Thursday August 19, 2021

Oups… 

I just read this comment (Wednesday 18 August, 2021, 12h38).

The Marauder isn’t painted “interior green”. It is painted (in the cockpit and nose, and rear gunner’s turret) in Dark Green (Tamiya XF-67 NATO Green will work). The bomb bay is Neutral Gray, and the rear fuselage is unpainted aluminum.

Darn!

I told you My Forgotten Hobby was like a sitcom full of surprises. I always have a draft written one or a few days before I hit the Publish button.

On Monday night I had painted the cockpit area dark green, then not liking what I did, on Tuesday morning I got thinking that I should use zinc chromate instead.

This is what I wrote on Wednesday morning…

Lots of excitement when I start painting and my workbench proves it.

I first tried this shade of green which looks more a dark gray on some parts and then I changed my mind when I saw these photos on this Website…

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196275/martin-b-26g-marauder/

 

I reverted to my homemade zinc chromate which looks darker here.

 

The wings have been glued in sections with extra thin cement. No gaps to be seen.

I did some dry fitting and noticed a gap on the starboard wing. I scraped a little plastic which was causing it. 

I will give a final coat of zinc chromate and paint the cockpit details. Next step should be mating the fuselage halves.

End of the intended post.

 

Note

98.3%, that’s how much I have uploaded on my 3GB upload limit on My Forgotten Hobby III. I will have to migrate sooner or later to My Forgotten Hobby IV.

I have updated my collection. The F-86 and the MiG-15 are now part of history so I only have 80 model kits in my collection.

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With this in mind I am moving a little faster now as I am waiting to start painting the interior.

The main landing gears have been glued. The turret has been dry fitted.

One wing has been glued in sections using extra thin cement.

The other wing will receive the same treatment later.

I still have to encounter that “horrible” fit Plane Dave talked about, but I am vigilant, always dry fitting before glueing parts. Whatever happens I am willing to live with any unsightly gaps.

Next time, homemade interior green?

Note

I have just realised this is post 351 and I have almost reached my 3 gigabytes upload limit. Don’t worry I have a solution…

About my collection of model kits

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I am moving right along taking small steps as I am waiting to start painting the interior.

I prefer glueing small parts while they are still attached on the sprue.

I have learned to use my tweezers to hold small pieces while the glue sets. I have glued the .50 calibre guns since I won’t play with them. The same for the turret.

Yesterday the guns were glued from the inside using the locating pins.

Again I am quite satisfied with the result but I am still tempted to start this…

I know I will be able to resist.

I am quite satisfied with the result.

Before…

A quite noticeable gap could be seen between the nose and the front fuselage.

After…

The machine gun will be glued at the end.

Something got in the way and I will start painting the interior later than expected. I could only manage this.

As a footnote, I was thinking maybe I could start building this…

I will hit the pause button for awhile although this project is quite tempting.

Welcome back.

If you recall…

The cockpit assembly was too far in front so I moved it back and glued it.

This is what I got when I dry fitted the nose this Saturday morning.

A quite noticeable gap between the nose and the front fuselage.

I guessed the machine gun was protruding to far so…

I snapped it off and it will be glued after. This is what I have now.

Perfect fit and a happy modeler reuniting with his workbench.

Next time I will be starting painting the interior which is what I like to do best.

I am not there yet. I am 200 kilometers from my workbench.

But I got a little preview with the first problem before I left.

That’s what I left behind.

The locating pins with these parts were let’s say minimal if not laughable to get a nice fit.

I had used masking tape to glue the nacelles in sections.

Next the elevators were glued and clothespins were used to insure a proper fit. The more the better.

Before leaving for a three-day vacation I have checked how the nose would fit over the Norden bombsight and the machine gun.

The cockpit assembly was too far in front so I moved it back and glued it.

Next time I will dry fit everything and see how the nose will blend with the fuselage.