Progress on the B-26

The Seahawks got past the Saints on Saturday, setting up a return match with their NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers. This is a bloodfeud; expect no mercy from either side this weekend. At the beginning of the season, most had picked these as the best two NFC teams, and it looks as though they were right.

Back in the modelling dungeon, I have made some progress on the Hasegawa B-26. This is a . fairly complex kit as these things go, with much detail inside and out, down to the wingtip static wicks. One oddity of construction is that the horizontal tailplane is molded in clear plastic. This I gather is to accommodate the two small plastic windows on the upper surface at the base of the vertical tail. It does make for an odd looking model until the primer goes on.

All of the major construction is complete. The engines are painted, drybrushed and installed, along with the nacelles. The wheel wells - which are very detailed also - are in and painted.  I have even discovered that I had an Eduard masking set for the B-26, so I have completed masking the upper canopy and nose.

There are still some small bits to add, such as the upper dorsal turret and the tail transparencies. There is also a round of cleanup that will need to be done to the surfaces, since I have a NMF finish coming on this one. Hopefully, the last bottle of Alclad I bought will not exhibit those under-performing tendencies of some that I have had.

Beyond that, I have finished masking the lower surfaces on the captured German P-47, so it is now ready for an upper surface of Olive Drab. The SM-82 will be next for the masking treatment, as will the SAI-7, though I need to add and mask the canopy on that one as well. All in all, progress seems to be decent on the production line for the new year so far.