Striker8241

I've been itching to see how a bomb clip is going to look mounted in the bomb bay so I dismounted the clip I built previously from its trailer and installed it temporarily (I will dismantle it later and rebuild it since the panels are not the right shape). BTW, I noticed in the last image that all the bombs need to be closer to the bottom of the panels. That will improve the overall look.

The detail that appears at each end of the bomb bay is not really physical detail - I copied some photos and scaled them to fit. It gives the impression of some detail there instead of just blank walls. It would be too much work to put in actual detail and not much of it would be seen anyway.

Cheers,

 Russ

 

 

Given it is 1/72, that is going to look very sweet when completed.

I have an Idea for you, no obligation to use it of course.

Rather than put a piece of glass under your BUFF so people can see the fab bomb-bay, wheel-wells, and nose bay detail, here's a solution:

Build one or two of those yellow utility carts collapsed, maybe even a tow-car, and instead of using an expanded metal floor, put in a fitted mirror instead. That way you could move them around under your BUFF so folks could see all the great work you did, and your tarmac remains tarmac.

Just a thought.

Dom

Russ, Lee:

I heard about an electronic system to confuse the SAM radar.

I'm sorry if I can't get all of this right. my recollection is that

it would cover a number of aircraft in a relatively tight formation

and obviously all flying the same speed and little relative

movement between them.

When the bombers went to turn, however, that would upset the

balance in the system and then they would become visible, or more visible,

to the SAM radar.

What I can't remember is how the crews finally got it across to

the commanders that they could fix the problem and save crews and

aircraft. It might have been a directional change, or different procedure

when the formation made the turn.

I remember a pilot saying something like this about the SAM, "if you saw the

flash moving you were okay, but if it wasn't moving, you were dead."

Reminds me of what guys used to say about tracer ground-fire in WWII.

Dom

Thanks for the good words Lee!

And thanks for sharing your wartime experiences. I don't think the average person realizes just how dangerous those flights over North Vietnam were, even with our defensive systems. The NVA fired thousands of SAMs at our formations. A lot of them were programmed to go off at altitude, or on command from the ground using optical trackers, or used proximity fuses, so there was little an invidual bomber could to avoid them.

Russ

I am enjoying your build immensely.

   I grew up with B-52s and B-47s as a kid as my Dad was in SAC. Then I saw B-52s (actually didn't really "see" them because it was dark) in action over North Vietnam during Operation Linebacker II when I was in the Navy off the coast of Haiphong. I vividly remember the SAM 2s rising into the night sky  and the flash of them exploding. Most of the ones that I saw missed, but five times I saw them hit their targets. I can't say whether the ones I saw get hit crashed or not, I know we lost sixteen of them in that operation and nine were damaged. My ship lost an A-7E Corsair II along with the pilot.  

 Later on, 1979, my ex-wife and I were stationed on Guam and our base housing was just below the landing approaches of Andersen AFB so I got another dose of B-52s. Ten years ago I went back to Guam to do some submarine repair and went on up to Andersen to see the Arc Light Memorial again. I was happy to see that it was still being well kept and pretty (as pretty as you can get a BUFF).

Thanks for keeping us posted with your progress, Russ, you are really doing a great job on it.

Lee

My pleasure, Cliff. And thank you for watching

Russ

Yow, now I can understand what I've seen of film footage of carpet bombing- 84/108 of those suckas will ruin not just your day but your whole friggin' week!!! 

This is just plain cool Russ, thanks for allowing us to follow along with your photos. 

Son Of Medicine Man

That looks pretty cool Russ!  I can't wait to see it fully loaded!  Awesome!     

Ken

 

Thanks, Ken!  You and me both! BTW, I've decided to go ahead and build all three clips with full bomb loads.

Cheers,

Russ

Pawel

Hello Russ!

So before each bombing run how many such clips were loaded? I guess three, right? That sure is a lot of ordnance. Great progress, keep it up and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi, Pawel,

You are correct. Each bomber held three clips for a total of 84 500-lb bombs in the bomb bay. It could also hold 12 750-lb bombs on each wing pylon for a grand total of 108 iron bombs.

Thanks for stopping by

Russ

That looks pretty cool Russ!  I can't wait to see it fully loaded!  Awesome!     

Ken

Hello Russ!

So before each bombing run how many such clips were loaded? I guess three, right? That sure is a lot of ordnance. Great progress, keep it up and have a nice day

Paweł

I've been itching to see how a bomb clip is going to look mounted in the bomb bay so I dismounted the clip I built previously from its trailer and installed it temporarily (I will dismantle it later and rebuild it since the panels are not the right shape).

The background detail that appears at each end of the bomb bay is not all physical detail - I copied some photos and scaled them to fit. It gives the impression of some detail there instead of just blank walls. It would be too much work to put in actual detail and not much of it would be seen anyway.

Cheers,

 Russ

Thanks, Dom!

Russ:

Your insulation looks fantastic!

It is the right color, it is puffy, it is crinkly,

and it has those slightly random raggedy edges and

fastener zones.

It will be long time before I ever see detail like that

again.

Dom

Thanks, Ken!  I'm not real happy with the way the insulation turned out, but theres not much I can do at this point. Fortunately, it won't be that viewable .

Russ

Striker8241

Hello, All,

I've had to stop work on the diorama base for a while, so I decided to try and simulate the insulation that covered the bulkhead separating the chin radome and the bomb-nav compartment (many thanks to wynder for providing pictures of the Lone Star Lady at the Pima Air Museum).

