Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

CLICK HERE to see new posts in last 24 hours
Mark all forums read
Welcome to 72nd Aircraft. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Valom Marauder marking options?
Topic Started: Jul 2 2012, 03:20 AM (981 Views)
llordlloyd
Member Avatar
Peter Lloyd
[ * ]
I have trawled a bit for reviews of the Valom Marauders, seeking to find out the painting-marking options in each box... even the Valom website is unhelpful. Does anyone have any info here?

Broader question... Valom or Hasegawa?
Goto Top
 
Steve N
Hero
[ * ]
Quote:
 
Valom or Hasegawa?

It's a bit apples and oranges. The Hasegawa kits are the best Marauders ever released in 1/72 hands down. But they only cover the later long-wing variants: the B/C, and the G with the slightly increase wing angle. These were of course by far the most produced variants and saw the most combat.

The Valom kits cover the early short-wing/short-tail Marauders, but have some major dimensional issues. The fuselage is noticeably too fat..I understand Valom used a set of drawings known to be inaccurate when designing the kit. The engine nacelles are also round, rather than the more complex cross-section of the real aircraft. Even though the Marauder is my favorite WWII Medium Bomber, I gave the Valom kit a pass..it's a good effort, but the dimensional problems were just too much for me, especially considering the price.

Unfortunately, right now your best bet if you want an early Marauder (B-26 or B-26A) is to take the old Monogram Snap-Tite kit and rob the the Hasegawa kit for the interior, landing gear and other detail bits (as well as Squadron's Cler-Vax canopy set.) The old Monogram kit is long out of production, but still fairly common and cheap on the secondary market.

SN
Goto Top
 
walrus
Member Avatar
Porco
[ * ]
What about the Airfix kit?
Paul from Birmingham, UK
Now living in Barnsley.
Goto Top
 
Seahawk
Beast
[ * ]
I bought my Valom Marauder 2nd hand, presumably from someone who'd discovered its flaws. For most of its length the Valom kit's fuselage is about 2mm bigger in diameter than its Hasegawa counterpart, back to about where the ventral gun hatches are in the Hasegawa kit, where the difference starts increasing to reach about 3 mm by the trailing edge of the fin. The discrepancy is most noticeable around the nose transparency where it is of course proportionately greatest. I've seen a Valom Marauder built up and it looked nice. However it will look rather portly next to a Hasegawa (and probably Airfix) one.

Kit 72028 Marauder Ia contains a minimal transfer sheet (4 roundels, 2 fin flashes, 2 serials, 2 codes and the portside nose artwork) for Marauder Ia FK375 "D" "Dominion Revenge" of 14 Squadron RAF. It is in Mid Stone/Dark Earth/Azure Blue.

BTW the Hasegawa Marauders are certainly in my top 20 best 1/72 kits of all time.

Can't recall ever seeing a Monogram 1/72 Marauder in the UK.
Goto Top
 
Russell M
Member Avatar
Proud Member of the "Twelve"
[ * ]
The Monogram kit is nice if basic, the shape is good and the snap-together nature of the kit isn't to "toylike". Steve's suggestion of using the Hasegawa interior would probably work but be expensive. I plan on scratchbuilding the interior and using a few Quickboost items on mine.
Russell Mapes
Austin Texas U.S.A.

The drive for 12 in 2012 is on!
Goto Top
 
Harold K
Member Avatar
Dweeb
[ * ]
Valom 72020, B-26A, offers just one USAAF scheme. Basic OD over neutral gray, with dark green blotches on wings and tail. White stars on blue with no bars; mid-1942 to mid-1943 or thereabouts.
Box-shaker; hater of all things resin and photoetched.
Goto Top
 
Steve N
Hero
[ * ]
walrus,Jul 2 2012
11:18 AM
What about the Airfix kit?

