NA B-27A High Speed Medium Bomber - Finished pic's pg.7

[TheChronicOne]

My apologies for the less than satisfactory photo's; it's not a strength, unfortunately:













I'll give the cockpit a blast of dull-cote to drop the gloss a bit then start closing her up.

I've already learned a bit for the next version;

Lesson 1: Take your cuts further down & remove the plastic between the second set of panel lines on the sides forward of the wing & aft of the wing to about 2/3 of the way to the tail. It'll reduce the amount of PSR required.

Lesson 2: Although I've managed a work-around, remove the bombardier's station & move the whole cockpit forward of the nose wheel well.

As you can see, this version has just the one pilot & the poor ol' bombardier is isolated in the nose, unable to access the rest of the plane. I've created an access/escape hatch for him but it's not ideal & is one of the reasons to remove his position completely in the next build, in which I'll give the pilot &/or co-pilot access to a bomb sight. I'll also remove both nose blister guns (fixed & swivel-mounted), going with the 4 side-blister mounted .50cal's of the later models of B-25.

Thanks for watching!

Well on your way! Looks pretty good to me.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Brad!

Hopefully I can do it justice.

[zenrat]

The detail on the new mould Airfix Mitch is excellent.  I don't know if I could bring myself to cut one up.
Are you going to have enough room for all the nose weight B25s need?

IIRC the reason Bristol switched from the "flat-top" design to the stepped one was because having the windscreen so far away from the pilot put his furry dice too far away caused issues with internal reflections.

[PR19_Kit]

IIRC the reason Bristol switched from the "flat-top" design to the stepped one was because having the windscreen so far away from the pilot put his furry dice too far away caused issues with internal reflections.

.....but I can believe you're right there, he'd need binoculars to see if the wipers were working!

[Old Wombat]

The detail on the new mould Airfix Mitch is excellent.  I don't know if I could bring myself to cut one up.
Are you going to have enough room for all the nose weight B25s need?

IIRC the reason Bristol switched from the "flat-top" design to the stepped one was because having the windscreen so far away from the pilot put his furry dice too far away caused issues with internal reflections.

You're right, it is an excellently moulded kit & it hurt to cut it up, which is why I have a notification request with BNA to let me know when they come in again & I'll buy another ... I'm also sourcing various detail sets so I can take it above & beyond ... while the next iteration of the B-27 is going to be a Hasegawa mould (B-25J). I note Airfix are obviously planning multiple variations of their B-25, too, given the parts breakdown.

No ... Because I forgot to put any in!*

Which may explain why NA are going to move the pilots all the way forward into the nose for the next version.




*: I may have to attempt a zi copyrighted technique & drill a hole to funnel in some lead shot & PVA.

[zenrat]

You may have misunderstood my scribblings.  The technique zenrat industries specialise in is the one you have already carried out - closing it all up and then going "bugger"...


I chopped up an Italeri B-25G to build my gull winged special.  I'd say they are better than the old Airfix mould but not by much.  Hasegawa was supposed to be the one to get in 1/72 before the new Airfix came out.

[NARSES2]

That's looking really good mate, and yes the new tool Airfix kit is well up to their current standard  I really enjoyed my real world build.

One of my favourite 1930's flush canopy aircraft is the Bell Airacuda, and that had two "flush" gun pods as well  And yes, I do have the Valom kit.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks, Chris. Appreciated!

[jcf]

 

As you can see, this version has just the one pilot & the poor ol' bombardier is isolated in the nose, unable to access the rest of the plane. I've created an access/escape hatch for him but it's not ideal & is one of the reasons to remove his position completely in the next build, in which I'll give the pilot &/or co-pilot access to a bomb sight. I'll also remove both nose blister guns (fixed & swivel-mounted), going with the 4 side-blister mounted .50cal's of the later models of B-25.

Bombardier? We don't need no steenkin' bombardier. 

[Old Wombat]

 

[PR19_Kit]

Now that really IS out in left field! 

I wonder how long all those gearboxes would last in a combat environment?

[Old Wombat]

Again, apologies for the crappy photography.


Moving along:










Cockpit glazing is on. Not as smooth as I'd hoped (but wasn't expecting), so I'll need to do a little bit of work to get it looking OK.

Tail planes & tail cone attached, as are the wing uppers. The tail cone is clear (for part of the optics for the remote ventral turret that I didn't fit) but will be painted over.

PSR has removed some of the detail, which I'll attempt to restore but not until after I've PSR'ed around the cockpit.



Thanks for watching!

[zenrat]

Me likey.

[Old Wombat]

Ta, Fred!

[rickshaw]

Me likey.

Me too!