RB-36E Cold War Warrior, WIP

RB-36E Update #1

The bomb bay fuel tank held 3,000 gallons and was jettisonable.  I made the top and bottom out of the outer main gear doors from an Airfix 1/72 C-130 and scratch built the end
panels.  I still have to build the sides and reinforcing straps that go around the circumference.

Communication Tube that runs from the forward crew compartment to the aft in the regular bomber, but skips the pressurized camera compartment in the recce birds. It is made out of 3/16 brass tubing

Add the bomb rack main frame and pressure bulkheads (not glued in yet)

Add 20 of the photo flash bombs in bomb bay #2.

Add the aux fuel tank in bay #3 and the wing spar.

I intended this to be the floor for the camera compartment, but it didn't turn out very well.  Back to the drawing board.

Holy Habu! Where have you been?

This looks like a great project, I'll be watching. I remember two things from that kit.

One the wing to fuse join had a bad geometry. I tried to fix it but wasn't real successful.

Second, the intakes were screwy looking. Some work with files fixed that.

GMorrison

Holy Habu! Where have you been?

Life's events have overtaken me for the last several years, the biggest being taking care of my invalid wife.  That doesn't leave much time for modeling or anything else, but I have forced myself to set aside an hour or two a day to wrap myself up in my own little world and ignore everything else.  Thanks for asking.

Darwin

This is a very nice start, I look forward to your progpress.  I'm sorry to hear of your situation with your wife sir, I hope all is well and fine for now.

Toshi

Hello Darwin!

I'm so glad to see you back on the forums!

You got yourself a helluva project - the B-36 is an otherworldly aircraft. I'll be watching this thread with great interest.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

You have an awesome project going, and are off to a great start!  I love those crazy gun turrets, and you rarely see them on a finished model.  I look foward to seeing your progress, but  beware the finished model is a beast to store!  When I was a wee lad, I had to put a piece of plywood under my model, as one of the main gear legs would not fit on my shelf!  Oh and don't use D cell batteries for nose weight, as they can leak!  

Real G

Oh and don't use D cell batteries for nose weight, as they can leak!

Thanks for the tip.  I normally use BB's for nose weight.  They are cheap, easy to use and fit in small places.

I will be watching this one, it looks really interesting!  Keep up the good work!

there is one of these a/c at Castle air museum  in Merced,ca.

Good to see you back yardbird. Some nice work there, look forward to seeing plenty more of this.

seastallion53

there is one of these a/c at Castle air museum  in Merced,ca.

 

Where did you get the turrets? I have one sitting in the stash and I would love to add the turrets. Someone mentioned the wing joints, they are a pain in the butt. I am not sure how to fix it so, I am going to watch this thread to see some ideas.  

MKelley

Where did you get the turrets? I have one sitting in the stash and I would love to add the turrets. 

I got them from a company called "Oxonians Plastic Fantastic" in England.  email:

MarkVerney@msn.com

I found a youtube video of a B-36 jettisoning one of those auxiliary fuel tanks and was really fascinated by it.  I think that my scratch built version looks pretty close.

http://youtu.be/ethVLMyxATM

Welcome back, Darwin, hope you can stick around.  While you were out I finished my RB-36H.  I would have liked to do a Travis bird as I live near there and used to see tham all the time, but wanted to do one with the white bottom and couldn't find any photos of Travis airplanes in that scheme, just aluminum.  I did rework the wing root, lowering it on the fuselage, but it was a job.  Here's  a link to my build log.

http://www.yolo.net/~jeaton/mymodels/b36/1b36/1b36.html

yardbird78

 

 

GMorrison

Holy Habu! Where have you been?

 

 

Life's events have overtaken me for the last several years, the biggest being taking care of my invalid wife.  That doesn't leave much time for modeling or anything else, but I have forced myself to set aside an hour or two a day to wrap myself up in my own little world and ignore everything else.  Thanks for asking.

Darwin

 

 

John I see put up a link for his build. Taught that kid everything he knows.

LOLs but seriously it is like the good old SAC GB's again.

jeaton01

Welcome back, Darwin, hope you can stick around. While you were out I finished my RB-36H.

