When ICM started to release its family of B-26 models and variants, it was well received by modelers the world over as the old Monogram’s kit was released in 1978, 47 years ago. And at some point, they were going to release Flak Bait and they did and I jumped on the opportunity to review it. A little background on Flak Bait- it was given the name by its first pilot, James Farrell who adapted the nick name from his dog, flea bait. It then ran 202 bombing missions over France, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium and survived the war intact and holds the record for number of bombing missions survived. And not one crew member was killed during that time and only one was injured even though it landed on one engine twice, lost its electrical and hydraulic systems twice and ended up with over 1000 holes that needed patched. Currently, Flak Bait is in the hands of the Smithsonian and being restored.

So, when the kit came in, I had bought another and had an old Monogram kit in my stash and then the gremlins in my head said- “why not build all three and compare them?”. I really do hate gremlins. My first thing was to review all the directions and look at some history and color schemes.

Color wise, the ICM kit comes with their own color set. I had plenty of WWII colors so I was good. Looking at the ICM directions, they had the interior-colored dark green. Research indicated that the wheel wells and bomb bay were typically the same color as the bottom of the plane so I was going to go with that. Interior was typically black with unpainted bomb bays. As a practicer, Flak bait would be painted to match ICM directs. The second ICM B-26 would be painted to online research. The Monogram B-26 would follow their color call outs.

I selected the following schemes for the three kits:

• “Flak Bait”, 322^nd bombardment Group, Spring 1945
• “Hard to Get”, 497^th BS, 344^th BG, Cormeilles France 1945
• “Idiots Delight”, 391^st BG, 575 BS RAF Matching England, August 1944

As far as aftermarket, none of the kits had seat belts so I ordered two sets and one came with a Eduard Look instrument panel. Lastly, I ordered three masking sets. And we were ready to go and dive in!

ICM construction as well as Monograms started with the fuselage and cockpit. For Flak bait, you will need to cut out two additional windows in the bottom of the fuselage. Theya re marked but take your time and cut well or fill and sand later. The detail in the molding is years apart (about 45 total) and shows with much, much finer detail in the ICM kits. ICM has a full interior, most of which will not be seen when complete. I elected to open he bomb bay on Hard to Get and close the rest. The bomb bay on the ICM kit comprises the bulk heads that hold the wings so alignment is key. The Monogram kit is far less detailed. ICM shows the difference in modern molding technology in the cockpit too as their seats are finely molded in multi parts and detailed. Monograms seat looks like a recliner and have a pilot figure included but it’s not good.

One other point as you look at the fuselage is the way the tail attached. ICM has the horizontal parts attach right above the gunner’s position flat along panel lines with the rudder separate. Monogram has the horizontal parts slide into a gap. Fit is less than good on this part.

After all the internals of both kits are added, we are ready to close them all up. A note here, there is a lot of windows to add. Mask and glue them firmly as there is a lot of handling to do. Also, all three kits suggested adding 50g of weight in the area behind the cockpit. I went closer to 60g and panicked later as they weren’t sitting level but once the tires were added, they did. I had difficulty closing the fuselage on one of the ICM kits as there was interference from a misaligned bulk head. It is a very tight fit and the fuselages on the ICM kit are thin. Monogram did not have that problem. In the end, all things aligned.

Part 2, we’ll add some engines, wings and paint to the kit and summarize what I saw.

My deepest thanks to ICM for making this kit. It has been a long awaited kit for modeler everywhere and it does not disappoint (teaser).