I started Hasegawa’s beautiful new B-25J for a customer. I’m also using Eduard’s PE detail sets (interior and exterior). A bit of surgery was required, and getting to this point has taken me quite a while. This will be the solid nose version, with eight 50 cal. guns. Strafing power !
Eduard has included floors for the rear compartment, along with inserts for the entry hatches (a nice touch !). The pilot & co-pilot seats are PE, along with the sidewalls and boxes. The kit’s sidewalls are bare. The radio and frame are PE, and are mounted where the instructions tell you to mount the rear seats. The seats actually go on the starboard fuselage side.
I tried painting the PE ammo belts, but I didn’t like the way they looked. After removing the paint, I got the “brainstorm” to just remove the plating the Eduard uses over the brass. After all, nothing looks more like brass than real brass !
The waist guns have PE ring sights, and I used Krystal Kleer for the turret glass. Probably the most difficult part was adding the tow rings to the gear legs, which were painted with Alcad Magnesium. The guns are Alcad Steel. The bombay is Alcad Aluminum.
There is a bicycle seat for the tail gunner, along with belts. These will be added once the fuselage is closed. The seat sits on a pedistal at the belly’s centerline. Installing it later will ensure proper placement.
I painted the interior with Model Master enamel Interior Green. I mixed MM Insignia Blue with Flat Black for the control panel and boxes. Straight flat black looked too extreme for my eyes.
As usual, the washes are mixtures of the base enamels with black oil paint. Drybrushing was done with a mix of the base enamels with white oil paint. I found that I had to be very careful in this small scale in order to prevent the shadows and highlights from being exaggerated.
My favorite part? The rearmost entry door’s inside cover. For some reason, I really like that detail.
