Strategic Air Command GroupBulid

Wow! I can honestly say i've never seen the xb-70 kit in any scale! Seems to be a rather elusive kit.

Thanks for the heads up on the radome. It did look a little unusual to me, but i understand now

IL2windhawk wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's a radome. And I think the tan part is fiberglass, the black part carbon fiber.

Here is the XB-70 in 1/72 scale.  It is from the aircraft forums under "Size comparison.  The top pic shows it with the 1/48 scale B-1B.  Also you can see it next to the 1/72 scale P-2V behind it.  It is a rather large aircraft.

As for the bump under the nose on the B-47, it is the Radome!  It is bulged out from the fuselage. 

Very nice!!

It's worth noting that the B-70 is 1/72 and the Bone is 1/48, correct?

That had to have been a really big aircraft! What strikes me as unusual is that it appears to be quite a radical and unorthodox design compared to other bombers of that era. One thing about this aircraft was that to me it still looked more like a science-fictional aircraft rather than being reality. But i guess that is just my own observation...

While i can say i've never seen the kit firsthand, i actually had a chance to see the real aircraft. It was an airshow at Edwards AFB back in '98 (i believe) and i remember that because it just happened to be the first time i had ever seen the U-2R in flight too. It actually took a little asking to find out what it was because i had never seen that particular aircraft before. It was certainly out of the ordinary

   At least i was pretty sure it was that aircraft. It has been awhile since...

While looking around Youtube, I found what seems like one of the last Blackbird flights.  It says its from a air show at Edward's AFB in 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GwuEx7YYEU&feature=related 

If i'm not mistaken, i believe the very last flight was a cross country flight from LA to New York that was done in about 20 minutes or so (though i'm not sure about the elapsed flight time for sure).

   But that definately looks like one of the final flights of the blackbird. Nice find!

Just a heads up, guys. I'm waiting for the last few odds and ends here to finish drying on this build here, and then she will be a-goin on the shelf! I'll be posting pictures once everything is completely cured.....

As i look at this Dragon Lady, despite all the shortcomings there are in this build and problems/errors, i have to say that i like what i see. Mostly because of the new experiences learned off of this one. More details to follow with illustrations....

Well just putted two coats of model masters flat black on, my BlackBird.  The flat color looks really nice.

COMPLETION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   And i can't believe how long it took me just to getting back to the last few details that it did. But here is the completed Testors/Italeri U-2R Large Dragon Lady:

As you can see, there is still some shine to it from the future applied for the decals. I've tried both the Testors MM dullcote, and the dullcote offered by Tamiya, but i still couldn't shake some kind of sheem. I've noticed that it seems more obvious in the pictures than it does in person though (lighting perhaps?). And i had considered to coat the aircraft in another coat of flat black while masking off the decals, but decided against it. I figured i would be better off "quitting while i was ahead". The landing gear doors were one of the few pieces that i had saved for last. And in retrospect, i think they could have done better. On the MLG door control arms, i have to say that the instruction booklet was abiguous at best as far as the exact placement. Those things just aren't too detailed- as least as much as i would like. I think i had a hard time figuring out which side was truley up.

I'm also learning that with a black colored aircraft, just keeping the dust off of it is quite a chore. Believe it or not, i had dusted it as best i could just moments before snapping the picture. But it seems i missed a few spots. Sorry about that

And i know i had mentioned it before, but the biggest headache i had was the placement and fit of the canopy. I went into this build assuming it was gonna be relatively easy. But the fit was more challenging than i had though. I tryed to manipulate the canopy aft section so it would lay flush to the fuselage behind, but found that if i did that, then the alignment of that and the windscreen would be completely off (not to mention adding to the gap underneath. I even thought that maybe if i were to add some strategically placed putty, i could get it to kinda taper some and maybe it might not be as noticable. But decided against that too. It still wouldn't have looked right to me, and i would risk damaging the canopy more. So I did my best to find a happy medium, but i think it still looks pretty off. I think in my mind, all i could do was just chalk it off as either warping due to age and storage, or just a poorer quality mould. And of course there were a few other mistakes made on the assembly and decals that had mentioned before. But i won't go into those. I'll just file that away as lessons learned.

   Despite all the problems i had with this kit, i wonder if maybe they all might be like this or not. So with that in mind, i still would like to do another of the same kit. Perhaps after my skills have improved, i'll get a better build that I would be happier with. By no means am i as good as the rest of y'all. But hopefully i'll get better as i progress. If nothing else, the techniques used here (putty/sanding, future, researching, cockpit detailing and dullcote) were all new stuff to me. So for a first attempt at all those at once, i think i am pretty happy with how it turned out..... for now.

All comments and critisisms (either good or bad) are all welcomed.

Great work, both of you Gentlemen.

That SR-71 makes me drool, FMM!  Now I want to build one.

