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Italeri 1/72 RB-66B; RAF Alconbury; 1964


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Hello All,

 

First build finished in many, many years.

 

This is the Itaerli 1/72 RB-66 kit, built in markings for the 10th TRW at RAF Alconbury in 1964. I built this to hang on the ceiling of my boys' bedroom, since both were born while stationed at RAF Alconbury. Kids went nuts for it, so that made me happy.

 

The Kit

This is the only readily available kit for the any version of the B-66. It is actually quite impressive, as the kit comes with parts to make every major variant of the jet: B-66, RB-66, and EB-66.

 

Technically, the EB-66 version should have many more seats behind the cockpit for the multiple EWOs it carried, but this would be completely invisible behind the bulkhead, so who cares. I would recommend researching the underside of each variant, however, as true accuracy should require some minor rescribing of the different bomb/camera bays. Close comparison with actual photos shows that the kit is lacking some small random fairings, but these varied so much over the years that it's not worth the effort to represent with 100% accuracy, in my opinion.

 

Parts fit is excellent if you remove the locator pins. If you don't, you'll have some alignment issues with the fuselage and wings.

 

My only real complaints are that the refueling probe needs to be bent into proper shape (I still need to do this), and that the panel lines on the top and bottom of the fuselage are annoyingly shallow, despite being excellent on the rest of the kit.

 

The Markings

The decals are of excellent printing quality and behaved beautifully - even those huge decals that run along the whole length of the wings.

 

There are major issues with decal accuracy, however, as all of the jets shown in the instructions have incorrect markings when compared to the real planes. You can find a lengthy discussion on the markings at this link here. I wasn't entirely convinced, so I went off of real jet in a Youtube video filmed at Alconbury at this link here. Luckily, the serials in the kit decals can be mixed and matched to make multiple accurate RB-66s from the 10th TRW, so I was able to come up with a 90% solution I was content with.

 

A word of warning that there are a few other errors in the decals that can be easily corrected:

- The anti-glare panels in front of the cockpit and on the engine nacelles were olive drab, not brown.

- The instructions call for decals 12 and 13 for the tails of the three RB-66 schemes, but comparisons with real photos show that you should use decals 18 and 19 instead (the ones the instructions say are only for the SEA camo EB-66).

- The various stencils in the kit decals don't entirely match up with any of the jets depicted, but complete accuracy would honestly be impossible here, so I just did my best and didn't worry too much.

 

The Paint

I bulit this while on a long business trip, so I did not have access to my airbrushing equipment. The natural metal finish is Tamiya TS-17 Gloss Aluminum spray paint, which I will swear by as the best NMF until the day I die. The olive drab anti-glare panels and the black radomes were hand painted. The clear gloss base coat and final clear semi-gloss were from Mr. Hobby spray paint, which was as outstanding as Tamiya spray paint.

 

Final Words

Overall, this kit can be very satisfying if you remove the locator pins and take a careful approach to the decals. I really enjoyed building it and enjoyed even more seeing my boys bounce around yelling "Airplane!" once I hung it up on the ceiling.

 

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Edited by latormentabritanica
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Great job on that ol Itaerli kit. 
 

I think you’re right about the Tamiya rattle can metal line of colors. They are simply amazing. Should you ever have an opportunity to decant them they airbrush very well too. 
 

Take care and keep building,

 

Mr. Happy

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On 12/9/2022 at 5:43 PM, latormentabritanica said:

The natural metal finish is Tamiya TS-17 Gloss Aluminum spray paint, which I will swear by as the best NMF until the day I die. The olive drab anti-glare panels and the black radomes were hand painted. The clear gloss base coat and final clear semi-gloss were from Mr. Hobby spray paint, which was as outstanding as Tamiya spray paint.

 

Attractive model & I'll make a note of that paint. 

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