ICM B-26B Marauder 1:48

Painting and Decals

With the hatch over the weight compartment cemented in place, the basic airframe was ready for some paint. There are three marking options provided:-
B-26B 42-96077 “Ladies Delight”, 584th Sqn, 394th Bomb Group, Boreham, England, Summer 1944.

B26-B 42-96214 “Coral Princess III” 494th Sqn, 344th Bomb Group, Pontoise, France, Autumn 1944.

B-26B 42-96165 “The Big Hairy Bird”, 599th Sqn, 397th Bomb Group, Peronne, France, Dec 1944.

Options 2 and 3 have a natural metal finish whilst my choice was option 1 with the standard olive drab over neutral grey. I also decided to complete this aircraft as she would have appeared before D-Day because I dislike the look of invasion stripes!

As is usual, I gave the model a good de-greasing with isopropanol before a coat of Halfords Grey Primer was applied all over. When dry, the model was inspected for any blemishes or visible seam lines. After correcting a couple of small areas and re-priming, the airframe was given a very light sanding with 3000 grit wet & dry. I then applied two coats of Tamiya Neutral Grey to the undersurfaces. Next, the wavy demarcation lines on fuselage and nacelles were masked with Tamiya flexible tape with more standard tape to prevent overspray.

The upper surfaces were now given two coats of Tamiya Olive Drab. To give the aircraft a worn look, the olive drab was lightened slightly before this was applied to the centre of the various panels and the fabric control surfaces. Adding a slight touch of yellow to this mixture, this was dusted onto areas of the upper wing such as the fuel tank caps, where ground crew would have trod. These areas were enhanced with AK light earth and spilt fuel. It is very easy to overdo these effects so I used the ‘less is more’ principal. The undersides were treated with a Flory Dark Dirt wash and Alclad Jet Exhaust used for the exhaust staining. Alclad should bottle the same stuff and call it Piston Engine Exhaust!

Time to apply the Decals. As with my last couple of builds, I again used Quickshine floor polish as a gloss base for the decals. This is best brushed on as its self-levelling properties are excellent – better than the discontinued favourite, Johnson’s Klear. With other ICM kits I have built the decals have proved to be adequate. I suspect that with this offering, the decals are from another source as they proved to be excellent – being thin but robust and having very good colour density. There are not that many to apply on my option and these reacted beautifully to Micro Sol and set and settled into the panel lines with that nice ‘painted on’ look to them. I would assume that if you are modelling option 3, “The Big Hairy Bird”, that big piece of nose art either side would not be problematical.

With the decals applied, another coat of gloss followed by Tamiya semi-gloss varnish was used to seal in the decals and provide a base for a wash of Flory Brown Dirt on the upper surfaces. This was to tone down the bright white markings. Chipping was added to the cowlings and leading edges sitting in the prop wash with True Metal Aluminium applied with a piece of sponge. Finally, a coat of Tamiya Matt Varnish gave the required finish.

Landing Gear and Finishing Touches

And so to the landing gear. These are fairly intricate assemblies on the actual aircraft and ICM have replicated this faithfully. The main gear legs have six mounting and retraction struts plus another couple of rods to close the wheel well doors as the leg is retracting. This sounds like a fiddly task and unfortunately the instructions are a bit vague in how things go together. Dry-fitting and a bit of logic will help with this however.

The problem with this assembly is, although a good attachment can be achieved to the bay roof, the styrene legs struggle to cope with the weight of the model. Remember the nose weight required to prevent tail-sitting has to go behind the cockpit as there is nowhere it can be placed further forward. Remember I recommended fixing this as far forward as is possible. Even doing this still requires a substantial amount of ballast and so, when the model is placed on its legs, you can see it quivering under the strain!

The final touches are the attachment of the much simpler nose wheel leg, the undercarriage doors, entrance ladder in the nose wheel bay, DF loop, aerials and of course those two big four bladed propellers. The blades are moulded to the hubs with just the pitch change dome to add. Blades were painted semi-gloss black with yellow tips and the dome in aluminium. There is a decal to add to each blade before a coat of semi-gloss varnish was applied. The tail gun cupola was affixed with PVA glue and the small fuselage windows were filled with Krystal Clear. With the dorsal turret lowered into its ring, the model was complete.

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