Eduard has repackaged Hasegawa’s excellent 1/72 B-25J with aftermarket extras as a ProfiPACK item, as CHRIS CLIFFORD reports.
Besides finding great success with its proprietary toolings, such as the recent, well-received Zero and Wildcat, Eduard is adept at occasionally matching other manufacturers’ kits with its own decals and aftermarket additions. One such example is the firm’s new 1/72 B-25 Mitchell Strafer ProfiPACK (item 7012).
This is formed around Hasegawa’s excellent styrene parts originally from 2003, but Eduard also provides two photo-etched (PE) metal frets – one plain brass, the other pre-coloured – paint masks and new decals. Markings for five Pacific Theatre Mitchells are provided, the central theme being that they are all strafer airframes, with eight .50 cal guns in the nose, while extra guns and their fairings are scabbed to the forward fuselage sides of one airframe. All the strafers wear Olive Drab over Neutral Gray save for one, which is in bare metal. Spectacular nose art is the order of the day here too, with the famous bat-adorned B-25J Betty’s Dream being among the options. Every aircraft wears nose art, and they are:
• B-25J-30, 44-30934 Betty’s DREAM, 1st Lt Charles E Rice Jr, 449th Bombardment Squadron, 345th Bombardment Group, Fifth Air Force, Kadena, Okinawa, Japan, July 1945
• B-25J-10, 43-28145 Estrallita, 71st BS, 38th BG, Fifth Air Force, Philippines, 1945
• 44-29147 FRENCH KISS, Lt William J Faucher, 396th BS, 41st BG, Seventh Air Force, Kadena, Okinawa, Japan, July 1945
• 44-29657 Helen Mae, 1st Lt Thomas Cockrell, 100th BS, 42nd BG, Thirteenth Air Force, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, 1945
• 44-31063 Darlin’ Donna, 498th BS, 345th BG, Fifth Air Force, le Shima, Okinawa, Japan, July 1945
Hasegawa’s B-25, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is a splendid kit with plenty of detail inside and out, including a bomb bay with stores. However, Eduard’s PE provides a wealth of embellishment via seatbelts, a new layered instrument panel and rudder pedals, cockpit floor plating, throttle quadrant levers and even gun sights. There are also radio aerial mounting posts and undercarriage torque scissors. And in a highly useful move, the kit’s tape mask selection includes items with which to set the black background for the bat outline on Betty’s Dream.
This isn’t the first time Eduard has re-packaged Hasegawa’s 1/72 B-25, as it already released two Limited Edition versions entitled Angel of Mercy and Gun’s Bunny, in 2021 and 2022 respectively. If you’re a staunch devotee of the type, though, this latest product will enable you to add yet another interesting Mitchell replica to your collection… although you might struggle to select a scheme because they are all so attractive. ‘Strafer’ is great value at £35.50 when purchased direct from Eduard, especially when you consider this package is cheaper than a standard Hasegawa ‘J’ boxing with styrene alone. The kit is also available via Hannants in the UK for £40.99.