I used Testor's contour putty to form the insulation but it became apparent right away that trying to shape it with the bulkhead in the aircraft was not the way to go. Unfortunately, I had already added the bulkhead and closed up the model before wynder's photos were available. If I ever do another one, I will build up the insulation on the bulkhead before I install it.

I've also added what I believe are three power supplies on the right side of the bulkhead (again, thanks to wynder). Unfortunately, a lot of the equipment that was installed in the nav antenna compartment was removed before this picture was taken, but each picture provides a piece of the puzzle and eventually, I may be able to add more equipment.

Nice job once again Russ!  I would have to say you nailed it!  Great job!

Ken

Thanks, Shawn!

just found this thread and your work is amazing!

Hi, Beau,

Roger that , bud. I remember seeing them open many times. But the radome only slid forward about 2-3 feet before you had to take it off the track and set it on the ground. I debated whether to show it in it's open position or completely dismounted. I wanted to show the antenna as well, and unfortunately, in the opened position, you can't see much of the antenna.

My original plan was to have a tech on a B-4 stand working on the antenna with the radome on the ground. I agree, the plane looks pretty cool with the radome cocked and I might just go that route after I re-mount the antenna and see how much of it is visible.

Thanks for the suggestion,

Russ

Hey Russ!

I know that the chin radome moved forward for maintenance, giving the BUFF a temporary tremendous "underbite" look while open. Maybe you can simply add the radar dish then put on the radome in its maintenance-open position, and for a bit of tongue-in-cheek, have a guy standing right up inside the nose compartment so his legs are seen under the nose while he "takes a look around". This way, super-detailing isn't as necessary. In that configuration the detail you have there is already enough.

Hello, All,

I've had to stop work on the diorama base for a while, so I decided to try and simulate the insulation that covered the bulkhead separating the chin radome and the bomb-nav compartment (many thanks to wynder for providing pictures of the Lone Star Lady at the Pima Air Museum).

I used Testor's contour putty to form the insulation but it became apparent right away that trying to shape it with the bulkhead in the aircraft was not the way to go. Unfortunately, I had already added the bulkhead and closed up the model before wynder's photos were available. If I ever do another one, I will build up the insulation on the bulkhead before I install it.

I've also added what I believe are three power supplies on the right side of the bulkhead (again, thanks to wynder). Unfortunately, a lot of the equipment that was installed in the nav antenna compartment was removed before this picture was taken, but each picture provides a piece of the puzzle and eventually, I may be able to add more equipment.

Thanks, Ken! I very much appreciate the good words! 

Russ

Wow Russ!! That is just incredible!  Your skills of scratch building blows me away!  Those lights and the drag chute tray look fantastic!

Ken

Hi, All,

A bit more progress tonight. I decided to depict the drag chute tray extended since almost every photo I found shows this compartment open when the aircraft was parked.

Cheers,

Russ

Thanks for the good words, Dom! I found the same things with the wings and fuselage on mine. Just have to work around them. To quote the US Marine Corps: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Cheers,

Russ

Russ,

Good innovations there.

Uhhh...the wings also have different airfoils, and

the wing roots terminate in different places along the

fuselage, both length-wise and depth-wise.

I ended up filling a good portion of the topside of the

port-side wing, between the inboard engine and fuselage,

to get it to match reasonably with the other.

Also, the fuselage halves have different sectional shapes

from tip-to-tail. One side is a little 'rounder,' and the other

is a little 'squarer.' Let me know which is which, if we agree

i'll buy you a beer....

The thing is, as long as you correct a glaring error, there's

no margin in trying to repair all of the inaccuracies of any

given kit.

Also, as long as you are building and modifying within the

kit manufacturer's tolerances, no one can fault you if it was

a bit off of the aircraft-manufacturer's blue-print when you

pulled it out of the box.

It's always refreshing to note as well that on many real aircraft,

the lines, lumps and bumps are often not entirely symmetrical.

Given the tolerances of that kit, if a guy ever complains to you that

the lights aren't exactly the same shape, you will know

instantaneously that you are talking to a certified moron.....

Great job on the lights!

Dom

I finally found a clear green plastic I could use for the right wingtip navigation light (got it from a plastic clip) so here are the two wingtips completed.

One thing that presented a problem - the thickness of the left and right wingtips is different (who would have thought? ), so the lights don't look exactly the same. But since they are at opposite ends of a long wingspan, I don't think it will be noticed.

Cheers

Russ

Not a problem, bud. I always appreciate your being concerned.

Russ

Hey Russ,

it's looking so fine, I just

wanted to make sure it wasn't just my own

warped perception, or a tiny imperfection.

I think as mentioned above, if you can document

your scratch, you are going to win something

at a show for sure!

Dom

Hey, Dom,

I corrected the wheel spread in Photoshop for now (I know, it just looked bad in the picture). I'll wait till I get the wings on her before I glue the wheels permanently in place.

Cheers,

Russ

Bockscar

Russ, more fantastic work. I never new the BUFF was such a porcupine!

Thanks for the all the great descriptions as well.

As we can all see in the photo above, that soft-yellowish bronzey looking semi-circular object just behind the antenna farm is a actually a tail-hook.

Yeah, the crews of battle-damaged BUFFs used it to make emergency landings on aircraft carriers

in the South China Sea..........errrr.....I have a rice paddy near Laos I can sell yah.......

Russ, all those vents and antennas make it look very realistc.

Thanks, Dom! Ahh yeah, that was an arresting hook...lol!      [Psssst!!  You guys with the happy suit -- this way! ... --> 

Bockscar

Not trying too cause you any additional grief here, but are you planning to do anything about that aft-starboard wheel spread situation?

Dom