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Italeri 1:72 B-52G Stratofortress .... Part II


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Started the Italeri B-52 with the beginning of the new year but things went horribly wrong with the wings. I had the thread deleted but since then I'm getting new wings and so I'm restarting the build thread.

So, this what I originally had to start the build with:

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the kit itself, True Details wheels, SAC landing gear, Buffmaster B-52G update set, pylons from Moongram B-52D kit, and Hasegawa Weapons Sets for the M117 bombs and MERs.

Originally, I was going to build either "SAC Time" or "Old Crow Express". I have the Warbird and Cutting Edge decal sheet; I concluded the Cutting Edge sheet was better and since then I've decided to build Old Crow.

old_crow_express_6.jpg

Here's an overview of what I did for the build so far:

First was to prep the Buffmaster resin parts, which is a good amount of work. Using a rotary tool to grind away all the excess resin was essential. Here's how the nose and tail parts originally locked.

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.. an eventual comparison of the resin tail with the kit parts. Having them side by side here shows that the Buffmaster piece on this set isn't extended like they were for the B-52 Phase VI(?) upgrade. So I decided to use the kit tail.

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I didn't like the kit gun turret so I used the resin one. Here's an in-progress pic at the time of it being put on.

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with the front fuselage:

oversized antennas were removed, Buffmaster nose glued on (putty is your friend), some vents were added or changed from raised lines that were given, NACA inlets modified too.

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Originally had planned to use the True Details wheels, the treads are better defined and they are "bulged". However, there were fit problems and I decided the amount of work required to use them was not worth the effort so I stuck with the kit wheels.

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I used a couple of the SAC metal gears for the rear, and the injection landing gear at the front. The reason for the injection at the front: I cut them and inserted pins so I can offset the wheels. This way I can depict the aircraft in a turn while taxiing on the ground. Here's a pic of a dry fit front wheels, also on are the original wings which ended up being destroyed.

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Here's the resin engines attached the the kit pylons. Again, putty is your friend. Some holes and cuts were made into the resin parts for some detail not represented.

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Hound Dog pylons are from the Monogram B-52 kit. The original MERs were pretty horrible looking so they were removed and replaced with the ones from the Hasegawa Weapons set. To the right are some of the bombs I'm currently working on. The proper fin type for a Desert Storm era M117 isn't available in 1:72 so I'm using the bombs in the Hasegawa set and modifying the fins. The lower bomb is the original, middle in-progress with sheet styrene forward fin section, and top a completed bomb (painted to check for errors).

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Edited by Benner
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Awsome progress, Benner. I'm still too scared to start my second one with the BMD engines. A lot of scribing lines I forsee.

y the way, what happened with the original wings?

RYAN.

well, their are two ways I've heard of inducing a wing droop. One, cutting the wing box. Two, making cuts along the top of the wing and inserting some styrene to force a bend in the wing. I tried option two and things went wrong.

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I see. I hope all works out fine. I'm going to try somthing on my next one that another modeller did to his over on Britmodeller. I'm going to take some fairly heavy weights, and right after the 2nd and 3rd engine pylon, use a hair dryer

and try to "heat" the wing droop. I heard that is where the wing droop begins and is a gradual curve .Might work, might end in dismal failure.

RYAN.

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I see. I hope all works out fine. I'm going to try somthing on my next one that another modeller did to his over on Britmodeller. I'm going to take some fairly heavy weights, and right after the 2nd and 3rd engine pylon, use a hair dryer

and try to "heat" the wing droop. I heard that is where the wing droop begins and is a gradual curve .Might work, might end in dismal failure.

RYAN.

Interesting, I'd like to know how that works out. Do you have any pics showing the wing droop? One thing that I thought looked wrong with mine is that the wing joint area gives the wing an upward slant... Which meant I had to drop the wing an inch or more so the outrigger wheel touched. Head on, it looked like there was a bump instead of a droop from the wing root.

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The M117s look really good; what thickness of plastic are you using for the fin extensions?

Jonah

I really don't know, I'm on the last sheet from that particular package and I tossed the packaging which indicates the thickness. It is a bit thinner than the bomb fin so I use putty to blend it together.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can't remember where I found this photo, but is interesting in that it shows two distinct kinks in the trailing edge of the wing droop on a -52...

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interesting pic. I assume those kinks are between and after the flaps? I don't think I'm going to model that; I think I'll take the same route and just alter the wingbox.

haven't taken any new pictures of my build lately because I'm still modifying bombs. Working on bombs 20 - 22. Waiting on 23 and 24 to arrive in the mail.

Edited by Benner
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taking a break from the monotony of building 24 bombs; am working on the wings. The lower one is the in-progress wing. flaps have been cut off, ribbing removed, styrene strips to close off the inner wing, thinning down the wing above the flaps, and just about ready to put in new ribbing. I'm not going to bother making this that accurate, I just want it looking better than what is offered with the kit piece.

2q87hhl.jpg

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Love the work so far. Wish I would have seen the original thread, would have happily offered to make resin copies of your bombs with the first couple you made so you wouldn't have to do so many by hand. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Dave

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done modifying the 24 bombs.

working on the wings now. cutting sheet styrene to inside of the wing, engines have been glued on, it's a fairly loose fit so putty is needed to fill the gaps, the fuel tank pylon has no curvature on it to match the wing so I'm adding styrene.

n5rc6w.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Awsome progress. Did you mate resin engine fronts to the kit pieces? Or are they the BMD engines? Can't wait to see the beast come together and spread it's wings!

RYAN.

the engines are the BMD engines.

still working on the same wing; at least the topside view is done.

zx9zl0.jpg

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Just found this thread.

Great build so far! Any updates on it?

I've done very little work on it; just occasionally doing some stuff on the wing. I've moved on to other builds, finished f/a-18a, almost done an A-10A, will likely continue the EF-111 next.

Looking good so far. You should ask mod to connect your part 1 to this and make it all into one WIP.

After a complete failure at bending the wings, I had rage quit and had the thread deleted :)/>

Really cool. I'd love to do a BUFF one day.... if I can find somewhere to store it!

Keep it coming mate.

You should have cast those bombs. Would have made your bomb job much easier.

Cheers!

I have no experience with casting; so I stuck to what I know. As tedious as it was, I would get there eventually.

Edited by Benner
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