Amongst aircraft modelers, the Marauder always seemed to suffer from the same mistrust as the real plane. But even if Revell's (ex-Monogram) B-26 B/G is not a modern kit, it can be built into an impressive model for a very reasonnable price. Here's a first look at it.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thanks Jean-Luc.

This was very interesting, I might get one of these next (if the RAF ever used them).

I've just bought the Revell 1/48 Liberator (for £15) and it looks like a very interesting kit! I'm planning to build it in RAF Coastal Command Aircraft but Info on this plane is as scarce as hens' teeth"

I'll be keenly interested in your build.

These Revell kits aren't too bad. Here is one I'm just about to finish. It's the 1/32 Grumman Martlet, RAF version.

The cockpit is pretty rubbish and as you say it has raised panel lines but I like it. I'll post more pics soon.

That is a good looking Martlet.



Don't be so quick to judge raised panel lines. They are a pain to work around if you need to fill and sand, but they are appropriate for many aeroframes. F4F, SBD, TBF, B-17...all were festooned with protruding round headed rivets. So was F6F's fuselage. In that regard, Tamiya's F4F Wildcat is inferior to Monogram's 1/48 Wildcat because they have its skin smooth. For many models, the CW trend of smooth surfaces except for recessed panel lines is actually horribly inaccurate. Much nicer to work on, but inaccurate. Except that the rivets are invariably grossly oversized...

Jean-Luc,

Thanks for this. I am glad to see more oldies but goodies reviewed. Monogram's late 1970's models are still competitive with what is being released today.

The Marauder is one of my favorites and I have this model. I started it 15 almost 20 years ago, its size and my schedule has it setting partially painted and not assembled.

The B-26 was flush-skinned, so there shouldn't be more than a few appropriate raised details. It should be fairly easy to remove the raised lines. I hope you start building it soon.

Usually on these aircraft the leading edges and forward fuselage were all flush rivited and back toward the rear of the wings and airframe they had round head rivits

Nice review Captain!

Just a hint IIRC there were issues with the cowls (too small). I do not know if there will be Quickboost parts to correct this, but with the engines sure are an improvement (You already mentioned the just or soon to be released Eduard sets, which will find their way into a Big Ed, sooner or later....)


(hope this works, the image is from here http://www.quickboost.net/Obrazky/48057c.jpg )

Another "IIRC" there was a very nice build up of this kit by Franck Oudin (?) in one of the Wingmaster issues .. maybe have a look through your mag-collection.

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Steffen!

Yes, it is in issue n° 40, focused on the 60th D-Day anniversary. I used it for the review. There are also very nice color pictures of the B-26 Marauder in it. I've heard about the cowls but I really can't give an opinion on the subject since I didn't built the model. It seems Frank Oudin didn't corrected them, but he replaced the cowling flaps though. His model looks great by the way! I also used the B-26 in action from Squadron. The 3,5° incidence of the G's wing is clearly visible on one picture where a B and a G are flying together.

About the surface detail, well if we are honest, we must admit that both engraved and relief panel lines are wrong on model kits. Simply, and it's purely a personal point of view, I prefer the engraved ones. I'm not after accuracy here, just esthetics. However, if model kit manufacturers really want to achieve realistic effects, they should reproduce the stressed skin effects seen on many planes. But seeing how heavy some rivet or structure details are reproduced by some, I think it is better they leave the skin of their aircraft model smooth.

Jean-Luc

Not calling names here, huh? let's just say "musicians"

I feel the same about raised panel lines ... the modelling community once wanted raised panel lines and lot's of rivets .. so the manufacturer did .. now they want (mostly) engraved panel lines .. so that is what they get .. and sometimes you get battle damage too .. wings full of bullet holes

BTW Fred .. have a look at the Tamiya Wildcat again .. a very good example of raised and engraved detail!!! (just pulled mine from the stack to have a look) .. I think it is a great kit!!! (I do not own the Monogram, so I cannot compare, but I think the Tamiya will be better)

best wishes

Steffen

Your review comments regarding the difference between the Monogram B-26 B/G version was interesting because I tried to alter the wing incidence by 3.5 degrees some time ago with mixed results.

Once done the difference was quite noticable. The 'sit' of the G version being completely different. Please accept my apology for the poor photographs, but the attached images show what I mean.

The mod was quite involved, albeit straigthtorward. Actually transferring the drawn wing root to the model was the tricky bit. (AND getting both sides indentical). Most of the work was milliput and sandpaper.

Finish on the G model is kitchen foil and paint. Finish on the B model is just Humbrol aluminium.
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Hi Neil!

Wow! You did the French version and modified the wing's incidence! I said I've not seen many 1/48 scale B-26 models built and you made two!

Did you shoot in progress pics of your G modification? I would love to see how you did! You could also tell us if 50 gr of weight is enough to keep the model on it's feets. I've read in Frank Oudin's article that 80 gr are necessary...

Jean-Luc

Sorry about the lengthy reply about the b-B-26...

I was going to do a photo shoot of the progress. but shyness go the better of me. The G model was going to be a trial run for a number of things. (That's why there are no guns).

