Martin A-1K Mauler

[JayBee]

Late in WWII the U.S.Navy decided that they required a new category of attack aircraft combining the functions of both the SB(Scout Divebomber) and BT(Divebomber Torpedo Attack) classes of naval aircraft.
Five companies tendered designs, Martin, Curtiss, Kaiser Fleetwings, Douglas, and Boeing.
Initially the Navy favoured the Boeing design, the XF8B, but Boeing withdrew from the competition as they wished to commit all their resources to heavy bomber production.
Of the four remaining designs, two were clearly ahead of the others. These were the Douglas and Martin designs.
It was a close run thing, with the Douglas design being praised for it's ease of maintenance. The Martin design initially had some handling problems, but these were solved by increasing the height of the rudder and removing the large spinner on the propeller. The Martin design could also carry a heavier weapons load, and it was this factor that the Navy made their decision on. The Martin Mauler won the competition, and went on to be produced in several versions.
In the 1960's, because of the nature of the war in Vietnam, the U.S.A.F. realised that an older, slower aircraft with good weapons carrying capacity, and good endurance was what they needed for the counter-insurgency warfare that they were facing. Many retired Maulers were brought back into service and upgraded, producing the A-1K.
The type of mission that the Maulers became most famous for were the missions to escort the search and rescue helicopters ("Jolly Green Giants") deep into enemy territory.

[van883]

Very nice -you beat me to it!
I'll have to think of something else for my Mauler.

Van

[GTX]

Nice, but the people demand more pictures!!!

Regards,

Greg

[John Howling Mouse]

What a nice load-out.  Yes, more pics, PLEASE!   

[Eddie M.]

Great idea and very well presented.

[Zeke]

There' :thumbsup:s that SEA cammo again!...glorious...

[sequoiaranger]

Nice one!

I have that kit, too. I'm going to borrow the three torpedoes from that kit for my "Douglas Decimator" whif.

[NARSES2]

It looks completely different in that scheme - almost dosn't look like a Mauler 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Ahhh now this is just getting silly ! - another What-Should-Have-Been.

Ian

[kitbasher]

Top notch, mon brave.  I've seen pics of Maulers in Glossy Sea Blue and thought they were pretty but a bit wimpish compared to Skyraiders.  Never judge a book by it's cover, as this shows it to be every bit as mean as a Spad when properly tooled up.  well done - very convincing. 

[JayBee]

This is another one that was at the Great North Model show to-day.
I loved the comment from several people "Is that a new wing on that Skyraider?".
YES!

[Chap]

Very nice work JayBee, whose kit is it?

~Steve

[JayBee]

Very nice work JayBee, whose kit is it?

~Steve

ACE.

I got mine from Hannats.

[sideshowbob9]

Beautiful model. It's a pity the Mauler went out of service so quickly.

This one will definately turn heads.

[JayBee]

For those that want to know:-

The kit is by ACE, and there are two versions available, Early and Late.
I used the Early kit, but looking at the sprues, I think you get all the bits, only the transfer/decal sheets are different.
To go along with the correction of the initial handling problems, I had Martin change the prop and remove the spinner, thus reducing forward keel area, and increasing the height of the rudder thus increasing the rear keel area.
The prop came from Aeroclub, it is one of a set of four for the B-29, and was trimmed down to the same diameter as the Mauler's prop.
The large wheel doors were done away with, and the wheel wells altered accordingly.
The Hasegawa A-1 Sktraider provided the engine, centre-line tank, D/F loop housing, blade antena, the underwing pylons, and two extra inboard pylons were scrath built (copies of the Hasegawa parts).
Transfers are from the Hasegawa A-1 with nose art from Modeldecal sheet 10.
Paints were Extracolour enamel.

I had great fun doing this.
Thanks for all your nice comments, the guys in the white coats think they are very theraputic.

JimB