1:72 B-25 H/J Mitchell

A museum veteran beside a combat machine

This sheet brings together two very different faces of one type. The first subject is a Mitchell of the J version with serial number 45-8883 and the name Hot Gen, that is an aircraft from the collection of a Canadian museum which is kept in airworthy condition and can often be seen at public displays. The second is the gun nosed H version named Barbie III, connected with Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Smith and with the theater between India, Burma and China in 1944.

It is that second subject that makes the sheet interesting. The air units operating over the Burmese jungle were among the most unusual formations of the Second World War: they supported detachments dropped deep behind enemy lines, flew low over impenetrable terrain and their machines wore recognition bands you will not find elsewhere. Building such an aircraft means getting a piece of the war into a display case that is spoken of far less than Europe or the Pacific.

Recommended procedure

Because each of the two finishes belongs to a different version, start by going through the kit and establishing the shape of the nose. Then set out the order: first the large areas of the national insignia, then the codes on the fuselage and finally the small lettering. Anyone who does it the other way round usually damages the small artwork while moving a large marking. Let the color base cure properly, preferably overnight, because fresh varnish reacts with a decal softener and is easily marked under the pressure of a cotton swab. Finally it is useful to check the symmetry of the two sides of the model against each other, because an asymmetrically placed code is a fault the eye notices before anything else.