Martinnfb Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANicoll Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 20 hours ago, Clunkmeister said: Like the vast majority of gunship and strafer shoot downs over the target, it all started with a blown approach due to weather. Hindsight is 20/20, but a steep turn at altitude dictated by lack of viz blows their surprise and the gunners are wide awake. Strafing by bombers was always incredibly successful and devastating, IF they came in low, fast, and with every single gun blazing, dropped 250 lb bombs with delay fuses, they more often than not would never need to return. Ever. But cruising around up high to stay out of the soup and then looking for a break in the cloud, always ended up with at least one kite getting shot to crap. I highly recommend reading “Air Apaches”. It’s a true history of the 345th BG in the PTO. “Warpath across the Pacific “ is as good also. They’ll curdle your blood when you read how, almost every time there were casualties on target, bad approaches started it happening. The 612th and 613th had 3 years of AAF Ops doctrine to guide them, which they usually used Excellent! I knew nothing about this group, other than the nose art on some of the aircraft. Thanks for the education and reading suggestions. Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, Clunkmeister said: Or I can be like Martin and start a new build Hey, I resemble that remark!!! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 8 Author Administrators Share Posted February 8 23 hours ago, CANicoll said: Excellent! I knew nothing about this group, other than the nose art on some of the aircraft. Thanks for the education and reading suggestions. Chris The 345th preferred the strafers, and didn't have alot of success with the gunships. Their units were absolutely devastating on the enemy with low level gun attacks, and pretty much wrote the book on tactics on fighting the B-25 as a low level attack aircraft. With decent overhead P-38 support against Japanese fighters, they could concentrate, and many targets didn't need to be revisited until rebuilt. They HAD mistakenly attributed the big gun to loose rivets, panels, etc, until they started having the same issues with the J strafers. Removal of, or limited use of the package guns helped the airframe fatigue situation greatly. The big gun's biggest issue was the slow rate of fire. But the gunship was absolutely tailor made for Marine Corps badassery. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 11 Author Administrators Share Posted February 11 Been picking away at this thing today, doing some slight changes to the interior 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Some really nice details in there Ernie. Great job! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Earnie Looking mighty good. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Looking great Ernie, who produces the shell rack and the shells? I have a ProfiModeler set for mine, but I think this is not included. Cheers Rob 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Absolutely stunning Ernie……. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 11 Author Administrators Share Posted February 11 8 hours ago, DocRob said: Looking great Ernie, who produces the shell rack and the shells? I have a ProfiModeler set for mine, but I think this is not included. Cheers Rob Rob, I had found it on EBay out of Australia, and I believe Carl had pointed me in the right direction. there is so much more I could do here, but absolutely nothing whatsoever will be seen once it’s closed. Even Martin, my mentor said, “dude, CLOSE IT!!!” 3 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 12 Author Administrators Share Posted February 12 I’m going on record as saying that the HK A-20 is miles ahead of the HK B-25 in engineering and thoughtful assembly. Building the engines on this kit has to be one of the most miserable jobs I’ve ever accomplished on a 1/32 model. Ever. They are incredibly goofy, have twice the number of pushrods as a thallus required for an R2600 (or any pushrod engine) needs to operate reliably for thousands of hours, AND, when you go to assemble the cowl, you find out the engine is too big. I already knew this so I simply didn’t attach the rocker boxes, and they fit just fine. Cut off the pushrods on the rear set of each row, but use the center rings because they’re needed for correct spacing. Plus, don’t shirk on the rear of the engine because the cowl flaps are open and the rear of the rear row is visible. Then, as soon as you’re done and patting yourself on the back, you realize you gotta do it all over again. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 12 Author Administrators Share Posted February 12 It’s a big, big boy. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I screwed up the exhaust on mine Ernie the pics for placement as I remember suck all's looking really Nice! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 All closed and getting closer to paint. Yup, the radial engines are a bit of a pain but they look the business once they're done. I think the nacelles need some re-scribing to correct the MLG doors if I recall? