1/48th scale Marauder Mk.I- Monogram kit with Lone Star resin conversion set- FINISHED!

[tonyot]

Hiya folks,

                   No pics tonight but loads of fiddly stuff done today as well as permanently fitting the wings and tailplane  to the fuselage.  The fin needed a section of plastic card underneath the forward section to fill in an obvious gap. 

 

The kits canopy glazing is wrong for an early variant so this had to be altered by sanding one of the frames away on the left hand side of the windscreen and polishing it back up again,.....plus the nose cone glazing is wrong too. It has the strengthening frames for the .5 Browning mount moulded in and I had assumed that I could simply file them away from the outside,......but they are moulded onto the inside instead,......so I`m pondering this one as I don`t want to spoil the part! The hole for the nose mounted machine gun will also have to be drilled out higher up in the nose cone and the existing hole filled in, along with the hole for the chin mounted gun.

 

The engine cowlings have also been assembled but like the rest of the kit they need quite a bit of filler and I`ll start on the resin propellers soon. 

 

I see what Troy meant now about the host kit,.......crikey it takes some filling and sanding and the plastic is like iron!! 

 

Cheers

             Tony

[wyverns4]

That was quick! How about plunge forming a new nose cone? As all the detail is on the inside, you could pack it out with Blue-Tack, for support and plunge away.

 

I have worked on a couple of Monogram kits with similar armoured plastic and in both cases it was a very dark olive green...

 

Looking good.

Edited October 9, 2016 by wyverns4
Brain and fingers not in sync just yet

[Greg in OK]

Fantastic project!  Keep on posting every step, it is great!

 

Greg in OK

[tonyot]

Thanks fella`s,........ I only wish that I could plunge mould a new vacuformed nose,...... I`ve tried in the past and failed miserably! 

 

Here is my progress so far with the engines and undercarriage attached. All of the joints/seams etc have been sanded to within an inch of their lives so it should be ready for the paintjob next. On my 72nd scale model I used my last bottle of Aeromaster Olive Drab with Humbrol enamel 123 EDSG for the camo and having found the bottle of O/D,.....the little bit of remaining paint has dried up,..... so time to find a substitute! 

 

As you can see I have also dug out the Torpedo from a Tamiya Swordfish....which is better than the one in the Beaufighter kit.

 

Most torpedo capable/equipped British Marauder Mk.I`s appear to have a supported rim running across the nose in front of the windscreen which may have been a torpedo sight as also seen on contemporary British torpedo bombers such as the Swordfish, Albacore and the torpedo equipped Wellington, known as the Fishington which had a larger but similar lash up fitted in front of the windscreen with light bulbs strung across it. It might have been a system of jets for cleaning dirt or salt water off the windscreen or a combination of the two,.....so I may have a go at recreating this?

Here is a Wellington/ Fishington fitted with its improvised torpedo sight in front of the windscreen;

Now this sight doesn`t appear on 14 Sqn`s Marauders before they were converted for torpedo use, as depicted by FK375/D `Dominion Revenge' (the subject of my earlier 72nd scale model) seen here still in its early desert finish, before the unit was made operational in the maritime role. For those interested,.....Mr. Dick Ward of Modeldecal fame painted the nose art onto this machine while serving with the RAF and after t was repainted the inside of the scroll remained Middle Stone! The dark section above the scroll is a field of the original USAAF Olive Drab containing the USAAF serial number of the aircraft;

and this American torpedo equipped early Marauder doesn`t appear to have the arrangement in front of the windscreen either;

                

Cheers

             Tony

 

PS- I forgot to mention that I have shortened the nose wheel too as the early variants had a shorter strut which made the tail stand higher up! Also,.....despite all of the nose weight that I used,......which was balanced on the fuselage c of g with the resin tail in place,......the kit is a definite tail sitter,......oh bum! I thought about adding more weight in the engine nacelles but the model is so heavy already, what with the resin wings etc that I don`t want to strain the u/c. 

Edited October 10, 2016 by tonyot

[exhausted]

I've been following this build with strong interest. I've considered the same Lone Star Models conversion, but I haven't had the funds to buy it. Short-winged B-26s certainly are rare and fascinating.

2 minutes ago, tonyot said:

so I may have a go at recreating this?

 

I think you can do it. Perhaps with stretched sprue or a spare photo-etch rods?

[wyverns4]

Yet more interesting info, great stuff!

 

For the sight contraption, do you have access to a friendly feline, who might donate a whisker or two?

