Monogram 1/48 B-26 Marauder "Flak Bait" Completed!

[keyda81]

Seems like I'm two steps forward, and three steps back with this "pig".

I opted to take the engine nacelles off, and try to bend the plastic to get a better fit.  Which seemed to work.  I still have seams, but not nearly as bad as before.

Before:(This one wasn't even the bad one, the other one was worse )

After some bending:  You can see where the plastic turned white from me bending it.

I still have some nice canyons to fill.  I was smart, and used sprue goo to fill in the bigger gaps.  I've been burned by putty before where you get nice and smooth, and it freaking cracks.

The wings have entered the putty, sand, prime, repeat phase.  While I've been fighting with the "glass" on the fuselage.

After countless attempts to get the nose "glass" on, it's finally on there.  I shimmed the underside of the fuselage halves, since the glass was a bit bigger.  I didn't want to screw up the contour of the glass, so I went with shimming between the fuselage halves, which helped.  I'm still fighting with the rear glass.

I think the thing that annoys me the most is the fact that the first time I built this in 2017 the fit was much better.  I've looked at it recently, and I'm annoyed that I did. 

[lyle]

Wow, that thing is giving you quite the fight! It does seem to be coming along with proper persuasion, however.

[406 Silverado]

This one really is putting up quite the fight Keyda BUT.......I like the way you are addressing all of the gaps and oversized parts. You're right about putty....I've been "burned" by that stuff many many times before and now stick with super glue for the gaps which seems to be working out quite a bit better. Shimming the fuselage to match the glass mating surfaces was a great idea and it looks like you're coming out on top with this one. Great work so far.

[M1Carbine]

Keyda - You certainly beat that into submission. outstanding job. looking forward to more.

-Bob

[kyledehart5]

Agreed with all. Keep hammering away at it Keyda. You’re doing great so far. This kit Sure isn’t doing you any favors.

[dodgy]

I admire your patience and your solutions. Keep up the fight mate, you're definitely winning.

[jmarc]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNeat !

[Medicman71]

You're doing great work with it!!

[reserve]

Fit of kit parts-yuck

Your countermeasures-outstanding

Sure would be nice to build and paint a model without having to go thru such contortions would it not?

[keyda81]

No I haven't given up on this thing yet.  It's just been very slow.  I can only seem to manage an hour at the bench before I want to launch it at the wall.  It seems every single time I work on it there are more problems that keep popping up.  I have already punched in several windows on accident somehow.  I've done that occasionally in the past, but never this many on one build.  So I've had to come up with some creative ways to get the windows back in, since most of them install from the inside. There is also something rattling around on the inside that has broken lose.  Will deal with that at some point.  I'll just pop one of the waist gunner doors, and see if I can't fish out whatever it is. 

After a ton of putty, sand, prime, repeat on the wings and fuselage I went about rescribing panel lines.  Which I'm not that good at.  As you can see from the first two pics of the fuselage.  All the little sanded patches are where I screwed up.

The other issue I was having was the silicone tape I use when rescribing panel lines decided to pull up putty out of the main seam in some places.  I think my putty needed to be thinned more.  As it must not of been adhering to the plastic.  So it was a bunch of fixing little stuff that just got very aggravating. 

But at this point I think I am ready to attach the wings to the fuselage,(about damn time)then I get to do even more putty, sand, prime, repeat.

[kyledehart5]

Good to see you’re still beating this one into submission. My first serious aircraft build was the Avro Shackleton and I had some adventures popping windows out and trying to get them reinstalled. I feel your pain!! Sorry about all the little issues but it’s looking really good!

[dodgy]

Looking really good Keyda. For panel line scribing I use Dymo label tape, as it has a hard edge. Of course it's not the ultimate fix as my shakes make sure there's always something to repair!

[handiabled]

It's great to see this one back! Great job with this gap filled build! It looks like it's been a test of patience but you look to be ready for some color on this very soon.

[TJ]

Whatever you're doing keep at it. The seems look really good

[406 Silverado]

This one seems to be giving you a run for your money alright. These old Monogram/ Revell kits can frustrate even the best of us but through it all you're hangin' tough with it every step of the way in good fashion. Looks like you're winnin' the fight.

[stuart]

That is a stunning interior - superb work!It does look like this thing is putting up a fight, but I'm sure you'll best it!

[jmarc]

NNNNNNNNNNice !

[keyda81]

Thanks for the support, and words of encouragement, they are much needed! It's been slow going as of lately. I could only stand to work on it for an hour or so before I would get frustrated, and have to walk away.

Most the last week has been spent working on the wing root seams, and a second round of rescribing the entire thing. I wasn't happy with how it looked the first time, just didn't cut deep enough, and the primer filled in a lot of it. So I went back through with a fresh blade and did it all over again.

