Martin B-26B-2-MA Marauder, 41-17903, 37th BS, Tunisia, July 1943

I started a B-26 back in the early 90s while on deployment, and I remember sanding off all the detail, epoxying the clear bits and then polishing it all. Then I had to put it away for a move back to the USA where I then unpacked and put some paint on it. Then I moved at least 2 more times before I decided to finish it this last Summer since I had all the bits and the old Revell decals.

The Subject

“Hellcat” was an early B-26B operating out of North Africa with both the 37th and 319th BS. Apparently Hellcat was the mount of Captain David Taggart who was the first to complete 50 B-26 missions.

The Model

For years I assumed this was the Revell snap-tite kit I spent hours sanding away rivets from. Nope, it’s the Airfix kit. I did sand away at it, and I DO remember building the Revell one, and getting to the same point as this one. I’m not crazy…

I painted it during my enamel years. So these are likely AeroMaster enamels as I went all in when these came out and replaced all my Testers and other enamels with them. It was my first try at the scalloped edges in Medium Green 42, with Olive Drab 41 and Neutral Gray 43. Since I was approaching this as a “just finish” project, I didn’t scribe or weather. I did apply the Revell decals, but only because the Airfix decals were for a completely different scheme.

Summary

In all likelihood I got the markings wrong for this machine. I don’t know my Marauders well, and this may be the only one I ever actually put on the shelf. But it looks nice and the few fellow modelers who’ve looked at it only said nice things.

Thanks for looking…