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B-26B Marauder Updates (for ICM) 1:48 Eduard ICM brought their newly tooled 1:48 B-26B Marauder to market just a few months ago, and it’s a huge improvement on the old Monogram kit, offering most of the interior detail from the box, although by necessity it is simplified to keep the costs palatable, and to comply with the technical limits of injection-moulded styrene. You can always improve styrene with aftermarket sets though, and Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Cockpit & Nose Interior (491454) Two frets are included, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other larger, and in bare brass. A complete set of new layered instrument panels, centre-console, throttle quadrant and sidewalls, and improvements to the side consoles with added levers for the cockpit that are in full colour, with a large skin for the floor; a brand-new pair of seats for the front crew with rails to mount them on; a tunnel surround for the crew hatch in the floor behind the crew seats; a detail skin for the bulkhead between the crew and bombardier, which also has additional details around the edges; hand-grips on the doorway; and overhead console between the pilots that has raised parts added from PE; a windscreen wiper for the bombardier’s optically clear window in the nose; a ring and bead sight for the nose machine gun, plus a dump bag to one side and a length of ammunition that fits into the stowage box that attaches to the glazing nearby, which is also replaced by a PE part. Having built and painted the kit cockpit, this will be a huge upgrade, and I’m already thinking about how to retro-fit it to my kit as I type this. Zoom! Set (FE1454) This set contains a reduced subset of the interior, namely the pre-painted parts that are used to improve on the main aspects of the cockpit, as seen above. Whatever your motivations for wanting this set, it provides a welcome boost to detail, without being concerned with the structural elements such as the seats, floor and access tunnel. SPACE 3D Printed Cockpit Decals (3DL48183) Eduard SPACE sets use new 3D printing techniques that lay down successive layers of different colour resin, creating highly realistic almost full complete panels that are supplied on a decal sheet. They can depict metallic shades, plus glossy, satin, and matt colours too, which really ups the detail on everything they print. In addition, a small sheet of nickel-plated and pre-painted PE is included for the aspects of the set that lend themselves better to this medium, such as seatbelts and rudder pedals. The kit instrument panel is covered in raised detail, but is let down by the decal that comes with it, which has thick white bezels around each instrument face. This set will require removal of the raised details, after which the new hyper-real panel can be glued into place, carrying out the same task with the centre console and throttle quadrant, plus several other instrument boxes around the cockpit sides, adding a new overhead console and gunsight, extending the detailing into the nose and walls of the cockpit. The PE sheet contains belts for the pilot, co-pilot, gunners and other crew, all etched in STEEL, making draping them over the seats a breeze. Again, it’s an impressive update to the detail of this kit, which whilst good will be much better with these upgrades Seatbelts STEEL (FE1455) These belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. As well as the crew belts, you also get a set of belts for the rest of the crew, most of whom have lap-belts because of their positions and seating type. Masks (EX1044) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition, you get masks for the turrets, various smaller windows and hatches dotted around the fuselage and landing lights in the wing leading edges. Masks Tface (EX1045) Supplied on two sheets of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with everything above, but also give you another set of canopy masks tailored to fit the inside of the glazing so that you can paint the model’s interior and give your kit that extra bit of realism. Having used these sets on my own models now, I can confirm that they are extremely accurate, and it's good practice to place the outer masks first to act as a guide for alignment of the inner masks. US National Insignia (EX1046) Masking off the main markings of models removes any pitfalls associated with using larger decals, such as thickness of the carrier film, unintended decal movement before setting, and the perennial scourge of decaling – silvering - where microscopic air bubbles become trapped under the carrier film, reflecting light and giving the completed decal a silvered look. Using masks, it’s possible to paint several colours in very thin layers with an airbrush, leading to a set of markings that are more harmonious with the overall paint finish, and later appear to have been sprayed on along with the main colours. It also makes weathering or chipping the markings as simple as it is with paint. This set is tailored for the ICM kit, and arrives in a flat-pack resealable package, backed by a thick piece of cardboard, and with a small instruction sheet held within along with a sheet of vinyl masks. Why vinyl rather than kabuki tape? Vinyl is more robust and requires more tension to deform it, lending the material to letters, digits and shapes that require precision of size and shape to look correct. The masks include parts for the national markings of the aircraft so you can paint the stars-and-bars on the model, which could be an introduction to using masks and an airbrush to create more realistic markings on future models. Positioning the masks should be straight-forward, but if you have placement issues you could place the positive masks as a guide, then lower the negative masks into position over them, weeding out the positive masks once you are happy with their location. Depending on what colours you are spraying, and the shades you are using, it may take multiple steps and some element of adding and removal of masks, which you can keep together by adding a separate piece of tape across the group of shapes to keep them aligned in between uses. It would also help keeping the groups apart from each other during use, so you don’t get the individual mask sets mixed up. A perfect opportunity to try something new with your modelling, helping to increase the realism of your work by removing the carrier film and associated issues from the equation, at least for the major markings. Conclusion Stand by to see some of these parts added to my ongoing build of the ICM kit here, which has been going a little bit slowly of late due to various reasons, but the upside is that I’m still able to put some of the details in there before the fuselage is closed. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello, I am not sure about the best way of weathering steel tow cables. The kit provided brass cables which I did not like, so I’ve replaced them. The replacement was made from several strands of steel rope braided together. I think the rope is zinc coated, but I am not really sure about that. You can find a picture taken at daylight just by the window attached below (work in progress). When looking at real tanks, the cable seems to be too bright to me as it is (no weathering). What would you do about it? I would like to avoid coating the entire wire with a paint. I thought about submerging the cable in sulphuric acid for a while which could darken it a little in theory or maybe applying some dark oil wash over it. Has somebody dealt with this before? What would you suggest as the optimal weathering method? Thank you. The picture

Remove Before Flight Tags UK (32923) 1:32 Eduard These are a set of modern UK style remove before flight tags. There are 18 shorter tags and 52 of the longer tags. These are in the new more flexible steel material. Review sample courtesy of