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

[Learstang]

6 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

Well, that's embarrassing.  Of course it was a Douglas product -- I had a print of one of RG Smith's paintings of it on my wall for decades.  Old fart brain fart.  I am suitably chastised and will retire muttering to myself.

 

No problem, mate! I've been known to make a mistake or two, or three...

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

[Lietsalmi]

On 6/10/2020 at 1:07 AM, Alburymodeler said:

I think the round fuselage is almost unfixable, and I wonder if a replacement canopy should be made correct or made to fit the Hobby boss thing or should be accurate.

 

 

I went through the fuselage cross-sections and I think that the fuselage shape is almost correct. That is the good news. For example, please, see here a comparison of the nose cross-section and the Hobby Boss nose part.

Not bad.

 

The bad news is that the cross-section is too bulky or too round exactly where you can see it: around the cockpit.

 

Here is the cross-section blueprint:

And here is the Hobby Boss fuselage part:

You can see that the fuselage side is not straight enough and corners are too round compared to the blueprint.

 

Now, is this visible? I am not going to do anything to correct that. To my eye the fuselage is box-like enough. Especially because the top of the fuselage is completely flat. But, yes, you can see it. For example, compare these two pictures about the cockpit side glazing:

 

The kit side glazing is too curvy and not flat and you can see it when you compare that to an actual aircraft. Then, every modeller is different - for some (like myself) the fuselage shape is good enough to represent the A-26 well enough, for some the shape is completely wrong and must be corrected, and the rest of us are somewhere in between.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Lietsalmi

[Lietsalmi]

Next a few words about the clear parts. As I have said before, the canopy framing is wrong and it seems that the framing tries to represent the later style bubble canopy framing. But the shape is for the earlier flat canopy. Let's let pictures talk for themselves:

 

I will 're-frame' this canopy to make it the 'later flat style' canopy like on the plane just above this post. Very doable.

 

But then the gunner glazing... It should have a recessed area where the periscope should be. But the glazing is completely flat on top, the top windows are too narrow and corner windows are a bit too rounded. See here:

 

I will fix just the periscope area. I will protect the clear areas and then very carefully with a Dremel tool or knife drill a hole for the recessed area. Again, doable but this must be done very carefully in order not to break or scratch the part.

 

That will be pretty much everything I will do to the clear parts.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Lietsalmi

[Lietsalmi]

Next, propellers!

 

Here I have bad news. The kit propellers are both wrong size and wrong shape. The diameter should be 12 ft 7 in, which would mean in 1/32 scale 120 mm. Unfortunately each propeller blade is about 7 mm too short.

 

Also the blades are a bit too narrow and the blade ends are a bit too pointy (should be more rounded). See photo here:

 

Wait! I can see a Hobby Boss trend here. There is exactly the same problem with their 1/32 B-24 Liberator.

 

Unfortunately there are no easy solutions here: either repair the kit propellers with some significant elbow grease, or wait for an after-market solution. To me this is such a significant error that I will correct it. I will make corrected blades and cast them in resin. If there are no after-market parts available then, I might make a short run of those propellers. We shall see.

 

Any other ways to correct this? Would HK 1/32 B-25 propellers work? They are at least the same size and same make. But I cannot find any after-market propellers available for it...

 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Lietsalmi

[D.B. Andrus]

Harold of AMS makes/made corrected B-25 props.

 

Cheers,

 

Damian

[thierry laurent]

I got the kit last week and as you I was not that shocked by the fatally flawed fuselage... 

 

I'm also wondering if it is not possible to force a little bit the fuselage while using new bulkheads with flatter sides. In any case, even ootb the fuselage parts are not that bad. 

[Lietsalmi]

Next, let's get to the engine business!

 

Douglas A-26B's had Pratt & Whitney R-2800-27, -71 or -79 engines, i.e., the "B" series R-2800 with a smooth nose casing. Here are a couple of pictures (first one is actually R-2800-21):

 

The kit engine is completely wrong: 14 cylinders instead of 18, too short, wrong placement of the cylinders, too wide nose casing, etc.

 

So I started to build replacement cylinder rows that I would cast in resin. Or that was how I thought I would solve the problem. After building the new cylinder rows with 18 cylinders in total I realized that they would not fit nicely inside the engine cowling with the kit bulkhead, if the separation of the cylinder rows was anywhere even close to a realistic engine. So the idea to use the kit bulkhead goes to bin and I need to build the engine all the way from the firewall forward. Since I will be doing that, why not to add the missing exhaust pipes as well? And then the nose casing could be better too...

 

So I am now building the whole engine! I will cast that then into two main resin parts (front cylinder row + nose casing, back cylinder row + firewall attachment) and several smaller parts (front engine attachment ring, exhaust pipes, pushrods, etc.). More work than I thought but in the end I will have a proper engine that can be shown even without the cowling. Or I could just use the kit engine and pretend that the missing four cylinders are actually there. 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Lietsalmi

[Lietsalmi]

3 hours ago, D.B. Andrus said:

Harold of AMS makes/made corrected B-25 props.

Also Relish Resins have 1/32 B-25 props. But neither of those seems to be anywhere available. Does anyone know if they still exist? Or then I will just use my motto: if something does not exist, I will make it myself. 

[LSP_Ray]

PM Harold. He is a member here.

[thierry laurent]

Why not using the Quickboost engines? I'm not sure this would cost that much in the end. 

[Lietsalmi]

7 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

Why not using the Quickboost engines? I'm not sure this would cost that much in the end. 

Indeed. I started to make an easy fix (just the two cylinder rows) but ended up making the whole engine. Quickboost engines would have been an easier solution but since I am already on my way...

[The Phantom]

Most Accurate 1/32 Martin Marauder on the Market 

[petrov27]

3 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Most Accurate 1/32 Martin Marauder on the Market 

 

Ha - totally misread this - pls disregard

Edited June 17, 2020 by petrov27
confusion, lack of coffee

[patricksparks]

On 6/16/2020 at 4:10 PM, Lietsalmi said:

Next, let's get to the engine business!

 

Douglas A-26B's had Pratt & Whitney R-2800-27, -71 or -79 engines, i.e., the "B" series R-2800 with a smooth nose casing. Here are a couple of pictures (first one is actually R-2800-21):

 

The kit engine is completely wrong: 14 cylinders instead of 18, too short, wrong placement of the cylinders, too wide nose casing, etc.

 

So I started to build replacement cylinder rows that I would cast in resin. Or that was how I thought I would solve the problem. After building the new cylinder rows with 18 cylinders in total I realized that they would not fit nicely inside the engine cowling with the kit bulkhead, if the separation of the cylinder rows was anywhere even close to a realistic engine. So the idea to use the kit bulkhead goes to bin and I need to build the engine all the way from the firewall forward. Since I will be doing that, why not to add the missing exhaust pipes as well? And then the nose casing could be better too...

 

So I am now building the whole engine! I will cast that then into two main resin parts (front cylinder row + nose casing, back cylinder row + firewall attachment) and several smaller parts (front engine attachment ring, exhaust pipes, pushrods, etc.). More work than I thought but in the end I will have a proper engine that can be shown even without the cowling. Or I could just use the kit engine and pretend that the missing four cylinders are actually there. 

Would have been nice to have a couple pair of those engines for their B-24.....

[Alburymodeler]

12 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Most Accurate 1/32 Martin Marauder on the Market 

So true.