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Hey guys,

Anyone ever convert a CA 1/48 B-57 into one of these WB-57's? Would love to know how you did it if so or what mods are necessary (besides the obvious mods to the engines and radome)

Here's some pictures that I happened to come across online.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/NASA/Martin...-57F/1002816/L/

http://www.airliners.net/photo/NASA/Martin...-57F/1382052/L/

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/me...F-1234P-024.jpg

Would love to know what those pods under the outer wings are...air sampling pods? <_<

http://www.stinsonflyer.com/consolac/b57f-1h.jpg

Take care,

=Awan

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Hey guys,

Would love to know what those pods under the outer wings are...air sampling pods? :cheers:

The pods under the wings in the pics of the USAF ones? J60 engines, removable so you don't see them in all pics. I understand that it needed a bit more poke at altitude when loaded for the recon missions, of course depending upon the mission and all the other blah, blah blah.

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Air sample pod on WB-57F. My collection.

RB57Ffrontweb.jpg

Would absolutely love a new WB in any scale. I doubt if I'll ever actually attack the Mach 2 edition, but its tempting. Usually I lie down and the urge passes.

Rick L.

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Aside from the basic fuselage structure and cockpit glass, everything on the F is different (newly built) compared to the other B-57s. The whole wing from tip to tip is 100% new, as are the engine nacelles, nose, vertical fin, and landing gear.

Collect Aire makes (or made?) a resin 1/48 RB-57F. I believe "Bondo" Phil Brandt has built one (but he can build anything). Converting from an existing kit would, like the real airplane, entail about a 95% scratch job. It'd sure be impressive in 1/48 though!

J

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The RB-57F/WB-57F had three external air sampling pods or foils. The outer wing pods are the LASL tanks and I believe had one filter paper inside. The black foil under the fuselage is the U-1 foil. Normally one would be carried, but two could be. It had 12 filter papers that could be used one by one. If you look above the O in FORCE, (US AIR FORCE) the angled pipe with the red cap is the intake for the I-2 foil. The aft facing scoop above the I in AIR is the trailing vent. The I-2 foil was for the SEO to take spot samples during the flight. The I-2 foil was present on RB-57As, RB-57Bs, WB-57Cs and R/WB-57Fs that were modified for air sampling. I don't think that any of the RB-57Ds that had sampling pods were modified with the I-2 foils.

Contact me off-line if you want more info on the RB-57F.

Best wishes,

Grant

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The RB-57F/WB-57F had three external air sampling pods or foils. The outer wing pods are the LASL tanks and I believe had one filter paper inside. The black foil under the fuselage is the U-1 foil. Normally one would be carried, but two could be. It had 12 filter papers that could be used one by one. If you look above the O in FORCE, (US AIR FORCE) the angled pipe with the red cap is the intake for the I-2 foil. The aft facing scoop above the I in AIR is the trailing vent. The I-2 foil was for the SEO to take spot samples during the flight. The I-2 foil was present on RB-57As, RB-57Bs, WB-57Cs and R/WB-57Fs that were modified for air sampling. I don't think that any of the RB-57Ds that had sampling pods were modified with the I-2 foils.

Contact me off-line if you want more info on the RB-57F.

Best wishes,

Grant

If this were to be attempted Grant, drawings or at least some sort of plan would be needed.

But I will be in touch at some point, thanks for the offer! :whistle:

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Kiwi Resin or Ozmods made a conversion for the Ozmods 1/144 B-57B. You'd at least have a model that would fit on your shelf! :tumble:

Ben

That might be a good starting point for a larger conversion also..Thanks for that bit of info Ben! B)

What would really be helpful is if someone had one of those drawing sets like those Airwar.ru has...:P

=Awan

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That might be a good starting point for a larger conversion also..Thanks for that bit of info Ben! :thumbsup:

What would really be helpful is if someone had one of those drawing sets like those Airwar.ru has...:jaw-dropping:

=Awan

First off - loads of those drawings on airwar.ru are garbage, so caveat downloader. Second, did you read my post above?? And FWIW, the Mach 2 kit is actually pretty good in terms of accuracy. It's a royal bay-atch to assemble, but it's pretty accurate.

