I also thought the crews stuck to one assigned aircraft, but since reading your post I went back to looking through the crew missions.

"Aries" was flown by Lt.  van Camp's crew on 27 and 28 May, 1944, between missions flown by McCabe's crew (on 24 and 31 May).  Lt. Barker's crew flew her on 16 and 17 June; Lt. Hilfinger's crew flew her on 27 June, 1944--which are both out of the time frame, so that doesn't really matter.

So--if McCabe's crew flew six missions before D-Day, and van Camp's crew flew two, that should make eight mission markers before 6 June.

This is starting to hurt my head, so I think I'll go with eight mission markers, then leave it alone.  Kits-World conveniently included some decals for them.

I saw that last pic on the 486th site but had not noticed the staining, that is a bit odd.

Did crews tend to stick to the same aircraft, that was the impression I was under. I thought the aircraft would then go to a new crew when the previous one had completed their tour.

I have checked by B-24 books, but I have nothing on Aires. I think its going to be a case of making a best guess. I think 6 mission bombs would be about right.

I did check the 486th website, Bish.  It only mentioned 693, as you say.  I was also checking to see if I could find out how many missions "Aries" flew before 6 June.  Still looking.  The site seems to list missions by crew, rather than by aircraft.  Earl McCabe's crew flew "Aries" for six missions before D-Day, so I suppose she should at least carry six of the markers.

Still looking around the net, I found this on ebay:

The nose art looks finished to me, but there are no mission bombs painted on the cockpit armor, visible at the upper right.

In contrast, again, is this photo showing Sgt. Brinkman at work--with the mission bombs clearly visible.

As far as the group "O" goes, I opted to go with the white square, since it obviously appears in photos.  Of course, that still means messing with MicroScale's decal potion.  So far, the wing insignia went on OK; that only leaves the two on the vertical stabilizers. 

Interesting, too, in the above-photo are the long exhaust stains on the port wing, and the shorter ones evident on the starboard wing.  Apparently the rubber de-icer boots were left on the vertical stabilizers but removed on the wings and horizontal stabilizer. 

I applied the nose art decal today, and K-W's interpretation looks much superior to Academy's (done by Scale-Master, so the sheet says).

Making progress, anyway:  built the landing gear, painted the nose and tail turrets and the bomb bay doors, so if nothing goes wrong again I should finish up soon.

And something else I found, the 486th only arrived in the UK in March 44, therr first mission was on 7th April In July they switched to B-17's, I thought it was odd to see a Suffolk based B-24. So I can't imagine the aircraft would have changed a great deal in 4 months.

O the joy of decals and companies getting them wrong. It sound as if Kits world has messed up in the shape of the background, it should defiantly be a square, there were no rectangles.

Did you check the 486th BG site. I had a look and they list the serials of their aircraft. There is no mention of 765, but there is a 693. Theres a pic of the aircraft in flight and one of a model.

693 is number 54 on this page. Go to page 2 and there is no 765.

http://www.486th.org/Photos/AC1/Aircraft.htm

And this is the model.

http://www.486th.org/Photos/AC6/Aries1.htm

There is several pages. And if anyone should know, I imagine it should be these guys.

Thanks, Bish.  It's always demoralizing to get to the decal stage, and then have them act up,  Good thing for after-market replacements.

Speaking of which, I bought the Kits-World sheet for "Aries," then noticed today that that aircraft number is different from the one included with Academy's kit--although the nose art is the same.  K-W is left; Academy is on the right.

So I did some research on the net and found that there were apparently two "Aries."

Here is noseart for 42-52765 which is the number included with the kit.  Using this number, the nose art would be wrong.  But the window doesn't look like this is a B-24H, and the window is covering up the "A."

Here is 42-52693 which carried the nose art included on both sheets.  The nose window is obviously different from 765.  Plus, the barely visible mission markings seem to indicate that this plane flew at least eight missions before this noseart was completely finished.

The information on the net is conflicting.  According to www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk 765 flew her first mission on 7 May, 1944 and her final combat mission on 17 July,1944.

