Stik: the bomber's coming along nicely. The yellow fins are a nice touch on the 500-pounders.

SP, looking sweet there. Was it standard for fin on bombs to be painting yellow, or are they a specific type of bomb?

Oh and from an old ex "hippie".

Last week I attended a celebration of life for a good friend and ex boss of mine.

Flew the B-26 in combat.

In memory of John O. Merrill.

www.marinij.com/.../war-hero-architect-john-o-merrill-jr-tiburon

Didn't see you there, Bitbite.

Not to be mistaken for trading on the mans reputation, but we all grew up with WW2 vets and however we protested war (hippies) we had a very good basis of knowledge.

stikpusher

bitbite

Except the hippies. 

Hippies? There ain't been no hippies around here for centuries...

"Son, I'll make sure you lead your platoon into combat with a big red + on your helmet". Felt very disrespected for my faith.

Leather headband, girl friends with grannie dresses, Jimi 8track in the "Bug".

Yessir I did it all.

Even got rounded up and arrested at Stanford. Debated free speech in college. Wore a black armband in marches after Tet.

But no. never a "hippie". Just a really radical anti-war protestor.

More progress today. Before anybody says WTF about some of the colors that I used in some areas, it's all based off of color photos that I found of Marauders in WWII off of the Life website... so here we go...
bombs- Polly Scale OD with MM Insignia Yellow fins...

Props, blades Flat Black with OD hub. I still need to paint the base of each blade in bare metal

ammo feed chutes in OD. In the next few days I will get all the detail painting done on this assembly so I can get them installed

tail gunner and bombardier framing painted

canopy framework painted

engine cowlings painted

and the big progress step for today- the wings glued on... this sucker is heavy now with all the weight in the engine nacelles

since I go back to work tomorrow, it's gonna be more minor progress daily over the next four days.... keep watching...

bitbite

Except the hippies. 

Hippies? There ain't been no hippies around here for centuries...

stikpusher

But that is the fun thing about being an American, it does not matter where you or your parents are from, all are welcome to come over and become one.

Except the hippies. 

Very true... I think this crew here is pretty decent in the histor department... But that is the fun thing about being an American, it does not matter where you or your parents are from, all are welcome to come over and become one. In today's world that is not so novel, but not so long ago it was quite novel. And no matter where the future takes us, we still have our roots in past cultures to draw strength from.

Well, I think much of the history has been forgotten (at least by us) and people just like a celebration.

My neighbor down the street here is a Brit. I find it a little ironic he is celebrating the holiday with us... ;)

Yeah, I am wanting to be done with this... ever closer, but not there yet...

Nice work, got to be nearly done stik.

And Happy 4th to all you guys.

Not bitter, honestly.

More little progress adding up here. During the past everal days I painted the invasion strips on the wings, and did a bunch of balance testing filling the engine backings with lead birdshot until I was satisfied it would no longer be a tail sitter, and then glued the engines in place on the wings

I filled and sanded the gaps at the front of the horizontal stabilizers- Thankk goodness for needle files!

then a test fit of the wings, wheels, and props for a photo

and I have the nose and tail transparencies masked for painting... the compound curves on both were challenging...

Happy 4th of July everybody...

Now all I need is a circle cutter....

Gamera

BS204: Best of luck to you, I hear you - I hate masking stuff like that.

Bish: Yeah one stripe but lots of mottles!  

Yep, every silver lining has a cloud.

BS204: Best of luck to you, I hear you - I hate masking stuff like that.

Bish: Yeah one stripe but lots of mottles!  

I managed to find a quiet time tonight  to really concentrate on masking a section on the fuselage for the invasion stripes. It looks like I've finally got it.  (Gotta love a rainy night to work at it. LOL!)

I decided against my "decal first then mask idea." Didn't want to take the chance.

Precisely why I'm doing it on a scrap kit. LOL!

I have thought about the risks of possibly decals pulling off the kit even when sealed with multiple coats of clearcoat.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

I got to thinking. I'm going to try Eric's method on a scrap kit of masking and painting invasion stripes by hand.... with decals on. Yes, decals will be on and sealed with a coat or two of flat clear.

good luck! I have had decals pull up, even after a coat or two of being sealed in... talk about angry...

LOL @ Bish. Ain't that the truth... Stripe of any color be it white, green, black, yellow, blue,... well you get the picture.

Look forward to seeing how you get on with that BlackSheep. I am just glad German aircraft usually only have the one stripe.

It's still way more nerve than I've got!

That way I can paint the stripes around the decals due to the P-47 Thunderbolt subject decal placings.

And, Ken, great work and photos both!

That's being very brave, BlackSheep!  Good luck with it.

I got to thinking. I'm going to try Eric's method on a scrap kit of masking and painting invasion stripes by hand.... with decals on. Yes, decals will be on and sealed with a coat or two of flat clear.

Never mind - I figured out the brand - Golden Fluid. I need more coffee this late in the morning..... LOL!

Eric - I will be Vallejo Off White and Floquil Weathered Black for my stripes. I may switch over to Vallejo black if I decide to hand paint my stripes.

I am unfamiliar with Golden Fluid Titanium White and Carbon Black. Who is the manufacturer of those paints? Curious....

Eric - thats good advice, But I used Rustoleum flat black and flat white. This white even covers the black no sweat, so touch ups were easy.

I'm on a fixed income, so I look for deals on everything. and the black, if not the white, will always be right at hand.

There were "regs" put out on invasion stripes, but if you look around a bit, it's pretty obvious that there was a lot of interpretation done by ground crews. You're dealing with a 1/48 model, so you might do what I did. Get some of Tamiya's thinnest masking tape and either lay down five pieces are measure one and multiply by five. Once you've got the area to be masked set and masked in total, paint it white. White's a tricky paint, but if you're careful you should be able to lay down a good coat with Tamiya if you want to use an airbrush, or Vallejo Model Color if you want to hand paint it. (If there's a Blick store in your area you could make a quick trip and pick up a small bottle of Golden Fluid Titanium White and Carbon Black - both have astounding opacity and are terrific paints for hand brushing - keep your brush damp with water.) Model Master might work too, but for hand work you'd want a water based acrylic and I'm not sure how MM fits in there. Solvent based acrylics like Tamiya and Gunze are best for airbrushing.) Anyway, once you've got some big areas of white after the paint cures, put one strip of tape on the inside of both edges, and eyeball another one in the middle. Now you're looking at two perfectly good areas prepared for the black. If you're airbrushing be very careful and make sure the paint is sealed because you don't want overrun of black over white. If you hand paint it, it's a snap.

Eric  

Thanks everyone. Its always nice to see it finished. Now, I'm starting a B-17 and a B24.