a-26

Ah yes, a guy named Joe, I knew I was close to it, I just couln't quite put my finger on it. Thanks Ray



madda

Ray,
You are right - "Always" was a remake of "A Guy Names Joe". The original movie was centralized around P-38 pilots and set in WWII (South Pacific I believe).

Monogram did both a solid gun nose A-26 and a glass nose. The glass nose was the first to be released and included decals for two all black night "intruder" bombers from the Korean war. The gun nose release was the Pro-Modeler, and it had WWII decals. They were both very nice kits. By the way, I saw the film "Always" and loved it. I've been trying to find a copy of it, but haven't had any luck.

I thought the 1/48 A-26B was a Monogram ProMoldeler kit! With everyone reboxing each other's kits I still refer to the original makers of the kit no matter who wants to put it "their" box! Give credit where credit is due! Monogram made the original A-26 not Revell. Hasegawa made the F4U-5N and now F-4E Monogram is "reboxing"! Who do they think they are fooling? I know it's just a "$" thing!

The original movie was "A GUY NAMED JOE"---same basic premise but took
place during WWII
Ray

Post some pics when you're done with it!

That movie was a remake of an older movie by the way, I don't remember the name off hand, it might have been the same, but for some reason I'm thinking that it had the name Joe in it.

madda

I happen to be working on a 1/48 A-26 as a special project, building a replica of the one used in the 1988 Steven Speilberg film "Always". Great film about fire bomber pilots with some excellent footage of A-26Cs and PBY-5As in flight and on the tarmac.

I started with the Revell kit and had to make a few mods to the fuselage to remove the gun turrets, as this is to be a fire bomber. I also had to modify the nose section to install the glass nose (luckily, most all of the parts to do this were included in the kit) since the kit was for an A-26B with a six-gun nose.

It has proven to be a good challenge so far since the finish is a combination of paint, NMF and custom decals. I can tell it will be well worth the effort once it is completed.

If they're going to re-issue it this year, I may just wait for it. I'm not usually partial to target planes, but the a-26 is pretty damn neat. I got to hang out inside one at an airshow a couple of years back, they're really tiny, but then even the b-17 isn't as big as you'd think it would be when you get inside it. I could almost put my arms all the way around the ball turrett, hard to imagine sitting in one waiting to be shot at.


maddafinga

The Revell kit is currently available and quite reasonable, too. - Ed

From what i remember the airfix kit is ok but it is covered in those awful rivets that were "in vogue" with airfix at the time the kit was produced . it has a choice of glazed and solid noses and with or without the turret...Gregers

The Revellogram A-26 glass-nose is going to be re-issued this year, and it's a pretty nice kit. I can't say much about the Airfix kit, I don't build little scale. But if you want to see what's out there, check out Hannants in the UK as DJ put forth, or you can try Squadron.

http://squadron.com/


Fade to Black...

I have a Revel 1/48 scale A/B-26C Invader, kit number 5508 that I'd be willing to part with. It's still in the shrink wrap.

E-mail me if you are interested.

Airfix had a 1/72 kit while Monogram had a 1/48 one. Both are currently not in the catalogue. There are a number of decals, resin bits and canopies to improve/modify both kits.

Do a search on A-26 at:

www.hannants.co.uk

to get the details.

Good luck!