Crossiant Oliver Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I'm looking at an Airfix B-26 and an MPC B-26 and I was wondering... Are they the same kit? and... Wheres the best place to put a weight in it? If anyone can answer these questions I would be delighted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I believe they are the same. A tidy kit by all accounts. Weight goes ahead of the bomb bay forward bulkhead. I made a 1/48th last year, and that's where mine went. Don't fit the nose glazing until last, just in case you need to add a little more. Check the MPC decals, they may be a bit suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPuente54 Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 It is most likely an Airfix kit. MPC either had a license to make Airfix kits here; or, they bought from Airfix, and, re-boxed and put in their own decals. They were available throughout most of the '70s to the early '80s or so. I still have a number(not necessarily the B-26) of MPC kits in my stash. As bentwaters81tfw wrote; it is a nice kit. My remembrance of one of the reviews is that it actually set the standard at the time(early '80s) for its level of detail, inside and out. I remember being impressed by it when I bought my copy. And, the decals can be suspect as he(bentwaters) said. CO, are you considering buying it; or, have you already bought it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 It's a great kit, very nice details especially the bomb bay and forward wheel well. nose weight can go just behind the front wheel well or between the cockpit and bomb bay bulk heads, as has been said, there is plenty of room in there. If you don't add enough weight (I didn't add any to mine) you can use the little ladder provided in the kit to stop it tail sitting (as long as you model it with the bomb bay open, which I recommend). down sides to the kit are: clear parts are very thick and the engine necklace and wheel wells needed a lot of work to get a nice fit to the wing with mine. Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 It's a very fine kit for its year and still fun to build. I agree the canopies are a bit thick by modern standards, and recommend the Falcon / Squadron vac-form replacements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abakan Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I really like the Airfix B-26. I got a handfull of Hasegawas in the last few years. But I still kept my Airfix 26 as I think it is "almost" as good as the much newer hase. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viscount806x Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Worth recording here that this was one of the last kits initially planned by the Chief Designer at Airfix, Haldane Place, the late John Edwards who sadly passed away in 1971 at a cruelly early age. Respect! 1973 was the release date of the kit which was a very good time to be buying Airfix who were very much on a roll at the time. A much loved and well thought of kit from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 As others have said this is one of, if not the, best Airfix kits of its era. The raised panel line detail is quite fine and looks quite acceptable under a coat of paint. Bomb bay and wheel bay detail is quite good for the scale and era. The engine nacelles (forward of the wheel bays, obviously) will provide additional room for ballast but do be careful of the undercarriage; it's quite delicate, being quite close to scale, so the ladder tail prop advocated by Rob85 is worth considering as an alternative. The Squadron/Falcon transparencies are also well worth considering. If you've got it, build it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalea Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I have in my possession the Airfix,the Hasegawa,the Matchbox,the Monogram, and a Valom. In each case the size of the nose transparency is noticeably different. Yes I could get out my 'Aviation News' plans and my Squadron/Signal booklet and do it by eye, but does anyone know off-hand? No, don't regard myself as a rivet counter but I'd like to be able to put different manufacturers' kits of the same aircraft side-by-side without seeing noticeable differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I know the Valom kit has been criticized for having a fuselage that's noticeably too fat. Apparently they used a faulty set of drawings when designing it. The Airf8x Marauder is definitely onw of their best efforts of that era, only bettered when the Hasegawa kit was released some 35-40 years later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 29 minutes ago, Steve N said: I know the Valom kit has been criticized for having a fuselage that's noticeably too fat. "Noticeably" to the tune of about 1/4" in diameter ie 18" in real life. I like the Airfix Marauder. In its time it set new standards for Airfix. The odd thing about it is that the undersides that no-one will see (wheel wells, bomb-bay) were superbly detailed for their day but the cockpit was nothing like up to the same standard: maybe the accountants stepped in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Perhaps they thought it's easy to look underneath, but quite hard to see into the cockpit, with it being heavily framed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 8 hours ago, Seahawk said: "Noticeably" to the tune of about 1/4" in diameter ie 18" in real life. I like the Airfix Marauder. In its time it set new standards for Airfix. The odd thing about it is that the undersides that no-one will see (wheel wells, bomb-bay) were superbly detailed for their day but the cockpit was nothing like up to the same standard: maybe the accountants stepped in! I've only seen the Valom kit "in the