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Academy 1/144 B-52H breaks cover


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13 hours ago, HunterBose said:

GWH having many inaccurate details in my inspect. So I wonder among Revell and Academy, which one have better accurate and details of B-52H here?

 We cannot make a judgement until Academy's kit is released. I only assume it will have some updated details because Wolfpack design took a major role in designing the kit.

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MMZ posted the kit's review. According to the site, the kit has

  • accurately depicted front and back landing gear bays
  • accurate up-to-date antenna details
  • ordinances for the real actions including 2,000lb GBU-31(V) and 500lb GBU-38(V)
  • detailed TF33 engines and engine pylons
  • decals for up-to-date markings

MMZ's editor states that the designer of the kit (known as Wolfpack design) especially elaborated on accurately depicting the landing gear and bomb bays. 

Edited by not2p
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On 2/25/2021 at 12:17 AM, haneto said:

(I want a D but failed to convince GWH to make it. After all, all 1/144 items R&D are done by their Japan agency Pit-Road so they are the final decision maker.)

 

Just my 2 cents.

Not sure if you knew already, but Minicraft put out a D in 1/144.

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Looks really nice from the MMZ photos. Interesting how there appears to be two sets of HSABs; one with the GBU-31s molded into the center stations, and the other set clean. Can’t wait!
 

Unlike the GWH kit however, parts breakdown of Academy kit does not look conducive to a late G variant. 

 

Chris

 

Edited by Gator52
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21 hours ago, Colin K said:

Not sure if you knew already, but Minicraft put out a D in 1/144.

Yes I know but it’s a disaster from outline to detail wise.

Even much worse than the old Tamiya 1/100 one.

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, not2p said:

Someone found that there is a significant size difference between the two manufacturers' kits (link). Academy's fuselage looks to be longer than GWH's by about 5mm.

That was quite interesting. GWH wing is also 2mm shorter than Academy one, not to mention the size difference between vertical fin/stabilizers.

 

I picked up the glued up GWH test shot B-52 from my trash can and measured it:

 

Length: around 336mm(real plane length: 48.5m, from Wikipedia)

Wingspan: around 390mm(real plane wingspan: 56.4m, also from Wikipedia)

So it seems GWH size is spot all.

 

Again I'm no expert of B-52 so just wanna leave all justification to you guys who knows the buff much better.

IMG_5533.JPG

IMG_5534.JPG

IMG_5535.JPG

IMG_5536.JPG

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On 4/2/2021 at 10:28 PM, haneto said:

That was quite interesting. GWH wing is also 2mm shorter than Academy one, not to mention the size difference between vertical fin/stabilizers.

 

I picked up the glued up GWH test shot B-52 from my trash can and measured it:

 

Length: around 336mm(real plane length: 48.5m, from Wikipedia)

Wingspan: around 390mm(real plane wingspan: 56.4m, also from Wikipedia)

So it seems GWH size is spot all.

 

Again I'm no expert of B-52 so just wanna leave all justification to you guys who knows the buff much better.

IMG_5533.JPG

IMG_5534.JPG

IMG_5535.JPG

IMG_5536.JPG

Are you saying Academy shape was wrong but GWH got it right shape?

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  • 2 weeks later...

FWIW, I'll stick with the Academy kit, especially the better weapons and u/c detail, and just remove 5mm from the extended tail, if that is all that it takes for accuracy sake. (It does look a little long on the sprue shot).  Still waiting for mine to arrive.

Edited by Dutch
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  • 2 weeks later...

Received mine today.  Some initial impressions:

 

