Time for another snail pace update. During the week I have sanded the seams which was more work than I thought. In some parts it went well, in others not. Especially the upper side was quite rough work. For better sanding I have erased the 3 positions lights behind the turret. The lower side went smooth …
Test fitting of the elevators already showed big gaps, especially on the right side … 
… on the left side it looks a little better …
I will use some putty and see how it comes out. At least the masks for the canopy and tail turret fit quite well …
Some more test fitting at the tail turret … 
and more test fitting with the .50’s in the turret this evening … 
Just glued the Brownings to Part 78 and do some more fitting test tomorrow. For now this beer is well deserved … 
Cheers!
Torsten 
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Torsten,
The fuselage sanding looks pretty good as dealing with these old AMT/Monogram kits certainly isn’t for the weak of heart. Excellent job on all the glass masking which is one of your specialties.
The elevator seams aren’t going to be easy, but I’m confident that you’ll get it as close to perfect as humanly possible.
And last but not least, sure hope that you enjoyed that well earned Beer.
joel
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Great work Torsten. Ols school kits need old school remedies to fix them. Looks like you have this well in hand so far.
I hope you enjoyed the beer.
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Thanks for your feedback, Joel and Peter! 
The Marauder needs indeed a bit more care than a Tamiya or Eduard kit. Another reason why this build proceeds a bit slower than usual. But as always I try my best.
I have filled the gaps on both sides of the elevator and surprisingly it went so well that I decided no sanding is needed here, also not to destroy the panel lines. Though it looks worse on this macro photo than in real … 
Today I have glued the clear parts to the fuselage. Have used Ponal White Glue here and the fitting of the canopy is still close to perfect … 
… a bit more problems with the tail turret. First Part 78 with the guns and then Part 77. Again Ponal is used here and this is the best I could go. Especially Part 77 was difficult …
Hope to have not much spray fog inside the turret if any to come close to the real deal. Photo taken from Squadron Signal No. 25069 “B-26 Marauder Walk Around” …
Today I went to the local art supply store to get some new replacement blades for my scalpel and while I was strolling through the shop I found this. It’s 6 mm Washi Paper, like Tamiya Tape, but instead of 18 meters there are 50 meters on the roll! Payed 2,10 Euros for each, a lot cheaper than Tamiya …
Not that I don’t have many different sizes of masking tape already … 
So tomorrow I will paint Interior Green (again …) over the clear parts and then will have a look at the wing parts …
Have a nice Sunday!
Torsten
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Time for another update of the Marauder after the great model show weekend in Strasbourg/France. Getting the wing parts together was no problem. Fitting is still good. Just a bit of sanding the seams. In the Walk Around I saw a photo of the landing light and a passing light (never heard of that) in the left wing. As there is only a hole where these lights should be I cut some slices off a sprue and painted them. Well, at least it looks better than the hole of nothing …
… the main wheel struts were painted with a mix of Steel and Black and glued in place. Also no problems here. Good engineering in the 1970’s …
Next step was getting the wheel bays together which was also no problem but adding them to the wings was a bit tricky because one of the bays was a bit warped. So I needed rubber bands and a clamp to get it in the right place. As you can see a big gap here on both wings …
… but with self mixed putty and the usual clear tape the result looks okay to me. Not as good as on other builds but a lot better than before …
… during sanding some rivets had to bite the dust but the major raised panel lines are unhurt …
So the next steps are glueing the wings to the fuselage and masking all bays. That will be fun … 
Stay tuned!
Torsten
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Just a quick update about my work yesterday and today. Wings are on!
There are rather small gaps between fuselage and wings which I will close with my putty mix in the next days …
… and the underside where you can see the bomb bay now. Later I will add bombs. I think there are 4 bombs on 2 racks …
… still a tailsitter, but not much. I think, I can add some more weight in the nacelles behind the engines and of course inside the front wheel. And yes, it’s a huge model! The wing span is indeed 45 cm … 
Hai noroc!
Torsten
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Torsten, that’s way outside my allotted display area allowance by “her indoors” 
Looking good, by the way!
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Torsten have you ever used Koptan ( Polyimide Tape ) ? This stuff is amazing , it leaves no residue , is ultra thin , brownish/yellow transperant , will not let paint bleed or seep through and it conforms to the shape of whatever it is applied to . Comes in various widths . You can get it from Amazon and the price is right .
Oh and your build looks really good !
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Getting ready to start work on the Eduard F4F 3&4 Midway Wildcats , decided to go with a couple add-ons on one going to add the Eduard Brassin Open Gun Bays and Life Raft .
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Russell, in the living room my shelf of pride has 6 boards with 2,00 x 0,40 meters each with about 3 1/2 of them full. So there’s still enough space for more plastic. But I shouldn’t build too many bombers, or the boards are full quickly …
Quint, never heard of that tape but I’ll have a look, though I don’t often shop at Amazon. I prefer to support the local business. Good to hear that you are about to start your Wildcats. Will you make a build blog?
