Bish

Thanks for that link and info. that is good news, the last pics I had seen was the fuselage in a sorry state next to the Enola gay. It looks much better now. And after I posted that last comment, I found some info suggesting the 229 is in the process of restoration as well.

Bish here is a link to what is currently undergoing restoration at Smithsonian with photos. The 229 is among them.

http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/multimedia/Index.cfm?subjectid=8

OK guys, first off, many thanks for the kind words. The Marauder was very well received at IPMS last night and seeing how some many guys there had built this kit at some point in their lives, I think many knew the level of work that I put into her and appreciated that. I am back from my morning activities here and need to get a couple more photos of the undersides that I did not take last night, then will get them all uploaded here and posted in a bit.

As far as the yellow bombs go, yes, they would make a great splash of color to a 1942/1943 diorama of uploading/arming a bomber in the early days of the US air war in WWII in any theater. The changeover to OD came in late spring of 1942 around April or so, and it would take time I imagine for the arsenals to get the orders and the paint to begin to implement that change. Than more time to produce the bombs and ship them to the various theaters of war. I just may do some yellow bombs on a couple of planned builds that I have for 1942 US bombers.

Bish, I have a week's vacation starting Monday, so I'll have a (hopefully) uninterrupted week to finish this.

The major parts were painted a few days ago.  I test-fitted the wings and horizontal stabilizer.  The wings are a tight fit into the fuselage, and required some thinning to get them in place.  The horizontal stabilizer doesn't seem to want to sit properly, so will have to fiddle with this.

I applied a clear coat to the parts, let it dry for a couple of days, then ran a thinned black acrylic wash into the panel lines.

Today I applied a second clear coat over the wash, and will try to salvage the kit decals and apply them tomorrow or Monday.

Sorry for taking so long with this , but between work schedules this summer and various construction issues with the kit, it's been a challenge.

Check, do you have any idea when the B-24 will be done.

SP, I have just spotted your other post. That is interesting that they are still painting bombs yellow in 1942, I assume there must have been an order at some point to paint them OD. So it would not be out of place to have a 1942 scene with yellow bombs, now that would add a nice splash of colour. Seeing as the fins were fitted on scene, any combination of yellow and OD bombs and fins would seem possible.

Congratulations, stik!  A job well done!

Awesome Stik!  I can't wait to see more

Now that's a sweet looking build SP, and a very big well done on the second place. Awesome, i'll use that pic for the front page, but I am sure we would all like to see a few more if you can.

Well, this turned out to be a good evening. I had lots of last minute difficulties here with this build, but it's finally done. I will get a full set of photos of her up tomorrow. To my eye, it's full of flaws, mainly from trying to get it done fast. But it did take 2nd place tonite at IPMS monthly contest, Master Category. So not too bad...

It's done!!!! Finally!!! Pics tonite after IPMS...

Love how the fading is starting to look SP, and thanks for posting those cool photos of the zinc chromate yellow bombs.

stikpusher

Thanks Gary. Your suggestion about the graying out of the stars is possible that this is due to wear. But I do know that it was fairly common for 8th Air Force Bomb Groups to spray the white portions of the stars in gray to tone them down. Especially in 1942/1943 when the Luftwaffe was most dangerous to bombers air to air. 322nd BG was part of the 8th AF until later in 1943 when 9th AF took over the "tactical" role out of the UK. Plenty of color photos show the Marauders with Gray stars in Summer 1943 when Marauder ops were just beginning and none would have yet been as beat up as Flak Bait was by late Summer 1945 when she was put in storage. And if you look at the fuselage side Star in the one photo, over the OD, the white would have worn away to that, and not the Gray. And that is my reasoning behind my work on that. Is it historically accurate? Maybe, maybe not. But it looks the part. Which is my prime goal here.

Stik,

Interesting information about the graying out of the stars by the bomber forces.  I don't think I've read that before.

Thanks!  You're a scholar and a gentleman. 

Gary

Youre very welcome Bish... oh and remember my earlier stuff about yellow bombs? I just came across this photo, probably from 1942, of some yellow 500 lb bombs. If I am not mistaken, the 2-42 stencil would indicate a manufacture date of Feb. 1942. Just the opposite of mine, and with OD fins. I suspect that all the pre war and early war yellow bombs had been dropped by mid war or so.

Thanks for that link and info. that is good news, the last pics I had seen was the fuselage in a sorry state next to the Enola gay. It looks much better now. And after I posted that last comment, I found some info suggesting the 229 is in the process of restoration as well.

Bish, the 219 seems to be in restoration as well, from the few photos that I have come across online. According to their website, the wing is currently being restored.

http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19600322000

CMK, thanks for the kind words.

Outstanding attention to detail, stik!

That's good news. I hope some day they get round to doing the He 219 and Ho 229 they have over there.

They are doing that now. They have pulled the nose out of Smithsonian and are re assembling her currently. She is to be put together and then on display in original condition, not "restored" at the Udvar-Hazy center next to Dulles Airport in Virginia. Thank goodness that they are  not doing like the Air Force musuem did to their Marauder and repainting everything. She will be as she was in 1945.

That's looking really nice SP. Nice work on the rear gunners screen.

Looking at those pics of the real thing, are there any plans to restore her.

So here is the "big" photo update that was delayed for various reasons: work, dead camera battery, etc...

