B-26 Flak-Bait (Thai Paperwork/NOBI)

[Draco]

Originally Posted by Amccombs3

I was working on the fabric panels because I was the most experienced with sewing and fabric. Most projects that required sewing tended to come my way.

I suppose the day they'll receive a Wellington they suddenly will become your best friends!

[Siwi]

I made some internal structure detailing on the nose and the rear fuselage. Not really a logical order but these seemed the most straightforward to do as they don't have so many things inside to take into account as the cockpit and bomb bay. It means I can also attach the tailplane which is also among the less complicated parts.


At the front, inside the skin part three ribs were made as rings by progressively enlarging the frontmost former. At the back the added ribs and longerons are represented by paper strips. Note the joining tabs which were added last in between the ribs. Before closing this up there is the top turret mount to add, two .50 cals and their mounts - yay, tiny tubes - as well as the stowed openings for them to fire out of, and ammo belts. I'm not going to add a whole bunch in the tail gunner's position since it will hardly be seen.


As for painting, I think I've figured out the unexpected grey shade of Flak-Bait's interior. Olive drab is a mix of black and yellow and in this aircraft the yellow mix was quite minimal, which results in a dark grey-green.

[Don Boose]

Very high quality work, as always.

Don

[Siwi]

Thanks Don, although I must stress that the placement of everything described isn't based on any plans or measurements, just roughly copying photographs and drawings.

[yankeekilo]

looks very nice, very good build

[Siwi]

Today I made the tailplane, consisting of a single vertical stab and rudder, and the horizontal stabs...which on this airplane are not horizontal but have their own dihedral. Feel free to jump in and explain why this was, I speculate it was to get them more in the prop wash and give the waist gunners better fields of fire. The main enhancement I made was to seperate the control surfaces and re-attach them with a rounded false hinge. For some reason NOBI drew the pair of hinge points and the rib lines on the rudder but not the elevators so I came up with a way of positioning them on one surface and transferring those cuts to the other three. The kit also supplies a spar to get the (not) horizontal surfaces not horizontal but nothing for the vertical, so I made one and modified the otherwise well-concieved cutout on top of the rear fuselage part I described yesterday. As you can see the supplied part was stiffened by turning it into a T-beam. All fits very well once together and a few strategic drops of CA glue applied, although will keep as seperate sub-assemblies for now until interior detail is done.


Concluding thoughts: It can be difficult when working with former and spars to avoid getting an indentation on the skin when handling, especially as these often need pushing snugly on to the formers.
I have never quite satisfactorally got the seperate control surfaces to have a flat fixed part and a slight concave curve along the hinge axis of the movable part. But this work came acceptably close.
The ID code of this aircraft reads 'O-PeN PiaN-O'

[Erik Zwaan]

You're doing a great job with the B26! When I started modeling many many years ago, the B26 Marauder was one of the first aircraft models I built. It must have been an Airfix model, scale 1:72. In 2011 I visited a small museum near Utah Beach in Normandy and much to my delight I noticed a B26 on display. Impressive aircraft.

Denting of skins can be avoided to double them with printing paper or slightly thicker paper, 120 or 160 grams. This will give you a firm and smooth skin that will not dent. Especially for models with a simple internal structure (e.g. a spar only) this will be an easy job. Only thing is that you need to trim the spar slightly. If the internal structure is more elaborate you can use patches of paper on the critical sections (or completely if you so desire). This is the method that I usually apply as for instance Halinski kits have very detailed internal structures. A lot of work but it pays off and saves you from ugly dents.

Cheers,
Erik

[Brent]

Very nice. I always liked the B-26.

Brent

[Siwi]

Thanks everyone. This will be a steady progress build rather than super quick as I have two other projects with different challenges that I am rotating through.

Originally Posted by Erik Zwaan

You're doing a great job with the B26! When I started modeling many many years ago, the B26 Marauder was one of the first aircraft models I built. It must have been an Airfix model, scale 1:72. In 2011 I visited a small museum near Utah Beach in Normandy and much to my delight I noticed a B26 on display. Impressive aircraft.

Denting of skins can be avoided to double them with printing paper or slightly thicker paper, 120 or 160 grams. This will give you a firm and smooth skin that will not dent. Especially for models with a simple internal structure (e.g. a spar only) this will be an easy job. Only thing is that you need to trim the spar slightly. If the internal structure is more elaborate you can use patches of paper on the critical sections (or completely if you so desire). This is the method that I usually apply as for instance Halinski kits have very detailed internal structures. A lot of work but it pays off and saves you from ugly dents.

Cheers,
Erik

Model is printed on 160gsm. I double layered all the fuselage sections so far but didn't the tailplanes given that I was cutting the control surfaces seperate and attaching them internally might create too much of a 'step'. Just have to handle more carefully and be more precise in shaping the filler strips that go inside these pieces.