For those of us who have been wanting a 1/48 scale PBJ-1 (Navy and Marine version of the B-25), after inquiring of Accurate Miniatures about the feasibility of converting their B-25C/D into a PBJ-1C, I got this reply from AcMin’s General Manager, Joe Myers:
----- Original Message -----
From: Info info@accurate-miniatures.com
Date: Friday, September 17, 2004 9:57 am
Subject: Re: B-125D modification
Sir:
I apologize for not answering sooner, but we were in the
middle of
moving to new offices and warehouse. In the middle of the move, the
remaining components for our two new releases came in and from
there things got a bit out of hand.
As far as your PBJ project goes, I have good news and bad
news. The
good news is that the B-25C/D can be, with a simple paint job, be made into
a PBJ-1.
The bad news is that we are currently designing the following
components for the B-25 series of kits:
Nose radome for PBJ
Wing tip radome for PBJ
Belly radome for PBJ
Wing bomb racks for PBJ
Torpedo mounts for PBJ (these may or may not
happen. They are extremely thin and complicated.
Fairfax Mod for B-25C/D and B-25G.
So, don’t totally give up the idea of a PBJ-1W.
Best regards,
Joe F. Myers
Maj USMC (Ret)
General Manager
Accurate Miniatures
So, for us PBJ fans, we’ve got something to look forward to, and from the best possible manufacturer. For those who haven’t seen the AcMin B-25 series, they are downright breathtaking, including the brass nose weights, the canopy masks, plenty of armament, and AcMin’s usual spellingbinding attention to detail. There is even a decal for the magazine lying on the deck next to the B-25’s chemical toilet. It’s a copy of Life.
Oh, I almost forget: Does anyone have any idea what the “Fairfax mod” is? He mentions it as though an airplane buff would know what this Fairfax modification is, but I don’t. Anyone…anyone?
I`m not sure if this answers your question with regard to the Fairfax mod:-
The USMC acquired 152 B-25D-NCs, 25 B-25D-15-NCs; 49 B-25D-25-NCs; 61 B-25D-30-NCs; and 17 B-25D-35-NCs, as PBJ-1Ds.
Modifications to the B-25D-NCs included (1) the addition of the navigator’s scanning blister, external wing bomb racks and provision for a torpedo rack installation starting with the B-25D-1-NC; (2) replacement of the 30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun with two 50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns starting with the B-25D-5-NC; and (3) installation of a “clear vision” windshield, a 230 US gallon (871 liter) self sealing fuel cell in the bomb bay and a 325 US gallon (1,230 liter) metal fuel tank in the bomb bay on every second aircraft, and installation of armor plate behind the co-pilot on the B-25D-20-NC.
I wrote back to Joe and suggested that if the torpedo rack proved impractical to duplicate in plastic. the Tiny Tim mount was not, and it looked even meaner than the torpedo. By sheer coincidence, a friend from this forum, who has been invaluable in the research for my planned B-25/PBJ conversion, sent me a closeup photo this morning of that very same twin torpedo mount, which is hung from the closed bombay doors. This torpedo rack is made from a conglomeration of very small steel rod and some flat steel crossmembers. I was trying to imagine how much trouble it was going to be making several jigs and beveling the joints on that tiny styrene rod that would be right for the scale. I mean almost human-hair tiny. I can’t imagine how that gossamer thing held two torpedos against the slipstream, and their own weight, for that matter. But I can see AcMin’s problem molding a decent part for their kit. Let’s have the Tiny Tim!
Tom
That’s a possibility, but most of the real one is cut and welded steel bar, I’m pretty sure (it was painted white to match the underbelly of the PBJ in the photo I saw). I absolutely am addicted to good PE sets for my builds. However, a problem I’ve always had, and tried countless unsuccessful methods to solve it, is the PE makers’ insistence on making 3D structures out of 2D photoetched pieces. Round bars are represented as flat strips. I wish my man Robert, who sent me the photo of the rack, was online, so he could show it to you guys (I have the picture in the “My Photos” place in Windows XP, but I’m too illiterate to get it here on the screen. You see right away what Joe from AcMin was talking about when he said the mount would be hard to duplicae out there.
Tom
I really appreciate it when Accurate Miniatures informs us of their plans. I’d rather build a subject from AM than most other manufacturers and this allows me to schedule my acquisitions accordingly. For example, I was actually thinking of acquiring the HiPM Vindicator kit [yuck] last year when I heard the news of AM’s release of the kit this year. [bow] What a savior of potential anguish and frustration that announcement was!
A Fairfax mod was the later H/J style waist guns on the C/D airframe. If you look at a pic and it has a aft mounted upper turret and waistgun positions its a ‘Fairfax’ mod Mitchell
Much thanks, Matt, and welcome to the high side.
That would explain the absence of such windows on my G model, which is the last B-25 to have the aft mounted dorsal turret. And only a certain number of them have the lower turret at all.
Tom