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XB-70 - AMT's 1/72


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After returning from the NATS in Columbus, and the USAF Museum in Dayton, I was inspired to build the XB-70. And after reading the Landis / Jenkins book 'Hypersonic', decided to build it launching an X-15. I'll build it so that the XB-70 can be displayed on its own as well.

There aren't too many reference pix so I'll start here.

XB-70launchingX-15reference.jpg

And here's a drawing for the X-15 ...

X-15refdrawing.jpg

The X-15 is the Revell 1/72 and I removed the wings and replaced 'em with delta wings, scratchbuilt with styrene sheet and sanded to an airfoil shape.

X-15frontLHS.jpg

X-15wingstop.jpg

And done ...

X-15aftdone.jpg

X-15frontRHSdone.jpg

Next is the XB-70

Pete

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The XB-70 is one heckuva poor fitting kit, but, let's have some fun.

As it'll be an inflight model, I had to install a mounting hole and reinforced it with Milliput and styrene.

XB-70reinforcemountinghole.jpg

XB-70mountingholeandintake.jpg

I reinforced the wing halves with bits of styrene.

XB-70wingsstrengthentabs.jpg

XB-70wingstop.jpg

I added some details to the lower wing half. Stiffeners and some foil to represent structure.

XB-70stiffeners.jpg

Pete

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Then clamped and glued the wing halves.

XB-70clampingwingshalves.jpg

XB-70clampingaft.jpg

Where the Cockpit portion attaches to the 'goose neck' is quite a step. I patched it with thin styrene and putty.

XB-70gooseneckpatch.jpg

I also replaced two vents that I had worn down with much sanding.

XB-70scratchingvents.jpg

Attached the 'goose neck' subassembly with clamps and a nice big lead weight!

XB-70clampinggooseneck.jpg

This another big, poor fitting seam where the 'gooseneck' attaches to the wings. The wide seams on the sides were patched with styrene strips

XB-70gooseneckseams.jpg

Pete

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The MLG doors needed some sanding too. The gaps were filled with Milliput and sanded down.

XB-70MLGdoors.jpg

At the front of the intakes, the kit fit is too rounded, so with a little ball of Millput, shaped and sanded to a nice sharp 'point'. Other gaps were filled with fine styrene rod.

XB-70roundedintakebetter.jpg

XB-70squaredintake.jpg

The canopy fits poorly too. So I shimmed the gaps with styrene strip and will try to make it look better.

XB-70cockpitfiller.jpg

And I tried rescribing panel lines using Dymo tape as a guide, and it works just lover-ly! All I need is more practice using a scriber!

XB-70scribedfuse.jpg

After removing the elevons this is just a dry fit of 'em.

XB-70elevonsdryfit.jpg

That'll do it for now, thanx for taking a peek.

Pete

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Just a quick update.

Still lotsa filling and sanding, but the major subassemblies are assembled and now it's just tweaking the gaps and getting ready to pre-shade.

This is the cradle for the X-15. Initially it was gonna be just styrene, but it wouldn't fit snug to the XB-70's fuselage. And after about 5 or 6 hours of fartin' around with the fit, I used some Milliput .

XB-70-X-15cradlerough.jpg

And after another 5 or 6 hours of sanding and filling and fitting and sanding and applying more Milliput, it looks like this. I still have a few more hours of sanding. The Milliput separates from the styrene and patches have to be made, CA glue is used and after some more sanding, something else separates. But, it's coming along.

XB-70-X-15cradlebetter.jpg

And a quick little dry fit of the X-15 delta wing.

XB-70withX-15dryfit.jpg

And I'm also scribing some lines on the underside. Bomb bay, panel lines, NLG doors.

XB-70scribingbombbay.jpg

Thanx for looking!

Pete

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've spent the last couple weeks just filling, priming and sanding. A lot! And this model is so big, it bangs into lights, and other paraphernalia on my desk every time I pick it up to paint, or just look at, another part of it.

These Exhaust cans were sprayed with Gunmetal and weathered with pastels.

Oct12-exhaustcans.jpg

Preshading. And you can see some vent tubes or sensors on the spine that I saw on some photos.

Oct12-preshade.jpg

I added scratchbuilt pitot tubes to the nose section. This canopy section is really poor fitting, so I've spent a lotta time just sanding and priming over here. It still isn't perfect, but I think I've had enough of it.

I also had some white paint bleed under the masking tape on the windows. (You can see a couple pilots in there too. I really didn't think they'd be visible at all!) I've tried to remove it with thinner, and sanding, but somehow there's still residue on the clear window. I may hafta try adding some black acrylic paint to Future and see if that knocks the bleed-through back to unnoticeability. If you've got any tips for me to try, (besides burnishing down the tape :thumbsup: , I'd love to hear 'em)

Oct12-nosepitots.jpg

I've also seen this, I'll assume it's a photo reference for Canard travel, on some pix so I've masked it off with Maskol and more tape, and will paint it Gunmetal. ( I like using Gunmetal instead of Black paint. It gives a more scaled, distant effect. Black seems to be just a little too much.

Oct12-nosepaintandcanardmask.jpg

Oct12-canardmask.jpg

There are a couple of blade antennae on the topside, so here they are.

Oct12bladeantennae.jpg

And the aft underside. On either side of the exhausts, I've thinned the body panels a bit

Oct12-aftunderside.jpg

So a coat of Future, some decals, kit and homemade, and it should be complete soon!

Pete

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Couple coats of Future, decals (kit and homemade), semi-gloss paint and some pastel weathering and she's done.

This is the cradle that the X-15 would be launched from. Total speculation regarding shape and stencil placement.

Oct16-cradleandsketch.jpg

This is a photo just to show how large this model is. I have no idea where it's gonna go now, probably stay in it's shipping package.

Oct16-sideviewforsize.jpg

Some 'beauty' shots.

Oct16-topaft.jpg

Oct16-topaftwithweathering.jpg

Oct16-noselower.jpg

Oct16-noseclose.jpg

Oct16-frontright.jpg

Oct16-X-15oncradle.jpg

Oct16-X-15oncradlecloser.jpg

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Last three pix with the Delta wing X-15. It'll probably be affixed with double sided tape so I can show the XB-70 on it's own from time to time.

Oct16-aftwithX-15.jpg

Oct16-aftwithX-152.jpg

And this one just to give an idea as to the weathering.

Oct16-aftwithoutX-15.jpg

Thanx guys for all your positive comments.

Pete

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