 

Christian, exiled to africa

[tonyot]

Cheers fella`s,.......I replied earlier but it doesn`t seem to have registered,.....strange!

 

Great idea re the hair for the sight Christian,......might give that one a try although plastic rod could well be the way to go.

 

Exhausted- Yeah the conversion kit is quite expensive,......it was my Christmas prezzie last year although it took some time to be delivered to the UK.  

 

I`ve had a few hours free this morning and so did a bit of whittling while catching up on a few telly programmes that I had recorded,........in order to make the torpedo mounting from plastic card. Here is the real thing;

 

And here are my efforts,......starting with a bit of whittling,.......the brackets and horizontal bar was made up from lamination's of plastic card glued together with the `H' section of the bar completed using single pieces of plastic card ;

Then here it is finished and test fitted to the Tamiya Swordfish torpedo;

And finally test fitted to the model,......Fudge the dog wasn`t impressed and has gone to bed!;

 

Right,..off out now, maybe get some more done tonight,

Cheers for now

                       Tony

Edited October 11, 2016 by tonyot

[modelling minion]

Nice work Tony, the torpedo cradle look very good, I can't see why Fudge wasn't impressed! I have the same trouble with my Labrador, seems every dog is a critic.

[tonyot]

Haha,......Fudge hates it when I`m modelling,.....she`d rather be playing ball!! 

Well I`m still plodding away with this one and after another session of sanding the propeller blades and spinners are now ready;

And after yet another session of remedial sanding on the airframe including a big job trying to blend the vacuformed tail glazing into the resin tail ,......I have applied the basecoat of Olive Drab for the camouflage. Unfortunately my last bottle of Aeromaster O/D which was used on the 1/72nd scale model had dried up so I was on the lookout for a replacement and Tamiya`s Olive Drab 2 spray can was the best match;  

 

I`ll be hand brushing the EDSG on next, followed by the Neautral Grey undersides,

Cheers

            Tony

[thepureness]

Nice build and choice of subject, keep it coming

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,....... well I finally had a go at removing the interior framework for the .5in gun from the kits nose glazing and it got quite messy, using different grades of wet and dry sanding paper, but finally I got the frame lines sanded away......then I drilled a new hole for the nose mounted gun which was higher up on the early Marauders;

Following this I have polished the inside of the glazing back again and then painted the inside using Johnstons Clear..... I`ll post a photo when I get some daylight.

 

This evening I have applied some EDSG disruptive pattern to the model but it doesn`t look right,....... so tomorrow I may use a lighter shade of Olive Drab,.... using Xtracrylics which can be hard to brush paint,....so we`ll see,

 

All the best

                 Tony

[exhausted]

I'm happily following your progress. Would you explain why you air brushed the base coat and plan to hand brush the camouflage?

[tonyot]

18 hours ago, exhausted said:

I'm happily following your progress. Would you explain why you air brushed the base coat and plan to hand brush the camouflage?

I used a rattle can of Tamiya spray as base coat as it  was the only way that I could source the Olive Drab colour that I wanted because the  bottle of Aeromaster O/D that I had used on my 1/72nd model had dried up ,.....plus it helped to act as an undecoat with the mix of plastic and resin airframe parts, As it happens the rattle can O/D colour has proved to be darker than I thought it would be,.... so I have ended up hand brushing a slightly lighter shade of O/D from Xtracolor and a Dark Grey from Tamiya onto the upper surface`s as camouflage anyway. I`ll add a full update later,

Cheers

            Tony 

Edited October 18, 2016 by tonyot

[tonyot]

A further update,..........well as mentioned above,........after applying Tamiya Olive Drab by rattlecan it proved to be darker than I intended, however it served as a good undercoat between the plastic and resin parts. Here is the model with Pactra Extra Dark Sea Grey brushed on as the disruptive camouflage pattern,....but this was too light, so I`d have to `re visit' the camouflage,......I just wish that I had the Aeromaster O/D that I had used on my 1/72nd scale model. The Swordfish torpedo, scratch built mounting and air tail,the polished nose cone and the `finished' propellers can also be seen;

,

I say `finished' propellers because when the props were fitted to the model the spinners were found to be far too fat and needed to be sorted out.Here are the real things;

 

Some pics that I took in Florida of Kermit Weeks beautiful B-26;

Here is the Lone Star conversion kit spinner with the prop blades removed;

Well I would like to have used a spinner from a Revell P-61 Black Widow but as I don`t have one I had a go at reducing the spinners that I had, the painted one on the left is the unaltered one and the one on the right has been sanded down;

Here is the sanded prop in the cowling;

And here they are compared on the model with its very bent nose wheel,.......altered one on the left,....unaltered on the right;

I may have a go at more sanding tomorrow?

