Doolittle Raider

[ashevilleangler]

This model has been around for awhile and since I watched "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" the other night I felt the bug to build a "Ruptered Duck" model. I found an image on Wikepedia to use for the duck logo and did some re-coloring on Steve Bucher's model. This model has no connecting strips or formers so you need to supply your own. I did some research and kind of guessed at the right shape for a former and started building,

Cecil

[RyanShort]

Looking good. Would like to see the completed version. Never could finish that one, but my skills weren't that good then either (not sure they're better now).

Ryan

[Zathros]

Great start, one of my favorite movies too.

[Texman]

Well, I have mixed feelings here. I am glad to see your build Cecil. But, I have been
gathering my materials, and just got the new kit with formers from Ryan. No, really, just this morning! So, I am not glad to see it because now there would be 2 B-25 builds. I may wait just a little while to start now, since I will be packing up and off air here in about a month for awhile. I will follow it for sure!!

Ray

[ashevilleangler]

Ray,

Please don't let this put you off of building Ryan's B-25. After all when it comes to build threads more is always better. And you'll be building Doolittle lead ship while I'm doing Ted Lawsons ship which was the 7th plane off of the Hornet and the one which almost went into the drink because he forgot to lower the flaps!

Besides, I might want a peak at Ryan's formers to see if my "guess-at-em" ones are even close! So Please, Please, Please go ahead and build it!!!

Cecil

[RyanShort]

FYI, I have a copy of the Bucher Bird as well, and will be the first to admit it's a good looking model. Frankly, both kits also have deficiencies - some of which I know are there on the one I sell, but Will just ran out of patience with some details. Maybe someday I'll have enough skills to fill in the gaps, but right now I'm quite busy with some educational work - trying hard to become a flight instructor.

Ryan

[ashevilleangler]

Ryan, I am envious. I've taken some lessons but my logbook has only about 10 hours in it. CFI definitely trumps model designing. Just be very careful up there.

Cecil

[ashevilleangler]

Finally finished the fuselage. It really helped to add some formers and of course I stuffed the fuselage with tissue paper to firm it up. Now to get the wings together!

Cecil

[RyanShort]

Not to be a wet blanket, but your windscreen is upside down...

Ryan

[looker]

In fact it seems to be rotated 180 deg about an axis at about 50 deg to the fuselage centerline, rather than upside down which would imply rotation about an axis parallel to the centreline.:D

[RyanShort]

In fact it seems to be rotated 180 deg about an axis at about 50 deg to the fuselage centerline, rather than upside down which would imply rotation about an axis parallel to the centreline.:D

Yeah, whatever, you know what I meant... :rolleyes: ;)

Ryan

[ashevilleangler]

Duh! Looks like a bit of surgery is in order!

Cecil

[ashevilleangler]

Looks like the surgery was mostly successful. Not much additional progress though.

Cecil

[Don Boose]

Looks good, Cecil! No evidence that there ever was "corrective surgery."

I wish I had been able to make such a fix when I put the cowlings of my Hampden on backwards! That was a permanent mistake.

I'm going to buy the original kit from Ryan's site and perhaps someday try to build it for my boss, who wrote the Osprey book on the Doolittle Raid, and who is a model builder himself.

Like so many others, I have a soft spot for the Ruptured Duck dating back to seeing the film and reading the book.

Looking forward to more of this fine build.

Don

[Knife]

Just FYI, two raiders died last week, seven remain.

[willygoat]

Thought I'd throw a little info and a story at you. The local air museum that I work at has a wonderful display about the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. It has lots of info about the mission from planning, to flying, to what happened afterward. It also focuses on Lt. Richard Joyce, who is from Lincoln, NE. He was the pilot of the #10 aircraft in the raid. Unfortunately, Mr. Joyce passed away in the early '80s. His son now maintains the Doolittle Raiders website. A year ago, I had the opportunity to lead a tour on which Mr. Joyce's son was a part of. After I talked about the display, he introduced himself and told me more about his father. It was quite touching really. Plus, he said I got everything right. :D

Any who, here's some pictures. And... some info on the crew of "Ruptured Duck".