According to www.extreme3d.wordpress. com, Sgt. Phil Brinkman painted the noseart for 693 in April, 1944.

None of the Zodiacs were lost on missions, so why there were two sets of noseart carried on two planes, both reportedly marked "2S-O?"

On top of that, the group letter for the 486th Bomb Group is an "O" on a white background.  Academy's sheet has the background as a white square; Kits-World has it has a white rectangle.

It's a little late now to do anything about it, but I'm wondering what "Aries" really looked like during the D-Day time-frame.

Looking really nice there Check. Add me to the list of people who have problems with prop decals.

Thanks, Gamera.  I know what you mean; and the tendency to either slide around or stick fast the minute you put them down seems to vary with the decal manufacturer.

One thing I've tried is to punch a hole in a piece of paper, insert the prop shaft so the prop lies flat, then make one measurement and mark it..  Then you can rotate each blade to that mark and apply the decal.

It has the advantage of getting the decal in the same location on each blade, or approximately so..

This time, I confess to using the eyeball method.  

CMK02: What you've got so far looks fine in the photos. I have an issue with getting all those prop decals lined up at the same place on the blade and then AFTER they're dried finding one has slid or maybe I measured wrong or something and some of them are off...

I had a spare "Aries" decal sheet from a less-than-successful attempt at this aircraft more than ten years ago (this must be a jinx kit). 

I went through both sheets getting the squadron codes on.  Mostly, it was the edges of the image that continued to flake and shatter, in spite of MicroScale's decal potion.  Eventually, I cut around the image a little farther out, and that seemed to fix the problem.  Finally accomplished it, and will stop messing with it cuz it's as good as it's gonna get.

And since misery loves company, I'm glad I'm not the only one that has issues with decals. 

Here are the results of decaling the props.  Turned out OK, in spite of the "issues."  They didn't come with a T-shirt. 

CMK02: Decals- grumble... been there, done that, got the T-shirt...

Stik> That turned out great! Congratulations on the prize win. 

CMK>  Decal problems?  I can sympathize!  They very nearly did me in.  Good luck on getting the rest done!

Gary

Lol! Good idea!

Thanks for the sympathy, stik. 

I applied the decal potion a little thicker, and it seemed to hold things together better.  But--solve one problem and another crops up.  The stuff didn't level too well, and left a few bumps and ridges here and there.    I perceive this will take some finesse.

Still, it's working at least, and I got the stars and bars attached without losing any.

Time for a reward. 

Thanks for the compliments CMK. That really sucks about the decal problems. That can be a huge speed bump to completion for such a simple thing. Best of luck on getting that handled.

And thanks, Gamera.  I'm looking forward to finishing up, too!

Added decals to the props yesterday, and had mixed results trying to salvage them with MicroScale's liquid decal-preservation potion.  Some still shattered, so I have to return to the spares file today.

Will post photos when I have some success to report.

Great photography of an outstanding model, stik.  What exceptional results you achieved!!

Everyone did a real bang up job on their builds. They all look great.  It was great fun. and thanks again Bish for hosting it.

I can't help but think of the guys who went through D-Day and after. There can't be many left. My Dad, uncles and all the other WW2 Veterans I knew are gone. "I didn't know what to say here for a few minutes." But, with things like our GB's, we can keep their memories alive.

Thank you Jack. I really wish that I had it done in time for the June meet. The theme was D-Day and I think I might have been in the running for the theme award had this been completed in time.

Stik - you have created a stunning build there, and from such an old kit.  Enjoyed reading the history of her too.  As you were approaching the final stages, I was thinking you have to enter this at some competition, and you have and came home with some hardware to boot.

Congrats on all fronts!

regards,

Jack

Many thanks for the kind words guys.

Flak Bait looks really AWESOME!!!!!!

Hey SP, two big thumbs up- fantastic job on taking an older classic kit and making a masterpiece out of her! And thanks for the history, I knew 'Flak Bait' had a distinguished career but not to that extent. As I think I've said here I live down in SW Virginia- I'll have to get up to there and check her out when she's done.