 

Since I took these pics I have applied the first coat of the new camouflage using Xtracolor acrylic Olive Drab and Tamiya Dark Grey,.....which is looking more promising but still not as good as the 1/72nd scale model! I`ll take a piccy tomorrow when I get some daylight,

 

Cheers

            Tony  

 

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,.....another bit of an update, .......... after messing with the spinners yesterday I gave up and ordered a resin set for a P-61 Black Widow from Hannants!! Whilst doing this I noticed just how rough looking the lip of the cowling was looking in between the upper air intakes so I`ve fitted some plastic card rims and added filler which I`ll sand to shape when everything dries;

Here is the revised colour scheme too.....using Xtracolor Olive Drab and Tamiya Dark Grey.. not exactly what I was looking for but a bit better than the previous attempt,......the Olive Drab could do with being slightly darker and the Grey darker too really;

 

To make brush painting of the Tamiya grey easier I used Vallejo Thinner Medium which was a revelation and it is highly recommended,.....cheers Dave for the tip!

 

 

Cheers

             Tony

Edited October 19, 2016 by tonyot

[woody37]

Just noticed this Tony, we don't get many 48 scale B26's, let alone with a torpedo slung underneath, this looks superb

[Radleigh]

Me too, bit late to the party but great to see and a fine job Tony. I love Marauder's & I must build one, one day.

[tonyot]

Cheers fella`s,........glad you like it so far. I`ve put the first couple of coats of the underside Neautral Grey on today,.....one more coat and then it is time to apply some varnish and get the decals sorted. I

 

I`ll be using the Lone Star/ Red Ghekko decals for the nose name and fuselage roundels and maybe the upper wing roundels too,..... but the serial, code and fin stripes will come from the spares box where I have more suitable styles,

 

Cheers for now,

                         Tony. 

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,....a bit more of an update,.......I received the parcel from Hannants today with the P-61 Black Widow props and two sets of P-61 wheels, one from Sqn and one from Eduard which represent the earlier style fitted to the Marauder Mk.I;

I`ll be using the kit propeller blades with the new spinners as the P-61 blades are too paddle bladed,........here are the new spinners compared to the Lone Star ones which I had already drastically reduced by sanding,.....the two different spinners can be seen in front of the model with the new one on the left, while the nearest nacelle has the new spinner and the other the old spinner;

And the model has received a coat of gloss varnish ready for the decals;

All the best for now,

                              Tony .

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

               Well I was never really happy with the Olive Drab on this model and after a coat of gloss varnish which I hoped might improve it, this Xtracolor paint proved to be very streaky,.....so I had a re think, looked at my references again including this photo of a Baltimore;

,.....and came up with this, by covering the Olive Drab with Aeromaster US Dark Green;

This is the first coat and hopefully a couple more coats will do the trick!! I`ve fitted and painted the new wheels and propellers too.

 

Cheers

             Tony

Edited October 25, 2016 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

               Another quick update,.....I`ve applied gloss varnish to the model,...again,......and it is ready for the decals. Unfortunately the decal sheet let me down again as even the fuselage roundels are wrong and too small,.......it was hard finding suitable ones in my spares but I found some in an old Tally Ho sheet for a 1/72nd Spitfire Mk.XVI,..... the upper surface C1 Types seem just right,..which is good, but a shame that I cannot build the Spit in these markings now. The only part of the decal sheet that I can actually use is the name `Dominiom Triumph' under the cockpit,..... the upper wing roundels, fin flashes and code `R' come from an Italeri Hurricane Mk.IIc and the serials will be from an Xtradecal sheet., with propeller markings coming from the kit

  The green camo actually looks darker in the photo than in real life! 

 

Cheers

             Tony

Edited October 26, 2016 by tonyot

[exhausted]

Still watching with interest. I would like to see the other angles and closeups of the paint. It really looks great so far. This build will be rewarding.

[Caerbannog]

ups - almost done but I did just catch up with this one. relly impressive build.´I always wondered what the Lone Star conversion is like.

 

René

[tonyot]

Cheers Fella`s,........well I`ve finally got the decals on,.....the kit propeller decals broke up so I used some from the spares!;

I`ve included a few different views this time.  Time to leave it aside for a day or two for the varnish to dry and then get on with the matt varnish,

 

Cheers

              Tony

[exhausted]

Amazing. I'm impressed by your brush work.