1/72 B-26B-50MA, "Victory Read", 394th Bomb Grp, 584th Bomb Sqd

[rochie]

great choice Dwight

[vikingBerserker]

Outstanding Dwight, really looking forward to this!

[109ROAMING]

Sweet choice mate

Definately went to town I see

[Vic Balshaw]

Wow Dwight, great research material and great choice.

[kgambit]

Thanks Andy, Harrison, Igor, Dirk, Wojtek, Wayne, Karl, David, Daniel and Vic.

@Daniel, Yeah I did throw the kitchen sink at this one. I've always been fond of the Marauder and I just didn't want to give it less than 100%. It's also probably the only build I will do for the D_DAY GB and it won't get started until the end of the Heavy Hitters build. Well MAYBE some interior painting but that's going to be about it.

[kgambit]

A little bit about the exterior colors:

Here's a color chip for the options:

Upper row from left to right: Olive Drab weathered: Olive Drab: Tan-Olive drab weathered
Second row from left to right: FS36270 Dark grey; FS36173 Neutral grey 43-battle grey; ANA 603 FS36118 Dark grey

The upper side is easy - Olive drab was the standard and given the harsh English weather, either of the two weathered options would work.

The underside is a bit tougher. Research on the underside color is a bit conflicting - one source indicates the original under color was FS36270, another says FS36173 Neutral grey 43-battle grey. And in 1943 it was replaced with ANA 603 - FS 36118. Given the weathering it would appear that either FS 36270 or 36173 would give you the proper shade for a weathered underside. Right now I am leaning to using the two colors on the far left: Olive Drab weathered over FS36270 Dark grey.

[Airframes]

You've got quite a bit of latitude here Dwight, as the B26 weathered fairly quickly, and heavily, in the British climate. When first in the UK, the Olive Drab was the 'dark' variety, and looks quite dark in most pics, colour and B&W, from the period. However, in a very short time, this faded, stained and also chipped and peeled extensively. The (not vey good) pics of my 1/48th Marauder may, at first, seem a bit over the top, but the model was based on pics of the actual aircraft, which was even worse than this!
These might help a bit, and if you have pics of your subject, hopefully taken in the UK after some operations, they should also give you some idea of the degree of weathering these kites exhibited.

[kgambit]

Thanks Terry.

I probably won't go for something as heavily weathered as that. In fact, I was thinking primarily about just doing a faded paint job. That sort of weathering is way beyond my skill level at this point.

[Crimea_River]

Beautiful model Terry.

[kgambit]

Here's a little tidbit for anyone else planning on doing a medium bomber build:

Victory Read: Invasion Markings:

All medium bombers were to have 24 inch b/w stripes. However, most B-26 units used 18 inch stripes on their wings to keep from having to rebalance the aerons.

[Airframes]

Yep, and to fit nicely! The shape and proportions of the wing would have meant the stripes looking 'diffrent', but the main reason was, as you say, to avoid a lengthy job of rebalancing each aileron, on each aircraft, in a very short space of time.
Note also that, whenever possible, B26's were parked with their props equally spaced. That is, in the form of a 'X', and this was done, if neccessary, by the ground crew 'pulling through' each prop. This was because of the possibility of tyre pressure loss, sudden tyre deflation, or puncture (common on rough fields, even UK airfields, where the 'hard' surfaces were sometimes of poor quality mixes of concrete and wood chippings, with sharp flint or spar content). If the main wheel tyres deflated, and the props blades were vertical, the aircraft settled its full weight on that prop, at best seriously damaging the gear box and prop shaft, as well as the prop, and at worst, shock-loading and virtually wrecking the engine(s).

[kgambit]

Yep, and to fit nicely! The shape and proportions of the wing would have meant the stripes looking 'diffrent', but the main reason was, as you say, to avoid a lengthy job of rebalancing each aileron, on each aircraft, in a very short space of time.
Note also that, whenever possible, B26's were parked with their props equally spaced. That is, in the form of a 'X', and this was done, if neccessary, by the ground crew 'pulling through' each prop. This was because of the possibility of tyre pressure loss, sudden tyre deflation, or puncture (common on rough fields, even UK airfields, where the 'hard' surfaces were sometimes of poor quality mixes of concrete and wood chippings, with sharp flint or spar content). If the main wheel tyres deflated, and the props blades were vertical, the aircraft settled its full weight on that prop, at best seriously damaging the gear box and prop shaft, as well as the prop, and at worst, shock-loading and virtually wrecking the engine(s).

And that 18 inch stripe works out to be exactly 1/4 inch (just about 6 mm) at 1/72 scale - the same size as the Tamiya tape! That's going to make things a bit easier.

I'm going to have to remember that when I position the props. They'll probably be set to rotate freely so that shouldn't be an issue.

[B-17engineer]

Love the nose art!

[kgambit]

Love the nose art!

Wait until you see some of the nose art I have for my B-17.

I ordered the paints for the B-26 today. I figured I would use the time it takes for them to arrive to take a small break. Not sure that's a great idea considering how I've blown the deadlings on two GB already but what the heck.

[javlin]

Time to start building Old Boy the other build is over and time to start crack'in on this one. Cheers Kevin