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/IMG_6284.JPG (http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2086)

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/IMG_6282.JPG (http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2085)

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/IMG_6281.JPG (http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2084)

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/IMG_6278.JPG (http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2083)

http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/data/500/thumbs/IMG_6288.JPG (http://www.papermodelers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2087)

Sorry it's so spread out. i don't know how to do the thumbnail thing yet

[ashevilleangler]

Thanks for the photos willy! And now for some more photos showing a slow build of this model. I spent one evening smothing petals into place for the upper turret. Not a terrible result but don't expect close-up photos.

Then I gave one of the engine nacelles a try. After all, the engine nacelles are kind off a make or break sub-assembly for this model. The result was good enough to encourage me to try replacing the kit engine disk with a four layer one based on a photo of the real engine. Not as much detail as I had hoped for but I think that under the cowling it will be fine.

More to come later,

Cecil

[RyanShort]

I've got to say that the turret is a major weakness of that kit. The kit I sell's turret is also a bit weak, but I think slightly better. Attached below is a screenshot of the kit in Sketchup. Other weak spots on both models are the engines, the markings (that may change sometime next year), and the small details like antennae and such.

Ryan

[dansls1]

Thanks for the info and the really cool build. I think your turret came out very nicely. I know on my Beaufort, I really wanted to do a nice clear turret and after 3 attempts gave up and did the paper only one, and it wasn't real photo-worthy anyway. Yours goes very will with your build.

[ashevilleangler]

Did one wing and a dry fit to the fuselage and engine nacelle. Taking the rest of today off and probably won't do too much till this weekend when another snow storm is supposed to hit.

Cecil

[ashevilleangler]

Both wings on and starboard nacelle almost completed. Slow build and fuzzy pics. Looks like I might need to find the tripod.

Cecil

[Don Boose]

Good woirk, Cecil! I like that head on shot.

Don

[willygoat]

Looking good Cecil! And you got the tricky wing angle right. Way to go :D

[ashevilleangler]

Getting close to the finish on this one. Needed to scratch build a few parts like the small radome and the landing gear struts, so it's not a beginner model for sure but the result does seem to be worth the effort.

Just a few more small pieces to go like gear doors and antenna and she's done!

Cecil

[RyanShort]

Getting close to the finish on this one. Needed to scratch build a few parts like the small radome and the landing gear struts, so it's not a beginner model for sure but the result does seem to be worth the effort.

Just a few more small pieces to go like gear doors and antenna and she's done!

Cecil

Oooh! That's looking nice.

Ryan

[willygoat]

That's looking very nice Cecil! Can't wait for the little bits and pieces to finish it off. :D

[dansls1]

Very nice looking!

[RyanShort]

Hate to break the news to you but by the time the B-25 had the "Ruptured Duck" insignia painted on, the belly turret was long gone. Doolittle and others considered it useless and all of the Raider-modified aircraft had it removed and the hole faired over.
My other biggest beef with that model is the wavy-line camo edge. The real aircraft had a soft brush edge that was nearly a straight line at the bottom of the aircraft. Check out my website at www.DoolittleRaid.com - Home page of The Doolittle Raiders Remembered (http://www.doolittleraid.com) for some profile views. Pictures here: www.DoolittleRaid.com - Research Details - Page 1 (http://www.doolittleraid.com/Research01.htm)

Ryan

[Don Boose]

Well, it's still a very nice model. In cases like this, I think we can either consider that it exists in an alternate universe or else is a modern-day airshow airplane with historic markings applied. In any event, you do great work, Cecil.

Ryan -- Are there any plans afoot to add additional versions of the Doolittle Raid B-25 in alternative color schemes, like the Ruptured Duck, at your doolittleraid site?

