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Martin Marauder (sans decals) - FINISHED


AdrianMF

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An EBay purchase this, cheap because there are no decals. It was boxed and in a sealed bag, but I have been “looking with my fingers” and a few bits have come off the runners:

A083_EF16-490_D-4978-_AAF5-_AA68_E1110_B

9_DE5_ED21-6_F4_D-4498-_A42_B-0_A48_EC7_

D91_FEB1_F-2_CC7-4223-89_E4-_BC1_D3_E5_C

 

This kit was first released in 1973 and this is the 1975 rebox. The kit is gorgeous, with unprecedented (for Airfix) levels of interior detail in the bomb bay and wheel wells, and it is moulded sharply in grey plastic with mainly fine raised line details. There are some sink marks, the fabric surfaces are a bit crude and some of the recessed hatch details on the wings are a bit clunky, but nothing is too bad. I want to do this close to OOB, in the USAAF scheme for which plenty of colour photos exist. This is quite heavily weathered, and I will try to reproduce that (must get back to that Whirlwind sometime...).

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

 

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I have spent a pleasant hour or two gluing sub-assemblies together:

99_FB3620-2_D9_A-40_E1-8_B05-_A10_CD72_B

 

Here is the bomb bay that I was so pleased and amazed to see. In the fuselage with the bomb bay doors on there will be more than enough detail. The ceiling may be a little high/simplified  - must remember to paint the insides of the wing tabs interior green!

C74_BBA6_F-8_F12-4_BC9-_A625-_A93_F47231

 

And the cockpit. This is enough through a canopy:

10_A5_DE06-9_F18-4_F03-8475-8_A11_B09614

 

I won’t be using the pilots but:

Hank: “Do you think we should reach out and grab these here control sticks?”

Jeb: “Don’t know about you buddy, but my hands are gonna stay firmly on my lap!”

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

 

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IMO this B-26 probably epitomises Airfix’s high point in production and detail. This 1973-75 period saw many great kits produced and Adrian’s get photos highlight the Marauder as one of this company’s best. 

 

Nice to see this being build here again and also available on the LHS shelves as well. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Well I’ve got a first coat of interior green on

erm.... the following is from @Dana Bell

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234921509-148-revell-b-26b-marauder-finished/&do=findComment&comment=1075548

Quote

Marauder interiors are totally unique in the AAF, all for reasons I don't yet fully understand. Martin had a release to skip most interior primers, something to do with anodizing and a primerless exterior camouflage lacquer. There's certainly more research to be done...

 

Here's something I posted on RMS in 1998:

"I got curatorial permission to look into "Flak Bait" today - the question of

cockpit colors was too interesting not to try for a definitive answer, at least

for one surviving airframe. Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

"The National Air and Space Museum has the forward fuselage on display - the

rest of the aircraft is in storage until it will be assembled at the Dulles

Center in about five years. What is now downtown is mostly an unpainted

interior with fabric sound-proofing padding. The padding is very faded, with

no proof of the original color. Most of it is now brown or magenta - an

indication that it may have once been Olive Drab. But the metal snaps that

hold the padding in place were painted green - perhaps Dull Dark Green, perhaps

Medium Green, but definitely NOT Bronze Green, OD, or Interior Green.

 

"In the cockpit, everything above the lower canopy edge is flat black paint, as

are the floor, the armor plating, and the seats. The control columns and

instrument panels are Instrument Black (which is a semi-gloss finish, not a

"crinkle" finish as sometimes published). Seat cushions are yellow. Cockpit

sides are the fabric mentioned above. The bulkhead aft of the seats is

unpainted aluminum, without padding. The bulkhead forward of the co-pilot's

seat actually is metallic blue - probably blue tinted Lionoil which hadn't been

removed in production. (I wish I could prove that this was where the Japanese

learned to make Aotake!)

"In the radio room, the forward bulkhead is unpainted/unpadded, but the fuselage

is the same faded padding all around. The desk tops are varnished wood, and the

flooring is black.

"The bombardier's position is well-padded, with black flooring

"The nose wheel well is lacquered aluminum, with a few fixtures in Zinc Chromate

(yellow).

"I guess everyone can still choose their own cockpit color, but my opinion is

that Dull Dark Green is the most likely color for the cockpit padding. I hope

this helps!"

but other opinions are expressed here

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thre...nterior+colors-

  Quote

Lee Kolosna

January 16 2006, 10:33 AM (Login leekol)

HyperScale Forums 129.33.49.251

B-26 production lasted the entire war and there seems to have been some variation depending on model type.

