As a recap, we are building up the old Monogram kit and two ICM kits of the B-26B Marauder with ICM’s 1/48^th scale Flak Bait as the main review item. 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

At the end of Part 1, the fuselages were all together and it was time to finish off the kits.

Starting with the Monogram wings and nacelles, they are simple with the wings being two pieces, top and bottom. There are no separate parts for the flaps or ailerons. Fit is a not great and one pother thing to note is that there are no indicated wing tip lights. The nacelles are each a left and right side and there is no representation of any bulkheads are anything in the wheel wells. You can se out both ends to black holes. Fit is also bad versus the wing tops. Joining these to the fuselage shows awful fit between the wing and wing joint. Nothing that can’t be fixed with putty and elbow grease but the kit is showing its age. The ICM kit has fully boxed in wheel wells along additional detail. The flaps are separate and ailerons. They also have wing tip lights are well molded and clear. The nacelles have separate exhausts, multiple bulkheads and good fit both together and to the wings. They also provide a nice system to attach the landing ger doors so the angles are correct. With a hint of sanding, the fit to the fuselage is excellent.

Onto the engines and it is NO competition. Monogram has a single flat plate representing the front cylinder bank. ICM’s engine build up from 28 parts for an outstanding representation of the actual engines.

The cowlings for the Monogram kit have been a long-discussed subject by modelers. They are somewhat thick and the shape is wrong and the two upper intakes come as inserts. The biggest issue is they do not fit well to the nacelles requiring a lot of putty and work. ICM has the engines mount to a bulkhead and the cowlings are done from six pieces. It does take a little juggling to get the parts added together. I recommend getting one piece fit and letting it dry and then adding the rest. These do fit well to the nacelles and with the massively upgraded engine, look great.

I like to add the landing gear to help with painting. The Monogram landing gear is supposed to be added before the nacelles are built but they can be added afterwards. Monogram’s main struts are a single piece with a large peg to install them and a second piece to act as the retraction struts. Molding is common to the late 70’s. The nose gear is also a single piece and similar. They do fit well. ICM is much more accurate and more pieces. The main gear is three pieces each and attach more accurately. It is a little fiddly and I recommend adding a little super glue to the attachment points. The nose gear is also multiple parts. Molding is superb and both types of gear have well represented retraction struts. Advantage to ICM by a wide margin again.

Both tail and rudder parts were added. One thing to note here is that for ICM, the actual rudder and tail parts were separate and can be posed. Monogram and solid pieces.

Lastly before paint, we need to add the clear parts. ICM’s canopy I finely molded and both top hatches are separate. I elected to close them but they fit well with just a little plastic putty. The rear turret parts fit well and can be added later. The rear parts for the Monogram kit do not fit well and had to be added early. The canopy is one piece and the molding is much thicker and doesn’t fit well. It took putty to get it in place.

Now we are ready for paint. Here’s the schemes I used:

• “Flak Bait”, 322^nd bombardment Group, Spring 1945
  • ICM Paints- neutral gray bottom, olive green top
• “Hard to Get”, 497^th BS, 344^th BG, Cormeilles France 1945
  • Tamiya gloss aluminum bottom and weathered olive drab top
• “Idiots Delight”, 391^st BG, 575 BS RAF Matching England, August 1944
  • Olive drab top and neutral gray bottom

Both ICM kits were pre-shaded and painting of the two ICM kits. The ICM paint goes one well but three things- first, make sure the paint is shaken well; second, get used to thinning it correctly as it can over thin easily and then apply poorly. Lasty, the kit will need primed first for good adhesion. Thinned properly, these paints apply and cover well. Once these are painted and dried, I added clear coat to get ready to decals

For the decals, I used ICM decals for Flak Bait, Superscale Set 48-532 fpr Hard to Get and the Monogram Decals for Idiots Delight. They all went on well and the ICM decals were used for the wing walks. The Monogram decals were old and needed a clear coat prior to use for age.

To finish the kits, I did some pastel weathering and lots of chipping for fun. Another flat coat, adding the little bits and pulling the masks and were done.

Summary

The results are simple. The ICM kits are much more detailed especially the engines, landing gear and interior. More important to most modelers, the fit is worlds better. The glass parts, tail, wings and nacelles all fit worlds better on the ICM kits. The glass parts and thinner and more accurate. The Monogram kit looks the part of a B-26 and I have seen a modeler take a year and lot of aftermarkets and make it shine but it was a lot of work.

Considering the price. The B-26 from ICM can be found for around $100 or less on sale and there are multiple models available. Monogram is between $50-70 if you find it in a secondary market. I can’t recommend the Monogram kit even with the price. Save your extra few bucks and reduce your frustration and buy the ICM kit.

As for the Flak Bait model, the kit and markings are awesome. Great kit and one of the most historic markings in the world along with great fit and detail. Highly recommended.