On any project, big or small, you can always find a million ways to go wrong. And it’s this death by a million cuts that threatens even the most hearty of customs.
On this project, the first hazard was the biggest one: specifically altering the interior to fit a 1/12 figure. Most people would have turned away just on this one alone, but the thought of having my figures tooling around in a warbird was just too much to pass up. So I disassembled the bomber and set about gutting the fixtures and seats — pretty much everything. Looking at the pictures online of two rows of seating for the 1/18 figures in the cockpit, and then a full bench in the nose, I thought there was plenty of room. Not so much. I thought my initial thoughts of having a single pilot were conservative. They were barely accurate. And the nose gunner would need to be determined later, after I worked out the armament.
I set about adding some loosely “realistic” parts into the plane. Simple stuff like dials, tubes, buttons, cables — nothing computer-esque. I ripped out the sound electronics but left the light-up dash since that wasn’t too obtrusive. There were some fun, if silly, features on this this bomber I knew I’d have to rework, and some I touched on in the first part. The wheels would have to go.
The rattling turret would need to be replaced. And I was undecided on the handle — sure, it’s kinda goofy-looking, but a lot of my larger vehicles have handles incorporated into them, and it might make hanging this from the ceiling a little easier and more secure later.
I used my custom Commando figure to set sizing since he’s a Mezco base, and, frankly, I have a hard time imagining a bigger figure to pilot this thing — it ain’t gonna be the Hulk. He fits the cockpit snugly, but he reminded me of an old Sky Pilot model that I had a bunch of as a kid:
In those snap-kits, the B-25 has a single, slightly oversized pilot — you can just see him in the pic. I like it.
With the electronics cleared out, I cut holes to add functioning landing gear. This was another place where the wrong slit sends this project into critical. I used the wheels from a Power Team Elite F-18 since I’ve used them before. I measured and basically slotted them into place, with some styrene to fill the inevitable gaps — no matter how precise, when you fit two toys together in parts, they never line up exactly.
Luckily, this time, they fit snugly and supported the weight of the bomber without a hitch.
Now, the turret . . . it’s going to be one of those. I initially found this RC-scale turret that was amazing and perfect, even the correct make for a B-25 . . . but it was just too big. I’m confident that I can use it for something else someday, but what would have been a crowing fit for this project, just isn’t going to happen. (We’ll come back to the turret.)
The cockpit and nose needed windows; I knew that from the get-go.
So I sat down and made templates for the windows and cut them out of styrene. The cockpit needed to be flexible, so it could open, so I did that in big pieces. The nose? Individual windows. My God, did that suck.
Another little problem I hadn’t given much thought to in the beginning was how to turn these jet engines back into the proper radial propeller ones. I had saved a few of these little toothed spinners from a Transformers figure, so I mounted some RC propellers to those. But the engine didn’t look right at all. So I took some Doc Ock tentacle and cut it into pieces and then wagon-wheeled it around the inside. I used the elbow of an extra Metallo arm to make a center hub — don’t ask me why — and it makes a pretty decent-looking radial engine.
So, after a week’s worth of dodging those little cuts, I got the bomber put back together and ready for paint. As of now, I decided to run with the original color, and I just added a khaki vinyl topcoat with a gray underside — we’ll talk more about paint schemes in the next part. At the last minute, I found at least a short-term solution for the turret, replacing it with a sighting bubble. I found one after wandering the store for an hour, buying dryer crystals we don’t need. But it fits like it was made for it, and the color closely matched the windows. Again, it isn’t ideal, but it’s much better than a gaping hole in the roof until I find something better.
But even without a top turret problem, this is anything but a done deal. Those little razors are looking more like Damocles, hanging over this bomber. Of course, that just might be the lady, threatening to smash this damn thing and kick me out if I don’t give her back her kitchen.
