Airfix 1/72 Martin B-26C Water Bomber "What If"

[foresterab]

EDIT Due to mixing this up with the Douglas B-26 which was the original intended build...but since the kit is half built going to continue it as "what if"

Hello all,

So this is actually the first Airfix kit I've tried to build. Basically picked it up due to the price in a very good model shop with the intention of building this as a water bomber used for forest fire fighting here in Canada. The majority of these airframes used were operated by a company called Air Spray located in Red Deer, Alberta and were used by both the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and most commonly, the Alberta Forest Service. Last flown operationally in 2006 these planes have been replaced by Air Tractor 802's and/or Electra L-188 tankers.

No box shots since I started this about a month ago and well...forgot. Biggest delay on the construction though was colour conversion from the listed Humbrol colours to the Tamiya colours I can source locally with Humbrol 226 - Interior Green being the issue. As I understand it this was the color applied as a zinc chromate protective colour over the metal parts and unfortunately was not always consistently applied in both shade and location with some field expedient options applied. Initial attempts to mix the color as shown:

This struck me as too green in color and while looking at various pictures sourced from google the colours inside the under carriage bays appears silver or grey. Luckily it was spring break, the in laws live somewhat close by the main hanger and Air Spray was willing to let me come visit

Although only a few of the B-26's are left awaiting pick-up from the purchaser's I was able to figure out it's a yellow/green (zinc chromate) base layer but everything else had been painted aluminum or light grey over top as shown by the little bit of grey color applied above.

Photo from within the front under carriage bay. The red is fire fighting retardant which somehow got in there.

Most of the recent work was on the cockpit tub which...well it's pretty basic and doesn't really reflect the real thing. I wasn't able to get many good interior shots but the cock pits are pretty crowded with all the avionics/emergency supplies/radios/after market wiring so I took advantage of the fact each plane seems to be unique and came up with this:

Sigh...looking at it zoomed in shows all the flaws of a not so steady hand and brush painting. But getting better at this...

Edited April 10, 2015 by foresterab

[foresterab]

Unfortunately each of the water bombers had to be converted for air tanker/water bombing operations. The retardant tank fits within the limits of the original bomb bay but the size and dimensions are noticeably different with a custom made tank constructed for each. This means that the following work needs to be done:

1) scratch build the retardant tank or at least a facsimile of it

2) modify the bomb bay doors to create a single door instead of the current pair per side. This also means splitting both doors to come up with a common seam and shortening up the bomb bay to match the retardant bay (basically length of the wing root only).

The actual retardant bay. Red stuff is again old fire retardant caked on.

And the start of the new tank...

No plastic card available so it's made out of plastic scavenged from a box of cleaning supplies. Still trying to debate on how much detail vs. fat fingers to apply. Dimensions done by rule of thumb and Mk.1 eyeball so it's not quite up to engineering standards...

And the start of modifying bomb bay doors. Plan is to get both sides of the plane formed up before breaking out the airbrush for interior colours on the side walls and priming the main body. Retardant tank will be painted and hopefully applied after main body colours are on.

Edited April 6, 2015 by foresterab

[uilleann]

Nice work! Love civ builds like this!

[gingerbob]

Umm, are you sure you didn't mean to be doing a Douglas A-26, later known as B-26?

bob

[Jessica]

Martin B-26? I didn't know that Airspray used them! I know of the much more common Douglas A-26 (which was later on known as the B-26 after the Martins had been retired). What colours did they wear?

[foresterab]

Gingerbob,

This is listed as a Martin B-26C on the Airfix box but I've also got references saying they were Douglas A-26's. From what I understand the airframes are almost identical and were basically stripped down of military considerations for weight to allow for better usage as water bombers. I've always known them as B-26's which is what most folks I know call them...

My first exposure to these was working a fireline when the bird dog came in, blared the warning siren, and then 5 of them came in and dropped their loads. About 30 minutes later another guy came running through the woods telling us to get back as 3 bulldozers came through creating the cat guard/fire break needed for containment. Our job was done and we were back in camp on standby by supper...gotta love machinery in lieu of muscle sweat.

Jessica,

Most frames were yellow with black trim. There were some exceptions such as tanker 98 (Trail of '98) which was white with blue and they did have a hanger queen on the line Tanker 58 which was aluminum with blue (Fire Eater). I'll be going with the conventional markings and have ordered a decal set for Tanker 11 which was written off in crash in 2004 from Lone Star Models but hasn't arrived yet.

I know the 1/48 Revell kit is for Dragon Lady (IIRC Tanker 20) and Leading Edge Decals did Tanker 98 years ago (but out of stock).

Ulillean,

This is what I get to see/work with. Tons of history and the more I learn about each provinces/territories history of fire fighting the longer the list of kits to build becomes . Unfortunately kit markings are the issue and I've figured out how to make my own sets yet.

[Mutley]

I didn't realise Airfix did a B26. Have been wanting to do an air tanker, so going to follow this closely

[Jessica]

My point was that a Martin B-26

Isn't a Douglas A-(or B)26

Did Air Spray actually have Martins?

[Hamden]

Another interesting project I shall follow with interest.

As far as I know the Martin B26 and Douglas A/B26 were two totally different designs not at all similar.

Roger

[dogsbody]

I've seen plenty of Airspray's Douglas B-26's but never ever a Martin B-26. Many years ago I had to correct someone on which was which. Unfortunately, Airspary got rid of their Invaders many years ago. In the 80's they were up here every summer.

Chris

[stevehnz]

Forestab, I think you're comparing apples with oranges as amply illustrated by the previous 3 posts. You could do a Martin B-26 water bomber but it would be a whiff, as opposed to a Douglas B-26, previously A-26 as Jessica has explained in an earlier post & well illustrated by Chris & Jessica. Shame in a way to use the very nice Airfix B-26 kit on a whiff but up to you.

