, keep working on it. If you glue it up without proper fits things will shift as the glue dries, even if clamped. Take the time to get good fits then gluing is a breeze.
This was the first time I took the time to use my marking knife. I marked out the tail location with the marking knife then started carving the slot. I was quite surprised at how the tail fitted in nicely without needing to square up the hole. My marking knife and I are now very good friends.
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10019/normal_b25043.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6321 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6321)
Ken Pugh
There she is all primed up and waiting for paint. She will have an intricate paint job and all markings will be painted on, no decals. I have standardized my mounting method so I made up mount for building and painting. The brass pins are made long so I can paint around the mounting holes while using the mount.
I usually don't post anything about the steps of construction until I am well past those steps to make sure that the method posted is the method that works. I am now quite far along in painting and am working on the markings at the moment. I have used a couple of methods for the markings and hope to have a good method to describe for those hating themselves so much as to want to paint markings in 1/72 like I do.
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6322 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6322)
Ken Pugh
Ken a most impressive model and it has come along leaps and bounds as well,your love for the B-25 has really come through with this project,best of luck with the markings and decoration which will be a challenging task but you can do it.
Barry.
Great looking Mitchell Ken. I await the painting guide.
lou
Nice work, Ken, but please tell me it's either the photo or my old glasses, but I find that the wings seem to droop downwards towards the tips. Can that be?
Martin
It is an optical illusion, just like on the real plane. The inner wings have dihedral, but the outer wings are straight. The illusion comes from the tapering thickness of the air foil towards the tip. I have seen planes made with anhedral and have read people describe it as anhedral, which is incorrect. At this small scale, I was not able to get the tip to take that upward appearance from the bottom, which is also due to tapering.
The droop appearance is more subtle when viewed in person, but it is still there. It took a lot of work to make sure it was visible. When the wing looked straight, I knew the taper was not correct and the wing was too thick. Once I finally got the wing thin enough, the droop appeared. This is one of the nice quirks of the B-25 and a great potential conversation topic to someone viewing the model. Much like the shape of the Corsair's wing. It's fun when someone knows the Corsair wing is that shape because of the prop, but then you get to discuss that it is much more complicated than that, especially when you tell them the Corsair and the Hellcat had the same propellor.
Ken Pugh
Well, that told me then!
Thanks Ken, it's a strange effect, but your knowledge of it convinces me!
Cheers,
Martin
Original shots of the prototype B-25 shows it had simple dihedral. That plane had a big problem with Dutch rolls. They cut the wings at the break and put them on straight and that got rid of most of it. They made other changes that were not as visible and the B-25 ended up as the most stable bombing platform of WWII.
Ken Pugh
While on the subject of the real thing, B-25 gunships are a little difficult to track down unit markings. The B-25J is the main gunship model. Nose guns were tried in the field in the Pacific and North American actually liked the modification. That was an achievement because they did not like many of the improvments done on their airplanes in the field. The J model incorporated some of these modifications.
North American also offered factory modification packages for nose guns that were very popular. Sometimes the planes were modified with nose guns, then modified back with glass noses, as the mission dictated. This makes things even more complicated for scale modelers. There were different cheek gun pods and some noses got the 8 .50 cals while others got a cannon in the nose that went under the pilots seat. The cannon was extremely effective against ships.
The B-25 was heavily modified by North American throughout its service because there were a lot of problems with it. They were not very experienced with building bombers and many of their ideas did not work. The main thing it had going for it was that was an excellent flier. If it had the handling problems of the B-26, it probably would have been cancelled, but the pilots loved the way it handled and taking off from a carrier didn't hurt it's reputation either. It's bomb load was too small to be a good 2 engine bomber, but it's progression as a gunship made it outstanding as a ground attack plane in the Pacific and it's bombing accuracy was very popular with the pilots.
Ken Pugh
Ken,
If you run across any B-25J with bats on their noses, they are from 499th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group, the "Bats Outta' Hell". My late great-uncle was a bombardier/navigator with them in the Pacific. There is an excellent book titled, "Warpath Across the Pacific" that is about the unit. I have the book, and will take a look at it to see how much information they have about markings.
Garet
Garet,
I have seen that marking on a plastic model. Don't remember which one. I am doing one with the green and yellow eagle looking marking on the nose and the Indian head on the tail. I have the nose painted but am still wrapping my brain around the tail. One of these planes is in a museum in Kalamazoo, MI.
Ken Pugh
Ken,
Excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing that. I think the markings you've described are also part of the 345th, just a different squadron.
Garet
Here's a work in progress shot of the paint. I am working on the tail now. This side is done and need to reverse for other side. I welcome all criticism. I have a long way to go on this stuff.
Ken Pugh
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10019/normal_b25045.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6406 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6406)
Very nice work Ken. Your details on the engine cowlings is great.
