1/72 Monogram SNAP-TITE B-26A

Gallery Article by Bill Dedig on Mar 6 2014

 

 

Greetings 
This is another project that starts with a $5.00 kit purchase and $50.00 after-market updates. 

Well, he who has never done it, cast the first stone. The stories abound about how the Monogram kit is the most accurate “short wing” B-26, so I took the bait.

Basic additions were: 
This was my first project of re-scribing the entire kit. I assumed there would be so much seam work required I would never be able to replace the raised lines I would lose in sanding. I was very correct. 

There was a ton of fit issues that need to be resolved, but I had a chance to challenge my modeling skills and materials. I ended up using, Crazy Glue, Mr Surfacer, Putty, two part epoxy and two part sculpting materials for this build. 

The final version of the B-26 I wanted was :
I used the decals from Red Gecko and the build information referenced on the sheet.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Eduard Interior Interior and Landing Gear Quickboost Resin Engines

Construction began with the re-scribing process. I scribed all the components before any construction began and just taped the fuselage to align the panels. I then sanded off all the raised lines.

Actual construction began with the interior, using the Scale Aircraft Conversions metal components and Eduard Photo etched interior components. Please look at the final photos to realize how very little is actually seen through the canopy which is quite clear. The metal components were perfect and the end result was a “Nose Sitter” with not a ton of weight on the nose gear.

I did add some details into the rear gunner position (seat and belts) I thought the large glass would show this. It did. This was a vacu-form section I obtained through squadron and a managed to get it blended fairly well. The other clear parts were actually kit parts and they were changed from Snap-Tite to glue versions with some grinding and polishing.

I ended up separating the wings as the dihedral would have been way too much. Lots of work getting these blended into the fuselage. I also added wing landing lights to the proper positions on the wings with clear sprue and sanding to shape. I used a bit of crazy glue here as filler, worked well. Lots of work to get the metal landing gear to replace the very simple kit gear

The engines required the most work as the whole nacelle sections had to be drilled out to remove the pre-molded engines and a lot of the interior space needed opened up.

The completed model was primed with Mr Surfacer 1200 and then with gloss black as I wanted a nice shiny 1941 aircraft.

Painting was accomplished with Tamiya Spray red, decanted and thinned for the tips and nacelle highlights. The natural metal finish was accomplished with Alclad Polished Aluminum. Some other shades were used for a few components. I ended up painting the red and white stripes on the rudder as the decals were not long enough for the rudder on this kit. 

I over-coated the natural metal finish with the Alclad gloss acrylic coating and I am still impressed with this coating. It doesn't change the metal finish all that much and the decals seem to like it. 

The decals were great, easy to handle, perfect colors and sealed down on the finish with just a touch of Micro Set (or Sol, whichever the red bottle is). Over-coated with Alclad Gloss Acrylic. 

This is a much summarized document on the work for this kit. I enjoyed the challenge, however, I am attempting an “Out of Box” project to allow for decompression. Here’s a few final photos

Bill Dedig

Click on images below to see larger images

fuselage scribing Red Gecko Decals
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gear comparisons B-26 Gloss Black
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Photos and text © by Bill Dedig