It’s here! ICM 1/48 B-26B Marauder
Christmas in April! There on the front porch was a big box from Prague, with the Kool Kitz from Eduard: the 1/72 Bf-109F double kit, and the Bf-109G-2, all beautiful. The 1/48 FM-1 (the first kit I ever managed to convince them to do) with lots of aftermarket. The Eduard-ized Zvezda Hind attack helicopter. All nice. You can definitely Buy. In. Confidence.
It was the much smaller box sitting on top of it with the return address from Squadron, that got all my attention.
Yes! Here it is! The ICM 1/48 B-26B-55-MA Marauder.
Others have promised photos of the parts, so I will let them have that honor.
Executive Summary: The B-26 Marauder we've always wanted.
Anyone familiar with the B-26K or the Ki.21 or the Beaufort kits has a pretty good take on what to expect when you open this box.
The interior detail certainly looks accurate, comparing photos in an old LeFana magazine of the interior of a restored B-26G in the French air museum with what's in the box. All the interior detail you could ever want. The canopy roof hatches open to put the well-detailed cockpit in view. The engines are fully detailed.
This will be a take-your-time kit, but the result will be even nicer than the B-26K and the Ki.21 or the Beaufort.
The three decal options are good - one OD/NG and two NMF. And one of them is "The Big Hairy Bird," which I have always wanted in my collection and shall now do even better than I would have, thanks to the new Mr. Color lacquer NMF paints.
Bottom Line: this model lives up to the Hollywood line "It's all up there on the screen." ICM have outdone themselves.
BUY. IN. CONFIDENCE. It's worth every penny.
Glad to see you've gotten yours Tom @tcinla. Can't wait to see you dig into this kit.
I have one in the mail, USPS has been trying to deliver the last 30 miles for the past day. I am not amused. Since I had stockpiled aftermarket for the Monogram kit I am ready to throw a lot of goodies at the ICM kit. Including Cutting Edge Decals for Valkyrie.
Now back to the P-47M.
Do we live in the same postal zone? I have had the SAME DAMN PROBLEM. The tracking number said it would be here Monday, but then it was at a regional facility in Phoenix, an 8 hour drive from Hell Lay. Then it was "enroute" all day yesterday, and then today, here it was. Louis De (no)Joy keeps living down to his reputation and following orders to make the post office worse every day.
Just same postal non-service.
Just opened a ticket. Should not take two days to travel 30 miles. Pony Express was faster.
Looking forward to seeing this built Tom. I remember building a Frog B-26 with that yellow face and shark mouth with my dad around 1970.
Looks good. ICM's done some good work these past few years.
Thanks for the presentation, Tom!
Thanks for sharing, Tom @tcinla
Looks indeed like a wonderful kit.
@tcinla
Hi Tom!
I had never seen that first pic of Big Hairy Bird you posted above.
Do you know if the tail band is the only difference to the plane’s usual markings (namely those that come in ICM decals?)
Thanks
It's the airplane when it was sent to the second group it served with in early 1945. I've never seen markings for that group (not that I looked all that hard).
Mine arrived yesterday as well with the same issue. In Phoenix on Sunday, delivery date set as the 15th of April, lingered a full 24 hours at the central depot in San Bernardino on the 15th and 16th (arrived at the depot around 2:30pm on the 15th) arrived at my local postal office in Redlands around 3pm on the 16th. But that is ok it is here. I love that scheme as well. But Tom can build that lovely hairy bird. Will do an OD scheme no not Flak Bait. I may also build the Monogram B-26 as well simultaneously. Apparently quite a few people had issues with the post office. Kit is as advertised. And yes it is one to take your time with.
There are a couple interesting OOP Marauder sheets you can find up on eBay. If you PM me, I have a couple sheets of OD/NG Marauders that might like moving to a new home.
Thanks, I was planning to do an invasion stripe D-day bird with the ICM kit, and beat myself to death to get the Monogram Marauder to accept a NMF finish. The kit is accurate but a bear around the nacelles to the wings and that lousy bit of engineering on the horizontal stab attachment point to the rear fuselage. Lots of filling and sanding on this one. Knowing ICM as they don't stop with just one variant. I am hoping on early short wing Marauder.
A B-26/B-26A would be really cool.
Great New Tom, I got mine on Monday! I am in the progress of writing an initial observation review. It looks really nice though, with some of the clearest and distortion free clear parts I have seen.
Mine arrived just a few days ago, Tom (@tcinla). Your review has gotten me even more excited about building it (although it does have to wait for a few other projects to be done). I have been interested in Flak Bait since I saw the nose section on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. You could walk right up to it. I obtained these decals some years ago hoping that a better kit than the venerable Monogram offering would be appear someday.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.