1/48 Monogram B-26B Invader

by Sean Pearson

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I started out with the 1/48 Monogram A/B-26C Invader kit that I purchased off e-Bay.  The kit came with the Aires decal sheet “Marauding Invaders”.  On this sheet were decals for the plane “Question Mark”, as well as two others.  I wanted to use these decals, but unfortunately the C model of the kit was the glass nosed bomber version, and the “Question Mark” was an 8-gun nosed B version.  Once again I turned to e-Bay and found a Hi-Tech resin conversion that I decided to use.  In addition, I found a good website on the “Question Mark” put up by the son of the gunner on the ship.  The URL is http://www.ucinet.com/~mwmurphy/qmark.html.  I decided to build the ship, and use the decals that I had.

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The first steps that I took were to start the build of the interior of the ship.  I purchased numerous reference books, and found many color photos to help me along.  I paid special attention to the cockpit, and the aft gunners compartment, as these were the two areas visible through the windows.  I painted the whole interior and bomb bay Model Master interior green, and the bomb bay and landing gear doors Model Master Zinc Chromate.  I then weathered all these area by dry-brushing aluminum paint onto the corners and used areas.  After this was all done, I cemented the halves together and allowed them to dry.

With the halves together I concentrated on the exterior.  My research was ambiguous about the exterior color of the plane, it was either olive drab or flat black.  Although the exact color was inconclusive, it leaned more towards the olive drab, so that is what I chose to go with.  I airbrushed the whole plane with Model Master Olive Drab paint.  After it had cured, I decided to weather the upper surfaces slightly, by adding white to the olive drab paint and lightening it.  This worked very well.  Then I used Model Master Buffing Metalizer Exhaust for the engine exhaust and the gunpowder residue on the nose.  The white question marks were hand painted on the nose, as the decal sheet only included one, and did not match my reference photos.  Next, the tail was painted in Model Master Buffing Metalizer Aluminum to simulate the tail that was replaced on the actual plane.  Then the decals were applied and the wing tips, tail tip, and horizontal stabilizer tips were all painted in yellow.  Then slight weathering with a silver pencil and some aluminum paint finished the model.

Sean

You can visit Sean's homepage at

http://www37.homepage.villanova.edu/sean.pearson/models.html 

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Photos and text © by Sean Pearson