mucker wrote:

I love when this topic comes up...a testament to the longetivity of the stain this kit has left on my modeling experience, I continue to nominate the 1/48 RoG B-26 Marauder. Never before or since have I had a build that was so tormenting on the soul. It simply wasn't fun. I've never used so much putty, and I shelved the thing for long periods two or three separate times. Yet it's such a cool looking plane and the only one in 1/48 scale.

I think someone may have mentioned a similar problem earlier in this thread, or maybe it was in one of the current threads about 1/48th P-38 kits, but could it be that your Marauder suffered from the age of the dies?  If you bought it as a Revell/Germany boxing, that had to have been relatively recent, and that kit first premiered in the mid-70s.  I imagine that the molds might be a little worn by now.

I picked up an older, strictly Monogram boxing, circa 1990, and the parts are pretty crisp, and don't have too many fit issues.

And as you say, it is a cool-looking plane and the only 1/48 version.  I like it.

Regards,

Brad

mucker wrote:

The funny thing is that the sadistic part of me ()wants to try another one to see if I can handle the fit issues better....

You think you're bad?  I'm trying to decide whether to perform surgery on the kit, to back-date it to an early B-26, uh, a B-26A-MA-25, I think is the designation.  I want to build it as one of the B-26's that fought at Midway.  I think the kit represents a later mark, after the wings were lengthend and the horizontal stabilizer enlarged, to deal with the landing speed and handling issues that made the original marks a handful for inexperienced pilots.

I haven't been able to confirm it, though.  "Flak Bait" was an MA-25, I think, if the Squadron book is correct, so it might not require all too drastic a modification.  And even if it does, I might suppress the "I know it's there" reflex, and just do the color and markings.  I'm not a contest builder, so I don't have to worry about rivet Nazis.

Still, it would be a good exercise...

the Baron wrote:

mucker wrote: The funny thing is that the sadistic part of me ()wants to try another one to see if I can handle the fit issues better.... You think you're bad?  I'm trying to decide whether to perform surgery on the kit, to back-date it to an early B-26, uh, a B-26A-MA-25, I think is the designation.  I want to build it as one of the B-26's that fought at Midway.  I think the kit represents a later mark, after the wings were lengthend and the horizontal stabilizer enlarged, to deal with the landing speed and handling issues that made the original marks a handful for inexperienced pilots. I haven't been able to confirm it, though.  "Flak Bait" was an MA-25, I think, if the Squadron book is correct, so it might not require all too drastic a modification.  And even if it does, I might suppress the "I know it's there" reflex, and just do the color and markings.  I'm not a contest builder, so I don't have to worry about rivet Nazis. Still, it would be a good exercise...

I remember building Flak-Bait as a kid, a long time ago. I was surprised when I came across Flak-Bait's nose section in the National Air and Space Museum in DC. Nose art intact!

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Flak-Bait is a B-26B-25-MA, S/N 41-31173... I scored two Monogram B-26s on Ebay, the original '78 release of  Flak-Bait and another from '89, Yankee Guerilla...  Shep Paine's Maruader Assembly Line dio of the Mono B-26 was outstanding... (In case you're wondering, Shep used mirrors on each side of the dio-box to give the impression of a whole line of B-26s) Personally speaking, aside from a few fit issues that're typical Monogram, this's a great kit...

Yeah, thanks Hammer!  I went back to the Squadron book last night, too, to look up the correct designation (but I still won't be able to render it off the top of my head!).

I'm also reasonably certain that the 4 Marauders that were detached to beef up Midway's air arm belonged to the 22nd BG, which was deployed to the South Pacific by April of 42 (and carried out the first USAAF strike against the Japanese, if I'm not mistaken), but I haven't found the reference to the specific squadron they belonged to.  They were en route to join their unit when they were diverted to Midway.

I'm also reasonably certain that they had only the most basic markings, consisting of the national insignia, with the meatballs painted out (56", too-in fact, Admiral Kusaka remarked "how big the white stars were" on the one that narrowly missed the Akagi's bridge) and serial numbers.

I'm still cautiously optimistic that I won't have to lengthen the wings and enlarge the horizontal stab.

And yes, it's a great kit!  And Shep's diorama is another one that just really inspired then and still does today.

AMT made a B-26 in 1/48  years ago.  I think I remember it got decent reviews at the time.  One was recently on ebay.

I'm gonna have to go with the 1/72 Matchbox F-101F Voodoo. Which, by the way, is almost ready for paint.

The RPM Minenraumer is a horrible, horrible kit. I entertained some feeble hope of building it as per instructions (which required extensive typo corrections), then simply gave up and turned it into a Warhammer 40,000 model.

   For me it was a 1/48 ME-262. I can't remember the brand name, but it was something like DML. Just three letters. It might have even been DML. This was over ten years ago and I had first bought a Folke Wolfe 190 by the same maker and it was one of the finest kits I have ever built. At the time, the only aircraft kits this company had were all WWII German A/C. I bought the ME-262 thinking it would also be a great kit and it turned out to be a stinker. The removable weapons bay panel on the nose was so far off in fit that it was completely unusable. I finally trashed it after it sat on a shelf, half finished for over a year. Sorry that I can't remember the brand name but I have slept since then. Maybe one of you will remember this kit.

My nominations are the Polar Lights Bat Jet (file 13'd that sucker before completion) and the MPM X-4.  I do have several Mach 2 X-planes in the stash though, but I haven't tried them yet.