I have never weighed the nose weights. So far I have made 4 B-26 with another one on build (See photo). Two have had collapsed nose wheels because of the weight.

To keep the weight to a minimum I now make the missing bomb aimer bulk head from sheet lead (roof lead) and line the inner nose wheel area with lead side walls. Another sheet of lead is formed and glued to the rear of the back cabin wall (Radio room). The model will only just stay on the nose wheel and will tail sit very easily. The model then weighs 250gms and the C of G is correct for standing on the nose wheel. That means there must by 125 gms ahead of main wheels. 80-100gms seems about the right figure for the lead. (Bear in mind how far forward my weights are, the kit suggest to put them in the radio compartment). I also replace the nose wheel main strut with brass tube.

if you are going to build one I can recommend the B-26 as probably the easiest model to rescribe, I always use cheap masking tape for scribing. If two or three pieces of tape are stuck on top on each other to make the tape thicker, then the tape is cut into 5mm strips it can be contoured around most curves easily. The adhesive is a lot stronger than, and lasts longer than dymo and can be discard easily. Any scribing tool, if held lightly will easily follow the tape. One roll of 2" masking tape has lasted 3 years so far and about 20 rescribed models.

The B-26 suffers from a number of known fit problems that I know of. The engine nacelles, the cowlings, the canopy and the tail gunner position. I have found that if the engine nacelles are glued together while they are being glued to to the lower wing, the problems with poor nacelle fit can be overcome. Once the nacelles are dry the top wing halves can be fitted. My latest B-26 did not need any filler on the nacelles. Event the nacelle rear part fitted without filler.

Take care when fitting the wings to the fuselage. Two of mine have anhedral despite the spars. (One model has a 8 swg piano wire rod acting as main spar to try to keep the wings straight).

The cowling tops don't fit they are about 1mm too small. An easy fix is to stick a piece of 1mm strip in between the top joint. Once fitted the cowling will fit spot on.

I find that the worst problem is always the tail gunner glazing. I now remove the fin and fit the glazing and tailplane together to make a parts fit something like. it still needs a lot of filler though.

The canopy never seems to fit really neatly. I cured this on the latest model by sanding off all the outer detail and sanding the canopy flush with the fusleage. It was then polished back to clarity. I then bought the Eduard Mask set and masked off the frameless canopy. The frames were the effectively formed by the paint thickness of teh interior green and the Alclad. (see photo).

I would recommend that anyone should try to aluminiun foil the Marauder . It really is adoddle. Standard kitchen foil will bend around all the B-26 curves. If you buy different foils from different stores and use both sides for different panels they show exactly the same effect at the real thing. No two foils are alike. (The more expensive foils are better for the compound curves). The adhesive is Faber Size, which is normally used for leaf metals. Simply paste/sponge on the foil, leave for 30 minutes and hey presto sticky back foil. No glue lumps either. The model MUST be clean and with smooth seams. I found that my covering the pasted foil with kitchen grease proof paper keeps the dust and hairs off while the glue is drying. Pasted foil can be stored an used for 48 hours or so without problems.

The next B-26 model shown below is currenlty under construction. This is being built with a home made tail gunner position and Alclad paint.

Hope this encourages someone else to build a B-26. It is a most beautiful aircraft.

I have an AMT B-26B yet to be built. Has anyone got any comments about that model?

Hi jhoog59, I can not find any good close ups of the leading edge, but photos do bear this out on many types. B-17 was round-riveted all over the nose, as was IIRC B-24; Wildcat & several others had those big access panels between cowl and canopy, and those usually lacked the riveting that secured the metal to the structure.



Jean-Luc, well put, that is 99% of my opinion, too.



Steffen, Tamiya is far superior to Monograms. I’ll look at the kit again sometime, I recall it being rather smooth.

In all of the above cases, something to consider. The round rivets were not bolts holding bridge girders together. They are so small that even on 1/32 they should be almost unperceivable. Looking at focused, professional high-quality photos of restored war birds, unless the light is right, one just does not see these round rivets.

Neil,

Impressive Marauders! Well done!

Hi Neil!

Thanks for the additional explanations.

When you are finished with your third B-26 kit, could it be possible for you to write a feature for us? With the amount of informations you gathered during your builds, I'm sure many of us would be interested... me included!

Anyway, I hope you will post some progress picture of your current project regularly...

Jean-Luc

Hi All

I just bought the recent (MAY 07) issue of TMMI, and guess what .. .there is a great article on a B-26 Marauder in it. Wayne Hui did an outstanding job on the widow maker (lots of scratch building and rescribing and a BMF! )



best wishes

Steffen

Neil:
Nice job on the unique paint job.

Lookie what I picked up on Ebay a coupla months back:



AMT Marauder... the OTHER white meat!

Having built the Revell kit some time ago, I don't think I would be inclined to try it again. Even so, I have an unbuilt one in my stash. This time, I'm gonna take the best parts from that kit, and merge it with this AMT kit, and see what I come up with. I really would like to modify it into an "A" model, I seem to like punishment as of late! I think favorable results of my ongoing Lindberg Goshawk project has emboldened me. Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

-Mark