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PK-407 : Martin B-26B/Mk. II Marauder. Simplicity boiled down. FINISHED.


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A busy day in the shed saw me on a bit of a roll this afternoon, but all of a sudden the work hit a wall. Everything I was working on needed drying time or something else got in the way.

I certainly wasn't done for the day yet, so I had a dig around in the Matchbox stash to see if anything spoke to me. It would have to be a quick and easy one as time is marching on with the GB and the month left will soon dissapear. A slightly scruffy looking Marauder box invited a look. 

 

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Not one I had any real plans to build, but a peek inside saw a plan forming...

 

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Check out that multi coloured plastic. It almost does away with the need for paint! A lightbulb moment saw me decide on a kid build, no extras, no paint, no time to waste. A look at the box side picture confirmed the idea. Time to get cracking.

 

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At 4.00 I made a start. Following the instructions for a change, things moved fast. No waiting for drying paint or checking references saw the thing rapidly grow in front of me. I can't remember ever building a kit I didn't paint but there's a first time for everything I guess. The scheme I went for is the one that I most definitely would have gone for a kid.

 

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Tube cement on both joining surfaces, circa 1975 style, saw very rapid joints happen. Set one up, move on to the next while the first one dries. Repeat until a plane appears. Blimey!

 

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Gear up saved time, not that time was of the essence, but it seemed the right way to go forward. Matchbox provide a nice big stand with the kit so I made use of it.

Decals were trimmed and before I knew it, I was fitting them.

 

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As much as I would like to have shown a finished build on the first post of the thread, it's not to be. The decals behaved faultlessly but I started running out of holding room to add more. The glue wasn't a couple of hours old either, so I called it quits for the day. There's just the underside stripes and the starboard side sharkmouth to add and it's a done thing!

 

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I'll give the finished model a clear coat or two to knock the shine off of it and hold the decals in place. That will probably happen tomorrow. The urge to add canopy framing will be resisted. I like the idea of having a built model that shows what Matchbox provided for all levels of model builders.

 

😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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That's what Matchbox kits were all about. Top marks for doing it OOB and not even the mini paint plan! Lovely to see.

 

I think you're also missing an eyebrow decal behind the cockpit window?

 

Mike

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Mike Dean said:

That's what Matchbox kits were all about. Top marks for doing it OOB and not even the mini paint plan! Lovely to see.

 

I think you're also missing an eyebrow decal behind the cockpit window?

 

Mike

 

 

 

It's yet to be fitted Mike. The one on the other side is in place though. For some reason or other the port sharkmouth has the starboard eyebrow next to it on the decal sheet. I cut out what I thought was a matched side pair.

 

I doubt I'll build another like this, but it's been highly enjoyable undertaking. I'm very impressed with the whole kit. Everything fits just fine, there's detailing to be had if you work at it a bit and the decals worked amazingly well.

Sat on its stand with those bright black and white stripes, I would buy one if I saw it in a shop window as a ten year old.

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The last of the decals went on this morning. An hour later the camera came out and a few shots taken. The pictures were shot before I added a couple of clear coats to protect the decals, so just the plastic that Matchbox supply is shown here.

Basic is too complex a word for this build, but I did enjoy it. Not enough to want any more unpainted kits for a while but very enjoyable anyway.

 

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Gallery shots in a minute or two...

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You know, I think this is now my favourite build of this whole thing. If anything, it shows what Matchbox were trying to do with their multi-coloured kits. In this case, they chose colours that more or less worked, and the transfers just make it right. Thanks for building this one, literally out of the box, Tony. :like:

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4 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

You know, I think this is now my favourite build of this whole thing. If anything, it shows what Matchbox were trying to do with their multi-coloured kits. In this case, they chose colours that more or less worked, and the transfers just make it right. Thanks for building this one, literally out of the box, Tony. :like:

 

Thanks Heather. Sometimes less is more and this seems to be one of those occasions.

 

All the way through the build I kept thinking of ways I could make it better. A bit of paint here, a bit of sanding there, all reminding me of my first builds and the enthusiasm I had, as opposed to the stocks of paint and accessories that I didn't have.

I would run out of silver paint or a can of Humbrol 30 would be hard as a rock because I left the lid loose. Running out of glue with a kit still unfinished was a major disaster. All these limitations came back during this build. I wanted more, but my self imposed regime of no paint and out the box held me back repeatedly. An interesting experience.

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That was rapid! I really liked the idea of 'basic' applied to this, and that Matchbox did a pretty good job of selecting the kit colours. They obviously knew what was going to happen in 2022 to celebrate their anniversary.

 

It was a great way of doing this, and very much in keeping with the GB ethos.

 

Ray

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Well done Tony

You have captured the builds of our collective past without the gluey fingerprints, well there's always next time :wink:

Thanks mate, after a long week this is just the tonic I needed.

Cheers Pat 

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  • TonyW changed the title to PK-407 : Martin B-26B/Mk. II Marauder. Simplicity boiled down. FINISHED.

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