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

Bish: Yeah one stripe but lots of mottles!  

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.

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

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...

Nice work, got to be nearly done stik.

And Happy 4th to all you guys.

Not bitter, honestly.

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...

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

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.

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. 

bitbite

Except the hippies. 

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

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...

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.

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.

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

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

GMorrison

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.

I guess I didn't merit an invitation.  I didn't mean to touch a nerve there, Mr. Morrison.  It was meant as a "South Park" reference . . . a joke . . . and nothing more.

My condolences for the loss of your friend.

Bish

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

I had a feeling that the bomb fins were gonna garner some attention. On the Life photos I found a few there showing just that,  so I did some digging. it would seem that prior mid 1942, the standard color for USAAF/AAC bombs was yellow. Then it switched over to OD. My guess is that these fins were old stock made before the switch over.  Since bombs were stored without the fins in bomb dumps and not mated to the fins until just before being loaded on the bomber, this seems the most probable explanation that I could come up with...

I have seen pics of yellow bombs. The reason for the different colour makes sense. Why bother re painting, they hardly need to be camouflaged on the way down do they.

I did come across pics of bombs having there fins attached close to the aircraft when researching a couple of Dio's I have planned. I noticed on the bomb trolleys they even have fitting to hold the separate fins.

This photo is my prime shot of the bombs

and if you look in the background here...

Bomb dump

Nice pics. I might do that with the fins on one of mine. I have some of those M5 trolley's, just trying to get hold of an M6 bomb truck.

Great looking work on the Marauder, stik.  Nice touch with the bombs; makes them different than the run of the mill.

Yes this build has lots of colors different than the typical USAAF build normally does both internally and on detail parts. Yes the OD & Neutral Gray with invasion stripes is typical, but that's about it...

Amazing work Stik!  I'm in awe

Again SP, very nice work!

Managed to get some painting done on the Liberator fuselage over the weekend--then followed two days of late work, so things are going really slow.

After I got the paint done, then I noticed a spot in front of the top turret where I missed some sanding gouges.  Have to wait for the paint to cure fully before I can try sanding it again to fix it.

I used WEM's OD 41 for the basic color, then over-sprayed with a lighter mix of WEM and MM OD.  In the photos, it appears sort of grayish.  Must be the lighting and the flash.

Looks good there CMK! I like the Liberator in warpaint far more than in NMF.

Ye, looking really nice there Check. And I am with SP, I much prefer the OD scheme.

She looks fine on my monitor, really nice work!

Thanks very much, all of you.  I prefer the OD, too--including on B-17's.  More interesting, I think.

I'll be applying some clear coat to the fuselage, putting a wash into the panel lines, then decaling if I can salvage the decals.  The IP decal and seat belts shattered.  Had the kit sitting around too long, I suppose.  But I have a MicroScale product to try.

Most of the wings are painted, too; so hopefully things will start moving a little faster now.

I have been at the workbench all afternoon here myself. I should have some photos up on here later on in the evening of today's work.