MarkH206

Excellent. Glad I could be of help. I asked a few questions here on the Mk I / II boxing and I think some of the info may apply to the Mk III. At least you don't have to worry about the shape of the nacelles! I had some great replies:

A slight drift from the scribing point but if I was removing a door I'd use the pin vice with a micro drill to make a series of holes inside the line of the door. Then cut from hole to hole with a craft knife. Then neaten the doorway opening with a file. Hope I haven't misunderstood your problem. Mark

If you know when he was in the squadron have a look at the Operations Record Books for a few of those months. I've had a quick look at 1944 and the 10 squadron ORBs list crew members, aircraft code letters and serial numbers along with info on the missions. Here: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/raf-operations-record-books-1939-1945/

Thanks for the info on the props. I persevered with the AML set and after a lot of gentle sanding the props looked more or less ok. There were a few pin holes which I had to fill but the end result is certainly better than the kit offerings. Like this.

Try a search for 'turrets' in 'All Aircraft Accessories' at Hannants. The first one in the results is this: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ARACA7272

That's just lovely. Bigger pics would be good. Mark

I have a question about the size of the code letters for my Mk V which I am sure has been asked and answered before but my searching hasn't found it. My understanding is that the serial number and the code letters should be dull red. The serials 8 inches high and the code letters 48 inches high. Hannants have two xtradecal sets for the code letters: - 48" high x 30" x 6" stroke - 48" high x 24" x 6" stroke It looks like the choice is 30 or 24 inches wide if I've understood that right. I'm thinking that the wider set looks right but I'd appreciate any advice. thanks Mark

Now she's ready for some paint following a clean with isopropanol alcohol. Then black Ultimate acrylic primer followed by Xtracrylix British Dark Earth (why 'British' rather than 'RAF' I'm wondering) on the upper surfaces The pic's a bit dark - sorry about that. And then starting the masking. I'm not brave enough to do freehand camouflage so I mask carefully and rather slowly as I tend to get bored with it. Masking is definitely the slowest part of the build for me but I know that its worth the time. You might notice that the nose is missing. That's because I pushed in one of the side windows during the handling. I gently removed the nose and replaced the side window. Hopefully no damage done but I'm worried that it might have been working loose during my airbrushing. The inside of the nose looks ok so I'm slightly hopeful. Removing the masks will reveal all I suppose. Anyway here she is as of this morning. More masking now. Back soon. Mark

Well that's strange. There wasn't an ok button. I'm a tapatalk member and tend to leave myself logged on. I logged off and tried the link again - it worked perfectly. Brilliant diorama.

I just get an error message from Tapatalk: "No posts exist inside this topic for the selected time frame."

I have recently built the MPM Boston Mk IV / V and I confirm it's a challenge to build. There have been several builds here in the last couple of years and as far as I recall they all mention problems. Definitely the worst part for me was the nose which MPM have as three transparencies but if you are planning a solid nose A-20G that shouldn't be an issue. There is a lot of work to get the wing to fuselage join to look decent and I would say it fails on your key tests of easy fit and minimal filler (in fact it misses those by a mile and then some). Detail is good though (!!) Mark

I borrowed an idea from a Halifax build on another forum and installed the ailerons upside down. This transfers the gap that appears, if you follow the instructions, from the top of the wing to the underside. I'll probably deal with the gap later. Probably. I attached the wings to the fuselage spars, again a good firm fit and, all of a sudden, there's an aeroplane on my desk. Some might even say it's starting to look like a Halifax. Then some attention to the propellers. As a reminder this shows the kit parts with an AML replacement - a vast improvement. I was really put off by the lump of resin on the tip of all the blades and because I have two sets, with spares, I can confirm that I have thirty blades with lumpy tips. I also started work on removing the hubs and spinners from the casting blocks. That threw up another problem. The spinners all had at least one flaw - shown with the red marks. From this set I decided I could only use the spinner top left and the bottom two are just awful. What quality control do these guys have? Again I was fortunate to have a second set so I was able to get four decent spinners together. The hubs on the other hand are nice pieces of work - of course most of that will be hidden by the spinners. The hubs and spinners fit together nicely. I gently sanded the tips of the blades to remove that lump and prepared fifteen - so I had spares. Of the fifteen, four had pin holes inside the tips (air bubbles maybe) which I filled with Mr Surfacer and one had a hole right through which is in the bin. At the end of all that I have this lot from two AML sets: Some more work on the two part saxophone exhausts. I've found it tricky to get these looking neat. Not helped by me attaching them at the wrong angle to begin with and having to pull them apart and start again. This is them in progress for a second time with blobs of Mr Surfacer to hide the join. And one mostly cleaned up. Attaching the vertical tail parts together. Four parts to each - a good firm fit. My Mk V probably had these rectangular fins rather than the triangular version. Next the internal bomb bay doors with the hinges attached. Revell has the doors as one part so to display the doors open there's some surgery needed but the part is clearly marked where you should cut. And those internal doors attached to the fuselage. Lastly, for this post, the external bomb bay doors attached. These are moulded as part of the fuselage and not mentioned in the instructions but the fuselage is clearly marked where you should cut. I did that at the beginning of the build. On reflection I should have thinned those down a bit before reattaching them. Think I'll live with it. There's some small pieces of scrap card between the internal and external doors so they don't appear stuck together. Next I'm returning to those propellers. See you soon. Mark

Very nicely done. I heard my first Merlin of the season today but wasn't quick enough to see it - so I'm gazing at yours to make me feel better. Congrats on excellent build, finish, background info and pics. Mark

Some fair points above. I always try to use Eduard masks although I think you might have answered your own question. If I was re-starting the hobby, I wouldn't pick a B-26 canopy and nose as my first attempt at masking without using a masking set. Better to go for something simpler. How about a P-51 or Bf 109? I've built the Hasegawa B-26 fairly recently and I found the whole tail area tricky. Hasegawa decided to make that transparent - not just the small see through bit - and that transparency plastic is brittle and not fun to work with. They did the same with the B-24 nose and I also struggled with that. Good luck. Mark

We posted at the same time and it looks like we agree on the approach. Your set has a lot more flash than mine and my blades are in sets of six rather than your three but the tab on the tip looks the same. So removing the flash and gentle sanding on the tab works! Mark