Martin B-26B Marauder by CDW - FINISHED - Airfix - 1:72 Scale

[CDW]

Completely on a whim, I bought this kit from a seller on EBay. Since buying it, the reviews I read say it’s a real dog of a kit. Let’s give it a try and see what happens. It’s taking up shelf space as it is and it needs to either transform into a shelf model or ho into the garbage bin. You will help me decide her fate.

 

[CDW]

Typical old school Airfix instruction sheets

 

The decal sheet looks very decent

 

[CDW]

The parts trees were all crammed into one bag with many loose parts. I see a mix of recessed and raised panel lines and lots of flash here and there with a few sink marks sprinkled in. This definitely is not a new tool kit. No guarantees on outcome with this one. We shall see what we shall see.

 

 

[Egilman]

Yep, typical '70's-'80's Airfix... The Japanese companies were the only ones doing individual sprue bagging back then....

 

Known as a widow maker in it's early years it has a rather high landing speed cause the wings were too short, they liked to stall when flared for landing... By the time the "C" model came along they fixed the wing issues and it became one of the hottest medium bombers flown during the war... 

 

I'm in on this one...

Edited August 26, 2022 by Egilman

[CDW]

"One a day in Tampa Bay"

The B-26B was known for a string of constant crashes into Tampa Bay by pilots in training at a large AFB here in my hometown of Tampa. The article in the following website tells the story. An interesting read:

 

One a Day in Tampa Bay - HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers

[AJohnson]

I’m in, that’s a recent re-boxing of the old 1970s mould. Airfix’s new moulds are good but they still have the cheek to re-box the old stuff and call them Classic Vintage, or something like that! 🤣

From memory the B-26 was quite detailed for its time; with internal bomb bay details. But not sure how the “fit” will be. Plus it has “raised” surface details and may be covered in rivets big enough to grace an ironclad battleship!  
Looking forward to seeing how my memory matches to the reality nearly 40 years later! 🫣

[AJohnson]

Hope you don't mind, I have dug out some old Airfix Catalogues (all from my main model making years as kid) and looked up some of the original blurb on your B-26 kit.

 

Released in 1973 - gosh, that mould will be 50 soon!  It was heralded as being a kit with "new levels of detail"; in their 16th Edition catalogue (1979) they were inviting readers to spot the kit from the real thing! 😆 - Now there's bravado for you! 

 

Sorry for butting in, lets see how my Rose tinted glasses 👓 fair up against your 2022 build of her, pulling up a chair... 🍿

[Canute]

Boy, that's a flashback. Another nickname it acquired was the "Flying Doxie", no visible means of support, thanks to the early small wing. I'm in, too. I suspect you may need some additional clamps and CA to coerce the recalcitrant parts into position. 😉

[Landlubber Mike]

10 hours ago, CDW said:

It’s taking up shelf space as it is and it needs to either transform into a shelf model or ho into the garbage bin. You will help me decide her fate.

 

I vote for shelf model.  If anyone can turn a dog into a beauty, it's you 😀  Looking forward to this one!

[Dave_E]

Got my chair set up. 🍿

[Jack12477]

Me too 

[CDW]

I think I’ll choose The Big Hairy Bird option as for one, Flak Bait is most often modeled, and two, my choice has the best looking paint scheme IMO. It will be a bit tricky as there are a lot of little sink marks to clean up and silver will show up every imperfection.

The X marks are sinks that need to be filled. The horizontal black lines down the center of the dorsal and ventral parts of the fuselage are steps created from misplaced locator pins. We can fix all that I believe. I need to decide whether to scribe the raised panel lines as the raised lines will be obliterated while cleaning up the sink marks.

Yhe clear parts were bagged separately, but the nose glass still managed to have a nasty scratch.

 

 

[Old Collingwood]

I'm in also,   those  happy days of 1970's  Airfix kits   and those  glorious  Airfix magazines  - happy days.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Just now, Old Collingwood said:

I'm in also,   those  happy days of 1970's  Airfix kits   and those  glorious  Airfix magazines  - happy days.

