The kit arrived by USPS yesterday. My dad originally bought the kit for me when I was 10 years old. Back then, the kit was made by Revell, today it’s sold under the Atlantis banner. I’m excited to build this kit again. This isn’t so much a trip down memory lane as much as it is an attempt to build the kit into a really nice model with what I’ve learned since getting back into the hobby. I’m going to build this model OOB just like I did way back when. Painting and taking care of seams. etc., should really lift this build out of the ordinary. Stay tuned.
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That’s a whole lot of box for not too much model kit.
This should be VERY fun to watch come together Frank. I’ve done this kind of stuff to the Monogram Dauntless and Revell Corsair kits. It took everything I’d learned throughout the years and then some to get the job done but I was happy with both outcomes. (although I thought I was gonna go stark ravin’ nuts putting that Corsiar kit together!)
I’m a HUGE fan of those Atlantis repops. Pure nostalgia for when models were pocket-money and for ‘zooming’ around the backyard…before we’d ever heard of ‘rivet counters’… [:D]
So far, assembled the wings. These molds are at least as old as I am so there is plenty of flash to get rid of. Not major flash like resin, just enough to have to clean up to get a good fit. Just like the old days, or as happens today, a little liquid cement splashed onto the underside of a wing. Should be able to hide the smudge with paint later. Yes, there are “minor” fit issues like the main landing gear nacelle not fitting against the wing. Will have to hide the gaps with PPP later. Gonna paint the cockpit, flight deck and the bombardier position with green zinc chromate tomorrow and button up the fuselage.
Well, I’m glad that neither Atlantis nor anyone else has repopped my first model. It was a Lingberg imagination of a MiG that didn’t exist. But I’m sure the red paint I piled on the radome made it a much better model.
After that I built a Pyro 1/1200 British cruiser that has been repopped by Lindberg/Round2 (Yes, I bought another one) and then an Aurora 1/48 Pfalz D-III (what could I have been thinking??) that was repopped by Glenco, and yes, I bought one of those even though 1/48 is not my forte. Nostalgia is great fun.
The major components of the B-25 are assembled and I am cleaning up the seams, something a ten year old kid would never think about. Not too many fit issues surprisingly. Gonna hafta use some PPP to fill the gaps between the engine nacelles. Using CA glue to clean up the seams. The shape of the parts overall isn’t too bad. At least the finished model will pretty much look like a B-25. I’m OK with that.
Yep, the wings are now attached. Starting to look like a B-25 finally. Lots of making parts fit. Lots of filling and sanding. Even though the molds are at least as old as me, the detail is still pretty good. A little more filling around the wing roots Vallejo Plastic Putty and attaching the clear parts and then time for primer and paint.
The beauty of doing a B-25 with these old kits is that sink marks, waves and slight warps can be just left and attributed to the stressed metal skin of the real thing.
Every now and again, here on FSM somebody mentions their first kit. Every time it makes me wish I remembered what mine was. I’d do what you are doing for sure (if I could procure one).
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