Martin AM Mauler (CMR)
Typical CMR strong cardboard box. I wish Revell of Germany, Special Hobby, AZ, and others would pay attention!
A one page instruction sheet! Not like CMR at all. The kit came without decals, so I'll steal some from various Skyraider sheets.
The wing is cast as one solid piece.
Unusual to see this much resin "flash" in a CMR kit, but it's very easy to deal with.
Compared to the CMR Firebrand I just finished, this kit has few parts.
The attachment point for the casting block was quite thick (right). Cleaned up example on left.
The inside ledge of the cowling will need cleanup with a Dremel tool - lots of gunk in there.
The engine face should sit flush, not proud as shown here.
Not easy to see, but I cleaned it out.
That's better.
Front face of the cowling after cleanup.
The only things added to the cockpit were the harnesses.
Instrument panel decals from the spares box. It won't be easy to see any of this once the fuselage is buttoned up.
Fuselage, wings, and tailplanes went together quickly. The fit was very good, but there are a lot of pinholes in the leading edge.
See what I mean?
The paint will hide all of this of course.
Up on her legs! CMR also provide white metal struts, but they are weaker and more flexible than the resin parts. Go figure.
Not much of this will be visible once the cowling face and spinner go on.
Hmm...a bit of a step there. Cowling face is a bit smaller than the cowling.
I made a styrene shim to help.
I added a canopy rail and a rollover arch to the turtledeck, in addition to a gunsight from the spares box.
I painted the inside of the cowling face prior to assembly to assist in masking later on.
Canopy is on, and everything gets a coat of Tamiya XF-17 Sea Blue. Nasty paint - it scuffs and scratches just looking at it!
Although, two coats of Gunze GX112 Mr. Color UV Cut Super Clear Gloss shines her up nicely! Love this gloss paint, it's my new favourite.
I wish the dive flaps were separate pieces. The "finger" or "comb" design would look cool with the flaps extended.
Upper and lower dive flaps opened in a clam shell manner. Insides were painted red. Man, now I'm regretting not cutting them out of the wing and scratchbuilding the dive flaps.
I guess they cast the practice bombs in two pieces to increase the part count! What a pain to fill all these seams. Tiny little buggers in 1:72!
The exhaust pipes will be hidden nicely.
See what I mean? At the right viewing angle you can see them.
Yellow and red denote training torpedoes. I had to replace one of the propeller blades (it's the white plastic blade on the first prop in the photo).
Props added and torpedoes assembled. I'm going to use some pastels to tone these guys down a bit.
Propeller ready to go. Luckily, I had some Hamilton Standard logos in the spares box.
The International Orange stripe goes on. This denotes a USN Reserve Squadron.
I had to assemble the codes and modex numbers one character at a time.
I used Floquil Flat for an overall eggshell sheen.
100 pound training bombs ready to go. Not too crazy about butt-joining these to the wings, but the pylon is too thin to pin. The "scale" will be used to align and distribute the bombs.
After the rest of the fiddly bits are on, she looks ready to go.
Not a lot of clearance at the back of the torpedoes - with the ground and with the flaps.
What a beast!
Comments
14 31 August 2020, 20:23
Bill GilmanHi mates,
It seems I never learn my lesson - here I go with another CMR resin kit. This time it's the Martin AM Mauler, one of the more obscure beasts from the immediate post-war period. And she was a beast! She still holds the record for the heaviest armament load ever carried by a single piston engine aircraft, over 4,800 kg. We don't need no stinkin' Skyraiders! Well, maybe we do as the Martin AM, which originally had a nickname of "Able Mable" soon became "Awful Monster" due to its deck handling characteristics. Still, I find it an intriguing subject with its monster P&W R-4360 engine.
The Mauler was part of a design competition which consisted of the Curtiss XBTC, Douglas XBT2D Skyraider, Kaiser-Fleetwings BTK and the Martin XBTM. Ultimately only the Douglas and Martin aircraft were produced in any quantity, but Douglas was the winner by far with over 3,100 Skyraiders produced. Only 151 Maulers were built, and most spent their service life with USN reserve squadrons.
This kit was an "overrun" (although I'm not sure how you do that with resin kits) and had no decal sheet. I'll poke around in my spares box to get the markings for a reserve aircraft from Naval Air Station Grosse Isle in 1950. She'll have an International Orange fuselage band, white spinner, and Insignia Yellow armament - three aerial torpedoes and twelve practice bombs. That should break up the monotone of Glossy Sea Blue.
When it was time to put the paint down, I found the only Sea Blue I had was Tamiya, and it is dead flat and very prone to scuffing when handling. I had to be super careful prior to gloss coating. Anyway, that's where I am now and I hope to have some more updates soon.
Cheers,
Bill
31 August 2020, 21:05
Bill GilmanI've uploaded several more photos of my recent build of the CMR Martin Mauler resin kit. It's not one of CMR's best, but there aren't a lot of 1:72 Maulers to choose from. In any event, I think it makes a nice addition to my collection of 1950s era USN subjects. Cheers, Bill
12 October 2020, 13:16
Bart GoesaertNice looking aircraft. What I tend to do with tamiya is adding some clear with the paint. Protects the paint, but also gives the possibility to add decals directly
19 November 2020, 10:35
Bill Gilman@Patrick - pretty easy this year, as this was only my second build in 2020. I need to spend more time at the workbench!
24 November 2020, 14:12
Album info
One of the earlier efforts by CMR, this was purchased as an "overrun" without decals. I'll use the magic Island of Misfit Stickers to source the markings for a USN Reserve Squadron at Grosse Isle in 1950.