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 HKM B-25 presents some challenges, but Ernie deals with it like a champ. This is going to be a very unique model once finished. Can't wait 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 12 Author Administrators Share Posted February 12 11 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: All closed and getting closer to paint. Yup, the radial engines are a bit of a pain but they look the business once they're done. I think the nacelles need some re-scribing to correct the MLG doors if I recall? Carl, I missed seeing any posts on that and don't recall what was missing or wrong. Do you have any references on that? HK sure has come a long way since the B-25, back from when the design originally went into production. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 53 minutes ago, Clunkmeister said: Carl, I missed seeing any posts on that and don't recall what was missing or wrong. Do you have any references on that? HK sure has come a long way since the B-25, back from when the design was originally stolen and rushed into production. Ernie, here's the pic I have from my build. Looks like they missed the large main doors. They just need to scribed in. Hopefully you can make them out in the pic. The seam between the nacelle halves should be the door edge as well. Here's a link to my album with my build pics. Feel free to see if you can find anything else that's useful for your build. https://carlkung.smugmug.com/Hobbies/HK-B-25J- HK definitely have come a long way since their first kits. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottsGT Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 2 hours ago, Clunkmeister said: HK sure has come a long way since the B-25, back from when the design was originally stolen and rushed into production. Wow, I had completely forgotten about that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 12 Author Administrators Share Posted February 12 3 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: Ernie, here's the pic I have from my build. Looks like they missed the large main doors. They just need to scribed in. Hopefully you can make them out in the pic. The seam between the nacelle halves should be the door edge as well. Here's a link to my album with my build pics. Feel free to see if you can find anything else that's useful for your build. https://carlkung.smugmug.com/Hobbies/HK-B-25J- HK definitely have come a long way since their first kits. Excellent, Carl! Thank You!! That's a HUGE miss. Not hard to fix, but if you assumed the design was finalized when places into production,. you'd have no clue about it. I take it the door is only on one side of the nacelle? Hard to believe I've never finished this kit. It really is a glorious thing, although those engines kicked my butt. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Ernie, the door is both sides. Three doors in total per nacelle. I suspect they missed it because they only open when the gear retracts or extends. One thing most folks forget is the B-25 and Meteor were both designed for another company but HK took them over. There was a Dutch company involved which did the research and design but something went awry and HK took over the project under their own brand. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 13 Author Administrators Share Posted February 13 13 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said: Ernie, the door is both sides. Three doors in total per nacelle. I suspect they missed it because they only open when the gear retracts or extends. One thing most folks forget is the B-25 and Meteor were both designed for another company but HK took them over. There was a Dutch company involved which did the research and design but something went awry and HK took over the project under their own brand. I did one nacelle so far, thanks. It looks like they were VERY lightly scribed. The hinge covers look to be there as well. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 18 Author Administrators Share Posted February 18 It ain’t a very pretty looking kite, is it? All business. Making the nose fit was, ummmm,.. interesting. Sup piece it to say that this time tomorrow I’ll be under the hood and plenty of bright lights doing some rescribing. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 18 Author Administrators Share Posted February 18 A search for something to use as a suitable astrodome was unsuccessful, so a B-24 clear Sprue was sourced from eBay and the B-24 astrodome was liberated from the spare sprue. It falls to reason that because the B-24 was well used by all Services in the PTO, replacement astrodomes were in stock at depots and some enterprising Gunny may have facilitate some 5 finger discounts followed by some semi unofficial midnight logistics operations. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 18 Author Administrators Share Posted February 18 The engines were unholy, black hearted devices that had me mumbling to myself again and again. Despite paying special attention to what went where, the cowl panels struck me as being designed and drawn by the love child of Dr. Strangelove and Helen Keller. THIS is after half an hour of rough smoothing. Polishing and rescribing to follow. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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