Examinations of "Flak Bait" in the NASM show mostly an unpainted cockpit with fabric batting added to the sides of fuselage to provide noise abatement. This batting was a dark green, probably dyed close to the color Dull Dark Green. The floor has a thin rubber mat, which is a dark gray. The bomb bay is Neutral Gray overall, as are the insides of the bay doors. The rear crew compartment is unpainted, like the cockpit, but it has no fabric batting. Wheel wells are unpainted, too, with Neutral Gray landing gear struts and interior of gear bay doors if the airplane was delivered in Olive Drab over Neutral Gray camouflage. Later unpainted B-26Bs and Fs seemed to revert to aluminum lacquer struts. The inside of cowlings is unpainted. If building the Monogram kit, no one will say you are wrong if you use the above callouts to paint your model.

I know people who know veterans who flew the later B-26Fs and they distinctly remember that the interior of the airplane, including the wheel wells, was painted Interior Green. So it is possible that late production Marauders may have switched over to Interior Green overall.

Dana Bell reports that Martin requested and was granted permission to paint the airplanes without a primer. This is reason that you see so much paint chipping on the external camouflage, particularly on the leading edges of the wings and cowling. There is also a lot evidence that some or all of the external paint was stripped from B-26s at the depot before delivery to the forward units. All this stuff makes a modeler crazy, but it is a fascinating subject to study.

Lee K

I quoted this as it has info on gear legs and wheel wells and cowlings.. and a 'get out' as some may have been Int Green....

this has a load pics of the inside of "Flak Bait" which is unrestored

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thre...it%26quot%3B---

oh, note the seats...

flakbait5.jpg&key=33bb54d01d4736f0850478

 

 

 

which I hope is of interest.....  

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Looks like I’ve had a case of “restoration-itis” in my googling of the National Museum of the Air Force example. The cockpit walls I am tempted to leave in green to represent the padding, with black floor and yellow seat cushions. The other bits will get silver spray coat with a filthy wash added. The radio compartment will be full of metal nose weight so that won’t be painted at all!

 

Thanks, even though sometimes ignorance is bliss :)

Adrian

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11 minutes ago, MarkSH said:

Its nice to see the classic Airfix Marauder being built, in the context of the GB I think that Interior Green works just fine. A great start.

In the spirit of this GB I think Adrian should paint the interior Airfix M3 or whatever the instructions said in 1973 edition!

Cheers

Will

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1 hour ago, malpaso said:

In the spirit of this GB I think Adrian should paint the interior Airfix M3 or whatever the instructions said in 1973 edition!

Cheers

Will

my brain says "M26" ...  

erm lets check..

http://www.vintage-airfix.com/airfix-to-humbrol-paint-list-a-2.html

M26 = Light Bronze green Humbrol "equivalent" 80

That said I preferred to ue Airfix paints in my youth and knew the colour numbers off by heart...

 

Adrian is welcome to do whatever he wishes, I posted the above as its more interesting than  interior green, IMO,  and it's also useful to keep this kind of information floating about for everyone who might find this thread when looking up doing a B-26

 

cheers

T

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1 hour ago, malpaso said:

In the spirit of this GB I think Adrian should paint the interior Airfix M3 or whatever the instructions said in 1973 edition!

Cheers

Will

I should point out my tongue was firmly in my cheek when I wrote this!  Thanks to Troy for correcting the paint colour for the interior, I don’t think I ever had M26, probably painted all interiors matt black myself in those days.

Of course for the full authentic experience you should leave your brushes overnight in a yogurt pot of “turps” to stink out the kitchen!

And I wonder why my modelling wasn’t always popular at home...

Cheers

Will

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Gosh, now I know how Mrs MF feels when she is trying to choose between n seemingly-identical versions of off-white!

 

The instructions in my kit have no interior colour call out save for “LIGHT BROWN M5: Crew figures, uniforms”.

 

The Hasegawa instructions, which I also googled beforehand, say Chromate Green everywhere inside, so I guess they looked at museum restorations too.

 

I have some rattlecan Metalcote Polished Steel that looks a bit dark for exteriors so I am going to use that on the bomb bay sides and structure. It’s a good place for a test to see how dark it really is, and I can highlight it with dry brush silver if it looks too dark. It will give a good contrast to the green bombs. Cockpit will stay green to represent padding, with a black floor, yellow cushions and green seatbelts, tail gun compartment will stay green because it looks to have been painted, and bombardiers compartment and crew bulkheads will be citadel boltgun cos it brushes nicely. Radio compartment will be full of metal, which I will not paint!

