A 1/72 Martin B-10B - Not for the faint of Heart

For the longest time only  the Williams Bro. limited run kit existed.  I wanted to build a unique aircraft pre-WWII and the B-10 fit the bill.  It was the forerunner of the great bombers that followed and ahead of it's time when initially considered.  All metal monoplane that was faster than the pursuit craft of the day.  Doolittle is said to have considered it for the raid on Tokyo.  It is a challenging build that requires patience and skill to overcome excessive mold flash and fit issues.

The instruction sheet schematic does not follow any numbered sequence, but there is a general order of construction text on the reverse side along with some minimal painting suggestions,  Builder needs to rely on historical and museum photos and experience in building military aircraft.

An early decision was to search for after market M2 guns (not included in the kit) for the nose turret and the rear cockpit.  Apparently there was a third ventral gun, but I found little evidence and no modeled examples so I discarded the idea and ordered a set of Eduard M2s.  Six resin and PE guns arrived.  By their length they may be 50Cal instead of the specified 30Cal in the B-10, but the scale was close so I did not worry about it.  The difficult part was how to mount them since I could find little detail about that.

I show this pic now in order to see the detail of the resin and installation of the PE parts (I have not yet added the forward sight).

So lets get to the B-10B itself.

This is an example of the molding/flash issue that must be carefully removed.

As with most all aircraft models the interior components, such as they are, must be assembled and painted.  I did add some wine bottle foil seat belts!

A particular and time consuming issue was the molding of the canopy and nose turret.  Framing was almost none existent in the mold - very difficult to see and; therefore mask for painting.  Note the pile of Tamiya in the foreground!  Compound curves are challenging and require multiple pieces of mask.

Once painted, the nose turret received her (Eduard) M2.  I used a piece of PE for a mounting lug across the turret opening.

I've jumped ahead a bit here and closed the fuselage and attached the greenhouse canopies.  The vertical stabilizer has been painted yellow - more on yellow color later.

The motors are molded fairly well and were painted simply with a gunmetal mix and silver push rod highlights.  The gear legs are painted aluminum.  Rubber tires are supplied and are easy to mount on the wheel hubs (molded in yellow).

And speaking of yellow, I thought the molded yellow was a good color, but plastic parts will look like plastic if they are left unpainted.  The color I mixed in the bottle cap was very close and used on the vertical stabilizer, but I wanted to find a proper yellow to spray on the wings.  The old kit has some raised panel lines but the the control surfaces have recessed panel lines which took a black wash rather well.

I found a gloss Krylon that was almost the identical color of the mold and when applied was almost like a clear gloss coat.  Also note that interior green was applied to the wheel wells.

The tail/elevators accepted a black wash that I rubbed off with my finger and left the raised panel lines highlighted, which was nice!

Before putting the wing halves together I drilled holes for the wing rigging and tied monofilament to a piece of styrene rod and glued it down.

Aluminum foil is glued to the interior behind the holes for the landing lights and intakes.

With the wing closed the foil shows the landing light.

Next I had to mask the wing so that I could paint the engine nacelles to match the fuselage and cowl dark Navy Blue.  

I had a nice Navy Blue spray used on my TBF Avenger that would be perfect on the B-10.

The Blue looks good so I continued with application of the kit decals on top and bottom.

With the wings decaled I then inserted the gear and fixed the internal lugs and braces and glued the wing halves together.

The fuselage has been given a coat of the Navy Blue and the tails have been installed.

Next it was time to attach the motors with the props installed and add the cowl halves to the motors.  The cowls had previously been given a coat of Navy Blue along with the fuselage.

The single most positive fit was the wing to the fuselage.  The receiving flare in the fuselage to receive the wing was a perfect fit.  The best design idea in the entire kit.

After attaching both wing assemblies I added the nose turret.  I was a little worried about this since there was no real seating for the turret in the molding.  A receiving ring would have been a good idea.  I was able to get the turret in the best position I could and tacked it down with cyano.  I sealed it with window glue (note the 174 decal,  added before the turret was installed).

The fuselage decals have been applied and the rear M2 and canopy installed in the gun position.  The mounting was tricky.  There were resin pieces included in the Eduard kit that I modified to glue to the rear of the cockpit. PE lugs on each side of the M2 are to rest in a notch in those resin pieces so I had to line things up with care.  I also had to cut a notch in the cockpit ring for the M2 to be secured without pointing upward at too severe a degree.  

The motor and cockpit walkway decals have been applied and Tamiya Weathering applied to the wings.  The air intake/exhaust have been painted and added to the nacelles.

View of the underside.

The antenna/mast has been installed and the previously installed radio wires attached  to the mast.  The B-10B is done.  Note the supplied "Winglets" between  the fuselage and nacelles have been attached.  this was only on the B-10B.

