Frog (Ark Models) 1/72 Martin 167 Maryland
This is the old Frog kit (F241), first released In 1973. The model I built was boxed by Ark Models. I actually started this near the end of 2023 but stopped when I was working on other builds at the time. After my recent Matchbox B-17 build was completed, I got back to work on the Martin Maryland.
The Martin Model 167 Maryland was an American light bomber that first flew in 1939. It saw action in World War II with France and the United Kingdom. None were used by the USAAF, but it was an important light bomber for France and the United Kingdom. For Martin, it also opened the doors for later builds, the Baltimore and important the B-26 Marauder.
Here's an excellent video about the Martin Maryland by Ed Nash's Military Matters:
The model is a simple kit to build, with very soft details, fine raised panel lines and very little details inside the cockpit and bombardier position. Here are some of the work I put into this build:
- Adding details in the cockpit and bombardier areas by scratch building the parts.
- Blended the seams and filled and smoothed out the gaps in the wing to body and tail plane areas.
- I noticed the main gear door covers were not fully enclosed so I added cut pieces of sheet styrene to make them enclosed. They also needed some reshaping and thinning down.
- On both cowlings I clean up the two halves mating joints and opening up the frontal area. I then scribed in the lines for the cowl flaps and then filed down the cowl flaps to represent them in the closed position.
- The engine nacelles lacked any details on the exhaust systems, so I drilled the holes, made and glued in the exhaust stacks.
- The bombardier's clear parts were a bit over-sized, here they were filed, sanded down and then polished.
- the propellers did not go on straight to the shaft, they needed some drilling out to make them fit better, the blades were also sanded down since they were a bit over-sized.
- added torque links to the main gear's struts from cut pieces of stretched sprue.
- Decals came from other sources because the original Frog decals were out of register.
The entire model was hand painted, the pre-shade process was started by using a black Sharpie black permanent markers, I used Tamiya's acrylic paints for the base coats, and the remaining coats of Dark Earth, Mid-stone and Azure Blue came from Vallejo acrylic paints.
All and all, this was an enjoyable build, it did take a bit longer to build but at the end I am happy to see a Martin Maryland displayed with my other builds.
Great work on this classic kit , Bob @v1pro ! The extra details you added really improve the interior… the paint looks great too! It a nice looking aircraft.
Thank you Jay @ssgt! I am glad this paint scheme worked out, I've always wanted to have this build in the Desert scheme.
Excellent model, Bob! Great improvements on the old Frog mold!
Thank you Spiros @fiveten! I love the old Frog kits, I am happy to make this one come out the way I was hoping.
Well done, Bob (@v1pro). This is a tough kit and you really made it shine. I built the 1/48 scale version of this kit a few years ago, and your 1/72 version is at least as detailed as mine was. Nice job.
Thank you George @gblair! I took a simple kit and made it a bit harder but from looking at your build and others in both 1/72 and in 1/48 I do not think there is an easy Maryland to build straight out of the box and be happy with it. I am happy to have this one done after ignoring it since this was released back in 1973. It looks pretty cool next to my old Revell A-20C/Boston III.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Hi, Bob Torres (@v1pro): I just noticed the Maryland is identified as a "Spy Plane" on the box. Maybe it had early stealth characteristics. I think they probably meant that it was also used as a reconnaissance plane. I have the old Revell A-20 sitting on a shelf in the garage that I need to go revive.
George @gblair, that individual plane got shot down early in the war but yes, a recon plane it was at the time besides bomber and strafing. The Ark Models company is located in Moscow so probably the translation was not exact when printed into English.
The Revell A-20 is a cool kit. I remember putting in a lot of work into my build in 1988 but had a great time with the build process. One day I would like to try the old Airfix A-20 if I can find one that is not so expensive.
Very nice build of this interesting aircraft. Good job on improving an "oldie but goldie" Frog kit.
Thank you Peter @pjotri69. I think I am enjoying the old Frog kits more now than when I built them back in the 70's.
Well done, Bob
Thank you Gary @gwskat!
Really nice job on the oldie. Proof that old gals can still look good. Did You say you brush painted it?
Thank you Bill @billkoppos. Yes she's a keeper and I brushed painted the whole kit except for the final clear coats of flat.
Such a cool plane and a great scheme - you did a great job with this kit, Bob @v1pro! The cockpit looks really good with the seatbelts.
Thank you Felix @fxrob! I am pretty happy that I chose the desert scheme. I like how it looks with my Desert scheme Hurricanes.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Nice work, Bob. This is the second Frog-spawn model posted here this week! You did some nice upgrades to this model. I recently rediscovered one of those I started 5 years ago before I moved to Alabama full time. Mine is a Soviet era issue in a plastic bag with instructions in Russian. It’s molded in a dark maroon plastic. It was in a box in the garage with a couple of other partially built kits. I purchased a set of replacement decals and plan to finish it in the next few months. Thanks for the mojo boost!
Thank you John @j-healy! Yes I saw the Bristol-138A, his builds are amazing!
Wow, dark maroon plastic! Mine was the same light gray color as the original Frog kit but the plastic was not the greatest. Looking forward to seeing your finished Maryland.
Great project Bob! Love seeing old kits brought to new life. Well done.
Thank you Greg @gkittinger. This was a pretty cool build.
A truly amazing result, Bob @v1pro
You did an amazing job on improving this one and your brush painting skills are superb.
Thank you very much, John @johnb!