1/48 B-25B Doolittle Raider WIP

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

This plane has a special significance to me. My mom’s aunt’s cousin was a flier on the No. 16 B-25 (Bat Outta Hell) in the Doolittle raid, and he was eventually captured and, sadly, executed by the Japanese. I built the Monogram B-25J as a kid, but never finished it, and it of course wasn’t a Doolittle Raid plane.

Now that I’m back into modeling, I wanted to make his plane and ship it to my mom’s aunt, who has always been interested in the raid and his story. A park is named after him in Kansas, and an exhibit used to be on display at the Aerospace Museum of California here in Sacramento, where the 16 aircraft had a stopover on their way to the raid.

The Accurate Miniatures kit is the only one in 1/48, and it fortunately has decals for all 16 Raider aircraft. It seems to have some fit issues, but overall I really like the surface detail and the interior detail and the fact that the instructions go to great lengths to discuss the differences between the Raider aircraft and the standard B-25B.

So to start, the box art:

I decided to build up the main interior pieces before starting on the interior green color and adding details. So far, I have built the cockpit structure, but I left the instrument panel and seats off until after I get some paint down.

After doing that and constructing the nose section, I built the main parts of the bomb bay and added a few of the waist details. Before painting the interior green, I wanted to do the aluminum of the bomb bay and a few of the other bits like the gear legs, bomb bay doors and wheels.

I went with Alclad II, base-coating it gloss black and then finishing it with polished aluminum.

The Doolittle Raiders had a fuel cell added to the bomb bay, and here it is held together without glue.

So that’s where it sits now, for the most part. I’ve also built the engine nacelles, the wings and the rear stabilizer as well as the vertical stabilizer parts (which will be left off until after paint).

It looks like a fair amount of filling and fitting will be needed on those, but I’ll take it one step at a time.

Comments welcome - thanks for looking!

-BD-

2

That’s why I love model Kits, there’s always a factual incident that a model kit can bring to a modeler. At this point, it is our duty to bring the story and aircraft into the public conscience. This was not meant to be insulting and or disrespectfull. Thank you for sharing the history of Doolittle bombing raid.

Toshi

3

That’s looking good. This is one kit I have always wanted to build. It will be enjoyable to see this come together.

4

Brandon I’m thrilled to see you start this one. I’ve been wanting to do this kit for about a year now. What do you think of the detail in the cockpit for this kit? I’ve been considering the Aires AM for this but from looking at what you’ve posted so far…I may not even need it.

5

Will be following this one. Looks like the kit has very nice detail.

Mike

6

Very cool!

7

Thanks, all!

Toshi - No disrespect at all. I like building models for the same reason. This is the only time I’ve gotten a chance to build an actual aircraft of a family member, so it’s fun.

Bvallot - The cockpit detail is good. For what I think will actually be visible once it’s closed up, I think an AM pit would be a waste. Maybe some sort of harnesses, but the IP is a clear part with a decal for the backside for the instruments. I’ll use liquid mask on the gauges and paint it then apply the decal.

Where you might want to go AM if you don’t like the detail is in the nose. Since that whole area is a glass front, it’s what will be most visible (after the bomb bay, of course).

I hope to get the interior green on tonight before grabbing dinner with my sister. I feel bad running my very loud air compressor in my garage late at night. The neighbor says he doesn’t mind, but our houses are close and I think he secretly does mind.

-BD-

8

Nice start, and certainly a great reason to build it. Some nice looking interior detail on that kit.

9

Great story and look forward to seeing this one come together.

10

Your model will be a tribute to the heroic crews who flew that mission. As a matter of historic fact most of the crew members who were captured were executed by beheading, or shot in the back. That mission was the morale booster the U.S. needed after the unprovoked sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

11

Brandon, I am looking forward to your build. Your connection to the raid makes this build even more special.

I to find the raid interesting and this would be the only version I would like to build of this aircraft.

Keep up the great work.

moose

12

Brandon, I am watching your build with interest. I have a couple AM B-25Bs, pluse a couple other AM versions, plus a stack of RM B-25J’s. My next build is planed to be all the Doolittle B-25B’s in 1/350 scale on the Hornet. Be patient with this kit and you will have one fine model!

13

Great start Brandon, and an even better story. I have the same kit destined for Doolitle himself’s markings. Everything I’ve read says it goes together fairly well. I’m looking forward to seeing this one come together.

Joe

14

Thanks, guys. I got the interior green painted, and I followed that with some painting of the fabric parts of the interior (sound padding), but haven’t done much else and will be going on vacation soon. This will likely be a slow project, as I’ve got several others I’m planning on for group builds, but I’ll keep at this one.

-BD-