 

OC.

What was the price of this kit in the 70's. Do you recall?

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, CDW said:

It will be a bit tricky as there are a lot of little sink marks to clean up and silver will show up every imperfection.

The X marks are sinks that need to be filled. The horizontal black lines down the center of the dorsal and ventral parts of the fuselage are steps created from misplaced locator pins. We can fix all that I believe. I need to decide whether to scribe the raised panel lines as the raised lines will be obliterated while cleaning up the sink marks.

Yhe clear parts were bagged separately, but the nose glass still managed to have a nasty scratch.

Now this brings back memories, yeah most of us learned to do our modeling with such kits so there is nothing that a bit of skilled technique and patience will not fix...

 

I'm sure you learned your share brother long before the internet started spreading the newer more refined techniques and materials... Old school is still useful in modeling and sometimes is still the only way...

 

I'm confident you will make her into something to be proud of.... (and we will learn a lot in the process)

 

EG

[Egilman]

45 minutes ago, CDW said:

What was the price of this kit in the 70's. Do you recall?

In my neck of the woods, not over 3.00.... and usually from the neighborhood 5 & Dime down on the corner....

[Old Collingwood]

I would say similar  to EG,  in the UK  possibly around £1.

 

OC.

[CDW]

A dry fit of the bomb bay and wheel well bulkhead assemblies into the fuselage looks okay. At this time, I don’t want to leave the bomb bay doors opened. After I dry fit them closed, I may change my mind if they don’t fit well.

 

 

[CDW]

37 minutes ago, Egilman said:

In my neck of the woods, not over 3.00.... and usually from the neighborhood 5 & Dime down on the corner....

 

3 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

I would say similar  to EG,  in the UK  possibly around £1.

 

OC.

In the early 70’s, it was common to pay between 2 or 3 dollars for a kit like this. In the late 70’s, probably closer to 3  or 4 dollars as I recall. 

[Old Collingwood]

9 minutes ago, CDW said:

A dry fit of the bomb bay and wheel well bulkhead assemblies into the fuselage looks okay. At this time, I don’t want to leave the bomb bay doors opened. After I dry fit them closed, I may change my mind if they don’t fit well.

 

 

That detail looks quite nice.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Forget about what I said earlier about closed bomb bay doors. I just realized the kit comes with a closed door option.

 

This makes things simpler for me.

 

 

[Canute]

Most definitely, we learned many techniques on these kits, back in the day.

 

Would a dunking in Future/Pledge/What-ever-they call it today help that scrape on the bombardier's window?

[Egilman]

54 minutes ago, Canute said:

Would a dunking in Future/Pledge/What-ever-they call it today help that scrape on the bombardier's window?

Absolutely, if there is a raised edge to the scrape polish it off smooth and future takes care of the rest....

[AJohnson]

2 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I would say similar  to EG,  in the UK  possibly around £1.

 

OC.

Very close, one of my Catalogues has the prices written beside each model.  For the series fours like the B-26 they were 85p in the mid 1970s. 

[Old Collingwood]

4 minutes ago, AJohnson said:

Very close, one of my Catalogues has the prices written beside each model.  For the series fours like the B-26 they were 85p in the mid 1970s. 

Good old days   - imagine  a kit for  that price now...

 

OC.

[CDW]

7 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

Good old days   - imagine  a kit for  that price now...

 

OC.

I can imagine earning about 300 dollars a month on active duty as well. Way different times.

[Jack12477]

An Army draftee in 1965 was paid $90 a month as a Private E1, as an E5 in 1967 the pay was $200 a month.  

[Canute]

An O-1 Second Lieutenant/Ensign made about $350 a month in 1970. Being on flying status gave one an extra $100. Used to be flight pay was half your base pay, I think in WW II.

[king derelict]

As an apprentice I earned 19 pounds a week in 1972 but rent and meals at the hostel were 3.50 pounds a week, petrol was 35 pence and a pint of beer was 10 pence so ...............

Alan

[CDW]

The worst fit issue I have found so far is the engine cowl to wing fit. It’s atrocious.