Jimmy Doolittle's "Raider" - Atlantis B-25B - March 2023

The Atlantis (1/64 scale) kit was available at my local Hobby Lobby during a week of 40% off boxed kits. It was inexpensive to begin with so I could not resist.  Knowing that it is a simple kit did not deter me, I just knew that a certain amount of DIY would be necessary, but after all we are Modeler's and not just Assemblers!  As the title implies I want to build the Doolittle Raider.

The sealed "Bag-O-Parts".

I did not expect a lot of detail, but this for the top turret guns was almost insulting.  I considered buying after market guns as I did for the 1/64 Lindberg B-17 of my Dad's which I rebuilt, but then recalled that I had Lindberg guns in my stash.  I modified those a bit, added a piece of 22 gauge wire and pieces of PE and dry fit those into the kit turret.

Here is the modification....

....in the turret.  Brother Bob thought they looked a little chunky.  Perhaps they do but they are not painted yet and as we all know things look bigger in white.

SEE!

Ok, guys, back to the kit.

The painted assembly!

More "lack of detail" is the cowls that I could hardly tell whether there were cowl flaps.

Xacto blades took care of that!

I was surprised by the recessed panel lines.  While not always deep I was able to line them with the Gundam Panel Line marker recently acquired!  As I found out with constant handling, the marker is not permanent and relining is necessary.

Fuselage half all lined with the pen shown.  Also notice the engine cowls - same as the Lindberg B-17, the wasp cylinders are very simply molded in the cowl requiring some detail painting.  I ended up using gun metal, silver, copper and gray.

The motors don't look too bad with the props inserted.  Note that the Doolittle Raiders did not have the yellow prop warning tips, rather a red stripe on the fuselage.

I find this interesting that the nose gunner/bombardier is fairly well detailed which is rather inconsistent with the lack of detail in the rest of the kit.

There was a warning about weighting the nose for the tricycle gear, but no guide on how much weight.  I used the remaining fishing shot and other metal bits in my stash in the hopes that it will suffice.  I tried painting in some detail in the cockpit walls which will probably not be seen when closed up😁

Since there are no bulkheads provided in the kit, I form some from wine corking foil - easy to cut, bend and glue with cyano.  Again, an interesting molded detail is the instrument console to which I applied paint, but there is no instrument panel????? 

 

So I supplied one from my stash.  It is appropriate enough and trimmed to fit.  It is a decal (on the backing paper) glued to the top of the console.

With pilots painted and seated the "decal" panel looks ok!  One thing to note is the opening just above and behind the cockpit.  I cut out the area (a circle) in which the clear dome on later models is to sit.  The B25B had a flat window which I will close with window glue.  Time to close the fuselage.

Detail looks fairly good!

Now to glue on the "Chin".  Note the nose gear - had to be inserted into its receiving hole before closing the fuselage (along with the top turret).  What follows is a lack of direction.

Instruction call out is to NOT glue the gear leg (apparently so it can rotate).  Since the fit was not good, plus the position of my weights were restrictive, I had to glue the leg in place - Oh Well!  The other point is that there is no instruction on the wheel itself.  Apparently one is to simply glue it on the axle!  On a kit of this type I thought perhaps the old heated knife blade on the end of the axle would have been an option (one that I don't like), plus the axle is very long and has to be trimmed off (in my opinion).  More on this later.

Paint application had to start so I tried mixing Testors Olive Drab with a little brown to attempt achieving the early war OD.  Due to the panel line pen I once again approached the upper surfaces with a hand painted panel by panel technique.  I have to say that my hand painting panel by panel along panel lines is very tedious and extends the time of model completion, but is none the less a satisfying exercise for me.  It is certainly not for everyone and I am not endorsing it, it is simply the way I work - I'm not schooled or skilled in the operation of an air brush (although I do have one), nor do I have the facility for its use in most weather conditions. 

  The painting of the glass framing also begins now that both cockpit and nose canopies are in place.  Since I don't have 1/64 masking kits it is the slow process of Tamiya taping- first the straights.....