Your B-36 turned out quite well.  I like the modifications that you made to the prop mounts and air intakes.  I will probably do that to mine as well.  I am not planning on doing the wing-fuselage joint mod as I don't think that it makes enough difference to be worth all that effort.  Did you use the plastic landing gear struts from the kit or metal AM parts?  I am concerned about how heavy this beast will be, especially with the amount of nose weight that will be required.  Your display case is gorgeous.

GMorrison

Darwin, I am thinking positive thoughts for you. Best wishes and have strength.

Thanks for the encouragement.  I will probably need it before I get this beast completed.

Darwin

jeaton01

I did rework the wing root

Hello John, I would like to ask you what was wrong with the wing root, so that you had to rework it? On the photos it looks pretty drastic.

TIA, have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, I haven't forgotten I owe you!

The wing is about 1/16 too high on the fuselage, maybe a bit more, and the way it should be is a perfect intersection with the top line of the fuselage and the top line of the wing.  Bugged the heck out of me, but only because this monstrosity of an airplane was real familiar over my house when I was a flea.  Probably just should have found some better meds.

Thanks, Darwin.  The plastic landing gear seems perfectly adequate on mine.

The Pavla gun turrets are also available from UMM (Unique Master Models) for a few dollars cheaper than the ones in England.

http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=79&products_id=6506

RB-36E Update #2

My eyeballs are rotating to the back of my head from working with the tiny instrument decals, so I thought that I would post an update to the Beast.  This is the pressure bulkhead between the back
end of the camera compartment and the front end of bomb bay #2.  The hatch in lower right is the entrance to the "Communication Tube" that ran between the front crew compartment and the one
in the tail.  It wasn't present in the camera compartment so that the guys in there could go to the front or back of the plane.  The hatch on middle left gives access to the bomb bay.  The window
towards the bottom is so they could monitor what was going on in the bomb bay without depressurizing the compartment.  The items on the top shelf are electronic components and the center and
bottom row are instruments and controls for these "black boxes".  I have applied a few decals and need to put on several more.  The silver disc in picture #2 is how the bulkhead looked when I
started working on it.  The decal sheet with the 1/72 instruments and controls is by Mike Grant Decals.

This is the jettisonable auxiliary fuel tank that goes in bomb bay #3.  I finished the construction and put on a coat of primer.  It still needs a finish coat of green.  See the you tube video above to
see a full scale B-36 jettison one of these things.

RB-36E Update #3

I have made some progress with the camera compartment and started on the modification to the APG-32 tail radar.

This is the front side of the pressure bulkhead 6.0 that divides the aft end of the camera compartment and bomb bay #2.  The hatch on the right is the entrance to the communication tube to the rear crew compartment and the one on the left is for access to the unpressurized bomb bay.  I am considering it complete.

This is the backside of bulkhead 5.0 that divides the forward end of the camera compartment from the forward gun bay.

Adding the "I" beam at the top, the first shelf and the hatch to the gun bay.

Adding the shelf and cabinet for the Camera Operator's control panel.

Just for a little diversity, I started on the modification to the fairing for the APG-32 radar that controls/aims the two tail guns.  The early B-36s had a single antenna/radome and later models had twin antennas.  The kit provides the twin antenna version with a much larger and longer fairing.  This has to be cut out and replaced with a smaller one.

Hello Darwin!

Nice scratchbuilding! What are your references on that? That's always the biggest problem for me. I'd also like to ask - what's happening with the tail?

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I have 7 or 8 different books on the B-36 for reference plus a lot of photos from the internet.  I also took about 200 photos of the B-36 at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, when I visited there in 2011.  Most of the B-36's had a tail radar with just a single antenna and a short fairing.  The J and H models had two antennas side by side and a much larger fairing.  I have cut out the large fairing and will rebuild it with the smaller one.

Allright, I got it - thanks a lot and good luck with the mods, have a nice day

Paweł

RB-36E Update #4

This is bulkhead 5.0 with the construction finished and the camera operator's panel to the right.

The same bulkhead with a coat of primer and the Camera Operator's panel temporarily in place.