Hobbymaster A-26/B-26

And the hits just keep on coming!  HobbyMaster has recently announced a Douglas A-26/B-26 Invader in 1/72.  To clear up an often confused point right off the bat - this isn't the Martin B-26 Marauder, this is the "other" B-26 which started life out as an A-26, was renamed to B-26 during a post-war designation rationalization and then was re-designated A-26 once again to skirt a Vietnam era Thai restriction of having 'bombers' based on its soil.

No matter what it's called, it was an amzing aircaft  that instantly obsoleted beloved types such as the North American B-25 Mitchell.  The Invader was remarkably long-lived, serving in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and numerous regional conflicts, including, famously, the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

What can we expect from HM?  As their largest WW2 aircraft to date, it's not clear what exactly to expect, though, frankly, if the quality is even up to that of their Beaufighter, I'll be thrilled.  I find the choice of 1/72 acceptable; in general I tend to have a preference for "Korea and before, 1/48, after Korea 1/72, though with allowance for rarer and larger types in 1/72."   To wit, I have both a Franklin Mint 1/48 B-26 Marauder ("Hard to Get")  and the quite wonderful 1/72 FOV "Shootin' In."

Lievries:  nothing has been announced, but the following is likely at least what we can expect in the order which represents my best guess:

• Korean War siver version
• Vietnam War camoflauge 
• WW2 generic silver USAAF with yellow tailband and some pin-up on the nose.  A-26 'Stinky' is an obvious choice here since 3-views of it are widely available.  Pity, since it is an ugly livery.  'Kiwi Boid', a more understated livery as shown above is a better choice.
• Cuban Counter-revolution version
• French version that will sell poorly, as always.
• Korean War nightfighter version with red tailcode

The last one is particularly interesting to me.  My Korean War collection is, as I said, split between 1/72 and 1/48; in 1/72 this Invader will join the ranks of some lovely HM MiG-15s, a few horrid Corgi Korean war Corsairs, an underrated Corgi F-86, and at least one Dragon F-51D (and maybe more, but I can't remeber offhand).   I suppose it's inevitable that the black livery that they'll choose is "Feeding Frenzy", though I'd prefer something more along the lines of this:

When I get back home, I'll have a look in Volume 13 of 'Wings of Fame' to see other interesting Korean-war liveries.