Anyway, I think I'm finally ready to put some paint on it! The plan is to spray the entire thing with aluminum, and then use the hairspray chipping method. I will have to seal it after I chip the neutral gray. The demarcation line between the OD, and neutral gray is a sharp line, which I will not be able to produce without masking. So the alum will go down over the entire plane, hairspray on the underside, then neutral gray. Chip, seal, and the apply hairspray, then the OD to the upper surfaces, chip that, and seal again. Then I'll use paint masks to do most of the markings, PN, O, tail number, and the insignia. I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to do the super faded invasion stripes. I may have to test it out on the paint mule first. They were pretty much only visible on the underside of the wings.

[keavdog]

Great progress Keyda. Whipping this old pig into shape - really looks well assembled at this point. Looking forward to paint.

[406 Silverado]

Mar 11, 2024 16:42:17 GMT -5 keyda81 said:

No I haven't given up on this thing yet.  It's just been very slow.  I can only seem to manage an hour at the bench before I want to launch it at the wall.  It seems every single time I work on it there are more problems that keep popping up.  I have already punched in several windows on accident somehow.  I've done that occasionally in the past, but never this many on one build.  So I've had to come up with some creative ways to get the windows back in, since most of them install from the inside. 

  I don't know what it is that draws us all to these older kits sometimes. Maybe it's taking a challenge on, maybe it's nostalgia or for taking a trip down memory lane. Whatever the reason is, they sure tend to give folks a good run for the money but in the hands of a skilled builder can still be turned into a real gem of a finish. It sure looks as if you're headed that way so far. Keep these good updates coming Keyda because you're definitely putting the work into this one.....and it shows.

[stikpusher]

Mar 19, 2024 9:40:00 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Great progress Keyda. Whipping this old pig into shape - really looks well assembled at this point. Looking forward to paint.

This kit has something of a reputation like their P-61 Black Widow... But it really isn't that hard to build OOB, with the main challenges being some gaps here and there, mostly involving the engine nacelles and cowlings. It's certainly no pig.

[kyledehart5]

Another really nice update!! Looking the part now. Great work on this old kit

[TJ]

Can't wait for this paint job. sounds like its gonna be good

[keyda81]

Progress between yesterday and this morning.  Painted the entire plane aluminum using Alclad airframe aluminum.

Hairspray was applied and left to dry for a while.  I then sprayed on the neutral gray, and let that dry for a little bit before going at it with water and a paint brush.  It's hard to see the chipping in the picture due to the shine from the gloss coat.

This morning I masked off everything that I wanted to stay gray, which is some places is hard to get a reference to where the gray and OD meet.  Did the best I could with the pics I had to work with.  Seeing the underside of the plane is damn near impossible. 

Next up was spraying the OD.  I did a base layer of that, then used lightened OD to go over it in a random pattern.  I also lightened up the fabric control surfaces.  They also seem to fade faster.

I did get the chipping on the green done, but didn't grab a pic yet, it was still wet.  Once it dries I'll hit that with a gloss coat to seal it.  Then it's probably going to sit until tomorrow to dry before I start masking off for the markings.  I think I'm going to thin some black and white paint fairly heavily, and use that to brush on the invasion stripes.  I'm going to try it on the paint mule first and see how it looks. 

[tcoat]

Looks perfect so far. Hope you don't have issues peeling the tape off the areas that had hairspray. I had that go very wrong once.

[keyda81]

Mar 20, 2024 12:34:18 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Looks perfect so far. Hope you don't have issues peeling the tape off the areas that had hairspray. I had that go very wrong once.

Nope, no issues.  What I did was spray the entire thing aluminum, then put hairspray just on the bottom where the neutral gray was going.  Put down the neutral gray, chipped it, then sealed it with a gloss coat.  Let that dry overnight, masked everything, applied the hairspray, then the OD.  Pulled the tape off, then did the chipping.  I didn't want get the masking tape wet, and have issues there either.  Seems to of worked out well.

[tcoat]

Mar 20, 2024 13:06:16 GMT -5 keyda81 said:

Mar 20, 2024 12:34:18 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Looks perfect so far. Hope you don't have issues peeling the tape off the areas that had hairspray. I had that go very wrong once.

Nope, no issues.  What I did was spray the entire thing aluminum, then put hairspray just on the bottom where the neutral gray was going.  Put down the neutral gray, chipped it, then sealed it with a gloss coat.  Let that dry overnight, masked everything, applied the hairspray, then the OD.  Pulled the tape off, then did the chipping.  I didn't want get the masking tape wet, and have issues there either.  Seems to of worked out well.

[stikpusher]

Looking better and better! Great work on the aged paint scheme!

[406 Silverado]

keyda81 how thick to you put the hairspray on? Just a mist coat or wet coat? I'm assuming mist but have never used this method before.

[keyda81]

Mar 20, 2024 13:36:10 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

keyda81 how thick to you put the hairspray on? Just a mist coat or wet coat? I'm assuming mist but have never used this method before.

I did it fairly heavily on this one since it's Flak Bait, who has quite the amount of chipping.  It's kind of hard to control where it goes anyway.  But if you wanted some light chipping overall I would say keep a good distance, and do a light mist coat.  Want it heavily chipped, get closer to that area.  I've only used this method a couple times myself, but it's easy, and I really like how it looks when finished.