We have already looked at this sheet in 1/32 scale
but we thought we would check these two sheets off against each other and check
them out for all of the 1/72 scale B-25 (glass nose) kit owners out there who
desperately need some nice decals for their Mitchell – so without further ado
we compare and contrast Zotz Mitchell
at war Pt. I
Zotz 1/72 B-25J Mitchell at War Pt. I
Product # ZTZ72/035
Scales: 1/32 + 1/72 (Reviewed here)
Colour Schemes: Seven B-25J glass nose bombers
Printed by: Zotz in Mexico
Available from: Zotz Site where you
can buy directly - Squadron, Sprue Brothers, Mid-Ten Hobbies, Stevens International,
Hannants and Scott’s Model Workshop also carry this set if they are closer to
you.
Price US $15 + P&P
The kit can be found in
amongst the hobby shop shelves from Hasegawa, Revell and maybe even a rare
Airfix version of this kit is available, but mostly the decals I have seen are
pretty staid affairs. Zotz have come to the rescue with seven (!!) new colour
schemes to choose from on your kit. We will look at each of the colour schemes
and show you some pictures of the real thing while we are at it.
The decal sheet comes in a
plastic resalable bag all the way from Mexico and were backed with a hard
cardboard letter which is the norm with these decals – they have never been
damaged in my experience and I have had a heap of them from Mexico to the UK so
safe and fast delivery can be assured.
The
contents of the pack included in this case
Inside the zip loc bag are two decal sheets of
and two colour pages of instructions with profile sand history of the aircraft
on them. This decal set also comes with small a vinyl mask of the front of the
B-25 “Sag Harbor Express” so you can apply the blue colour right to the nose
instead of forming a large decal to transparencies – a good thing too – this
would have been tricky otherwise, this will help you out amazingly with your
painting, I couldn’t imagine making it myself in this scale.
The instructions come on
two double sided sheets of coloured glossy paper which has the front cover
image one side – the seven profiles on two sides and the top and bottom
profiles on the last side. Let’s start with this page…
The top and bottom profile
page comes complete with colour matches for all of the aircraft and a top and
bottom profile of the B-25 complete with placement of the decals.
This sheet also explains
where exactly you place the guns on these aircraft, a really handy tip if all
you had a was a picture to go on of one view (and sometimes not even that) For
instance you go from a single nose gun on “Angel of Mercy” to nine on the
Apache Princess – this is a really handy reference if you cannot fit pictures
on the sheets – well done.
This part of the instructions also has the placement of the vinyl masking sheet on it as well – this is for the “Sag Harbor Express” decal choice where the front of the glass nosed aircraft has been painted over in a deep blue colour and this is a much better way of doing it rather than wrapping a large decal around the area and dealing with lots of split decals you have to match together.
The
supplied sheet of decals:
Before we look at the
decals for each aircraft we will give you an overview of the sheet on offer.
You don’t get aircraft stencils, but you do get a large set of stars and bars
for one aircraft and of course the individual markings for each kite. The
decals are printed by Zotz themselves in Mexico and on examination they are printed finely with some tiny detail
replicated very well in real life – the decals have as little carrier film as
the need and are of a satin finish when applied.
The decals held to the
light so you can see the thickness and carrier film - a plethora of colours are
here that all look good and strong.
The white is strong and not
opaque and the printing is in register with everything coming in neatly where
it should be within the artwork. The decal is strong and settles down very
nicely into the laser cut rivets – more on the application of the decals later.
I am more than happy with the artwork and the colours, thickness and minimal
carrier film.
Road
test - The Application:
The decals were going down
on a bed of Testors aluminium plate and a coat or two of future to seal it.
(These are the set of the 1/32 scale decals for the same set but larger scale
we already reviewed)
With some Micro sol in
these pictures you can see how well these decals adhered to the fine detail of
the kit.
The
profiles and research:
On these instruction sheets
you also have two sides dedicated to the seven aircraft’s profile – showing
where to apply decal with some little supplemental drawings on the occasional
added decal in other spots on the aircraft that need to be identified. We will
go through them one by one and I will show you close-ups of the artwork on
display.
B-25J
"Nasty Nancy" s/n 43-36001 of the 75th BS, 42nd BG
"Crusaders", 13th AF, based in the Philippines during 1945.
Nasty Nancy is seen here in Olive Drab/
neutral Grey colours with the lovely lady riding a long bomb surrounded by the
American style stars on the starboard nose section with the "Nasty
Nancy" and the 42nd bomb group's "Crusaders" shields on both
vertical tails.
The 42nd Bomb Group's Mission #48 was assigned to the men of B-25J “Nasty Nancy”. Their job was to fly in circles at 10,000’ over the city of Saigon, in broad daylight and lure Japanese fighters into a dogfight. This aircraft was credited with four shot down in this action.
B-25J
"Milk Run" s/n 43-3890 of the 82nd BS, 12th BG
"Earthquakers", 10th AF, based in India during 1944-45.
A censored pic. from the war With Milk run in
the foreground
The 12th Bomb group all liked to incorporate
their mascot into their colourful machines - this one - "Milk Run"
was well documented during the war and you can see even in the censored picture
the dogs on the front and the ID number on the tail - the Serial number however
is censored in this picture
The decal of the dogs carrying clubs with a
nail sticking out of the adorned the port nose of the aircraft and following
the big dog - (with teats) hence the expression "Milk Run" - which
was also used for and easy or boring mission. Easy i suppose if you carry a big
stick! Here is the nose section so you can compare the artwork. I think the
artwork is pretty spot on.