Don

[RyanShort]

Plans but no immediate action.

Ryan

[ashevilleangler]

Thanks for all of the comments and additional info. At this point I'm pretty happy to have gotten this close. If I want a model that I could show at a club meeting I'd probably need to start over using the lessons learned during this build. After all a lot of those guys built the Accurate Minatures version several years ago.

Cecil

[RyanShort]

Thanks for all of the comments and additional info. At this point I'm pretty happy to have gotten this close. If I want a model that I could show at a club meeting I'd probably need to start over using the lessons learned during this build. After all a lot of those guys built the Accurate Minatures version several years ago.

Cecil

It looks nice regardless! I wasn't trying to be a total wet blanket!

Ryan

[John Bowden]

Whoa! Nice job Cecil!

Ryan....... those additional re-colors would be a nice addition......

Speaking of re-coloring........ Don...... One resolutions for me this year is to finish past started projects......... I think you know which one tops the list!

john

[Don Boose]

Roger copy, John. With my record on incomplete projects, I'm in no position to be critical.

Speaking of which, Cecil's beautiful B-25 and the discussion with Ryan inspired me to buy my own copy of Ryan's Bill Aldridge version of the Doolittle Raider to add to my "to be built" pile (as opposed to the "to be completed" pile). If I do build it, it will be plain vanilla "from the box" and on the stand, in flight. Might look good with a model to the same scale of a Ki-27 -- or even a Ki-61 (since my boss at the Army War College, Dr. Clay Chun, who wrote the Osprey book on the Doolittle Raid, believes there is enough evidence to justify the dramatic cover illustration of one of the raiders under attack by a Ki-61; Osprey Publishing - The Doolittle Raid 1942 (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/book.aspx?BookID=9781841769189)).

Don

[ashevilleangler]

I had a PM with Steve B. about possibly making this re-color available for purchase. It would be Steve's model with the color changes, the "Ruptured Duck" logo, the correct tail number for Ted Lawson's ship and the revised engine details.

Any interest in such a re-color?

Cecil

[Leif Ohlsson]

Cecil & Ryan

I thought you might like to have the sources for these paintings archived somewhere...:

Hornets Nest John Shaw (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Hornets-nest.htm)
Into the Teeth of the Wind Robert Taylor (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Into-the-teeth-of-the-wind.htm)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Robert Taylor (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Doolittle-tokyo-raiders.htm)
Doolittle Raiders Robert Taylor (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Doolittle-raiders.htm)
The Royce Raid Richard Taylor (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/The-royce-raid.htm)

The main source is: Aviation Art Gallery Aviation Art - Aircraft Paintings (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/index.htm). There you will find absolutely stunning paintings, mostly of WWII classic aircraft such as the Spitfire, Hurricance, B17, Lancaster and many German classics as well.

My favourite: Gil Cohen Aviation Art (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Gil-Cohen-aviation-art.htm)

I attach his B-24 Ploesti raid painting (http://www.aviationartgallery.co.uk/Images/Print-info/Ploesti-the-odyssey-of-utah-man.htm) as a teaser.

Leif

PS. Added another B-25. Source: Wiek’s Homepage (http://www.luijken.com/)

[RyanShort]

Thanks.

Ryan

[lee4752]

I had a PM with Steve B. about possibly making this re-color available for purchase. It would be Steve's model with the color changes, the "Ruptured Duck" logo, the correct tail number for Ted Lawson's ship and the revised engine details.

Any interest in such a re-color?

Cecil
Absolutely. I first got interested in the subject of the Doolittle Raid, and subsequently WWII history when I read "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" as a twelve year old.

[ashevilleangler]

Lief, Thanks for the paintings references and thanks to Lee for your interest. I kind of doubt that I will pursue a recolor at this point since it's already been awhile and I would need to get myself restarted on this one.

Cecil