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1:32 Douglas A-26 Invader from Trumpeter/Hobbyboss?

Iain

By Iain
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AlexM

AlexM

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Hi Lietsalmi,

 

thanks for your post :hi:

That sounds much better than I feared. I'm still waiting for my kit to arrive. What's your opinion about the shape of the canopy/fuselage sides? When looking at the pictures I found on the internet, I have the feeling that the side is too curved where it should be rather flat. At least that's what i believe, but in fact I dont't know that much about the real aircraft, so I could be wrong there.

 

Alex

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Lietsalmi

Lietsalmi

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Posted
3 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Excellent! Thanks for the run down, and I very well may be one of those purchasing said resin parts if you make them.   Cheers! 

Thank you! I will let you know as soon as I start casting some resin.

 

3 hours ago, AlexM said:

That sounds much better than I feared. I'm still waiting for my kit to arrive. What's your opinion about the shape of the canopy/fuselage sides? When looking at the pictures I found on the internet, I have the feeling that the side is too curved where it should be rather flat. At least that's what i believe, but in fact I dont't know that much about the real aircraft, so I could be wrong there.

When I compared the kit fuselage and nose cone cross-sections with the blueprints (see here: https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/modernplanes/douglas/80220/view/douglas_a-26_invader/), I was pleasantly surprised. According to my first inspection it seems that all the cross-sections along the whole fuselage match very well with the blueprints. I don't know why the fuselage looked also to me too rounded when I had seen only the pictures on the internet. Maybe gray plastic versus metallic sheen on the real fuselage makes that optical illusion? I just don't know why it looked like that when in fact the fuselage shape seems to be very accurate.

 

Today I also checked the surface details. They are very good! Nicely engraved panel lines where they are supposed to be and some nice riveting. And the ejector pin marks are almost non-existent. There has obviously been some very clever molding design because the ejector pins are, for example, in the shape of a cockpit equipment head or some gunner equipment head. Inside the fuselage you can find visible ejector pin marks only in places that will be covered with some other panels. And the fuselage is thinner around the landing gear bay to make it look like the real scale thickness. So a lot of nice little details that you can only see when you inspect the kit.

 

One word of warning: when you consider using wing mounted guns or bombs, please, check your references. According to sources I have found, wings were strengthened during the A-26B production to carry the extra weight so early planes were not able to carry extra guns or bombs. Kit instructions make you understand that you have to drill holes for them and have them for all the variants. Just be careful out there.

But then there are, of course, still some additional 'faults' that are to me so minor that I don't even bother to do anything to them. Sure, the canopy should go a bit lower on the left side of the fuselage but you notice that only when looking at a certain angle and comparing side by side with a blueprint or a photo taken from that same angle. And, sure, the flaps cannot be shown open if you don't cut out the inner flaps and position them open as well. Easy to do if you want to show flaps open or just keep them closed like with most planes on the ground. And there are one or two antenna masts missing but those are super easy to make from a styrene rod. And why the black vinyl tires? Hopefully and very likely there will be some nice after market resin wheels in a near future. All these are not even 'faults' to me when the main shape is accurate and the model looks, feels, smells and tastes like an A-26B. And this one does.

 

With all this in mind, one might even build a very accurate model OOB: then don't build a WWII war bird, but just proudly build one of the demonstration/tanker planes that don't have the lower turret or top periscope, etc. Then the only thing you need to add are eight more cylinders... :thumbsup:

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Jan_G

Jan_G

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Posted

Andrey from Halberd Models is working on wheels set already.

It seems to me that one of the option with less effort would be to build one of the 19 aircrafts from B-56DL block, which have fuel tank installed instead of lower turret

These saw service with 3rd  BG in Pacific in last weeks of WWII. Painted in OD which fits better to A-26 than NMF for me personally

New cockpit and canopy will be needed, plus six .50 cal installed in wings, 8 guns nose as standard for this block

jan

 

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Lietsalmi

Lietsalmi

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And yet another update... Please, let me know if I get too wild.

