Review

ICM does not wasted anytime in bringing together releases that they have made and selling them as a single purchase with the parts included making sense to the modeller. It also means, that provided you are looking for a product like this you can get them all together at a generally lower price. The aircraft provided in those release is the B-26G Marauder which is provided with 3 finishing options, one of which I believe is French. For those who haven’t tackled this model previously I do have a few concerns as regards the ease of building - depending on which variant you purchase, and that is because there is quite a number of holes that need to be opened up and that means the modellers are expected to find the location of these holes using 10ths of a millimetre measurements provided in the instructions. I do commend them for providing the drill size required. 

Looking at the interior of the model, and with the issue of the holes now out of the way you get a very complete interior detail as regards what is physically required. Obviously there are areas that are featureless and cannot be seen after construction. The defensive firing stations have all been covered very well and should please the detail fanatics for the most part. Another item that is included in this release, is the recent figure set that was released. This provides you with the pilot and co-pilot, the bomb aimer, and the mid-upper turret gunner. This is a very well thought out addition as it will give the figure set promotion in its own right, overcomes ICMs habit of missing harness detail and brings life to the model once finished. 

The detail of the figures if for the most part well done, with the harness detail being well defined. The Mae-west is also being worn in all cases. The pilot and co-pilot are wearing peaked flat-caps. The mid-upper gunner is wearing a flying helmet, and the bomb aimer is just wearing a forage cap. This choice of headwear is the only aspect I question. Bomber crews during the war faced 2 enemies, the first and obvious is the opposition forces. However, the other was the cold and it is my understanding that frostbite was a potential cause of severe injury. I seem to remember that heated clothing could be included that plugged into ports in the aircraft, but I do not know if that is the case with this aircraft. Leather flying jackets with lambs wool interiors are shown, however the trousers other than on the gunner do not appear to be particularly suitable for the cold. However, the gunner is wearing trousers with the lambs wool interior. Boots appear to be correct and ICM has provided full painting details for the figures.

Continuing with the interior detail, you have the rib detail on both sides of the fuselage where needed. However, you are also going to encounter more holes that need to be drilled and details that need to be removed from the mouldings. As such this is not an easy model to tackle, but the detail cannot really be questioned. The weight required to prevent a tail sitter has been covered along with its location. It is shown being added at the point you close up the fuselage. However, there is a open hatch above the location suitable for adding the weight after everything has cured. I, myself, would go for liquid gravity from Deluxe Materials. The tail span is a full width piece and also creates part of the fuselage and that ensures that the geometry is correct. The flight control surfaces are provided separately and so this can be set as desired by the modeller. A full bomb load is included and so you have the options of an open or closed bomb-bay. The name Marauder for this aircraft was well chosen as there is an incredible amount of both offensive and defensive firepower for an aircraft of this size. 

The wings are assembled off of the model, and locate onto spars that extend through the fuselage of the aircraft and protrude a decent length outside for the wings to connect to and also hold them at the correct angle. The engine nacelles have very good internal and external detail for the wheel bays. 2 very nice replication of the engines are provided. However, as ICM does not incorporate photo etched parts as a rule. The nacelles and engine details are attached to the wings minus the undercarriage which is something that I approve of as it prevents the undercarriage being broken by fat fingered modellers. I leave it up to you, of course as to whether you add the undercarriage before of after the finishing options are completed. One aspect of the undercarriage that you may wish to replace are the wheels, this is due to the tyres being moulded in 2 halves as is usual. However, it does mean that you will have a seam around the circumference of the tyres which have nicely detailed tread. So while the detail is good resin options may be preferred. The props of this offering have not received any critique that I am aware of and so I believe are accurate. ICM as has become typical of them has provided a mask template and how to apply these masks when made for the model. 

The finishing options are:

B-G-5 43-34351 “Willie the Wolf”, 494th Bombardment Squadron, 344th Bombardment Group, 1944

B-26G-5-MA 43-34462 “Margie;DonnaDeloris;” 444th Bombardment Squadron, Sardinia, Autumn 1944

B-26G-10-MA 43-34580 Bombing Group 1/32’ Burgundy’(GBM 1/32 ‘BOURGOGNE’), France, 1945

The last item in 1/48th scale provided is the Marston Mat, this provides you with 8 sets of temporary runway surface which I believe will prove sufficient for display and should meet your requirements. However, if you wish to add extra mat it is provided as a separate purchase. The decals themselves have been well done with good colour. A minimal amount of excess decal film is present and I can only just feel them on the carrier paper.