B-25J Mitchell "My Duchess"

I am a huge fan of WWII twin-engined bombers. Too bad for me, there are not many kits of this type of subject out there in the 1/48 scale. However, I've never had trouble finding the venerable B-25 Mitchell. This kit was the Revell re-release of the classic Monogram B-25J kit.

Like the classic Monogram offering, this kit has great detail, considering its age, and some poor fitting areas due to warping. In the hands of an experienced modeler, however, this kit can still be an award winner.

The subject is a Mitchell from the 499 BS, 354 BG. The decals were provided by Model Master. I have always liked the nose art from the 354 BG, and the bats are my favorite. The decals were good, but I probaly could have painted most of the bat instead, saving a lot of aggrivation when the very large decals cracked and broke before finally settling down. I also added some depth to the paint scheme by using pastel chalk technique to simulate weathering. This kit was difficult and I added a lot of interior detail that unfortunately cannot be seen, but I had a lot of fun doing it anyway. It looks great on display next to my P-47.

P-47D Thunderbolt "Spirit of Atlantic City, NJ"

I scored this Tamiya kit for half price at a craft store becuase the box was crushed. Luckily, none of the parts were damaged. I really enjoyed this kit. It is well detailed, but not over engineered. The fit was better than most and the model went together rather quickly. The kit provides two options: 1) the ever-popular "Little Cheif" flown by Lt. Frank Klibbe, and 2) "Spirit of Atlantic City, NJ" flown by Capt. Walker "Bud" Mahurin, both of the famous "Zemke's Wolfpack" 56 Fighter Group. I chose the second option because "Little Cheif" is a pretty common subject and I find Capt. Mahurin's story very compelling.

I built this kit pretty much straight out of the box. The only detail that I added was the wiring harness on the engine and the seat belts. The paint scheme was the common ETO scheme (OD over Neutral Gray) with the white ID stripes - rather bland but the Razorback is so cool it doesn't need a pretty paint job to be impressive. However, I still wanted to add some depth to the product, so I used some heavy blending of various shades of pastelle chalks into the paint to simulate fading, repairs and exhaust, as well as some heavy drybrushing of alluminum for paint chipping. I think the effect came out quite subtle and realistic.

I chose to load the model with a bomb and some air-to-ground rockets; probably not a common loadout for Capt. Walker's aircraft, but the 56 FG at the time was experimenting with ground attack tactics and I wanted to highlight the P-47s ground attack capabilities. Overall, this was a great subject and a good kit to get me back into the mode of modeling. I honestly can't stop looking at it.