Douglas B-26B-50 Invader

Construction
This starts with the interior, which is nicely detailed and you get decals for the instrument faces. I did find the bevel-style joints for things like the centre console (stage 02), to be less than satisfactory, as the resulting joint is anything but firm until the cement is fully cured. All the interior parts were first sprayed with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 (black), then the centre of each panel was picked out in interior green, before the whole lot was lightly sprayed with the same colour to blend it all in. This results in a post-shading effect without the need to actually do that process. You only get one bomb on each of the vertical racks in the fuselage, which is a bit annoying and a full load of 16 would have been better as the kit has the option to have the bomb doors open or closed. Stages 12 to 16 see the assembly of everything in each fuselage half before they are joined together, although I admit I did not fit the small windows (#G6) under each tailplane, as I filled them with Krystal Klear right at the end of the build. The tailplanes have separate control surfaces, although these are moulded to be set in the neutral position. Thankfully they fit nice and snugly so a dab of cyanoacrylate tacked them in place followed by some extra thin cement to secure them long-term. 
Now for the nose..., what can I say except - yuk! What a mess, the multi-part breakdown was a nightmare and nothing fitted properly resulting in unsightly uneven lines along the joints to the fuselage. You have to build the unit up before fitting it to the fuselage, as you have to add 40g of weight in there, but I just could not get that much in, so in the end added weights forward of the wheel wells in each nacelle as well. Fitting the wonky nose resulted in the need for sanding and this removed all the detail, so I added some generic bits of round etched to replace that detail on each side and rescribed some (but not all) of the panel lines.
The wings are next and you have to make a decision now as to what you want under the wings, as various holes have to be opened up in each lower wing panel in stage 30. With that done the wing halves can be secured together, then the separate ailerons and flaps can be added. Once again, the ailerons have a tab on them so they can only be displayed in the neutral position. I found the flaps annoying, as they fit inside moulded elements of the wing that project backwards and as a result you have to slid them into location, resulting in the joint not being that secure because you can't add that much cement. I found later that you have to hold the model by the leading/trailing edges and the inboard flap sections just kept falling out, no matter how well I thought they were secured? All down to my cack-handedness I am sure, but this combined with the nose had me halting the built at this point for a bit of a mental break. 
Returning to the build a week later I continued with adding the gun inserts and these simply just don't match the contour of the wing, resulting in you doing a lot of filling and sanding that destroys all the engraved detail, plus if you look at the barrels they are slightly 'squashed' vertically, resulting in an oval tapered unit, rather than a round/straight taper. The engine nacelles build up well and got the same black/interior green post-shading effect as the fuselage interior. As already said I added in the forward section (ahead of bulkheads B2 and B4) of each nacelle enough weight to make up the quoted 40g when combined with what was already in the nose region. The carburettor intakes (D13 & D14) are annoying in that the two parts result in a seam inside each that is virtually impossible to eradicate. The fit of the engine nacelles into the wing on both sides is good, but be careful not to push them in too far, otherwise you will get a slight step along each seam. 
The upper gun turret is next and if you are building the kit with the bomb bay doors open, you can leave the actual turret out until later, as it can be fitted up inside via the bomb bay. The one things that does strike you though is that the joint between the upper cupola done in stage 58 and the lower unit done in stage 59 is nonexistent. If you build the kit with the bomb bay doors shut be very sure that these two elements are firmly glued together before adding the upper decking, because if they aren't, the will separate and you will never get the internal structure back out to try again! The rear sighting unit is OK, but once trapped between the upper glazing and lower fuselage, you may find it's fit is a bit sloppy. The solid nature of the part also means that it does not very accurately depict the lenses on each end. The lower turret has no internal structure and thus has to be glued in situ, I would advise you leave it off therefore until final assembly, just adding the surround (A2) and getting that all flush with the ventral fuselage before painting etc.
By now you are up to stage 66, yes, it really is this long-winded. The undercarriage is nicely depicted with separate tyres and hubs, although the checker tread pattern is somewhat spoilt by the need to sand the resulting circumferential seam. Fitting the actual undercarriage legs can be left until the very end though, after painting etc., but be warned, the fit is very tight for the main legs and a bit of a struggle at times as a result.
The engines are complex but nicely detailed and ICM include a template to help you line up all those separate exhaust stacks, and boy, you will need it. I have to admit that I found aligning everything a trial, as the instructions are a bit vague and the parts have no definite locations, so you can easily get their orientation wrong and its not until later, when you go to fit the exhausts or cowls, that you will discover such an error. I am sure I got it wrong, as I had a real trying time getting it all to line up and fit and in the end I removed the locating tab inside the front engine element (D18) so that I could fit the reduction casing as needed. The front (D12) and rear (D11) rings are another problem area, as with the exhausts if you get anything lined up wrong, they won't fit and then the cowls won't fit in the right place to line up with the exhaust outlets on the nacelles. It was just a disaster waiting for an idiot to come along, and along I came, say no more! Once you get the engines and cowls in place, with it all lined up, then you can add the separate cowl flaps, which I elected to do at the final assembly stage - bad idea! Each panel only has a tiny ledge on which to attach and with everything painted the inevitable glue marks result. It may be easier to add them prior to painting, although I am not sure how well that would work, as you would have to mask off the back of the engine and the exhausts (I added the complete engines, cowls, flaps and propellers after all the painting etc. was completed, as it just seemed the easier route).      

