Darwin, Yes it will be quite a challenging project, I did it because I have never seen anyone else complete it. To be honest with you, I probably wont begin any major building until after the first of the year due to time restraints and such. For now I am in "research mode" and acquiring parts & supplies.
bondoman wrote:
The one major problem with the B-36 kit, IMO fatal, is the way the wings come together. On real thing, the wing top surfaces join together barely. On the kit there's a really long join. I tried to correct that in the one shot I took at that kit, by grinding plastic on the top of the fuse. It worked out ok, but seen from the side there's a hump.
Hi bondoman, I`m very familiar with the wing issue you pointed out. Alas, there really isn't much any of us can do other than build it "as is" - or - spend hours re-fabricating the fuselage wings. If I had the time and expertise... I`d be off making a nice living in professional model building and not running a pizza shop. LOL! You`re right, those joint lines all across the board are going to be a bear. I've never seen a B-36 build that was able to hide all of them completely to the trained eye.
upnorth wrote:
I remember the B-36 being a bit of a bear in some ways. If I had it to do again, I would deffinitely do something to strengthen the wing/fuselage joints as the brace included in the kit wasn't enough to support the joint in my model. Being as how you're still in the dry fitting stages, you might want to epoxy a length or two of brass or steel rod across the floor of the wing brace before cementing the fuselage together around it. Alternately, using the brace as a template, you could also cut a block of wood just slightly smaller to fit inside it. Some people will tell you the kit supplied brace is strong enough on it's own, I'm just letting you know that myself and some other modelers I've known have had contrary experiences with that aspect of the kit. As for the Italeri B-58; I've not built it myself, but going by several reviews and forum postings I've seen, it seems to be a model people have a "love it" or "hate it" feeling about. Some say it's very nice, others say it's an outright pig. From the standpoint of your project, I think you might run into a problem fitting the two aircraft together. I've seen a couple of reviews out there that stated the B-58 is a bit short in scale, so you might have some creative fettling to do between them if you're concerned about getting them to look just right together. Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing how this project comes out.
Hi upnorth, and thank you. I`ve seen many posts online concerning the strength of the brace and how it doesn't hold up over time. I was off today and was looking at what as available to use in the local arts & crafts, and hobby shops for things that could be used to add strength to that piece. I havent decided on what to use specifically, but I am looking....
Up to how much weight do you think can safely be added using the aftermarket landing gear from Scale Aircraft Conversions since they will also have to support the weight of two modlels?
http://scaleaircraftconversions.com/moreinfo.cfm?KIT=140
Also, concerning the Italeri B-58 kit... Yes it is a little "short". I`m probably going to have to use some of the nose section to get it to the right lenght...see the reply for Milairjunkie for more comments on this kit and the pics below ;)
B17Pilot wrote:
Looks like an interesting project you're taking on. Looking forward to seeing the results!
Hi B17Pilot, and me too, Want to build it, and I`ll just watch? Just kidding. As I mentioned before, I probably wont be progressing on it much for the rest of the year other than a small item here and there. I`ll keep pics and progress posted on this thread throughout the life of the project.
Milairjunkie wrote:
Great idea - I've seen plenty of info on the combo, but it hadn't crossed my mind to model it... I for one found the Italeri B-58 to be a bit on the nasty side, apart from some pretty bad warping which only some suffer from, the worst bits were ill-fitting cockpit lids & upper wing roots - I couldn't get either anywhere near as good as I wanted. Lucky for you that both these areas will be unseen!
Hi Milairjunkie, I noticed just how hard that top area was going to be just by trying to put it together with tape yesterday, then I realized none of that applied to me. You are going to love this though since you had so many issues.... Today since I had a few hours with nothing to do, I decided to remove the tail section of the Italeri B-58. Out came the trusty hacksaw and away it went. Then I grabbed my X-acto knife and did some mild whittling on the now jagged edge and removed the little spear tips on the wings. I still have areas to remove ( the areas colored black ) to which I`ll do later. Also here are some pics to give an idea on how the 58 will be mated up with the 36
B-58 with tail section removed, areas still needing finshing work are colored black
Now to get an idea on how it will mate up. I havent cut out the B-36 bombay fully yet, but the areas to be removed are outlined in black:
The real thing:
Photo courtesy Don Pyeatt