The Winglets up close.  Also note the engine intakes/exhaust.  These required significant flash removal.  Study was required to make sure I was not trimming off actual parts of the intake or exhaust.  Also note the haze on the walkway decals.  This appeared after a dullcoat spray.  I have never has that happen before.  A few extra applications of Microsol helped remove some but not all of the haze.

More weathering of the wings.

Challenge Complete!

The Wesland Lysander - 1/48 by Hawk

I am not sure exactly why I picked  the Lysander to build, although I did read a book in which a Lysander was described, was flown by a female resistance fighter, and seemed a rather unique kite.  While certainly not a capable fighter it found a niche used for clandestine missions picking up and delivering resistance fighters and spies.  Being able to fly into tight spaces and fields, often at night, it could get in and get out.  The box art is a MkII loaded with small bombs, but I wanted that night fighter look.  It is an older simple kit, but it is surprisingly well molded and the parts fit, so the build went much quicker than I am used to.

The wheels of the Lysander are very large enabling it to land in fields and other questionable environments.  These I painted with a black/gray mix.

The landing gear was only three pieces and the wheels are held by molded in pins for rotation.  The gear had landing lights which were not molded, so I had to drill out and paint the resulting depressions.  I added some window glue to simulate a lens.

I insert this museum photo here as it is the look that I want.  A couple of things are missing from this example with will be described as we go.  Some Lysanders were painted all black, but I appreciated this variety.

The gear has been given a coat of Testors gloss black.  The motor cylinders received a coat of gunmetal mix and then silver highlights.  The large three blade prop and spinner are also painted.

The canopies are large open "greenhouses" with boldly molded framing such that it was easier for me (and much faster) to paint free hand as opposed to masking with Tamiya tape.  Note in the background that the cockpit and seats (three pieces) have been assembled and painted.  While the instructions called for a gray interior???? I used the typical interior green which is supported by historical photos.

Continuing with the cockpit it is installed on the starboard fuselage half.  The inside of the fuselage has likewise been given a coat of interior green and closed up.  The instrument panel is glued into molded receiving lugs but received an after market, 3D "Print-Scale" panel decal.  A minor bit of trimming was necessary, but it turned out well.  I cut up some sprue bits and formed some additional "controls" for the cockpit (This kit does lack detail in this regard).

I had a can of Rustoleum Satin Black which I had used on an HE 219 rehab and I liked the look of the finish so I used it here for the fuselage and bottom of the wings and wing struts.

With the fuselage painted and closed, and landing gear glued in place I was able to add pieces included in the kit but not mentioned in the instructions.  I knew about this from researching the kit on Scalemates before purchase, a procedure I highly recommend.  There were holes started in the landing gear and in the fuselage which I finished drilling out before assembly to accept the 150 gallon external fuel tank and the permeant ladder for the MkIII night fighter.  Note the extra braces at the bottom of the ladder.  Shown in photos, I used some 0.02" styrene rod from my stash.

A Lewis gun was supplied in the kit and the detail was good, so I decided to use it and add to it with a sculpted bit of sprue for a spent casing bag. Simple gunmetal and brown. I figure a resistance fighter or spy while being taxied about is capable of using the Lewis if needed!😁

Here is the cockpit with the map decal applied, Print-Scale seat belts and the Lewis/platform with four extra ammo drums.  The rear canopy fits nicely both open and closed so it will NOT be permanently attached.

The bottom wing halves are attached to the center canopy piece, but be careful of the orientation.  I found  out the hard way when dry fitting the assembly to the greenhouse that I had installed the wings 180 degrees from where they should be (they fit both ways).  Fortunately I was able to separate the pieces before the glue had set and quickly reversed the wings - disaster avoided!

The top half of the wings are glued to the bottom halves, the greenhouse glued in place and the wing assembly glued in place.  One thing I have not shown is I did paint one of the two included pilot figures in traditional flight brown etc. colors and remembered to seat him before the Greenhouse went down.👍

Here you can make out the Print-Scale instrument panel and the pilot.

Time for struts.  The port side was a perfect fit, but the starboard strut was a little warped so it needed some coaxing and holding.

 

Not bad!

 

Now for top side paint.  First a black wash for the well molded control surfaces.  That also made it easier to hand paint along the panel lines the dark green and sky gray/blue (both custom Testors mixes)

With painting complete it is decal time.

Decals used is a mix.  The two top wing roundels are from the kit.  The fuselage is from my stash.

The white letters and tail stripes are all from my stash.  The black letter/numeral decals are from the kit.  Note that the kit did come with the radio wire.  A double strand of good scale and not cotton (does not fray).  Again you can see the pilot up front.

 The next two photos show the rear canopy both open and closed so I can display either way.

 I am pleased with the kit and the way it turned out!

Now for a mission.  Let's load him up.....

.....and drop him off behind enemy lines.