It's certainly one of their best 1970s efforts, and was the best 1/72 Marauder until the Hasegawa kits came along (the old Revell and Frog kits are best forgotten..I've never seen the Matchbox kit, but I haven't heard good things about it either.) The Airfix Marauder will built up into a nice model, and has a very nice and complete bomb bay, as well as a passable cockpit and surprisingly detailed and accurate landing gear and wheel wells. The surface detail is mostly petite raise panel lines, but there are a few oddly trench-like access panels on the undersides of the wing, and the fabric texture on the control surfaces is heavily overstated..trailing edges are rather thick as well. It's biggest shortcoming is the clear parts, which are quite thick and not all that clear. Fortunately Squadron has a vac replacement set. I also recall that the machine gun barrels were molded with raised bumps on the barrels in an effort to represent the holes in the cooling jackets. Again, any of Quickboost's .50 cal gun barrel sets would provide replacements.

Even though it has a few issues, the Airfix Marauder still builds up nicely straight from the box, and of course it has one major advantage over Hasegawa: it can often be found for less than a quarter of the price!

SN
Goto Top
 
walrus
Member Avatar
Porco
[ * ]
Thanks for the mini review.

Went even better on the price on the Airfix kit which was very kindly donated.
The interior detailing etc is good given the age of the kit.
I have some Aeroclub metal .50s but was thinking of a RAF version
Will look out for the vac clear parts but vac clear parts are not my strong point :ph43r:
Paul from Birmingham, UK
Now living in Barnsley.
Goto Top
 
Steve N
Hero
[ * ]
A dip in Future will go a long way towards improving the kit transparencies. I haven't looked at it in awhile, but as I recall the worst was the nose. In addition to being thick, it also had what appear to be tooling marks, like the original mold wasn't polished smoothly enough.

SN
Goto Top
 
llordlloyd
Member Avatar
Peter Lloyd
[ * ]
Thanks for the replies knowledgeable elders! I don't want to do the G as the 'engines up' thing offends my aesthetic sense, but it's good to know Hase did cut two moulds to take this into account. The Valom dimensional issues are a pity. The 'stumpy' Marauder looks good. Having struggled through their Hampden I won't buy Valom sight unseen.

An Airfix kit with some bashing could be an ideal answer, but I share walrus's dislike of vac canopies: mine rarely end up fitting correctly, and of course by then I've spent hours on the rest of the model.
Goto Top
 
Seahawk
Beast
[ * ]
llordlloyd,Jul 3 2012
10:06 AM
Having struggled through their Hampden I won't buy Valom sight unseen. 

I gather one of the issues with the Hampden is the grotesquely ill-fitting canopies. Have to say the fit of the Marauder cockpit canopy is absolutely exemplary.
Goto Top
 
Steve N
Hero
[ * ]
Quote:
 
An Airfix kit with some bashing could be an ideal answer

Unfortunately you'd have to reshape all the flying surfaces. The wings weren't just longer on the later models, they were a bit broader as well. If you're going to do that kind of work, I'd use the Monogram Snap-Tite as a basis, and scrounge the interior and other detals from the Airfix kit.

You could probably get away with using the Monogram canopies. They're quite clear and well-molded (in fact the dorsal turret is one of the best renditions of a Martin 250CE ever made in 1/72..it even has the frames correctly molded as ridges on the inside, perfectly replicating the glued-on reinforcing strips of the original.) The only problem is that being a snap-kit they have big tabs that extend into the clear areas. You'd need to carefully remove them and polish out the insides,.but it might be easier for you than working with a vacuform parts.

The Monogram Marauder also has better props than Airfix..again some of the nicest Curtiss Electrics in 1/72..along with the correct wheel hubs. You also get the correct early-style cowls. Basically, the Monogram kit has all the salient features of the early Marauder. It's accurately shaped and crisply molded, just lacking in detail (and with a few compromises due to being a snap-kit.)

SN
Goto Top
 
llordlloyd
Member Avatar
Peter Lloyd
[ * ]
Thanks Steve, and all.
Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · Help, I'm about to start... · Next Topic »