49: North American B-25H “Mitchell”
MIS en chantier en 1940, le fameux Mitchell entra en service l’année suivante, mais au compte-gouttes ; si bien que lors de l’entrée en guerre des États-Unis, en 1941, seules quelques escadrilles continentales possédaient des B-25. Pourtant sa construction devait être poussée activement par la suite. Le Mitchell fut de toutes les sorties, vola sous tous les cieux et acquit la réputation justifiée d’être le bombardier moyen le plus sûr, le mieux blindé, le mieux armé et le plus efficace. Incontestablement c’était une machine de tout premier ordre. Son exploit le plus sensationnel restera le bombardement de représailles effectué sur Tokyo par une poignée de B-25 que commandait le célèbre général américain Jimmy Doolittle.
Le 18 avril 1942, après avoir réussi à décoller du porte-avions Hornet, à plusieurs milliers de, kilomètres du japon, ces Mitchell volèrent en rase-vagues jusqu’à Tokyo où ils causèrent d’importants dégâts. Le retour vers le porte-avions étant impossible, les B-25 survivants se posèrent, pour la plupart, en Chine. Le B-25 exista en plusieurs versions : C-D-G et H, qui se différenciaient par des nez vitrés ou opaques, avec armes fixes. La dernière mouture du Mitchell, le Flying Pillbox B-25H, avait été étudiée et produite en 1943 pour équiper les formations de 1944. En Europe, le B-25 fut également mis à l’épreuve, spécialement lors de l’offensive von Rundstedt, dans les Ardennes belges, où il contribua pour une large part au reflux des armées allemandes.
Caractéristiques : Envergure : 20,60 m. – Longueur : 16,13 m. – 2 moteurs Wright Double Row-Cyclone 2600-13 de 1.700 C.V. – Puissance : 3.400 C.V. – Armement : 12 mitrailleuses de 7,5 mm. sur les types C et D. – 14 mitrailleuses de 7,5 + 1 canon de 75 mm. sur les types G et H. – Vitesse maximum : 485 km/h.
The finished model:
The kit:
The vision:
I had so much fun building the B-24J Liberator, I basically just wanted to keep the ball rolling, so I thought I’d try my hand at a slightly smaller bomber.
The build:
Make no mistake, this is an old kit. There was flash everywhere, there were raised panel lines, and the fit was… aspirational in a few spots. That being said, it wasn’t particularly difficult to overcome most of the challenges (at least well enough for my satisfaction).
I started by scribing panel lines. This really is a skill that gets better the more you practice it. What I’ve learned is that you really need to have some patience and not rush the process – that’s when the mistakes and jumpy lines really start happening. Also, less is usually more. I have a nice sharp needle tip in a wooden handle that I use to score the first initial line. I never pass over the same spot more than twice with this tool, because it gets rough fast, but it sets down a very easy path to follow. Then I have a little hook-shaped photo-etched blade that I use to peel a fine strip up out of the path. This works well because it lays down a flatter-bottomed “U” shaped groove as opposed to the rougher “V” shaped one that my needle creates. My rule is 1-2 maximum with this one as well. It’s very easy to get scribing happy and dig in a few canyons before you know it.
The other slightly different thing I tried this time was to wire up the wings for the DC motors but to glue together the wings and the fuselage before actually attaching the motors. This meant I had a little less wiggle room than usual (and I lost the positive and negative wires a couple of times because I wasn’t paying attention), but this made it easier to place into the engine nacelles. I also used a couple of “re-cast” resin engines that I made from some I had in the spares box. The resin is a bit old and bubbly, but for engines hidden inside the cowl, it worked well enough. Better than the flat, featureless emptiness that was there before anyway.
Oh, I also drilled out some of the guns. I used the kit-provided parts for the turrent, the tail and the door guns. But I sanded down the bumps for the forward-facing guns and then drilled out some 0.5mm holes and added some bits of wire for both the side and nose guns. It looks a lot better, if I do say so myself.
Finally, I decided to take a chance on the decals… they were ancient, slightly yellowed, and as fragile as could be. I was a bit upset that even though I got them all on… I somehow managed to smudge the left-side fuselage “star and bar” decal out of place and destroyed it in the process. I was able to replace it using a newer one from the spares box, but… now I kinda wish I’d used newer decals all around. Oh, well.
All in all, I’d say I’m happy with the build. Feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what you think.