......then the curves which require snipping the tape to follow the curve.

The process is painstaking as each frame piece has to dry before applying more tape.

The "TTG", Tamiya Tape Graveyard accumulated during the two week long process of masking and painting the framing😫which will be evident later.

Painting proceeds on the glass and fuselage and I can still see the interior - Yippee!

During drying time I assembled the wing halves with the lower nacelle half and engine cowl.  An issue that bothered me was another missing detail, that of engine exhaust.  The early version had a single exhaust venting on the lower outboard position, but no parts or instruction are supplied! 

What to do?? I did have an old USB cord from an older iPhone and the outer insulation seemed to be the appropriate diameter and it is easily cut and trimmed.

SEE!!!😅

Glued in place and painted - looks pretty good I think!

Next came the main gear leg inserted, gear door attached, and a little DIY with a piece of styrene rod for the door actuator arm.

With the wings and tail assembled and panel lines "penned" I masked off the props and applied the Testors Light Aircraft Gray (rattle can).  That Gundam Marker did its job! Recall that I mentioned earlier that the marker is not permanent? As you will see later that is an issue.

A little touch up and decal application including fitting the previously painted wheels on axles and the underside looks done.  The main wheels popped on the axle so they can rotate without coming off.

A little controversy!  The Raiders were stripped down and devoid of the lot of markings but it is not exactly clear in all cases what was left in place. I put on the prop decals as shown on the USAF Museum display of Doolittle's plane.  I did have to explain the nose gun when I put photos on Facebook and received a comment about removal of guns to save weight. This was true and the belly turret was specifically called out along with radio equipment, the Norden Bombsight, and tail guns.  The nose gun(s) were not specifically called out as being removed, which is why I justified the use of the gun and crew supplied in the kit.

Masked the fuselage for the rattle can application of light aircraft gray.

With the fuselage sprayed it is time to address the nose wheel issue - to glue or not to glue!  It seems to me that if the main wheels can turn so should the nose wheel so I cut out a small piece of wine foil and punched in a hole to fit over the axle and glued it in place so that the wheel could rotate.  The next task was to saw off the axle as close as possible to my newly installed retaining ring.  

The axle nub I sawed off.

I measured and cut a 1/4 inch diameter disk from the wine foil and glued it to the end of the trimmed off axle.  After it was set I worked around the edge to slightly bend the disk inward toward the wheel rim to finish off my wheel cover.  There are photos of such wheel covers......

See what I mean.  Obviously a later version of the B25 (at a reenactment event), but since there is no indication or photo evidence of the raiders front wheel I am going with it. 

About as good as I am capable of!  As my brother said 'adapt, improvise, and overcome'.

A word of caution in the use of dullcoat spray.  I use Testors Dullcoat and usually there is no issue as it does not impact decals other than dulls the gloss, a primary purpose of the spray. But as alluded to earlier the Gundam Marker is not permeant (and certainly not enamel) and even though over sprayed with the light Gray enamel there was some bleed through of the marker panel lines!  While not horrible (as unintentional weathering), it is something to be aware of.

The tail dome is a solid piece that I drilled and inserted the kit part turret guns to simulate the reported use of broom handles in the "clear" tail gun dome to "fool" the enemy.  More likely an additional weight saving ploy.  Silver paint to simulate plexiglass.

With the port wing painted and decal applied, I sprayed some dullcoat into the cap and brushed the decal in order to avoid /Gundam Marker bleed.  I did the same for the stars on the fuselage.

The tail and rear fake guns are easily attached.....

.....as were the wing assemblies (finally).

The underside turned out acceptable even with the "Unintentional weathering". Note the 26 gauge wire pitot tube drilled into the starboard wing.

The same wire was used for the radio wire masts drilled into the fuselage in accord with observed photos.  Monofilament was tied and glued in place.

On the Deck!

A warm color adjustment makes the OD take on the brown tinge.  With the DIY that I anticipated (and some I did not) the Atlantis kit turns out a reasonably good B25.