Lou
Very nice Ken. I can't imagine painting the markings as you're doing and I wouldn't normally criticise except you asked us to. The white bars of the national insignia should not be centered on the blue circle ....they should be raised above center. The tops of the white bars should be in line with the tops of the white star points.
Mark
At 1/72 scale Ken that's a remarkable job. I'm referring primarily to the hand painting that your model entails. I wasn't even that steady of hand years ago let alone now! Nice work.
Cliff.
Thanks, guys. Yes, at 1/72 this gets very tough.
You're absolutely right, Mark, about the alignment of the stars. I had to check this thing again. There might be an optical illusion in the pic because they are aligned as you said. Two of them actually have the top of the star a little above the line of the bar and I will go back over that by hand and try to fix them. The alignment was way off before I touched them up. This gets back to the annoyance of trying to cut masks at this scale. The masking material moves under the knife as I try to cut it, and I am using VERY sharp knives. I usually notice I am cut when blood shows up on my work.
I had to do a lot of touch-up painting with the national insignia to make up for the flaws in the mask. Because of that, I am thinking of no longer using them, though that sounds crazy to me. It seems they will be much easier to paint without a mask. The next time I do this, I plan to just use straight pieces of tape and brush them by hand instead of airbrushing them. Using two pieces of tape, they can be masked out well enough to get the job done. In future, I will probably spray a blue section, hand paint the stars and bars, then mask the outline of the insignia and paint the base color.
This paint scheme has a lot of thin striping, mostly in white. I thought this would be very difficult to do but it actually was quite easy. The trick was to only mask one side and let the brush thickness do the rest. For the nose, just outline the aft edge and run your brush along the mask. After you remove the tape, you can touch up the line thickness and paint coverage. For the circle on the tail, same thing. Cut a circle for the outline and run your brush along. You only have to make sure you have enough thickness, not that it is the correct thickness. After you lay down this color, touch up with the base color to get your line thickness right and to correct wherever you bleed under the mask. I have always been intimidated by striping but now consider it as manageable.
For painting unit insignia, visualize it in layers. All your painting will be in layers and can be corrected as long as you have the paints available that you have already used. For the Indian head, I first layed down the white. Again, there was that very thin outline of white. No problem, just lay down a layer of white in the outline of the head and block it in. Go over it enough times to get the color coverage right. The next color was the brown. That put in more of the face. You then go in with a layer of black, forming the brown and white edges. Detail comes next, facial details and the brown lines in the headdress. Take your base color to edge the outside of the white again to get your stripe thickness right and you are done. It's actually easy once you try it. Shaking is sometimes manageable, unless you have a condition that you shake uncontrollably. You need to brace the model, your support hand, and your painting hand, just don't support them on your belly where breathing and heartbeats make everything move.
I didn't do it enough for this one but something that is very important is to practice the marking by sketching. Keep sketching it over and over again at actual size on paper until you get it right and have a plan in your head. It will go much easier when you do this first.
Another thing that is crucial is the brush. It is not important for the brush to be small but it is absolutely critical to have a good tip. If the brush is too small, you won't have enough paint on the brush to do the job. The tip has to come to a point. That point has to be even (on the flat brushes) and can't be a thick, abrupt, ending of the hairs. This gets to brush selection.
When chosing a brush for this kind of work, I prefer sable. Nothing else works for me. It needs to be an artist's brush, not a Testor's modeling brush. Get yourself a small bottle that can be sealed and put some water in it. Go to the store and choose the size sable brush you need for your collection. Dip each candidate brush in the water and draw to a point on scrap paper, which is usually available in the store near this section. Look at the tip. If it is properly formed, buy the brush. If the tip won't behave, don't buy it. Don't dip the brush in your mouth because you don't know where the brush has been or what chemicals it has been exposed to.
I am not using a good white with this project but I have ideas on how to fix that. Flow improvers are great for this work. White is a very difficult color to work with. The one I am using clots with the flow improver or thinner. I am thinking of using quality artist acrylic, Winsor & Newton, in the future. Their paints are expensive but they are very good.
Paint today is rarely made up of pigments. It is usually a white base with dyes. Old school and high quality paint use pigments. Some of them get very expensive. Also expensive are finely ground pigments.
We can't always use the best materials but we can definitely find ways of doing the best we can with what we find.
Ken Pugh
Incredible painting Ken,there cannot be many of us that hand paint markings but it is very satisfying if you feel comfortable with it,I like it because the markings blend into the base colours of the model.
Barry.
The B-25J is now finished, though the stand is not ready. I will upload pics when the plane and stand are together.
The machine guns are brass tubing blackened with Blacken-It. Of course, black is a relative term with these chemical products as it is a blackish brown. I have been wanting to try it and it does look pretty good. It is obviously not painted so it stands out.