  • Surface detail is nice, and better in some ways than the GWH kit, like having raised spoiler “fingers” and outlines of the chaff/flare boxes on the tails which are missing from the GWH kit (although Academy molded them on both top and bottom, but they should only be on the bottom, so fill the top panel lines).  On the flip side, GWH is better in some area, like having a separate part for the “cheese grater” plate covering the former tail gun position (On the Academy, it’s part of each fuselage half, with a seam up the middle of the blank rear of the turret).  Also, the top and bottom ejection hatches seem to stand too proud of the surface on the Academy kit, and I think the panel lines are a little heavier than on the GWH kit.
  • The flaps are only designed to be installed in the up position.  There is no flap well detail, and a fair amount of scratch building would be needed for flaps down.
  • The engines are much, much better than in the GWH kit both for detail and engineering.  The fan section and rear body are each slide molded, so there are no seams, and the fans are a separate part, making painting them a breeze.
  • Speaking of the engines, Academy correctly included the difference in the No.2 engine and pylon due to it containing the air conditioning pre-cooler.  The pylon has small NACA scoops in the side, and there is an exhaust for the pre-cooler in the underside of the pen-nib fairing between the engine exhaust.  These differences are on the Academy parts, while the GWH No. 2 engine is the same as the No. 3 engine.
  • A little more detailed cockpit, with some sidewalls, but unfortunately like GWH, no decals for the IP or anything.
  • As already mentioned, correct gear bays.  However, the Academy outrigger gear is simplified compared the the GWH part. Academy molded the wheel to the strut, and didn’t include the retraction strut.
  • In addition to the radome top without the antenna bump and the underwing SNIPER pod, the kit also includes the radome with the antenna bump and an underwing LITENING pod as unused parts.
  • Bomb bay load consists of 27 M117 750 lb bombs.  If you want to show and empty bomb bay, you can just install the racks, but you don’t get a rotary launcher.
  • Underwing loads consist of a choice of GBU-31s or GBU-38s.  The GBU-38s are pretty small and will test your painting skills trying to paint the tiny nose strake.
  • 3 decal schemes, although the nose art is a bit less interesting than the options in the GWH kit.
  • Instructions here.  https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/3/6/3/1261363-45-instructions.pdf
     
Edited by Dave Williams
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10 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:
  • A little more detailed cockpit, with some sidewalls, but unfortunately like GWH, no decals for the IP or anything.

I have to confess I've never built a 1/144 BUFF, only box scale and 1/72, but how much of the IP is actually visible when assembled? And I may have missed it: is there provision for it to be built gear-up OOB?

Edited by K5054NZ
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23 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

...

  • The flaps are only designed to be installed in the up position.  There is no flap well detail, and a fair amount of scratch building would be needed for flaps down.

 

...

 

Does the BUFF normally have the flaps up or down when parked on the ramp?  I had been leaning towards the Academy kit for my SAC trio build, but I'm building them all shutdown and parked on the ramp.  The better engines were selling me, but it could washout with the flaps if I should be leaving those down. 

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10 minutes ago, Drifterdon said:

If having to have the flaps down is a washout for you, your only other option would be the really old Crown/Minicraft B-52H kit.   And that is a lot of work to get right and even then it leaves lots to be desired.    Minicraft 14615 1/144 Boeing B-52H Stratofortress Build Review (cybermodeler.com)

 

I'm not saying I wouldn't do some scratchbuilding work on the Academy BUFF either.  Just trying to weigh the good and bad to come up with a conclusion.

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41 minutes ago, ESzczesniak said:

 

Does the BUFF normally have the flaps up or down when parked on the ramp?  I had been leaning towards the Academy kit for my SAC trio build, but I'm building them all shutdown and parked on the ramp.  The better engines were selling me, but it could washout with the flaps if I should be leaving those down. 

 

You're not wrong either way with the flaps; they are lowered prior to aircrew preflight and also for servicing the hydraulic reservoirs, raised prior to loading weapons...

 

Chris

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1 hour ago, K5054NZ said:

I have to confess I've never built a 1/144 BUFF, only box scale and 1/72, but how much of the IP is actually visible when assembled? And I may have missed it: is there provision for it to be built gear-up OOB?


Yes, it has instructions (see the link in the last bullet of my post) for building gear up.  The bomb bar doors can also be built open or closed.  No stand in the box, though.

 

Not that much of the IP is visible, but since they went to the trouble of making a separate part for the IP, and included the sidewalls, it would have been nice to include a decal IP, like they did with the B-1B kit.

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On 4/12/2021 at 11:30 PM, Dutch said:

FWIW, I'll stick with the Academy kit, especially the better weapons and u/c detail, and just remove 5mm from the extended tail, if that is all that it takes for accuracy sake. (It does look a little long on the sprue shot).  Still waiting for mine to arrive.

 You don't need to remove 5mm from the Academy kit. Academy's kit depicts a more up-to-date B-52H with Phase IV upgrade whose length was extended to 49.51m from 48.5m. This image shows that there is a size difference between a B-52H with and without a Phase IV update.

Edited by not2p
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