J

Edited by Jennings
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First off - loads of those drawings on airwar.ru are garbage, so caveat downloader. Second, did you read my post above?? And FWIW, the Mach 2 kit is actually pretty good in terms of accuracy. It's a royal bay-atch to assemble, but it's pretty accurate.

J

Yeah, but at $82, I'd pretty much expect a drop-together kit :jaw-dropping:

Still, if I can find one for cheap, I can use it as a pattern for a 1/48 kit.

Also, found this rough sketch on a NASA site: http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/wb57/...dimensions2.jpg

So I have rough dimensions now :thumbsup:

=Awan

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Aerophile Magazine had plans for the RB-57F in 1/72 and the Mach 2 kit is underscale compared to it. If you trust the Aerophile plans. One concern with Mach 2 kit is comparing it with the Frog Canberra fuselage, which is about the most accurate. (Frog B8, Airfix B2, Italeri B-57, Matchbox PR7, High Planes B-57A, RB-57D, B-57B) The High Planes kit is also good. The Mach 2 kit fuselage is smaller than the Frog fuselage. Italeri got the shape of the rear fuselage wrong from past the bomb bay to the tail. It narrows down too sharply, if I remember correctly.

The best Canberra plans were the ones in the old Scale Models magazine.

I love the R/WB-57F and would love to have one that has a decent shape.

We need a decent U-1 foil to put on the U-2, WC-130, WB-47 and WC-135.

Best wishes,

Grant

PS, I have scanned the Aerophile mag and can send you a copy. Wish Jay Miller, et al, would reprint or put out a newer version to help everyone.

Edited by gmat
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Aerophile Magazine had plans for the RB-57F in 1/72 and the Mach 2 kit is underscale compared to it. If you trust the Aerophile plans. One concern with Mach 2 kit is comparing it with the Frog Canberra fuselage, which is about the most accurate. (Frog B8, Airfix B2, Italeri B-57, Matchbox PR7, High Planes B-57A, RB-57D, B-57B) The High Planes kit is also good. The Mach 2 kit fuselage is smaller than the Frog fuselage. Italeri got the shape of the rear fuselage wrong from past the bomb bay to the tail. It narrows down too sharply, if I remember correctly.

The best Canberra plans were the ones in the old Scale Models magazine.

I love the R/WB-57F and would love to have one that has a decent shape.

We need a decent U-1 foil to put on the U-2, WC-130, WB-47 and WC-135.

Best wishes,

Grant

PS, I have scanned the Aerophile mag and can send you a copy. Wish Jay Miller, et al, would reprint or put out a newer version to help everyone.

Nice!! :woot.gif:

Sent you a PM :thumbsup:

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We need a decent U-1 foil to put on the U-2, WC-130, WB-47 and WC-135.

How close would the F-2 foil be to the U-1? Cutting Edge has one in the HASP Nose U-2 set that I thought might be passable in a pinch.

Rick L.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having measured the Mach 2 kit it might be slightly undersized, but only by a few millimeters. Other than that and the narrow-tipped tail bullet, it's fairly decent, accuracy-wise. I'd invest in getting some Escapac seats for it, though. I have those along with some custom NASA markings to build one of the current WB-57Fs.

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The small probe sticking out of the fuselage under the cockpit is the I-2 foil. On the above photo of the WB-57F, it is covered by a red cover.

rb-57a.jpg

Photo by Mori. From Aircrafts (sic) of USAF in Japan, by

The larger black sniffer pod is the U-1 foil. This one is on a WB-47E. Externally the U-1 Foils on the WB-47Es, R/WB-57Fs, WC-130B/Es and WC-135s were the same, save that later a clamshell door was placed over the front intake, replacing the internal butterfly door that sometimes would let air pass around it. The F-4 (?) foil for the U-2 was externally the same, but adapted for higher altitudes. Sorry, time dims everything. Two companies produced the U-1 Foils, Bendix and Seeburg, the latter of jukebox fame. Makes sense, as it was pretty much like a giant record changer.

