Airfix Model World – September 2019

Second time’s a charm

For its Mitchell Mk.II release (A01018), Airfix supplied decals for a pair of RAF

airframes in standard Olive Drab/Neutral Gray camouflage:

• FL212/EV/W NulliSecundus, 180 Squadron, RAF Dunsfold, 1943


• FV923/SM/E, 305 (Polish) Squadron, RAF Lasham, Sep-Oct 1943

wound up as part of The
Fighter Collection at Duxford in
Cambridgeshire in 1987, before
heading back to the USA after
purchase by the Historic Flight
Foundation in 2008. Now based
in Washington State,
Grumpy is still flying
and is the oldest
airworthy B-25D in
the world.

Early Mitchells
With the introduction to
the aircraft out of the
way, let’s look at the kit.
Airfix’s 1/72 B-25 was first
released as a newly tooled
item in early 2018 and featured
in January’s issue of AMW that
year. The kit has since been issued

with RAF decals (see panel) and is

due shortly to be re-released with

parts for an early B-25B of the

famous Doolittle raid. This was an

air attack on the Japanese capital

city Tokyo in early 1942, as a direct

retaliation for the Japanese strike

on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

To achieve this, 16 B-25 bombers

took off from the aircraft carrier

USS Hornet and flew to bomb

targets in Japan. Knowing they

could not land back on the carrier,

the bombers continued on to

crash-land in China, although one

made it all the way to Vladivostok

in Russia. The version of the kit

used here was the original issue,

with a generous smattering of

resin and photo-etched (PE) metal

additions to spice up the detail

http://www.airfi xmodelworld.com 61

INTERMEDIATE BUILD

B-25 MITCHELL Mk.II

Second time’s a charm

For its Mitchell Mk.II release (A01018), Airfix supplied decals for a pair of RAF

airframes in standard Olive Drab/Neutral Gray camouflage:

• FL212/EV/W NulliSecundus


• FV923/SM/E, 305 (Polish) Squadron, RAF Lasham, Sep-Oct 1943

purchase by the Historic Flight
Foundation in 2008. Now based
in Washington State,
Grumpy
and is the oldest
airworthy B-25D in
the world.

Early Mitchells
With the introduction to
the aircraft out of the
way, let’s look at the kit.
Airfix’s 1/72 B-25 was first
released as a newly tooled
item in early 2018 and featured
in January’s issue of
year. The kit has since been issued

A dry assembly of the interior

showed how well appointed

the kit was to begin with. Note

the inclusion of the metal

replacement parts to aid nose-

weighting. These parts alone

were not heavy enough, though.

 Eduard’s PE interior set included a plethora of tiny folded boxes to replace the integrally

moulded detail. These were placed on tape for storage, as they were too small to label.

 Further PE work involved both pilot seats; while fiddly in 1/72 scale, the results spoke for

themselves; here the throttle quadrant and control column has been prepped for further detail.