Rose Marie

Hobby Master models are generally known for their great quality and often come with a hefty price tag (retail is about $80, but due to being discontinued they often sell for $100+ at the time of this writing). The company made several variants of the A-26, but this one - product number HA3205 - is the exception to the rule.

While most of the Hobby Master models are great, this one falls short in three main areas. Before we get into the problems, lets take a look at the model itself and see what we are dealing with. The product description for this model says: "Hobby Master 1:72 Air Power Series HA3205, Douglas A-26B Invader Diecast Model, USAAF 416th BG, #41-33205 "Rose Marie", France, 1945".

Let's start with the serial number. The product shows serial number 41-33205. However, this is not an A-26 Serial Number. 41-33205 was a North American AT-6C-NT Texan. It was manufacturer serial number 88-9311 and was sent to the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a Harvard II where it had the serial number of EX232. After service the plane was transferred to South Africa. The very first production model A-26 Invader was number 41-39100, so it is not possible for any other production model A-26 to have a lower serial number than that.

While we are looking at the tail, that brings us to problem number two. This plane is shown as having a green stripe on the tail. If this plane was part of the 416th Bombardment Group then that stripe should be black, not green. I do not know what group or unit had a green stripe as shown on this model, but none of the A-26 Invader units were ever marked with a green stripe.

And that brings us to the third and final error. The side fuselage reads "F8 M". F8 is not a squadron code associated with the 416th Bombardment Group. F8 is the code for the 733rd Bombardment Squadron of the 453rd Bombardment Group. This unit flew B-24 Liberators, not A-26s. If the plane was part of the 416th Bomb Group, then the code would have been F6, which was for the 670th Bombardment Squadron.