What colors for the interior for the B-26 Maurader?

[RobS]

I am going to build the 1/48 Monogram B-26 Maurader. What color should I use for the cockpit, interior of the fuselage, and the wheel weels/gear doors?

Thanks

[Chuck1945]

from various Hyperscale posts:

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B-26 Interior Colors Hyperscale 6 Jan 2007

B-26 Marauder interior finishes...these posts will help...esp. regarding Flak Bait

January 6 2007 at 7:49 PM don fenton (Login chipsnsalsa)

HyperScale Forums

from IP address 69.91.125.34

Response to Interior color clarification for the B-26C Marauder.

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Need interior colors for B-26 Marauder??

January 15 2006 at 1:24 PM Sean (Login OYOY1)

HyperScale Forums from IP address 152.163.101.11

Does anyone out there know the cockpit colors, bomb bay colors, and wheel well colors for the B-26? If I am not mistaken, the B-26 floor color is a different color than the rest on the cockpit. I was wondering if the interior color is darker than normal US interior green???

B-26 Interior colours...

Mike Aldridge in NZ

January 15 2006, 7:02 PM (Login Spongemike)

HyperScale Forums 202.27.219.254

I'm probably the least qualified to comment on this, but in my darkened understanding I've heard that Martin tended to march to their own drum as far as interior colours went. So far as I know, the official directive was that cockpit areas were to be painted bronze green, but Martins painted it in standard interior green. The colour of the bomb-bay is a matter of some debate too. Flak Bait (of which there are photos somewhere on ARC I think) seems to have the bay painted in Neutral Gray (an understandable and logical colour to use) but others say the bomb-bay was unpainted, others interior green, and so on it goes.

Whatever the outcome, I'd be interested to see what transpires as I have the Marauder sitting in the stash waiting for some clear space on the workbench.

Mike

Educated guesses

Lee Kolosna

January 16 2006, 10:33 AM (Login leekol)

HyperScale Forums 129.33.49.251

B-26 production lasted the entire war and there seems to have been some variation depending on model type.

Examinations of "Flak Bait" in the NASM show mostly an unpainted cockpit with fabric batting added to the sides of fuselage to provide noise abatement. This batting was a dark green, probably dyed close to the color Dull Dark Green. The floor has a thin rubber mat, which is a dark gray. The bomb bay is Neutral Gray overall, as are the insides of the bay doors. The rear crew compartment is unpainted, like the cockpit, but it has no fabric batting. Wheel wells are unpainted, too, with Neutral Gray landing gear struts and interior of gear bay doors if the airplane was delivered in Olive Drab over Neutral Gray camouflage. Later unpainted B-26Bs and Fs seemed to revert to aluminum lacquer struts. The inside of cowlings is unpainted. If building the Monogram kit, no one will say you are wrong if you use the above callouts to paint your model.

I know people who know veterans who flew the later B-26Fs and they distinctly remember that the interior of the airplane, including the wheel wells, was painted Interior Green. So it is possible that late production Marauders may have switched over to Interior Green overall.

Dana Bell reports that Martin requested and was granted permission to paint the airplanes without a primer. This is reason that you see so much paint chipping on the external camouflage, particularly on the leading edges of the wings and cowling. There is also a lot evidence that some or all of the external paint was stripped from B-26s at the depot before delivery to the forward units. All this stuff makes a modeler crazy, but it is a fascinating subject to study.

Lee K

Calling Dana Bell,. My dad was a Marauderman....

Rob Radlein

May 21 2005 at 2:06 AM (Login robrad)

HyperScale Forums from IP address 64.12.116.132

and I recently chatted with him about interior colors of the Marauders he crewed in combat with the 9th AF/323rd BG (he was an RO/Waist Gunner-B-26B, C, E, F and G. My dad's memory of events and such from 60 years ago is still crystal clear and he states that the interior color (bulkheads, walls, etc) were an "olive drab" color, not a chromate or interior green. Could this have been a Bronze Green, perhaps? I'd like to see your take on this information.

Regards, Rob

Marauder interior colors

Dana Bell

May 26 2005, 4:24 PM (Login DanaBellColors)

HyperScale Forums 160.111.254.11

Hi Rob,

Marauder interiors are totally unique in the AAF, all for reasons I don't yet fully understand. Martin had a release to skip most interior primers, something to do with anodizing and a primerless exterior camouflage lacquer. There's certainly more research to be done...

Here's something I posted on RMS in 1998:

"I got curatorial permission to look into "Flak Bait" today - the question of cockpit colors was too interesting not to try for a definitive answer, at least for one surviving airframe. Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

"The National Air and Space Museum has the forward fuselage on display – the rest of the aircraft is in storage until it will be assembled at the Dulles Center in about five years. What is now downtown is mostly an unpainted interior with fabric sound-proofing padding. The padding is very faded, with no proof of the original color. Most of it is now brown or magenta – an indication that it may have once been Olive Drab. But the metal snaps that hold the padding in place were painted green - perhaps Dull Dark Green, perhaps Medium Green, but definitely NOT Bronze Green, OD, or Interior Green.

"In the cockpit, everything above the lower canopy edge is flat black paint, as are the floor, the armor plating, and the seats. The control columns and instrument panels are Instrument Black (which is a semi-gloss finish, not a "crinkle" finish as sometimes published). Seat cushions are yellow. Cockpit sides are the fabric mentioned above. The bulkhead aft of the seats is unpainted aluminum, without padding. The bulkhead forward of the co-pilot's seat actually is metallic blue - probably blue tinted Lionoil which hadn't been removed in production. (I wish I could prove that this was where the Japanese learned to make Aotake!)

"In the radio room, the forward bulkhead is unpainted/unpadded, but the fuselage is the same faded padding all around. The desk tops are varnished wood, and the flooring is black.

"The bombardier's position is well-padded, with black flooring.

"The nose wheel well is lacquered aluminum, with a few fixtures in Zinc Chromate (yellow).

"I guess everyone can still choose their own cockpit color, but my opinion is that Dull Dark Green is the most likely color for the cockpit padding. I hope this helps!"

Anyway, as your Dad remembers OD, that certainly was a possibility, though it would have been very unusual.

Good luck with the model!

Cheers,

Dana"