There is also the large
"46" ID Number on the aircraft and the correct serial number of
"33890" on the tail supplied in these decals
B-25J "Sheridan Express" s/n 43-3958 of the 22nd BS, 341st BG, 14th AF, based at Yangkai, China in the summer of 1945.
Named and painted in a morning in honour of
the famous Anne Sheridan who visited the aircraft's CBI base in 1945. Armed
with only a rough sketch the artist drew and painted (with the aid of a stick
and about two inches of frayed rope as a brush) the famous lady on the port
nose.
The red colour of the hair was apparently the focus point on
the real aircraft's art. Apparently on arrival at the base Ms. Sheridan turned
out to be a blonde when she finally arrived at the base!!
Apparently the C/O of the unit thought that
the artwork was too bright and would attract the attention of the enemy - so it
was removed shortly after Ms. Sheridan's visit - what a shame!
B-25J
"Angel of Mercy" s/n 43-35982 of the 428th BS, 310th BG, 12th AF,
based at Corsica during 1945.
The only natural metal
aircraft in this decal set it is also the lightest defensively armed and an
aircraft attached to a dramatic set of photographs. You can see in this rare
colour picture (right) from the war that the
nurse has been captured in the artwork in style as well as in the right
colours - truly lucky to have such good photographs to work from Zotz have
yielded a good result here - the decal is on the left of course!!
This is B-25J "Angel
of Mercy" of the 310th Bombardment Group, 428th Bombardment Squadron
stationed at Ghisonaccia, Corsica. See the "Angel of Mercy"
crash-landing article here - a great little connection to these decals that
have been captured pretty well here
Pictures of the crash - You can see on the
tail that the yellow band on the vertical tails is outlined by three black
stripes - I think it must have been a late change but it is clearly marked here
not to use the second set - kudos to Zotz for holding back and making sure this
is just right on the finished product instead of simply just not bothering.
B-25J "Sag Harbour Express" s/n 43-36030 of the 499th BS, 345th BG "Air Apaches", 5th AF, based in the Philippines during early 1945.
Take note that this 345th BG "Air
Apache" machine had an extra MG in the nose just like "Apache
Princess" which is also featured on this sheet. It is nice to get the
information on the sheet - very hard to find a picture of this aircraft. Right here though is the decal o f the bat which goes over the blue which you used with the supplied mask.
The decals and the mask for
the blue nose colour - much better than a massive decal it would be a lot
easier to just trace the outline decal around the nose - smart thanking and
easier for the modeller. the writing is looking like a match to me in the size
and font - I couldnt really find any other wartime photos of this bird. Also
included (and noted on the decal sheet are the white bands around the engine
cowling to edge the blue, the small bat around the centre nose .50cal gun an
the large mouth and eyes on the nose which simply go on top of the blue nose.
"Sag Harbor
Express" piloted by Lt. Arthur Browngardt of Sag Harbor, Long Island, NY
of the 499th Bomb Squadron "Bats Outa Hell", 345th Bomb Group
"Air Apaches" based in Tacloban, Philippines. The aircraft was on a
low level strafing mission and dropping parafrags over Clark field on January
7, 1945 when it was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire on the right engine. Losing
power and altitude, it lost control and clipped the roof of the Catholic Parish
Church in the town of Angeles (now Angeles City) and crashed to a nearby school
Holy Angel Academy (now Holy Angel University) killing the entire crew. Parts
of this aircraft are on display at the Holy Angel Academy museum and a helmet
from it was donated to another local museum.
B-25J
"Apache Princess" s/n 43-28152 of the 501st BS, 345th BG "Air
Apaches", 5th AF, based in the Philippines during the spring of 1945.
Apache Princess is currently flying today -
but don't be taken in - this is not the wartime airframe but a different
aircraft painted new 9 not very good) nose art. This aircraft S/N 43-36030 was
another Olive Drab/Neutral grey ship from the "Air Apaches" bomb
group. Note the red cowling intakes and white stripe mid-way through the wing. The
nose art again matches very well the original wartime shot.
Again pictures of this
wartime aircraft are scarce - the real kite was shot down by Japanese AA fire
in May 1945 - here thought at least is a picture of the tail art of another
aircraft from that group so we can see the similarities
B-25J
"Green Dragons" s/n 43-27971 of the 405th BS, 345th BG
"Sunsetters", 5th AF, based at Morotai during late 1944.
Oww well here I go again only one picture of
this quite famous aircraft from a well-known group - all of the dragons in this
group had slightly different green dragons on their fuselages - so I am going
only from this picture but what Zotz have done passes for accurate to me.
The shot is colourized so ignore that - but just
look at the shape is all I can say.
This bird is well known
from the dispatches - here is the gun camera footage from the mission in which
it took on the Japanese freighter the "Takasu Maru"
As far as I am concerned I put a lot of work
into researching this review and if the guys at Zotz did their due diligence
as well and they must have doubled that in research - It is clear to me the replication of
these decals and the artwork here shows that the research has been done and the
artwork is great.
A great thing for 1/72
scale modellers that they can have these great markings in their own scale –
there is also a “Gun Nose sheet from Zotz available now on their site with five
different markings so if you have a 1/72 B-25 you also have no excuse now to
make it!!
Great work to the Eli and the team at
Zotz!!
Adam Norenberg
You can order this decal sheet from the Zotz Decals excellent new website or from the other stores mentioned in the header of this
review
