Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Aeromaster Decals' 1/48 scale Marauders Pt 1 are available online from Squadron.com

This sheet continues AeroMaster's policy of re-hashing their old sheets to produce new ones.  Not a bad thing by any means as it allows you to pick up the ones you missed out on the first time around. 

Marauders Part I provides markings for just two aircraft:

Arguably, one of the most well known of all B-26s, B-26B-25-MA 41-31773 –'Flak Bait' of the 449^th Bombardment Squadron, 322^nd Bombardment Group.  Camouflage finish is olive drab over neutral grey and the supplied markings comprise:

• 'Flak Bait' nose art and bomb log.  The bomb log is provided in two parts – a white decal that you apply first, and a red decal to overlay the white one.  AeroMaster have done it this way so that the tail fin of every fifth bomb shows up as a white one and the outline of the single swastika kill marking is white as well.  An extra '200 Missions' decal is provided to enable you to portray the aircraft as it appeared at the end of the war.  Whilst this marking looks to be out of register it is in fact correct as the one-to-one scale original aircraft's insignia also carries the white highlighting.

• PN squadron codes and U individual aircraft codes in grey.

• 41-31773 serial number in yellow

• Ground crew names in black and white for the nose gear door.

• Individual crew names against their positions in yellow

• Data block in black.

• A set of national insignia that have dark blue edging

• The nose gear marking consisting of a red star on a blue background.

The other option is B-26B-55-MA 42-96191 'The Milk Run Special' of the 597^th Bomb Squadron, 397^th Bomb Group 9th Air Force.  The aircraft is in overall natural metal finish with D-Day markings on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings as well as the fuselage.  The ones on the fuselage sides have been over-painted in olive drab.  Markings comprise:

• Nose art consisting of a nude painted over a green map of the USA with the words 'Milk Run Special' in red and a comprehensive black and yellow bomb log.

• Pilot's name in black.

• 9F squadron and F individual aircraft code in black.  These decals have been provided twice.  The ones on the main sheet have a white border which is incorrect.  A separate errata sheet supplies the correct ones with a silver outline – no doubt the silver outline came about when the codes were masked off before the D-Day stripes were applied and were re-masked over when the olive drab was painted over the D-Day stripes.  It's good to see that AeroMaster have gone to the trouble to correct this error.

• 42-96191 aircraft serial in black for the fin and rudder.

• 397^th Bomb Group's yellow and black group markings for the fin and rudder.

• A set of national insignia.  The errata sheet carries the correct silver-bordered ones for the fuselage.

A set (eight- one for each blade) of Curtis propeller logos as well as propeller blade stencil data is provided.  The Curtis logos are provided as two part decals to save any register problems.  A single set of 'wing walk' black outlines are provided on a smaller separate sheet. 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The placement guide is the standard AeroMaster A-4 sized sheet.  It shows full-colour left hand side profiles of the each aircraft and a scrap left hand side profile of the nose of the second option as well as plan views of the upper surfaces of both machines.  A small drawing is also provided for the propeller markings.  There are a couple of goofs in the descriptions of each option – 'Flak Bait' belonged to 322^nd Bombardment Group, not the 322 Bombardment Squadron, and 'The Milk Run Special' belonged to the 597^th Bomb Squadron, not the 598^th – but these errors will not effect the finished product. 

The decals themselves have been 'Printed in Mexico'.  They are glossy, in perfect register and have a minimum of decal film surrounding each design. 

The decal sheet and placement guide come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag. 

The suggested kit is the Revell/Monogram one. 

A nice sheet from AeroMaster. 

Recommended

 Thanks to AeroMaster / Eagle Strike Products for the review sets

On-line sales are available from the AeroMaster Products / Eagle Strike Productions web site.

Review TextCopyright © 2003 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 18 December, 2003
Last updated 17 December, 2003

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