Today is the 74th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid. I finished the diorama last night to add to the glass model showcase at the USAF Tech Training School. I have a feeling I know what today’s USAF History lesson will be…[:D]
The kit is the Accurate Miniatures B-25B.
The figures are from my stash.
The rope lashings are made from twisted copper wire
The carrier deck and wheel chocks were purchased (unpainted).
The fuel cans are Tamiya.
The tool box, vise, etc. are CMK Resin.
The work bench is scratch-built.
The tarp over the upper gun turret is scratch-built from heat-shrunk ziploc bag and lead tape for the “strap”.
Overall, I have about 150 hours into it. Yes, there should be more rope lashings holding the plane down, but it gets very aggrivating working at this scale so I added rolled-up ropes on the deck; as if they hadn’t quite finished tying her down yet…I think it paints a pretty good picture of the preparation of these aircraft for this unprecedented historic mission. I’m pretty pleased with it!
It is still UNBELIEVABLE that the Raiders pulled this off… ENJOY!
Rob, that is a very fine job you did on the Doolittle raider. The raid is one of my favorite topics. That means I plan on doing something similar to what you did, only without the diorama detail. I do need a CV-8 flight deck. Yours looks good; can you tell me where you got it? Thanks!
Just a thought, but a Group Build were all 16 aircraft were built in 1/48th scale and the boat guys could jump in and build the deck (in modules probably) and then the whole thing could be donated to museum. Again just a thought.
The base was was an older production of a 1:48 scale wooden carrier deck made of a hard cast foam. It came with cast metal wheel chocks that I also used, and photo-etched brass tie-down strips that I glued-in with super glue. I paid a vendor $10.00 for it at the IPMS S.E. Regionals last month–I’ll have to look for the instructions to give you the manufacturer’s info. I believe they are OOP.
The Accurate Miniatures kit comes with the option of rear guns or brooksticks; with both parts included. Yes, it is equipped with broomsticks.
Before I changed my mind about whether or not to put Nose Art on the model, I was originally doing Doolittle’s plane which had none. So, one of the 500 lb bombs has a tiny Japanese friendship medal attached to it. Now that I modeled the “Ruptured Duck” it is no longer 100% historically accurate, but looks neat anyway (but hard to see).
That is awesome! Thanks for sharing. A relative of mine was on the raid and din’t make it, so I have been slowly building this kit, and your display is inspiring. Thanks again for sharing.
