1:72 B-26B Marauder

A bomber that was mistrusted at first

The Martin B-26 came to the units with a reputation no designer would wish for. A small lifting area meant a high landing speed and black jokes about the type circulated among crews in training. Once the pilots got used to it and the training was refined, the picture changed fundamentally: at the end of the war this machine was among the bombers with the lowest losses committed over western Europe.

The sheet brings two examples of the B version. The aircraft with serial number 42-95828 carries a female figure in a pink treatment on the nose; the second machine with the number 42-96072 is decorated with a name built on a play on explosive power, and it belonged to the 573rd Bombardment Squadron within the 391st Group. Both sets of markings show well what the decoration of American medium bombers looked like in the last phase of the campaign over the continent.

What to think about during the build

• the slender fuselage of the B-26 tempts you to place the lettering too high; go by the windows
• lay the female motifs down last, so that they are not damaged during handling
• on the curved nose it helps to warm a piece over steam and only then shape it

The package holds only decal elements; a kit of the bomber has to be obtained separately. The decoration of both noses is prominent enough that nobody will confuse a finished model with another example of the same series. The markings are prepared for ordinary models of this type in the scale given. Anyone who takes on both subjects will appreciate that the decoration of the noses is entirely different on them and the finished models do not look like twins side by side.