Airfix 1/72nd B-26B Marauder, USAAC, WWII ETO

Started by Chuck A. Villanueva · 39 · 4 years ago
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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 1 month ago:

    This is really shaping up nicely my friend !

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 5 years, 1 month ago:

    Thanks Tom, getting down to finally getting her done. The weather has slowed things done even here in sunny/right! unusually cold and wet winter. Though we do welcome it.
    Louis, just some weathering and the dull coat and then add the gear and detail bits.

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    Louis Gardner said 5 years, 1 month ago:

    It's really looking great and I'll definitely keep looking for future updates. One quick question.

    Are you going to leave the fuselage codes white or paint them a light gray ?

    I have been successful at toning down the brightness using a dark gray or black pastel over the base color white. You can keep going back over it until you are satisfied with the outcome. This approach may keep you from having to worry about the fuselage codes appearing too bright.

    It might be a good idea to practice first on a test subject other than the B-26. The nice thing about powder is that you can wipe it off using water if you don't like how things are going.

    Please keep us posted.

    Thanks

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 5 years, 1 month ago:

    Hi Louis in answer to your question I will leave them white. If I had know prior to applying them I would've gone over them with probably a toned down Neutral Grey. In this scale I will just leave it at that.

    Before applying the flat clear coat. While still in the glossy stage, I run a dirty wash under the airframe.

    Then with a damp brush and ear swabs in the direction of the airflow I carefully remove the wash from the surfaces leaving the wash in the crevices and panel lines. The brush and swab stroke will also leave streaks along the lower surfaces.

    Then the flat coat is applied and time to remove the masks from the canopy nose and rear gunners compartment. And the cotton out of the engine cowlings.

    Then with a silver pencil some chipping around the forward leading edges, walk areas, hi wear areas of the airframe. A chrome Liquid pen is used for the landing lights before the clear lenses are installed. This stuff works really good.

    Next up. Add the final detail bits and wrap this long term project up. more to follow..

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 5 years, 1 month ago:

    Final step. Install the bomb bay doors, windows and landing gear. I will display this with the bomb bay doors open.
    The rear bomb bay doors are of 2 pieces, LH and RH side, interior in aluminum.


    The kit provided windows were really thick and not the greatest when test fitting. In face I ended removing those I installed on the fuselage as well. I attached each bomb bay door, Fit here good positive attachment with little fuss.

    Next up the main bomb bay doors were assembled and attached to their location on the fuselage.
    The Marauder has a unique folding type door as it opens to drop it's payload.

    At this time I attached the football antenna located between the nose wheel bay and bomb bay.


    At this time I applied Testors clear parts cement for the windows. This stuff works very well. A stronger version of white glue what it actually is. Dries very clear. Also great to attach PE bits in areas where the PE is not under any kind of stress. I used for the windows on bay doors, rear windows around the tail and behind the cockpit.

    Next the landing gear starting at the nose. Attached the nose gear strut and one of the doors.

    Working on the main gear assy. Involved several parts that make up the main landing gear assy. I used True Details resin wheels for this build. Using a pin vise to drill out the holes in the hub so they slip into the axle stubs on the struts.

    Next to assemble each gear struts before installing them into the main gear bays. After some test fitting for proper angle and to make sure they will fit without failure down the road. And Airfix did good here in providing a very positive attachment points to allow a solid fit of the struts. No wobble.

    Now to attach the main gear doors. Twin engine gear bay doors tend to be finicky. But these fit very well also. Not bad for a kit of 1970's vintage.

    Next the landing lights are attached to the leading edge of the wings, sorry for the blurry images, but couldn't quite get a sharp image of the area for some reason. But here these lenses I had to wrestle with a bit to get them to fit properly. I used a chrome marking pen for the inside of the lenses before attaching them to the wings.

    Next the tail gunners window is installed, and the one common factor, the window is not a perfect fit either. Small gap which is fixable under the tail. The camera picks these little details easily, from afar you can't really see it.

    The props are slipped into the engines.

    And finally the ID lamps are painted under the RH wing, Tamiya Clear Red, Green and Amber

    Just need to attach the dorsal turret and she is finished.

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    ADRIAN R HUMMEL said 4 years, 6 months ago:

    Looks great and it going to be one great kit when you get done with it. I wish you all the very best and lots of good luck now and your future.

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    Chuck A. Villanueva said 4 years, 6 months ago:

    Thanks Adrian, I appreciate that.

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    George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 6 months ago:

    The B-26 is such a cool looking plane, and you have perfectly captured its look. This build is definitely in the home stretch & I'm looking forward to seeing the completed model. Great job!

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    Greg Kittinger said 4 years, 6 months ago:

    I love the B-26 - right behind the Mitchell as a fav WWII aircraft. Looking good!