CMK02: Nice work there too- looking forward to seeing her all done up!  

stikpusher

Bish, many thanks for hosting this GB! This was really a great one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (even if my wife may think otherwise due to some choice swearing  at times)

 

Amen to that brother Stik.

And it was a real pleasure to host it, once again, it was the great members that really made it a great GB. Its just a shame HvH hasn't shown up, but its good to see your holding up the Monogram banner in his absence.

Love those photo's and the history. You certainly did the old girl proud.

Thank you SB. Doing the research for this build was really enlightening. I have a LOT more understanding and respect for the Marauder crews in general and the crews of this ship in particular after all that I read and learned along the way.  I would LOVE to go see her when she is all rebuilt as well. Perhaps one day if I ever make it out that way again.

Amazing work Stik!  I've really enjoyed following along with this, especially when I realized you were doing Flak Bait.  I was amazed when I saw how many missions she finished when I saw the nose at the Smithsonian last year.  I'm going to have to make a special trip down when she's all done.

Bish, many thanks for hosting this GB! This was really a great one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (even if my wife may think otherwise due to some choice swearing  at times)

And now, without further ado, on D+32 and in time for the Operation Cobra bombardment and the break out from Normandy I present "Flak Bait", a Martin B-26B that took part in that greatest of operations 70 years ago.

As stated earlier, here are the pictured of my build of the old 1/48 scale Monogram B-26B Marauder kit, "Flak Bait".

B-26B-25-MA Serial Number 41-31773 was completed off of the Assembly line in late April 1943. She was flown across the Atlantic and assigned to the 8th Bomber Command in England, 322nd Bomb Group in late May 1943. This group had just introduced the B-26 to combat in the ETO. The 322nd had just stood down after all the B-26s dispatched on a low level strike into Holland had been shot down by fighters and flak, save one which aborted en route to the target.
She would fly over 200 combat missions in the ETO without an abort (207 or 208 depending upon the source), more than any other American bomber in the ETO. Aptly named by her first pilot, Lt. Farrell (after his brother’s dog “Flea Bait”), she took over 1000 holes in her airframe during the course of these missions. During the span of her combat career she would return to base twice on only one engine, survive an engine fire, have her hydraulics shot out once and electrical systems twice. But she always came back, for a total of 725 combat hours in the ETO while assigned to the 449th Bombardment Squadron, 322nd Bomb Group. She would be forward based in France and later Belgium after those areas had been liberated, and end her flying career in Germany before being selected to be sent home for preservation at the Smithsonian due to her distinguished combat career.
On June 1st Flak Bait flew her 100th combat sortie. On June 6th she would fly two more as part of the “maximum effort” put forth by the Allies to support the Normandy Invasion. On the morning of June 6th, the 322nd would dispatch three 16 ship “boxes”. Two were assigned to strike gun batteries near Ouistreham, opposite Sword Beach, while the third box was assigned to strike gun batteries near Utah Beach at Montfarfille. The overcast weather and icing conditions forced the Marauders to fly in under the cloud ceiling at 8000 feet. Many would abort, but not “Flak Bait”. In the afternoon, the full 322nd Bomb Group would fly a strike near Caen. Just a small part of the huge operation that the Normandy Operation was, but overall the B-26s of the 9th Air Force would put in the most effect close air support against the German coastal defenses of any of the Allied bombers that day, especially at Utah Beach.
This is Monogram’s venerable 1/48 scale kit, first issued in 1978. I added a scratch built radio/navigators compartment, tail gunner’s compartment, and added detail to the waist and top gunner’s compartments. All colors used are based off of WWII era color photos of Marauders, and of the actual Flak Bait herself in storage at the Smithsonian Institute.

Thanks for looking!

Comments and critques welcome!

Check, no worries. I will hang on until the end of the month and then do a round up in the general modelling section.

SP, thanks for that link. Nice to see the Horten getting some attention. And thanks for the info on the bombs. I will defiantly put that to use.

And again, awesome build, thanks for making it a part of this GB.

CMK that is looking good! Youre getting closer to the finish now! You sure do not have to explain summer time constraints to me...