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Buongiorno gents! This is one ginormous kit for its scale and quite iconic as well. The B-2 Spirit built by Northrop at the end of the Cold War era, still majestic today, and a plane that i`ve always admire:

 

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The oob decals let you choose between 3 airframes, i`ll probably choose the Spirit of New York. 

 

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And i just open this theme, but will not start building it, cause i have to first finish my other Northrop masterpiece - the F-23A. About the kit - there are several great reviews here and there, so check out only the glimpse over the content:

 

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The packing is flawless and fortunately that`s the box design that i liked the most, the black one. About the size of this beast - i`m speechless....

 

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Edited by my favs are F`s
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Thanks 3!

I didn`t knoe about the PE. It might be related to the cockpit area... and the rudders perhaps... There is plenty of things to jazz up on the underside, but what will be visible indeed. I still have no clear vison on how to display it, but a flying config is highly considered. 

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51 minutes ago, my favs are F`s said:

Thanks 3!

I didn`t knoe about the PE. It might be related to the cockpit area... and the rudders perhaps... There is plenty of things to jazz up on the underside, but what will be visible indeed. I still have no clear vison on how to display it, but a flying config is highly considered. 

I saw Bomb bay details. I think I saw it on lucky models. 

Anyone know of a good reference book on the B-2?

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Ok, it comes up on hobby link Japan, March release date. Just says photo etch detail set for MC B-2A. So it looks like it may cover several areas of the A/C. I also ordered some modern weapons sets from Hasegawa. 

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If you look at Hannants "New Arrivals" for February 26th there is a Colour cockpit set, masks and three photo etch sheets all shown by Eduard for this kit....

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19 hours ago, RCAFFAN said:

If you look at Hannants "New Arrivals" for February 26th there is a Colour cockpit set, masks and three photo etch sheets all shown by Eduard for this kit....

 

Sprue Bros just received a load of Eduard stuff for it as well.

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That`s a very nice range of PE parts. I think the fret with the ladder and the zig-zag pieces for the boundary air right infront the intakes, will be the most effective one. Of course if the model is not displayed in a way to see clearly the bomb bays and the undercarriage. (upside-down perhaps?!) The canopy has to be tinted, and if there are pilots (as in my case) - very little will be visible from the colored PE panels.

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I've alomst finished my one of these and its been quite good but make sure you have the body sligned correctly when gluing the 2 halves together otherwise you end up with huge gaps in the wings, reminiscent of the Testors kit. The gap only happened on one side so im sure its builder error. Oh and dont forget to add nose weight like I did.  

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Nice tips, Madhatter. Thanks! I wondered why there is a weight suggested in the manual, but after a testfit with all the flaps and control surfaces - there was no doubr about it - the center of weight moves quite aft. And it will move even more aft. with all the plastic in the bays.... I`ll definitely try not to miss the weight :)

 

Btw another hint that i came across recently - the profile of the very tip of the nose, the curved edge - there is something wrong... a little imperfection...  That`s how it looks from the side:

 

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, which is way different from the profiles in the color guide:

 

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I know that the above is a poor rendering of the sillhouette. Nevertheless, the profile of the real plane doesn`t look like the model either, and it`s even closer to the profile in the  paint guide:

 

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And here is why - the top edge is too bulged as it blends with the surface. A front view shows that only the very tip of the nose (and very little behind it) should have an edge. Otherwise the curve is rather smooth. Gotta keep that in mind as well :)

 

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Gues what kit i've started some days ago?! 🙂 Since i'm gonna model it with moveable landing gear only - so there are not much other things to do from the interiors, except for the cockpit of course. The bomb and engine bays, and the aux air intakes witll stay closed. About the situation with the NLG - up and down, and the doors are hinged - open and closed:

 

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Edited by my favs are F`s
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The MLGs. The pylons are hinged at 3 points... on the left is a pylon in its imaginary position inside the bay when it's retracted; and on the right is the other pylon extended:

 

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And that's how it looks with the wheels:

 

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Now the closing of the doors mechanism, painting, and wiring.... 🙂

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The thinning of the wing's trailing edges. FIrst the entire length of the aft profiles of the wings need to be thined. Here is how i did it. The difference is just a little, but i'm noticing it. Here on these pics the top wing is still untouched, while the bottom wing is prepped. And with the red lines are some examples of the exact lines where they are cut:

 

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Continuing with the edits: all is thinned properly now, and here is the difference with the outboard flaperon - as it is OOB, and after the edit:

 

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And from a different angle:

 

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... which, in a matter of fact, look like that in the real deal. Sry that i cannot post the full pic, but this is the inboard flaperon. They all are with just about the same thicknesses of their profiles:

 

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With a little bit of sanding and flattening, i suppose i could make them look with such flat surfaces.

 

 

 

 

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Another "winged" upgrade - the conjunction of the mid flaperon with the outboard flaperon - there is a bevelled edge:

 

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And tried to replicate it. I'm quite glad with how it turned out. Here is the difference - the bevel on the wing side is already donel the flaperon side is still oob:

 

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and testfitted:

 

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Ginormous difference. But here is how it looks when the flaperons have their bevels as well 🙂

 

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And i also glued the doors on the lower fuselage + quite alot of reinforcements from the inner side. This beast becomes nearly half a kilogram and the receptacle for the stand pylon should be very sturdy too. So, the doors indeed fit pretty nicely and flawlessly:

 

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But i gave them a thorough rub and now the bottom fuselage is perfectly flat, including the openable doors for the landing gear:

 

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