Hunting Percival P.26 Commuter (Martin B-26B Marauder) Aer Lingus, 1956 at p.8

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, it's still early, but I will be in with a rather conservative idea: a conversion of a WWII bomber into a late-40ies airliner, for the short distances in the young, re-arranged European region.



Basis will be a 1:72 Martin Marauder from Matchbox (because of its simplicity and lack of a bomb bay opening; I was lucky to find one at a reasonable price, but it's still in the postal service pipeline...). It will be "cleaned" and get rid of all of its guns, probably receive a solid nose, a row of cabin windows and maybe a more convenient drop-down stair under the rear fuselage. Pretty straightforward - but I think this could work and even look good.  

Operator is still TBD (SABENA was/is a favorite), but I'll leave that open for now.  

And there's a second GB idea, too...  

[zenrat]

Seeing as how you'll have this one finished in 10 minutes you'll need a second idea...

...and a third and a fourth and a fifth...

[JayBee]

Operator is still TBD (SABENA was/is a favorite)

Given the Marauder's early reputation, and the old joke about what Sabena stands for, that could be a very good choice. 

[Captain Canada]

Neat idea. I think a B-26 would look great as a civilian type !

[Mossie]

The Marauder's circular fuselage seems to lend itself to a small airliner.  Should be good.

[Dizzyfugu]

That was my idea/inspiration, too. Maybe I can transplant the last pair of Connie engines that are left from the Stalwart flying boat, too? More power and much better fuel economy would make sense in commercial use - kind of forerunner of the Fokker 27?

[sandiego89]

Glad to see new liife for an old kit- I have a soft spot for Matchbox kits...

Id' say she has plenty of power, and gas was pretty cheap....

Looking forward to this one. 

[kitbasher]

.....nearly your idea.

[The Chaos]

A Cool Projcet Dizzy. 

[Thorvic]

You could go as an Airmail courier if passengers are impractical ?

[Dizzyfugu]

After lots of snooping around I eventually found and settled on an operator/livery: it will become a 1950ies Aer Lingus aircraft!
Mmmmh, greeeen, 

Found a 1:72 decal sheet (TwoSix Decals) for this kind of Fokker F.27:



Now imagine a B-26 in a similar guise...? Hope it works, we'll see. 

[Dizzyfugu]

http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc347/garberc/DuPage/EAA%20Museum%20Hales/CAF%2081/CAF%2075/FH000083.jpg.....nearly your idea.

Oh, cool find - thanks for linking/posting.  

And it looks much more elegant than I thought in the first place!

BTW: another one of the few converted B-26's:

[zenrat]

They look great civilianised - very purposeful.

[Captain Canada]

Nice. She's definitely going to look hot in the new green paint !

[Dizzyfugu]

Think so, too. I have been a fan of the green Aer Lingus machines since childhood (Green was my favorite color then), and this GB is a nice opportunity to create such a personal nostalgia tribute.