wb47e12363.3.jpg

Photo by T. Matsuzaki

Later U-1 foil with clamshell door on a WC-130E. By the time that I reached Keesler AFB in 1977, the U-1 foils had gone over to the grey acrylic paint. It was chosen to resist having particles sticking to it. So you might guess that we sometimes had to tussle with the crew chiefs, (not too often) and the paint shop, which sometimes repainted the U-1 foil in regular grey paint. We had to take the foil off the aircraft and send it back to depot. I made a suggestion to have a Do Not Paint sticker, and it was accepted, along with a small cash award for me. But no one ever reads the stickers, so we later had another U-1 foil that was repainted, sticker and all. I think that this applied to both WC-130s and WC-135s. We also had a special plate to fill the hole left when the U-1 foil was removed and not replaced. Some enterprising crew chief stenciled four corner brackets with Cut Here in the center of the plate. We had to tell them to remove it quickly, as those plates would not be easy to replace it cut open. I regret that I couldn't get photo of it.

wc130e554.u1.jpg

USAF photo.

As you can see the I-2 and U-1 foils were quite different. are quite different.

The two large pods sticking out of the wings are the LASL tanks. They are also for air sampling. The R/WB-57F would also be carrying the I-2 and U-1 foils.

57f1.jpg

Photo by T. Matsuzaki, from Aircrafts of USAF in Japan.

I-2 and U-1 foils on an R/WB-57F.

57f2.jpg

NASA photo S-74-34511, from Aerophile Vol. 2 #3.

Markings on R/WB-57Fs were very rare and even less recorded. Here is one from Yokota. Apparently a bug eyed Cobra with the nickname Everett. RB-57F 63-13503. There were two basic types of RB-57Fs, weather sampling and Recon, and the equipment could not be swapped out with each other.

57feverett.jpg

Photo by Y. Takahashi.

Best wishes,

Grant

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Geta-o has a site with photos of aircraft in Japan.

Here is a link to it.

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/geta-o/

Some RB-57 photos from that site.

RB-57A-1 and the weather samplers belonged to 6921st RS out of Johnson and when that squadron deactivated, were assigned to 6091st RS.

RB-57A-1 Note glass nose replaced by metal cone on these recon models. sn 0-21424

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...)21424-se20.jpg

RB-57A-1 sn 21448 I-2 foil below cockpit not visible.

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...rb-57a-0211.jpg

RB-57A weather sampler, at one time temporarily designated B/20 airplanes. sn 21448

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...rb-57a-0176.jpg

RB-57E Patricia Lynn sn 55-4243 Soon after the first two arrived in SEA on 7 May 63, 243 was photographed at Yokota. 243 flew the first SEA mission on 7 May 63. TDY 6091st RS crews and aircraft. (?)

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...f)b-57-0178.jpg

RB-57F 63-13501

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...r)13501-sn7.jpg

RB-57F weather sampler.

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...f(usaf)-sn8.jpg

RB-57F 63-13302

http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/at-yoshi/B/...)13302-0712.jpg

Best wishes,

Grant

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Another RB-57A with sampling pods. RB-57A 429 was a HeartThrob aircraft, with specially selected J65 engines trimmed for extra thrust. The other is a B-57E, based in Japan.

Both photos were from the October 1958 issue of The Aviation Journal.

avmag.jpg

Note double tanks or pods under each wing. Possibly sampling pods.

rb-57a429.jpg

6th TTS B-57E 55-4277, out of Johnson AB, Japan. Hard to see, but it has a squadron commander's fuselage stripe. Yellow with black trim. Otherwise, standard orange over silver, not NM.

b-57e277.jpg

The same aircraft without stripe is on page 152 of the revised Mikesh book on the B-57 Canberra. Well worth getting.

There are many interesting photos in the old Japanese aviation magazines.

Best wishes,

Grant

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