Italeri 1/48 scale B-25G Mitchell by Roland Sachsenhofer

Italeri (Accurate Miniatures) 1/48 scale
B-25G Mitchell

by Roland Sachsenhofer

B-25G 38th BS, Italeri, 1:48

Hobby Boss' 1/32 Spitfire Mk.Vb Trop is available online from Squadron

Description

Airplanes of the USAAF have the reputation to be particularly prone to the mounting of varied and partly quite overflowing "nose art" pictures. The two B-25G Mitchell, which were the subject of my most recent model building project, show a particularly idiosyncratic expression of this preference... but all in sequence!

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The B-25 Mitchell is one of the better known USAAF mission aircraft, not least because of its spectacular deployment in the so-called "Doolitlle_Raid" in April 1942. However, the Mitchell not only shone in such spectacular actions, but also proved itself in the self-sacrificing battles during the following war years. Reliability and robustness characterized this twin-engine bomber, which was used by the USAAF primarily in Far East Asia and the Pacific region.

No wonder that the B-25 soon gained a good reputation and was popular with the crews; the B-25 was flown until the end of the war and beyond. Several variants adapted the versatile type to the changing operational requirements. A particularly interesting version is the "G" - as well as the soon to follow and almost identical H variant - in which the B-25 was equipped with enormously increased firepower.

A 75mm M4 gun was installed in the bow of this "cannon boat", and the entire aircraft was targeted along its longitudinal axis. This seems to be a daring thing, as this gun was also the main armament of the M4 Sherman tank!

According to the witness of a B-25G gunner the firing of this gun put the crew at least in as much fear and terror as the enemy himself. The remarkable muzzle flash apparently had a counterpart inside the aircraft - the breech spewed fire in a frightening manner. Another circumstance can be imagined just as vividly: the B-25G seemed to stand still in the air in a disturbing way after each shot. The use of this "gunboat" must have been an impressive affair! By the way, Youtube offers quite vivid original shots, which shouldn't be missed.

My prototype machine was part of the 823rd Bombardement Squadron, 38th Bomb Group and was used in 1944 in the fierce battles in New Guinea.

In the approach of the building I had already informed myself a little about the kit and was surprised, which almost exclusively praising tones were to be heard. But after opening the box and the first construction steps I quickly understood: this is really a top kit! The moulds are from Accurate Miniatures, the whole thing was repackaged by Italeri, who added a real top decal bow.

The detailing of the interior leaves nothing to be desired and far exceeds the norm of the usual.

It's just a shame that most of the splendour sinks into darkness after closing the hull halves. It is also nice that the visible parts are of first class quality. This concerns fitting accuracy as well as an obvious pleasure in beautifully illustrated details.

A big challenge with this model is the application of the large decals at the bow. You can get a little afraid when you imagine that you have to nestle all the possibly fragile decals over all kinds of curves and into various depressions.

But to make a long story short: both the well thought-out cutting of the decals and their high quality have made the application of the coloured nose pieces a success. A little more paint was dabbed with the dry brush, but this is more due to my clumsiness than the decals were to blame for it.

Conclusion

This project was built parallel to another B-25G from the Italeri box with the Accurate Miniatures shapes; I just couldn't resist the delightful variations Italeri had researched. In a following second article I will go into the kit in more detail.

If you are interested in the building process, please have a look here on Scalemates:

https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=10148&p=albums&album=50323

As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

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