Now that the major obstacles to the mechanics of this massive build are mostly dealt with, we’re left with only one, and it’s the worst of them all: Operator Interference.
My Beast Bomber to B-25 Mitchell project has honestly been one of my most enjoyed projects in a long time. Getting to indulge my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, my history nerding, and my love of action figure vehicles in one project is definitely rewarding. And while I’ve had to change things and alter plans as I’ve gone, I’m happy to say that we’re still mostly on track to where I want it to be.
Last time I completed the majority of the build and got started on paint. Out of the box, the Beast Bomber comes in a decent khaki color, and I kept that intact for the building process. After researching, I found that that color was not too far off for a real paint scheme — during the North Africa campaign, most of the American and British forces were painted a light pink/tan color (unofficially known as “titty tan”) with a gray underside. North Africa is a good choice for colors because it also gives me an excuse to eventually do some German armor down the road to compliment this vehicle, and the Afrika Korps camo patterns are simply stunning to look at.
But even after starting the decal and weathering process, I’m still not 100% on the tan. Working from that North Africa theater look, I added lots of gray and tan streaking to reflect how dingy and dirty pretty much everything looked. I then went for the dark streaks around the fuel ports and exhausts, for obvious reasons. I think it looks good, but as I said in the opening, I can already feel that self-sabotage coming on.
But the B-25 is by far one of the most versatile aircraft of World War 2. It served in every part of the conflict, and it served with the Army Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and all of the Allies. So there is nary a color they weren’t painted in, or a loadout they didn’t use. Turrets, no turrets, guns, cannons, rockets, bombs, torpedoes, radar . . . if there was an attachment, the B-25 carried it.
Most common would be olive drab, naturally, but I have a bit of an aversion to adding yet another green vehicle to my ranks. So the tan is a good choice, but there were two others I’m still considering:
The sexiest and most modern looking (in my opinion) would be the gray and white scheme worn by the Marines’ PBJ Mitchells. They also ran various shades of blue, and they look very striking as well, but I have an affinity for flat gray on airplanes. They served most often in the Pacific, but I think they saw action against German U-Boats in the Atlantic as well.
And the most common, particularly from about 1944 onward, would be the bare metal factory finish. By the ending years of the war, most American aircraft were being churned out so quickly that they generally omitted paint — by that time, air superiority had been achieved to the point that Allied airfields were not regularly in danger. There are some cool modelling techniques that can be done to make that metal finish look real and worn, but, I admit, it’s a bit boring unless it’s done well.
In the meantime, while I like the sighting bubble, I miss not having a turret. So I needed to really up the ante on the armament. For the nose, I hollowed out the molded plastic side of the cartoony-looking sculpted guns. I then added barrels from a RC Plane accessory kit. Little trick I’ve picked up over the years — If you want to add realism to any tube-like object, drill them out a bit. I used some kneadatite to fit them into their housings, that way I could adjust them until they were mostly aligned.
4 .50 cals is a good start, but I think more punch is better. So I had hoped to use some RC gear to replicate some bombs and rockets to mount under the wings. Sadly, these RC accessories too aren’t going to cut it — this time, the kits are . . . not very good.
So I opted to take them on myself, using some of my F-18 1/18 weapons cache. I used the small Mk82-type bombs as a base, cutting off the tails and drilling them out. Then I took some mechanical pencil tips and added them to the noses. In size and overall shape, the look pretty good as HVAR (High Velocity Aerial Rocket) 5-inchers. For wing mounts, I used the F-18’s pylon system, a favorite of mine, and built it up with some styrene to give them the proper clearance.
I’m still thinking about a couple additional gun mounts, like a flex .30 mount for the front of the nose, but I’m feeling much better about the loadout now.
We’re definitely closing in on a final finish for this project, and that feels great, but I haven’t been able to shake the nagging urge to change the color. So, in an attempt to stave off that dreaded operator interference — when somebody too close to the project makes a bad call — I’m going to appeal to you guys instead.
Let me know what you think: keep it tan, go gray, or should I bare-metal it?
