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My project is to build the famous B-52H that lost it's tail but kept flying and was brought to a safe landing.

The kit I am using is a Revell 1/144 B-52H. It is the right type of BUFF but well need several modification to depict my particular subject.

The most obvious modification will be the tail.

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I have to find a way to use the kit tail or scratch make a new "tail" to depict the type of damage this Stratofortress sustained. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that yet.

In the meantime one other obvious modification is to back-date this Revell model.

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It is a B-52H, but it depicts one as it would more or less look like today. Back in 1964 the B-52H were fresh of the Boeing production line and had no reinforcement plates, no blisters protruding from the fuselage, and it did not have the "eyes" that would be installed in the 1970's. Everything you see encircled or covered with black marker are to be removed and that is what I will work on over the next few days.

Edited by Fellow Hobbyist
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Cant wait to see how you do it!

Maybe cut the tail off above what you don't need, and then use a dremel to thin out the plastic, or leave enough of the stock tail to form some thin sheet styrene to give the appropriate thickness?

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The back-dating is nearly complete. As you can see all of the molded reinforcement plates have been removed. It was an easier task for the starboard half. Cutting the port side half proved to be more challenging and was more crude. My hobby knife gouged into the plastic more times than I liked.

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Nonetheless with the filling of the void where the left "eye" done all that will remain is to sand it smooth.

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For a reference for the internal structure I found that I had a cutaway drawing of the B-52H in my extensive; but unsorted, airplane photo library . Also I made an intuitive guess as to what the opposite side of the stabilizer remnant looks like. If you look at the screenshot the skin on the left side of the tail remnant is behind the ribbing. This is likely considering no sky light passes through the opening on the visible side. A quick review of the video with the plane on the ground confirms this (the cameraman is looking right up into the opening and it is still dark). So the skin on the left side is still present up to the top of the structural ribs.

My idea is rough cut the tail to and file to shape. Next I will thin the plastic of the tail fin as Adam suggested and lie strips of plastic onto the left stabilizer half for the ribbing. All that would be required is to sand to correct size and shape and mate the right side over the ribbing.

Edited by Fellow Hobbyist
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Working on the flight deck the control yokes and cockpit have been prepared and painted.

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But not wanting to leave the plane uninhabited I set to work making a crew.

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To the left is a 1/100 scale pilot figure I had thought might work out. I have two and though out of scale looked like they would fit in the seats. However these figures were designed to fit in reclined seats. So using a large laminated piece for the torso and filing strips of plastic for the head and limbs and making figures that are postured to sit in the flight deck seats.

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Test fit of legs and torso.

Edited by Fellow Hobbyist
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Stumbled across this youtube video and it provides some pretty good information on how this particular plane was painted. Also noted that it was carrying Hound Dogs at the time of the mishap. Here is the link to the vid. Hope this helps.

Don

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Stumbled across this youtube video and it provides some pretty good information on how this particular plane was painted. Also noted that it was carrying Hound Dogs at the time of the mishap. Here is the link to the vid. Hope this helps.

Don

I appreciate the sentiment Drifterdon...but I already bookmarked that vid weeks ago. But you are correct, this video has a lot of imagery on paint schemes, load out, and configuration. It has proven indispensible for this project.

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Phase 1 complete!

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This took about two to three work hours to accomplish. The skin of the tail is now 1/2 as thick as it was. This required two dremel sessions each side, sanding with 220, 300, & 400 WD paper, and wet filing with jewlers files.

Edited by Fellow Hobbyist
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have the patience to do that. It's already looking great.

I guess you could take as motivation the fact that you will have an amazing - and probably, unique - model to display when it's finished!

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Agreed. It was the uniqueness in the build that made me want to do it in the first place. It's also my first foray into extensive scratch building; a skill I've always wanted to master. It's tedious work...but support from you Litvyak and others help to keep me going. So a grateful thanks to you all.

But I realized building all the structural stuff is still a piece of cake compared to what I need to do with the wings later. In the archival video the pilot describes how in part of what he did in order to obtain marginal control of #1023 was setting the spoilers to #4 position. I interpreted that to mean that four of the seven spoiler panels were raised. The Revell kit has the spoilers molded directly onto the wings. Obviously the panels would have to be cut away and the raised "feathers" need to be sanded away. Reference photos shown me what lies underneath the spoilers. That will be easy to duplicate. Making the spoilers themselves however....I haven't figure out how to make that happen...yet.

Edited by Fellow Hobbyist
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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress report:

The tail is essentially done; save for filling in a void between the fuselage and the aft tail spar and adding a duct to the vent on the leading edge of the tail.

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In the mean time I have started to remove the molded spoiler panels. Firstly holes are drilled around the inner perimeter of the panel.

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And once that is done I cut through the plastic between each hole. One more wing needs this treatment. I sense lots of filing in my future.

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