Re Humbroll 226 as green zinc chromate, afaik, the green zinc chromate was used in areas exposed to the sun as the yellow variety was affected by UV light, mixing black pigment into it, which caused the green colour, made it UV resistant. As this was frequently done at unit level there was some variation in colouring so Hu226 is an approximation.

Steve.

[old thumper]

For a minute there I was thinking wow there are a lot more Marauders about than I realised and how come I didn't know about them. I am now very disappointed to learn that these aircraft were actually Invaders. As far as I know most Marauders were scrapped soon after the war and there are only a few now remaining, with I think just one in the whole of Europe at the D Day Museum in Normandy.

[foresterab]

Inserts several words and phrases learned on the fire line....

Dang nab it.

Thank you for the photo comparison Jessica, definitely made it clear. Worst part is when I was there the Air Spray guys called them B-26's and the Buffalo Airways guys called them A-26's. Mystery revelled...

Air Spray only had the Douglas model which would explain the nose. Guess I'm buying a new kit then because even the engines are different it appears....

So now that I've put my foot into it...a new kit will be here in 9-15 business days assuming Canada Post remembers where I live. This time with the proper B-26 model but good news...it's still an AirFix.

Dogsbody,

Airspray still had 4 planes left of which 3 had been sold to a Calgary based collector. Tanker 1 was going to remain as part of Air Spray and I've seen references that another airframe is at the Stan Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, AB but unfortunately in the off normal access storage hanger.

I'm now going to go bottle wine while pondering how I screwed this up.

[philp]

Come on man, whiff it. Would be awesome to see a Marauder in those markings.

I am actually going to use the Airfix Marauder for a different whiff a B-26K in SEA markings as opposed to the Invader actually used.

My biggest issue has been how to mount 8 x .50 caliber machine guns in a Marauder nose?

[Jessica]

The B-26 is a cool aircraft in its own right. It's just a pity that the US Army conceived a prejudice against Martin which meant that they got rid of them indecently quickly after the war. I think it would be truly nifty to see a "what might have been" firebomber. Go on, you know you want to

[Jessica]

I am actually going to use the Airfix Marauder for a different whiff a B-26K in SEA markings as opposed to the Invader actually used.

My biggest issue has been how to mount 8 x .50 caliber machine guns in a Marauder nose?

An X pattern? The B-25 style 2 stacks of 4?

[Dazzio]

I am actually going to use the Airfix Marauder for a different whiff a B-26K in SEA markings as opposed to the Invader actually used.

My biggest issue has been how to mount 8 x .50 caliber machine guns in a Marauder nose?

Bloody hell! That'll will mean it will have 12 .50 Cal machine guns firing forward! Thats some serious weight being fired and carried. Don't forget that the B-26 had 4 firing .50 cals behind the cockpit on the bottom half of the fuselage.

I had a lookie for water bombing Martin B-26's and have found nothing... like most I know of the A-26 being used. Maybe my google-fu is failing me today?

Either way I would love to see this built up, I built this model as a kid and my mother threw it out before I had a chance to restore it. Would love to get my hands on another.

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[old thumper]

The Airfix Marauder is a pretty nice kit and much better than the Revell offering. I'm not sure what the Airfix invader kit is like as I have never made one, I have a strong feeling it is a bit like the Airfix Mitchell with badly fitting parts and big rivets.

[melvyn hiscock]

It gets confusing as the designation for the A26 (Douglas Attack Bomber) was changed to B26 (Douglas Bomber) when it's role changed despite their being a B26 (Martin) although they were out of service and pretty well all scrapped by the time the change was made.

Confusing huh!

[Radleigh]

I'm with the people who say do a what if, would be good to see.

[foresterab]

Okay...so after two nights of thinking about planes and markings I'm going to continue this as a "What If" build. When I think of how many post-ww2 planes were used for water bombers it is logical to think this would have been used as well if available.

Most modern bombers are white with red trim or yellow with blue/black trim....trying to think of something different to go with it since I don't want to mix it up with actual company colours.

Cheers while I ponder more,

foresterab

[CedB]

Good call! Whiff away!

[foresterab]

Well...both halves of the fuselage have been modified as so:

I've still got some trimming to do to make sure this is a even line but happy with it as a starting point considering it's 3 bomb bay door pieces spliced together.

The exterior of the remains have been formed into a new door as well the exterior of which is visible in the bottom of the photo complete with white filler putty to start smoothing it all out.

And basically the reverse of the first photo. Edge needing trimming is more obvious here.

Now for the fun of putty and sanding a few times.

The bad news is I'm manned up on fire duty all weekend so won't be a) able to model much and won't be getting the chores done for SWMBO so might be a few more days until an update.

[foresterab]

Well...off fire duty with only two call outs. Few more other calls but couldn't respond due to the fire we were on. Too early in the season for water bombers yet though...

Anyways...gluing more parts together so I can close things up:

You can see in the bomb bay the cross brace put in to put the tank replica on. Doors have been evened out and actually kinda sorta fit.

In hind site I would have been better to cut the alternate kit piece designed for closed bays into the right shape instead of trying to shape and splice bits from the open doors but that's part of the learning experience. I don't have a razor saw but I guess a hack saw from the garage would have worked as well.

Next step is to close it all up and get the canopy on so I can work on filling some more of the gaps/seams. The kit is actually really nice but because I'm doing a "what if" and need to close off and/or eliminate a lot of the detail fits there's more gaps than designed. Get the body smooth and then primer...

[thomastmcc]

cool idea..