plastic" once, that overly fat fuselage completely turned me off..particularly considering its hefty price tag. If you want an early short-wing Marauder in 1/72, you can get a better result for less money by combining the very accurately shaped Monogram Snap-Tite kit with the detail parts from the Hasegawa Marauder (Squadron/Falcon also has a nice set of vac canopies for the Monogram kit, with the very early single tail gun.) I remember I was blown away by the Airfix Marauder in the late 70s. I had never seen a 1/72 kit with that much interior detail. Althoygh like you, I was rather puzzled by the bare-bones cockpit compared to the bomb bay and wheel wells. The only real let-down with the kit are the transparencies..I remember the nose cap and upper turret were quite rough. Until the Hasegawa kits came on the scene, I had big plans to rescribe and detail the Airfix Marauder. I had acquired vac transparencies and other aftermarket bits, but never followed through with the project. SN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawk Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 On 05/03/2017 at 8:56 AM, Steve N said: If you want an early short-wing Marauder in 1/72, you can get a better result for less money by combining the very accurately shaped Monogram Snap-Tite kit with the detail parts from the Hasegawa Marauder First find your Monogram Snap-Tite kit. Never ever seen one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 The one drawback I recall about the Airfix kit were the movable fixed surfaces. Otherwise I agree, it was lovely in its day and still looks good. Has anyone actually tried cross-kitting Airfix and Valom to get a decent early B-26 - not sure it would work anyway. I never saw a Monogram Snap-Tite in UK shops, but was sent one by a US modeller a few years back, together with lots of Airfix Marauder bits to fill it out. Given the dramatic increase in US postal rates, it would seem that this kind of trans-Atlantic generosity will become a historical footnote. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 14 minutes ago, Graham Boak said: I never saw a Monogram Snap-Tite in UK shops, but was sent one by a US modeller a few years back, together with lots of Airfix Marauder bits to fill it out. I managed to find one (and the Snap B-25) in Germany some 20 to 25 years ago, so they do exist this side of the Atlantic, but I admit that doesn't help you much. It would've made a much better (and more interesting) choice for Revell to have re-run the Monogram rather than their ancient FlakBait. These days, I don't think Revell would run the kit again under their own Label - possibly they should think about a "cheap" secondary Label like they did with Advent, 35 years ago ? Anyway, I agree with all the others that it's a fine kit from their heyday. It blows the later MB kit out of the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 While browsing through the stash, looking for something unrelated to this topic, I noticed that my Airfix B-26 is actually an MPC release. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I picked up an early 70s Airfix Marauder at the Peterborough show yesterday for £12.00. The transfers are well past their best but the box art is "first issue" and the plastic's still in its original bag. I wish I'd had the FROG kit from the same trader as well..... From memory the 1/48th Monogram Marauder doesn't have a lot of detail in the cockpit either (mine's trapped in the loft presently so I can't check). The Matchbox kit, IIRC, suffers from oversized engine air intakes, undersized and heavily-framed canopies and main undercarriage problems (too far aft?). Detail was a bit basic too I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossiant Oliver Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 I'm also about to start the airfix b-25 (the old one.) and is there any way I don't need to put any weight on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenshirt Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 1 minute ago, Crossiant Oliver said: I'm also about to start the airfix b-25 (the old one.) and is there any way I don't need to put any weight on it? If you want her to sit on all three wheels...your options are few. Either weight in the nose, glue/screw the wheels to a base, or prop it under the tail. I've seen a barrel used, a clear rod, and a pilot touching the underside like during a preflight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 On 3/6/2017 at 9:09 AM, Seahawk said: First find your Monogram Snap-Tite kit. Never ever seen one. True, they're thin on the ground even in the New World. I don't think the kit has actually been in production since the 90s. The companion Snap-Tite B-25 has always been far more common. It's still the most accurately-shaped early B-25 in 1/72...at least until the forthcoming Airfix kit hits the shelves. I've had a couple of the Snap-Tite Marauders gathering dust in The Stash for ages..specifically with the intent of doing a super-detail job (someday.) I've always wanted to do one of the torpedo bombers from the Battle of Midway. SN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 On 06/03/2017 at 2:33 PM, Crossiant Oliver said: I'm also about to start the airfix b-25 (the old one.) and is there any way I don't need to put any weight on it? Go with the 8-gun solid nose option and fill that with enough weight. It's what I did may back in the mid-70's. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalea Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 You could buy the Scale Aircraft Conversions metal undercarriage which would probably help fix it, but that's overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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