RW: 1/72 RAAF Mitchell 1980s warbird

[KiwiZac]

Hi all,
This Mitchell, 44-86791, was restored in the USA in the early 1980s for an Australian group called Aero Heritage which had been searching for a B-25 to fly as a warbird to acknowledge the type's RAAF service. Ownership later passed to the Australian War Memorial which controversially sold the aircraft to the Yanks Air Museum at Chino, where it remains today.

This is the old Italeri 1/72 Mitchell kit built basically out-of-the box with DK Decals for the RAAF markings, while the distinctive Esso tiger noseart was designed and printed for my by our very own PR19_Kit! Unfortunately the antenna above the cockpit was broken and lost while I waited for the tiger decals.

Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr
Italeri 1/72 TB-25J Mitchell VH-XXV by Zac Yates, on Flickr

I'm very pleased with how this turned out and I hope you like it too.

[Frank3k]

Your B-25 came out great. I love that green!
The Chino B-25J doesn't seem to be the same one - at least not the one here in California:

Planes of Fame Air Museum's North American B-25J Mitchell was built in Kansas City, Kansas and delivered on January 16, 1945.  Although it did not see combat, the Museum’s B-25 served with the U.S. Air Force as a test aircraft until 1958.  Brought to Davis-Monthan AFB for storage, in 1959 it was purchased by a private owner.  The aircraft was acquired by the Museum in the early 1960’s.  It has appeared in countless films & TV programs including Forever Young, Pearl Harbor, Once an Eagle, Salvage One, Highway to Heaven, Con Air, Turbulence, and the TV mini-series Catch22. It also flies as a camera platform for photographers and filmmakers, being used as such in the movies Always and Air Force One, and is an Air Show favorite.

[apophenia]

Very nice!

I remember seeing a photo-shoot for Aeroplane magazine of the 1-to-1 scale KO+P's trans-Pacific delivery flight. You've nailed it 

[KiwiZac]

Thanks apophenia, that means a lot!

Your B-25 came out great. I love that green!

Tamiya XF-70. A perfect match to my eye!

The Chino B-25J doesn't seem to be the same one - at least not the one here in California:

Planes of Fame Air Museum's North American B-25J Mitchell was built in Kansas City, Kansas and delivered on January 16, 1945.  Although it did not see combat, the Museum’s B-25 served with the U.S. Air Force as a test aircraft until 1958.  Brought to Davis-Monthan AFB for storage, in 1959 it was purchased by a private owner.  The aircraft was acquired by the Museum in the early 1960’s.  It has appeared in countless films & TV programs including Forever Young, Pearl Harbor, Once an Eagle, Salvage One, Highway to Heaven, Con Air, Turbulence, and the TV mini-series Catch22. It also flies as a camera platform for photographers and filmmakers, being used as such in the movies Always and Air Force One, and is an Air Show favorite.

That's Planes of Fame - Yanks Air Museum is a separate entity at Chino