All of the markings I have not gone over in too much more detail here as that is now moved to the Painting Markings topic in the Paint and Finish section of Tips and Techniques. Anything I have to add will go there and I suggest any questions on markings should be asked there. I will be posting some marking guides when I can get around to making my own sketches. The info is not copyrighted but the pictures I have came from a magazine. I will just make my own sketches with the info on them and the site will be protected.
The model was coated with regular matte clear from a spray can. I just didn't feel like doing much more than that. I rubbed the finish down further with a Scotch Brite to dull it some more.
She looks real sassy with all those machine guns. I would have hated being on the receiving end of that business.
Ken Pugh
All done.
Ken Pugh
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http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6471 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6471)
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Full power ! those prop arcs look very realistic,good job there Ken.
Barry.
Wow Ken an awesome job!
Peter
Excellent workmanship. The sun glistening of the prop disc give it a very realistic effect.
Lou
What next?
Thanks, guys. I didn't notice the sun on the disk.
Next up, a ship. I have a solid kit of Rainbow, an America's Cup J class defender. She was the slower boat but still won. My plan is to place her in full sail in water. I am using Philip Reed's method of making water, which is carving it from wood. It is intimidating but I won't get good at it without trying. The kit is unbuilt so I can show what is included in a solid ship kit, which is usually just a bunch of wood and a very poorly carved hull that may or may not be usuable.
Ken Pugh
This I really must see,wood carved like water,it reminds me of the task that was given to trainee pattern makers some years ago,they had to carve chainlink from a solid piece of timber,no mean feat either.
Barry.
Your Mitchell looks great Ken. Thanks for shareing with us.
Mark
Thanks, Mark.
Philip Reed is famous for very small ship models. He builds man of war models 6 inches long. Check out the link below then scroll all the way to the bottom.
http://www.shipmodel.com/models/majestic-waterline (http://www.shipmodel.com/models/majestic-waterline)
Looking at the water, picture in your mind that surface without paint. Those small wavelets between the waves that look so realistic are actually the marks left over from a gouge. The wood I am planning to use is not optimal for this task, but it will work. Once the water is planned out, it is carved with a gouge. The white caps are artists gesso. Precision is not really necessary and it is probably best not to overwork the wood. I am eager to try this out. I have a book on the J boats with pics of Rainbow beating to windward. So, I have plenty of reference pics for the scene I have in mind.
While I am doing this I also have a project my pastor dropped off during the summer. I need to finish a TopFlite 1/5 Spitfire that someone built poorly. Of course, he would like it real soon!
Ken Pugh
I look forward to lots of pictures in doing that water.
Lou
Oh, now that is where art does creep into modelmaking! I started a set piece of Bluebird K7 on Coniston at the quay, with water carved from Perspex (Lucite) for the light rippling. It was a hell of a job keeping it light. I used a minidrill with a spherical burr.
But the trick is more in the painting and oils are probably best laid on in thin glazes, as long as the oil painting method is known to you!
Looking forward to seeing it happen.
Martin
What realistic water and in such a small scale as well,the method needs to be explored for flying boats as well which has given me some ideas to experiment with.
I once built the 'Kings ship' from a Hobbies weekly drawing,that would be worth doing a second time around as well.
Martin is Lucite available in small pieces to experiment with ?
Barry.
Mr. Reed even recommends practicing a few times before attempting water for a model. Maybe I need to start out on a smaller scale first. Maybe build a flying boat in water. Thinking has commenced.
Ken Pugh
Looking forward to it.
Lou
Barry, I find Perspex (Lucite, Plexiglas) is one of those things that I just have kicking around. I still have bits that I knicked from my apprenticeship with John B. Thorp's in London. They used it almost exclusively for architectural models. Then I worked for Mike Karslake Scale Models and he always used it for cases, so I got my "fix" there, too.
I usually find off cuts of any materials in specialist shops and workers of whatever it is. I must say though, that it is five times more expensive than glass, if bought straight from a shop.
The beauty of scratchbuilding is that it costs almost nothing. Despite what the fools on scalemotorcars forum are claiming. Just because they were dumb enough to pay thousands for a poor quality Pocher kit, they feel they must project the cost to those of us who can do much the same for a few quid. My old bank manager could never understand how there were virtually no costs to what I did for a living, so I took him a drawing pad, a clicky pencil, a fuel bill and a chunk of brass offcut from the local engraver. "There," said I, "value that lot". A 10lb. propane cylinder would last me over a year for £13. In those days £20 of fuel would get me almost anywhere to measure a subject and I'd charge that to the customer anyway.. If I'd had me wits about me, I'd have done posh versions of the drawings and sold them to the Public, too. Or "done a Winnie" and written books and flogged them for years.
Cheers,
Martin