Colour & Markings
You get three options in this kit, one is natural metal overall, the other two are Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. I went for one of the latter, as all that sanding etc. on the nose and gun inserts meant I just did not think that a natural metal finish was going to look any good. The model was masked and the framework for the various glazings were first painted interior green, then the whole model was primed with Mr Surfacer 1000. A bit of damage repair work and rescribing followed, then another light dusting of the primer to see all was ready for the main colours. The option I wanted had red tips to the wings and vertical fin/rudder, so these regions were first sprayed white, then Aizu micro masking tape 0.4mm was used to mask off a thin white edge to each region before the red (Tamiya X-7) was applied in a number of thin coats to build up the density. Once this had all dried these regions were completely masked off and the main scheme could be applied. The instructions quote 'flat grey' for the undersides, so I used the prescribed Tamiya XF-20 as I had no authentic Neutral Grey to hand. It was applied in a patchy manner to try and get some tonal contrast, then the upper surface was done in a similar manner using Gunze-Sangyo's Olive Drab. I played about with making the base colour darker and lighter, but really to get Olive Drab looking worn you really need to try and reproduce the faded patchy effect you can see on the box art (I failed, it was too dense!). The anti-dazzle panel was applied ahead of the windscreen and then the whole model was sealed with gloss varnish in preparation for the decals.
The decals nowadays in ICM kits are beautifully printed and nice and glossy, beware though, they are very thin and will curl up if you try and take them off the backing paper and move them onto the model. Work with a lot of setting solution and slide each from the backing paper onto the model. The stencils all went on well, although I found one of the red wing walkway markings just refused to lay down and in trying to get it onto the model I destroyed it, so I had to later mask and paint the missing bits on instead. The main markings went on lovely, hugging the recessed detail nicely and I had next to no silvering, although I admit that once applied, I cut away the large areas of carrier film in things like the 'USAF' titles etc.
Once all the decals were applied and had dried the whole model was sealed with another light coat of clear. Once that had fully cured a dark wash was applied to all the recessed detail, then the excess removed and once I was satisfied (OK, once I had triple-checked I had not left any of the wash in regions line the wing or tailplane roots, which I always seem to do!), the whole model was sealed with Vallejo Model Air satin varnish and once dry, the masks were removed.
             
Final Details
The aerial mast (E11), DF loop (E23), propellers (D7) and the bombs and drop tanks were all now installed, having all been previous painted and assembled as required. The undercarriage was installed, and as already stated, getting the main legs into the locating sockets in each well was a little taxing, so take your time and ensure they are level, otherwise your models sit will be all over the place. The gun turrets had been assembled and painted earlier, so these were now added, followed by the similarly pre-painted bomb bay doors in the open position. The last jobs were the aerial leads, made from fishing line and that was it.

Conclusion
Overall I found this kit complicated and thus tricky to downright fiddly to build. This all combined to make the build process a chore and although not as detailed, the Invader that will join my built collection will be a Monogram kit from the 1990s in French colours, along with a A-26K conversion, again from the Monogram kit (sorry ICM). If you can contend with the complexity of the build coupled with the price, then the quality and detail offered in this new kit will certainly meet with most modellers approval. I have seen other examples of this kit built in the natural metal scheme, so many of the problems I experienced must just have been down to my lack of skill, so don't be put off by them, just be aware that this kit is complex and needs to be approached with care.

Paints used
Alclad II lacquer
White Aluminium
Aqua Gloss (varnish)

Gunze Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color acrylic:
Mr Surfacer 1000 Grey
Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 (Black)
H52 Olive Drab
H58 Interior Green
H417 RLM 76 Blue
Mr Levelling Thinner

Tamiya Color acrylic:
X-1 Gloss Black
X-2 Gloss White
X-7 Gloss Red
X-8 Lemon Yellow
X-22 Gloss Clear
X25 Clear Green
X27 Clear Red
XF-85 Rubber Black