 

I checked the production blocks and serial numbers of early A-26B's. For me the most challenging modification would be the later style bubble canopy so I am focusing on the flat style canopy versions. So, now, which serial numbers could be built with relative ease with the Hobby Boss kit? Here is my summary:

  • The first 500 production A-26B's up to the production block A-26B-40-DL were built at the Long Beach factory and the bubble canopy was introduced already with the block A-26B-30-DL. The Long Beach factory had the 'DL' ending of the production block (D: Douglas, L: Long Beach). During the whole Douglas A-26 Invader production 205 A-26B's were produced also at the Tulsa factory and their block numbers end with 'DT'. At the Tulsa factory they started with A-26B-5-DT, i.e., with one of the flat canopy versions. Only prototypes were produced at the El Segundo factory and they had the 'DE' block number ending.
  • There were 450 flat canopy A-26B's produced in total but the first 35 had some really interesting nose gun trial arrangements, which means scratch building if you want to build any of those.
    • The first production block A-26B-1-DL (5 aircraft, s/n 41-39100 to 41-39104, c/n 6813 to 6817) had the same nose armament as the prototype, i.e, one 75 mm cannon plus the turrets.
    • The next production block A-26B-5-DL and A-26B-5-DT planes (30 aircraft in total, 15 aircraft from Long Beach: s/n 41-39105 to 41-39119, c/n 6818 to 6832, 15 aircraft from Tulsa: s/n 43-22252 to 43-22266, c/n 18399 to 18413) were armed with 1 × 75 mm cannon on the right side of the nose and 2 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns on the left and 2 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns in each of the turrets.
    • So for these first 35 planes you should modify the nose for the 75 mm cannon and scratch build the cannon. Not that difficult but still some extra work.
  • A new all-purpose nose was installed beginning with the A-26B-10-DL (55 aircraft, 20 aircraft from Long Beach: s/n 41-39120 to 41-39139, c/n 6833 to 6852, 35 aircraft from Tulsa: s/n 43-22267 to 43-22301, c/n 18414 to 18448). They had 6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns in the nose and 2 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns in each of the turrets. This is quite easy to build with the Hobby Boss kit because all the needed guns are included.
  • Next blocks A-26B-15 through A-26B-25 (360 aircraft, Long Beach: s/n 41-39140 to 41-39349, c/n 6853 to 7062, Tulsa: s/n 43-22302 to 43-22466, c/n 18449 to 18613) had 8 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns in the nose, 2 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns in each of the turrets and 4 additional gun packs mounted on the underwing hard points, each with 2 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns. This is the most straightforward build with no modifications needed for the nose section. I also found a mention that this 8-gun-nose may have been retrofitted to some earlier planes as a field modification.
  • Some planes had an exit hatch on the right hand side of the gunner position. Again, check your references. The kit has that hatch molded with panel lines and a clear window. If your plane did not have that, you can just fill the panel lines, paint over the window and copy the internal structure from the left half of the fuselage interior.
  • All the flat canopy A-26B's had the lower turret installed at the factory. Only with the later bubble canopy aircraft destined for service in the Pacific (-51-DL, -56-DL, -61-DL, and -66-DL), the lower turret was replaced by a 125-US gallon auxiliary tank for extra range. There are mentions that the lower turret may have been removed from some aircraft because of increased drag and to improve the center of gravity. Also during low level missions the lower turret was considered useless. So again, check your references and you may find some flat canopy A-26B's without the lower turret which makes the kit modification easier. However, as I said in my earlier post, I am planning to make a resin part for the lower fuselage and that will add the missing lower turret. To me this is easier than trying to replace the clear flat style canopy of the kit with a home-made bubble canopy.

 

By the way, if anyone needs the exact block number, production site, serial number or construction number of a certain plane, I can help with that. I combined information from a few sources and made an Excel sheet with all the produced Douglas A-26B Invaders. Just let me know. Or just check https://www.abcdlist.nl/main.html - they have a very accurate list of all Douglas aircraft.

Edited by Lietsalmi
Correction based on better sources
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