Time for another small update of the Marauder. Filling the gaps between wings and fuselage went very well with my usual methode …
… there’s enough space behind the engines in the cowling for some more weight. 2 plates in each give another 20 grams …
… I had to shorten the propeller shafts a bit though …
… cowlings are on! The fitting of the two carburetor air intakes is lousy … This is the best I could do without sanding the rivets away …
… and some more small lead balls inside the front wheel. Have bought these balls
many years ago in a shop which doesn’t exist anymore. I hope that’s sufficient now.
Now I slowly come to the point of masking all open hatches. I’ll see how long that will take …
Have a nice Sunday, folks!
Torsten
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Nice gap filling on the wing roots and nacelles. These gaps in aircraft models brings back memories for me, not the nice type though.
The last pic shows some cavities awaiting attention.
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You’re certainly bringing this vintage kit into line, Torsten! Great to watch
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Torsten,
Nice job on filling those wing roots seams. As for all that extra needed weight to prevent a tail sitter, there’s shouldn’t be any more then the needed weight for the nose landing gear to have to handle. But I do worry about all that additional weight increasing the load on the main landing gear over time. Back in my aircraft days, I had those issues every once in a while.
joel
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Thanks for your comments, guys. No further complications so far. Closing all hatches and openings on the Marauder is nearly done.
Joel, I don’t share your concerns about the overload. Never had problems with that. Revell suggests 50 grams of weight behind the cockpit …
… I have about 40 gr behind the cockpit and another 20 gr in the nacelles plus maybe 10 gr in the front wheel. That should not interfere with the quite sturdy looking landing gear. Years ago during the Nightfighter Campaign on the old Aeroscale (I think it was 2012) I built the old F7F Tigercat from Italeri and put a lot of weight in the nose. As we all know even the original plane was a tailsitter when the fuel tanks were empty. Mine isn’t at all …
… meanwhile this model is an expo veteran and survived a lot of travelling around. It still sits in my shelf of pride with a total weight of 160 gr, including a bit of dust … The Marauder has a weight of 240 gr so far.
Torsten
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Torsten,
Now I feel so much better. BTW, the F7F is a real looker. If you had no issues getting her to stand on her gear, then as you said, the B26 should also stand proud for a very long time.
joel
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Years ago, someone posted pics here of his collection. He had made cradle supports for his larger aircraft. Basically a wooden base with two vertical pieces of acrylic plastic attached to the sides - a U channel shape. He drilled holes in each top corner of the plastic, then glued a strip of felt looped through the hole on one side to the other. He sat the aircraft fuselage on that so that the wheels just touched the shelf - no chance the weight would break them over time and the model was not scratched either.
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Hey Torsten , I forgot to tell ya David who is building the AH-1Z Viper posted a link in his build thread about the Kapton Tape .
Your build is looking Awesome !
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There is something special about those old Monogram kits, they have aged a lot better than most other 60’s and 70’s kits. Rare in Sweden at the time, these were the dream kits when I was a kid. I got a P-61 for my twelfth birthday in 1984 but I never finished it, fifteen years later I gave it to a friend who did a great job with it, even keeping some of my original teenage handiwork 
.
Fit might be so-so but parts count is reasonable and the kit designers did their best to cram in detail (I held detail far above accuracy, and still do even if I wouldn’t admit it openly today 
) and even staying close to OOTB-standards you will end up with a spectacular model.
Ten years ago I did the P-38 that can be still seen on the old site and it was great fun.
Good work Torsten, this one will be magnificent!
Magnus
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Thanks for your kind words, guys! Glad to hear that you appreciate my work on this oldie.
Magnus, in 2010 during the “Twin Boom Campaign”, created by our very own Damian “AussieReg”, I have build 2 of these Monogram P-61, which are still standing on my shelf of pride. The first was “The Spook”, the original aircraft is in my avatar, and the other one was “Lady Gen” in OD/NG. Maybe I can pull them out of the shelf and take some new photos later. The original photos went down the drain during the Photobucket desaster some years ago and computer crashs in 2014 and 2021 …
Well, slowly but steady it goes forward with my B-26. Fitting of the landing light covers on both sides was a bit nasty but in the end the parts do what I want. Meanwhile I have closed all openings now with kitchen tissue and sponge parts. Later I will degrease the parts so that I hopefully can start next week with primer. I will mainly use Vallejo 71051 Neutral Grey and 71043 Olive Drab for this build.
After a lot of rain and cooler temperatures it’s pretty warm again here in Germany now. Outside we have 32°C and inside I have 28°C … 
So that makes airbrushing quite a tough job.
Have a nice Sunday, folks!
Torsten
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2010, my how time flies! I still have a couple of the old Monogram P-61 kits stashed away, along with the Vector resin engine and cowl set and some PE upgrades.
Looking forward to some colour on this build Torsten, it’s coming together very nicely!
Cheers, D
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