Firstly I mentioned earlier modifiying a windscreen from my spares bin for the tail gunner's armored glass. Here it it glued in place. It took a couple of test fittings to get it in under the tail gunner's transparency

then the tail gun assembly all ready for installation

and installed in place

then better shots of the gloss coat

and finally the decals. In hindsight, most gave no trouble, considering the age, except for the stars and serial numbers

here are the seperate pieces- props, nose wheel, bombs...

the small ones- crew names, tail numbers, nose art, etc.

and the overall shots

next up- sealing coats and weathering... stay tuned...

Thanks Gary. Your suggestion about the graying out of the stars is possible that this is due to wear. But I do know that it was fairly common for 8th Air Force Bomb Groups to spray the white portions of the stars in gray to tone them down. Especially in 1942/1943 when the Luftwaffe was most dangerous to bombers air to air. 322nd BG was part of the 8th AF until later in 1943 when 9th AF took over the "tactical" role out of the UK. Plenty of color photos show the Marauders with Gray stars in Summer 1943 when Marauder ops were just beginning and none would have yet been as beat up as Flak Bait was by late Summer 1945 when she was put in storage. And if you look at the fuselage side Star in the one photo, over the OD, the white would have worn away to that, and not the Gray. And that is my reasoning behind my work on that. Is it historically accurate? Maybe, maybe not. But it looks the part. Which is my prime goal here.

Stik>  She's looking mighty fine!  Can't wait to see her finished up. 

Wanted to comment on something, so:

THE FOLLOWING IS AN OPINION AND HOLDS NO MORE WATER THAN ANY OTHER OPINION:

You mentioned the graying out of the insignia (if I understand you to mean it has deliberately been sprayed with gray paint), and while that's possible, to my eye it appears more that the paint is "weathered".  In the pictures you posted, I note that the paint on the aircraft is very worn, and even to the point where you can see bare metal on the underside, and the red of the previous insignia border where it has been over-painted with blue.  Is it possible that what the "gray" areas are where the white paint has been worn down to where the OD of the original skin is beginning to peek through, thus giving it a grayish appearance?

Now that's just a thought, and I haven't seen the aircraft in person, but from the photos you've posted you can clearly see the paint is very worn, even the OD parts.

Well, whatever the case, you've done a splendid job on her with all that detailing!

Thanks!

Gary

Today's decalling seesion went much more smoothly than yesterday's. The National Insignia and the serial number decals gave me all the problems yesterday. Today the nose art, stencils, and crew names went on smoothly. Again considering their possible age, that is very fortunate! anyways I only have time for a couple of teaser shots before work today, so here you go... a much more thorough update to follow tomorrow or late tonite...

Thanks for looking!

Yes, the variety in OD 41 is quite well documented. And yes, if you put each companies' OD against each other, there is variation there too. Add in the 41 and ANA 319 shades, as well as "faded" ODs, and you can have quite a few paints in your paint collection. I know that I do. I really miss the Floquil and Aeromaster paint lines for their ODs.

Well today before work I got about 2/3 of the decals on. Considering their age (potentially up to 38 years), and how long this kit has been in my stash (14-18 years) and I am quite happy to be getting them to work at all. Which is good because trying to find the Aeromaster set (just in case) for Flak Bait is not an easy task. It's long OOP. I will see how recalcitrant they are when I get home tonite.

Thanks for the information, stik.  I like to use different manufacturers' OD, for variety sake.  I don't use acrylics, but in enamels/lacquers, no one's OD looks the same as anyone else's--even though (I guess) they're trying to duplicate the same things.

I haven't posted photos yet, but I painted the Liberator's control surfaces to represent fading, too.  I used MM for them, with WEM's for the basic fuselage/wings.  You'd never know they're both OD.

I suppose in their defense, maybe some of the paint makers are representing the later version of OD, not the OD 41 used early in the war.

But--I've had late work again the last two nights, so the photos have been falling behind.

Again, stik, excellent work.

I am pretty sure that most, if not all of the pre war designs, did have fabric covered control surfaces. Some of those later received metal skinned ones as their designs were modified thru the war. Only later designs such as the B-29 came off the drawing board that way.

Nice work SP. I got told that about the fabric when I was doing a B-17 a few years back. Did a lot of US aircraft have fabric covered control surfaces.

Thanks! I used Tamiya OD for the base color, and two different Polly Scale ODs. PS USAAF OD for the panel fade and PS QM-22 OD for the fabric flight control surfaces. The OD 41 dope had a habit of fading different than paint if you look on photos.

Well done, stik.  Maybe I missed it--whose OD did you use?

Thank you my freind. I am trying. And with such a  well preserved and documented subject, I have no excuse to do less...

Entering the home stretch now. Please forgive these poor photos, but I accidentally left the good camera on and killed the battery. It's recharging now. So I had to use my phone to snap these shots.. Tomorrow or Wednesday I will get more and better photos up. Today I airbrushed on the Future coat in preperation for decals. It toned down the panel fade effect and chaged the hue of the OD to a bit more greenish and darker to match the Life photos as I was hoping that it would.

Tomorrow- decals!!!!!

She looks pretty darn close to the real thing SP!

Here's a look at Flak Bait in storage. You can see that the markings were quite crudely done

This is her around teh time of completing 100 missions shortly before D-Day. I will have to modify the kit nose are decals as well, which are for the end of the war after over 200 missions

end of the war nose art as in the kit

and here are Marauders from Flak Bait's squadron in summer 1943 with the grayed out stars and gray ID codes