It was with a great deal of sadness that we heard that Accurate Miniatures was not going to be issuing their B-25G kit. However, Accurate Miniatures has offered a conversion kit so that the B-25B or B-25C/D kit can be made into a B-25G. Frankly, there have been a number of people who are upset about having to pay for the original kit and the conversion kit at the same time. If they paid retail for the B-25B kit, then they have a right to be upset as that means the B-25G will be costing them close to $70.00. However, the B-25B kit is currently available from all sorts of places for prices as low as $30 or less. Combine that with this set and you have the same price. Or you could be like me and have ordered too many B-25B kits in the first place and now have a reason to build another one!!

So, what do you get for your money. Well, you get a sturdy plain brown box. Inside is a bag containing two sprues and a bag containing the decal sheet and instructions.

On the two sprues are all the bits and pieces you need to convert your B-25B as well as some 'extra' parts that will undoubtedly be on the B-25C/D kit. The dedicated B-25G sprue is on the left. It has the new nose, fuselage armor plate, guns and mount. As with the Yak-1 kits, there are a few parts that need to be folded. Seems to work ok as I had no problems with it in the Yak kit and it sure beats getting glue all over things. The right sprue is obviously from the upcoming B-25C/D kit as it has the needed new cowlings and the unused side gun packs and bomb racks.

The decal sheet is quite large (as it should be for the B-25) as includes markings for two aircraft. One is a sharkmouthed G in 'sea search' scheme of white undersides and leading edges with an OD upper surface. This is a test aircraft, I believe, and did not see unit service. It carries red surrounds to the insignia so should be the more colorful of the two. The second aircraft is from an unidentified unit in the Pacific, called 'Little Joe'. This is in standard paint with medium green patches on the wings, tail and tailplanes.

What is not mentioned in the instructions are the clear bits that need to be used with this aircraft, as some of them are not the same. This is especially true of 'Little Joe', which has a large tail gunner 'canopy'. There is also no indication of how to do the tail gun installation on this aircraft. Perhaps something is on the Accurate Miniatures web site.

 There is a note in the set that states that if you have an early B-25B release, you may need to contact Accurate Miniatures to get the clear bits needed. What will be interesting is to see how the circular observation dome will fit into the square opening in the B kit!

Well, no one said that conversions are easy, though this one looks like it will not be that bad. This set is only available direct from Accurate Miniatures. Is this an indication of the way kits will be marketed in the future?  Only time will tell.

Review copy brought to you courtesy of me and my credit card.