Airfix Martin B-26 Marauder. Fictional machine.

Wings rescribed. 

 

Locator pins removed because they don't fit with the landing gear well holes. 

 

Original holes covered and redone a little further inward 

 

 

 

 

The engraving work is being a royal pain in the ass 🙂 

Once the engraving work is finished, the putty work begins, which is what I hate the most (as I think happens to the rest of you). On each half of the fuselage there are at least 7 spots that need putty. There are gaps even in the bomb bay walkway! 

I am going to place the rear bomb bay doors in the closed position. This way I save on installing bombs and I can put less ballast. Since the doors do not fit well, I had to glue two strips of plasticard for a good fit. 

 

Except for the cockpit and the domes, all the clear parts have bubbles. 🙁 . I have no idea how to fix this. Any suggestions? 

Template to make the dorsal invasion stripes decal 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know how the hell I calculated the ballast, but the 20 grams I placed in the intermediate compartment turned out to be insufficient. Since I had already closed the fuselage, I had to add 8 more grams in the front landing gear bay. 

 

Here you can see one of the additional lead balls.Once painted, and the landing gear doors placed, they will be hidden. I hope 🙂 

 

Getting a good metallic finish with a brush is really laborious. Painting the metal areas of the plane took me a whole day. Layer after layer of paint. With just the right dilution and leaving just enough drying time between layers so that the next one does not remove the previous one and they merge. With the airbrush it is much faster, but if you don't control it well you will get a grainy finish. I think that with a brush, in the right way, you get a super smooth finish. As good or better than the one achieved with an airbrush. 

 

 

 

 

I have not been able to completely polish the surface. And, as always, the metallic paint has highlighted any imperfections, and magnified casting defects. But overall I'm pretty happy with the result. 

 

Contrast and chipping test with the olive drab. 

Upper color and chipping applied. Next dust wash and post-shading with cheap makeup.