RidgeRunner Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 (edited) Hi all! After a very brief hiatus, the next colourful bird has rolled out of the paint shop. As you can see, she is a Douglas A-26B Invader, or correctly a TB-26B, as she was when operated by the Fuerza Aerea Chilena (Chilean Air force). Depicted as “849”, the last Invader delivered to Chile, she was a target tug. Formerly she was operated by the 2nd Target Tow Squadron, United States Air Force from Mitchell Field. See: http://www.hempsteadplains.com/2ndtow.htm. The tail emblem is from that unit. These last two Invaders (848 and 849) ended their operational days with 8 Grupo at Antofagusta Air Base. “848” still exists as the base gate guard. The kit is the Italeri A-26B Invader (1/72). With this build my easy and obvious option was to build “848” as she is illustrated widely and you can find her on the net. However, I came across the image below. My interpretation of the image is that it was taken in Tucson. My only evidence for this is that the full image has an F-100 landing overhead. It was kindly supplied to me by Danilo Villaroel Canga . He is an expert on all things Chilean Air Force, having written books and he maintains a blog on the subject. He has been a great source of inspiration. This machine intrigued me and so I attempted to interpret the Black and white image below with a few others to get the colours and markings correct. She appeared to have retained some of the “Arctic Red” areas on the wings and tail and was then overpainted with the Dayglo areas. I haven’t seen any plan views of this so this is where I used my judgement. They may not be perfect but it is my best effort. I used some “modellers discretion” too, which I don’t like to do but I got to the end of the road with my research with some questions un-answered, particularly the colour of the pale areas on the nose, wing panels and rear fuselage. Danilo was sure it was yellow but I’ve gone for Dayglo/Fluorescent Red Orange. In construction terms the only real changes were the deletion of the turrets, the addition of the TT apparatus and the opening behind that from where the tow banner was dropped. An image of this is below: I have not been able to locate any images of the mechanism internally and as it is not visible I elected not to try and replicate it. So what did I do/use? Italeri A-26B Invader kit (1/72) Deleted the turrets and blanked the upper with plasticard. Built the TT apparatus and installed it underneath Blanked the nose gun ports Filed out the interior of the engine cowlings and added exhausts with half round Plastruct rod. Painted with Humbrol 27001 Aluminium Metalcote, 33 Black, 34 White, 189 Insignia Blue, 153 Insignia Red, 209 Fluorescent Red Orange (undercoated with white and yellow), 226 Interior green, and others. Varnished with Gloss and Mattcotes. Exhaust stains sprayed with very weak pale tan, brown and black. Decals came from the FCM Latin Invaders set although in the end I used almost nothing as I printed the Chilean “shield” (the sheet one has an incorrect blue), the unit badge, the serials (Amarillo). The white star on the rudder, stencilling and red lining came from the sheet. Antennas from Uschi Panel lined and dirtied with Flory Dirt and Sand, plus the use of Tamiya Weathering sticks. I hope she finds a friend out there..... Martin Adding more images: Edited January 11, 2019 by RidgeRunner corrected some text 55 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Love it, great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc72 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 A fine model and definitely a cool aircraft. Many years ago, I was particularly fascinated by the international post-war career of the Invader and I bought a copy of Dan Hagedorn/Leif Hellstrom, Foreign Invaders: The Douglas Invader in Foreign Military and US Clandestine Service. Still a fantastic subject. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Just now, Doc72 said: Dan Hagedorn/Leif Hellstrom, Foreign Invaders: The Douglas Invader in Foreign Military and US Clandestine Service. Still a fantastic subject. An excellent choice. It is on my bookshelf too Thanks for your comment. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Great looking Invader there Martin, really nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdsvidioman Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Very nice, an old friend in new cloths. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Good looking Invader 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Fantastic Work...Stunning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 4 minutes ago, Gremlin said: Fantastic Work...Stunning I'm pleased that you approve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Monday Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 I think this is a different airframe but the colours look close enough. Nice build. http://napoleon130.tripod.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=http://www.a-26invader.co.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/xchilew1.jpg&target=tlx_new BM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Yes, that is her sistership 848 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossiant Oliver Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 False advertising, I was expecting a Marauder! in all seriousness though, I love the weathering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Martin, You've done a great job there, I love this colour scheme and ever since seeing a photo of one of these in Foreign Invaders I've promised myself I'll do one some day, if it comes out half as well as yours I'll be very happy. Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael51 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Martin, A great job on what must be one of the more challenging paint schemes around. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 tasty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Lovely job, especially given that difficult paint scheme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark4700 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Very nicely done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Looks great in that scheme. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 (edited) Thanks for all your comments. It wasn’t so difficult. The challenge was determining the colours and in the end I had to use gut feel. Martin Edited February 7, 2018 by RidgeRunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invidia Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 great looking build, a very differant looking invader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Martin- you weren't kidding when you said it was going to be a most colorful Invader! Right up there with the JD-1 target tug/drone director Invaders! Very nice build, too! How much nose weight did she take to balance? Mike I used to have several color slides of a Navy drone director taken by my late father at an Armed Forces Day airshow at Itazuke AB in '54-55. Somewhere over the years, they disappeared along with great color shots of gloss black B-57B's, C-119's and C-124's, and a ton of 8th FBW F-86F's, and I remember a JSDAF RF-86F and SB-17! Wish I had those slides, now. I was only 7-8 years old at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Hi Mike! To be honest I can't recall the actual weight used but I know I packed it as much fishing shot as I could find a home for. Yes, she certainly turned out to be quite colourful. I just hope she is close to reality. Thanks for for your kind remarks, and thanks again to everyone for yours too. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 Very nice model ! Love the colour scheme, particularly the contrast between all those coloured areas and the worn natural metal finish. Really a very interesting subject too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 Thanks a lot, Giorgio. I think I replicated the old B&W image okay. I hope so. I do like to research my subjects as much as I can but this one drew a number of blanks on the dayglo and "red" panels. I'm glad she's done now :). Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Absolutely superb work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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