 

Phew! It’s a plan.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Well I have resprayed the bomb bay and main wells. The Metalcote Polished Steel was wa-ay too dark so I overcoated with Halfords Nissan Silver, which I’ve seen used by other people on the forum. 

 

After Metalcote, the car spray was like a fire hose and it went on a bit thick. The bar at the bottom of the bay is a bit sparkly, possibly as a result of that, but I can touch it up with regular silver.

A739837_F-4200-47_B2-913_F-004_CD14813_A

 

If anyone has colour info that contradicts Troy or Dana Bell, don’t post it here!!

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

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And more progress last night, with painting and weathering in accurate(ish) colours.

 

Bombardiers compartment:

E5_E055_BF-05_F3-4_C69-_A8_CB-9_FB31_E14

 

Rear gunner bulkhead finished and instrument panel waiting for instrument detail painting:

DD8_EFEE0-3_DA5-4_A7_D-_ACBC-_A1_B95_D6_

 

Main undercarriage bay, needs front and rear bay seams filling, should have done that before:

E53_F4_C64-8_ED9-4156-9_D8_B-396580_F293

I had to thin the nacelle bases to get them seated on the wing without a step, and I did some work on the pointy ends, which will need filling. I will be sanding the trailing edges a bit thinner too.

 

Cockpit with cushions and belts, needs console detail painting and may add some boxes on the sidewalls:

121_D0_DF2-3580-493_B-_AC63-_B0_DF774123

 

Bomb bay. Whenever I see pictures of bombs they always look very heavily weathered, so I have done that here:

2_BFC5_B30-6578-4_EB4-9_C17-_EAA819_FB9_

 

The front undercarriage bay has a wealth of detail, wouldn’t look out of place on a sci-fi model:

AAD59_B8_E-8_D75-4_E8_D-_BFA0-1_BB87_F6_

 

I’m pretty sure this one won’t be a tail sitter - no need to look for a gun nose option on this one!

9870430_B-820_B-461_A-_BE3_D-_D718_C4_E8

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

 

 

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Actually, looking at the instructions (better late than never, eh?) they do call out Silver G8 for “Interior of bomb bay and wheel wells” on the “Mild and Bitter” version. On “DeeFeater” silver is used for “Aircraft overall”. So all credit to Airfix!

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Did a bit this evening. Rear bulkhead is in:

915_D0_E3_E-0_BFE-4494-950_D-_F2_CEC9_EB

 

The control panel and console have been dry brushed with light grey to bring out the details:

175_A6839-_F95_C-4999-9_AC6-_DC23768_F32

 

That’s it for a while because I have a demonstration to set up at a trade show tomorrow, and then I have to explain it to visitors for five more days, including the weekend :(

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

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  • 2 weeks later...

Making me all nostalgic,  I did one of these in 75 or 76, still got the remains...

 

one other detail, the Martin turrets were made of perspex panels glued together,  no frame lines, just glue joints...

 

domes_destruction.jpg

from http://320thbg.org/b-26_armament.html

has more pics of the armament as well

 

this is a B-24, but shows the glue joins better

b24-1_top_turret%5B1%5D.jpg

 

HTH

T

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14 hours ago, GREG DESTEC said:

set of transfers

Thanks Greg! I still haven’t decided on a scheme. I have two sheets of generic stars and bars, so that isn’t the problem. DeeFeater has a great picture in Wikipedia and the custom bits aren’t too hard to make decals for (I have the fonts). But if I’m only going to make one Marauder ever, there are some gorgeous but horrendously expensive decals for pin up nosed ones. Still wavering...

 

Regards,

Adrian

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Well my newest favourite silver spray is Halfords rattlecan aluminium. Super cheap and super shiny too:

2_DB69_EE7-3936-48_E4-_A9_A9-88_E0_EE164

 

It is an almost perfect match to Revell Aqua 90 silver too, so I have a touch up colour.

 

The back end looks like a dragon:

6_AA85_C71-_FB9_F-4_AC3-96_B3-1_CAB78_A8

 

And it makes a nice contrast with my dirty Nissan Silver bomb bay and wells:

B74_DC0_D6-_FE71-41_C3-_A5_BC-76_ECD5_CF

 

Now I need to choose a scheme and weather this up before the bright reflections get to me!

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

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15 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

perspex panels glued together,  no frame lines, just glue joints

Thanks Troy - I've got the turret sort of clear! I may add some very thin lines of white or grey just to show something is happening at the join. Haven't started to think about making the turret internals yet.

 

Regards,

Adrian

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