1/72 Hasegawa B-25J Mitchell Gunship

Gallery Article by Konley Kelley on May 12 2011

 

I found this great Hasegawa kit at the Squadron Open House in May, 2010. The kit went together beautifully. I was anxious about the nose decal. It wraps around the nose and, aside from placement of the decal being a challenge, there are eight .50 caliber machine guns in the way. 

The solution was pretty easy. I installed the machine guns through the holes in the nose, painted the fuselage, then clipped the machine guns with nail clippers. After a lot of patience and determination, the dragon nose art decal went on. Where it cracked or tore, I carefully applied some touch up paint. Back on went the machine guns.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

In conclusion, this was a fun model to build and a well-engineered kit. I used Photoshop to create an image of this B-25J gunship firing all 16 guns in a dive. I would NOT want to be on the receiving end of that firepower.

This model now hangs in the Cavanaugh Flight Museum South Hangar in Addison, Texas. I've hung several of my 1:72 bombers in the briefing room of the CAF B-29/B-24 Squadron. Just outside the door of the briefing room are the 1:1 B-24 "Ol'927" and 1:1 B-29 "FIFI."

For more images of famous bombers in 1:72 scale, visit www.shortfuse3d.com

Konley Kelley

Photos and text © by Konley Kelley