1. Do you, or the rest of the build group, typically build fuselage and wings separate then attach the wings at the end of the build after painting each separately, or do you build up the whole aircraft (fuselage and wings attached) and then paint? I'm thinking fuselage masking and painting would be better without wings on, but I'd like not to have wing-to-fuselage seams.
Ive always put the wings on and painted that way.... but with the 1/72 kit... This will be my first go round with it when I complete the "test build" RB-36E to learn a few things first hand before moving on to my more challenging covervsions. Ive seen two builds where the wings were made to take off for better packing/travel results for builds that were for show display. Its your personal preference, but do be prepared to do a ton of masking which ever way you go, and always do the props last so you dont break them.
2. I don't recall if I told you all, but you can order the DVD version of Strategic Air Command from ClassicMoviesEtc.com. It's $14.95 + S/H.
Cool, thanks! Up until now the only DVD versions I have come across were not available for play for the US region unless you had either a DVD player for that region or a world zone dvd player.
3. I was playing around tonight to see if I can create my own B-36 notices: the ones that are not included in any decal sheets (OEM or aftermarket), except the German Revell kit. Once my Wayne Wachsmuth book arrives, I'm hoping I can see all the notice markings I need. I have the exact "stencil" font and played around with proper letter spacing in MS Word, then shrunk it down and printed it out. Then I took that printed version and used the copier to shrink it again at 36% percent and printed it (printers can only get down to a certain size, so it needed to be shrunk via the copier). I was testing it out on the notice about fuel just forward of the port hatch. The decal-sized version scales out to about 5.8mm wide by 1.2mm high. My printed version actually works. It looks good. So, I'm thinking I can then just print on decal sheet. If I pull it off, I'll try to create as many notices as possible and make it available to all of you. If I can do it, it will be a couple of months, but hang tight.
I`ll do you TWO better....
1. I`ll send you a complete uncut copy of that Revell Germany sheet with all those markings and notices if you`ll reverse engineer some sheets for us. A side note though, there are some things on the warbirds stripe sheet that arent on that one, so having both gives you a compete job.
2. I`ll send you a landing gear set with those figures if you want to try and make it look like its landing gear extended in flight. If it doesnt work, then you arent out a set of gears. If you can make it work... I`ll send you another set and let you do mine, so when I hang this baby on my ceiling it will look correct.
Just let me know
PS... Scroll to 42:03 of this vid which shows the loading of the B-58 to the B-36. They just dont think out of the box like that anymore at General Dynamics do they?