It's a great time to be a modeler, especially if you like unusual subjects. Mikro-Mir recently released a Martin XB-51, in 1/72 scale:
Decals are provided for the two prototypes that were built:
The kit is injected plastic of the limited run variety:
A sheet of PE is provided, loaded with lots of tiny parts. A lot of it are fins for the HVAR rockets and bombs.
A canopy masking sheet is also provided.
The rotary bomb bay can be built in the open position, which is where either the rockets or bombs can be mounted.
The XB-51 is one of my favorite "X-Bombers", and so I thought I'd share some trivia regarding the model:
- At least one of the prototypes was fitted with a bullet fairing on the t-tail during trials. The kit does not provide parts for this.
- The small outrigger wheels do not touch the ground when the aircraft is sitting perfectly level. During taxiing, the XB-51 tottered about like a drunkard trying to get home.
- The wings had variable incidence to cope with the landing characteristics of the bicycle main gear (i.e. no flare landings like the B-52). Thus there was a slight but noteceable gap between the wings and fuselage.
- The kit wings are provided in the clean configuration. You'll have to modify the parts to extend the flaps and slats - but that would make an ugly airplane even uglier! Also note that the wing tips had air bleed slots, which Mikro-Mir represented as small "teeth". Don't sand those off!
- The two fuselage mounted engine nacelles had horizontal split cowls with piano hinges. The separation lines extended into the intakes, so there should be seam lines in there! The nacelles are split horizontally, with separate pylons.
- The fighter-style canopy did not hinge. It was fixed in place and only blew off during crew ejection.
- The centrally mounted engine in the back of the fuselage had a rotating fairing to close off the dorsal intake when cruising. The kit does not offer this option, although it would be fairly easy to make one. The kit does include a full length intake, so this should please the dental mirror crowd.
- Some know the XB-51 as the XF-120 Gilmore Fighter from the movie "Into the Unkown". You'll have to wait for aftermarket decals for this scheme, as the decal sheet does not include these spurrious markings.