Review

ICM has released a few versions of this aircraft in 1/48th scale, and I will be honest with you and say that I am not complaining. The contents are provided in 2 plastic bags, with the clear elements protected by a foam wrap. The instruction booklet is loose within the box, with the decals in between the pages. An examination of the decals shows a rich colour with high quality printing that I cannot easily detect on the carrier paper. All of this is provided in a flip-top cardboard box, with an additional card cover. An examination of the contents reveals no major issues I can see. Some flow lines are present in the larger mouldings, but these do not appear to have damaged the finish. The gates on the parts all appear to be of a reasonable size, but typically some of the finer mouldings will fight you, and risk pinging off into the ether, or damage to them. Due to the number of releases of this kit ICM has in the works, there are a number of parts that are not to be used and so take care when cutting the parts free. I did have someone complain to me about an ICM kit, and that was that the decals had been destroyed due to having got damp and so ICM may want to consider placing their decals into their own plastic bag. With that said, as I advised the complainant, ICM will always replace damaged or broken parts and their guarantee is regardless of how this occurred.

Beginning with the interior, the models body is broken into areas, the cockpit has all of the relevant required detail except for the harness details on the seats. However there are a number of after market sets available now for adding the harness detail, and further enhancing the cockpit/interior of the model. The bomb bay is also its own separate portion of the model, and having seen this particular kit built, I have to say it does look impressive. Moving further to the rear, you find another bulkhead which then provides detail on the interior all the way through to the tail, and covers the crews positions in this area of the model with the defensive weapons systems being particularly well replicated. This is one of those models that modellers with the ability could really go to town on the model and end up with something very special. There are a number of holes that need to be drilled, and ICM has provided the drill size required, unfortunately some of the areas that need to be drilled need to be measured out in 10th millimetre spacing. To prevent this kit being a tail sitter, ICM has provided the weight required to prevent this occurring, but the physical weight itself is not included. The interior of this model is very pleasing straight from the box, and once you get the fuselage closed up you can give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

The tail fins in the cases of the horizontal surfaces, are provided as a single piece, and this has prevented the risk of droop. However, is does mean that the separate vertical fin will require careful setting so that it is not off to one side. The control surfaces have all been provided separately, and so can be set as desired. If you are one of those modelers who does not want to tackle areas such as the bomb-bay, you are provided with the option of having the bomb-bay doors closed. But I do think that will be a mistake. The fixed forward heavy firing machine guns, are well detailed but again those modelers looking for the ultimate detail could easily replace these with metal barrels due to them being of a generic nature. The clear elements of this release, are very well moulded, not excessively thick and so importantly enable a good view into the interior where present. Wing spars have been included in this release, with detail fillets to fill the space between

The wings themselves have guide areas for securely attaching the wing spar mentioned earlier, and so prevent wing droop and are a good fit. The panels lines on the wings are all other external areas are of a very good quality and pleasing in their level of detail. Returning to the wings, all of the flight control surfaces have been provided separately and so can be positioned as desired. The wheel bays have a pleasing level of detail on the interior surfaces and will please most straight from the box. Another good point about the wings, engine nacelles are added to the model prior to the need to add the undercarriage itself. The single strut undercarriage legs have reasonable detail moulded onto them, but there is room for improvement, at the very least brake lines. The tyres themselves are provided in 2 halves, which I know upsets some modellers, but I have never had any real issues with joint lines being visible, as long as they are cleaned up properly. However, again, after market resin tyres are available.

The twin banks of cylinders for the radial engines are reasonably detailed, along with the oil lines, and for me that detail along with the exhausts and front gear housing is sufficient for myself, but again photo etched sets are available for those who wish to dress the area up further. However, when it comes to displaying this aspect of the model is not really an option, although 2 access panels are provided for those who wish to go down that route. Something that really pleases me, and should please any modellers who has broken a prop, is that these are added at the very end of the modelling process and for that matter, could be left off until all of the painting or weathering process in complete.

ICM has provided a mask template for the glazed areas of the model, and has also gone to some effort to show the correct positioning of these masks. 3 finishing options have been included:

B-26G-5 43-34351 ‘Willie the Wolf’, 494th Bombardment Squadron, 344th Bombardment Group 1944

B-26G-5-MA 43-34462 ‘Margie’ ‘Donna Del Oris’, 444th Bombardment Squadron, Sardinia, Autumn 1944

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