I've been jonzing forever that someone would make a 1/48 scale A/B-26K Counter Invader so I wouldn't have to track down a bunch of resin upgrades to make the venerable Monogram kit work. This good sized box just arrived on my doorstep all the way from the Ukraine via a hobbyshop in the UK, and oh man, on first look - it appears ICM has delivered big time (for the most part). The box is loaded with sprues. Packed! However there are no masks or PE. Here's what greeted me when I first opened the lid of this sturdy box. All I could say was "wow"! Slow-mo.

See what I mean? More later...

I know what I will be working on most of 2022.

It looks promising! I will definitely follow the build, it is a great looking airplane.
I am about finishing ICM’s 1:48 Po-2, that is also a great little kit.

What a great choice, my friend @eb801!
Looking forward to this super build!

Armament Included
First thing I noticed when I opened the box is that ICM tossed in the complete 4 sprues that make up their US Aviation Armament accessory kit - a $25 value. Now that really makes this kit a deal breaker.
I will be looking at the rest of the sprues shortly but on first glance the new fuselage halves specific to the counter invader might be a bit short shot but I need to do some testing and more examining to verify.

Looking Deeper Into the Box and...Uh Oh..

Sprue H includes two newly tooled fuselage halves plus tires (I'll discuss these later) that are specific to the Counter Invader:

But hey - wait a minute! Are those sink marks I see? Unfortunately yes. To verify I sprayed them with one light coat of Alclad grey primer without sanding but sure enough, my fears were confirmed.

Here's the left side, primed.

No primer on the right fuselage below:

Ouch!

So what do you guys think? I am I seeing things? @garybrantley, @fiveten, @johnb, @tcinla and anyone else?

Unfortuantely those marks are definitely there, Eric @eb801.
That defect (sort of imprint) you saw, to me looks like there was a particle in the mold preventing the plastic to flow there.
This is a real pitty when you discover this while opening the box.
Pretty sure you can handle those sink marks but those are not the easiest defects to correct.

That's a pretty good idea Erik! I remember reading an article in FineScaleModeler magazine years ago describing how to recreate "post-stressed" aluminum skin.

Thanks for those comments Spiros @fiveten, Erik @airbum, Gary @garybrantley and John@johnb. Erik is absolutely right noting that it is common to see wrinkles on aluminum skinned fuselages. Look at a B-24 for example. So I'm going to make this "wrinkle" work out as part of the plan. I just came across some color photos of Counter Invaders in South East Asia that showed several wrinkles, dings, dents and bulges between the canopy and nose.

Speaking of "wrinkles", I will be examining the kit tires next as I go through the sprues. Thanks for stopping by.