IL2windhawk wrote:

That SR-71 makes me drool, FMM!  Now I want to build one.

I know! Me too....!

I think you're coming along great, DesertRat :)

The more models I build, this is what I seem to discover over and over again:
You have to constantly watch your results so that you can modify your method
for the given scenario.  In other words: no two part are ever sanded, painted,
or glued the same way.  The best result comes from looking at each small step
(like bonding an antenna) as it's own project, and then deciding what tools,
processes, and materials will yield the best approach.  Slowly, all of these
mini projects will come together as a fine model.

I only mention it because I find myself still learning this now after many years!

The other thing I recommend to new modellers is to use many different materials.
Don't just stick to the plastic parts in the kit, use anything you can find.  Staples
and paperclips make great probes / antennas.  Wire mesh is great for inlet ducts.
If you don't have them already, buy some plastic sheet stock of various thicknesses
for the occasional scrap-built part.  Also, use lots of different glues.  Sometimes
I prefer liquid cement, other times tube cement.  Lately I'm using lots of superglue
for small parts.

Cheers.

DesertRat wrote:

Now, how would the older style tube glue be used?

In the door locks of your enemies, and thats about it,LOL

I use the "gap filler" super glue which comes in a green labeled bottle. It doesn't dry as fast as I'd like, but after a couple of minutes it takes a pretty good set. Several advantages are that it works ok for prepainted parts, it glues disimilar materials together like wood, plastic, resin and its all that works to glue photoetch, except epoxy and ?? Initially you'll have to learn how to keep it from running around- it has an annoying tendency to run down a groove and into the space between your fingertip and the model. But be sparing in quantity and glue "downhill" from your clamp/ fingers and it cruises. It will fog clear parts unless you dip them in Future first. And although its used to fill gaps, it is really hard to sand once it is cured.

Good luck with that.

Thanks guys for you commets,  I can really say that I'm very happy with the end result.  Like what DesertRat sayed about skills improving, my skills weren't that great up till I found the mag FineScale Modeler and this site.  It's almost funny and horrable, of the job I did on my first models.  I got them for x-mas, 1/48 117 NightHawk and 1/48 SR-71 Blackbird.  At the time I was just getting into liking the blackbird, so I didn't put the right stuff on it for the B model.

I would say by the end of the week, maybe Saturday I'll have her done and ready for test flight and pictures.  Only got one question about what some people put on there models to seal the decals in Furture, the floor cleaning bottle.  I've heard you got to us it in a air brush to apply it on, but how much to you put in and how much paint thinner if you put paint thinner in?  Thanks!

With the future, i just sprayed it on straight without thinning or anything and it went on fine without diluting it. Also used windex to clean up after (which also left my airbrush smelling like mountain berries)

On reading in other posts on the subject, i've read many people will just brush it on, as it is self levelling. Of course i decided against that just because i didn't have a brush wide enough to be efficient. Although in trying to dullcote after the future, i wonder if maybe less would have been better to get the ironball effect on my build. I'm wondering if maybe using the future sparingly in your case might be a good odea. Just thinking out loud....

Yeah that's what I was thinking, of just spraying on future straight on.  In the directions given by testor's it say's, somthing like "After spray on a flat coat, spray on a gloss coat.  Decals inhere better to smooth shiny surface than a flat"  Then it says after applying your decals to, spray on a dull coat to seal them in and to seal the plane.

I've used dull coat on my other blackbird, to see what it looks like.  But after drying it left a bubblie effect to it, don't know why?  I am thinking about redoing my other SR-71B model, that one was among my first every models I put together.  I think I would be able to do it, just some work on area's that didn't go together right.  And repainting the main landing gear, and front gear.  I even made a copy of the decal sheet, before it gets cut up.

I haven't tried future yet. I use this stuff religiously for gloss coats:
I buy it at michaels crafts

http://www.createforless.com/products/productDetail.asp?ProductID=67147&utm_source=shopDT&utm_medium=cse&zmam=1612697&zmas=1&zmac=18&zmap=85297066

Then I dull coat with Polyscale flat acrylic through my airbrush.

FeldMarSchall Model wrote:

Yeah that's what I was thinking, of just spraying on future straight on.  In the directions given by testor's it say's, somthing like "After spray on a flat coat, spray on a gloss coat.

So, dullcote, gloss, then dullcote?

Or do you mean flat paint, gloss, dullcote? If it's the former instead of the latter, then maybe i had found my problem......

Guess i'm a bit confused...

DesertRat wrote:

So, dullcote, gloss, then dullcote?

Here's what I do:

1) Paint Scheme
2) Acrylic Gloss
3) Decals
4) Acrylic Gloss (prevents decal silvering)
5) Weathering Layer
6) Final finish (matte, flat, semi, etc)

Check out this website.  I learned a TON reading his tutorial:
http://www.world-war-2-airplane-model.com/

Well heres what she look's like with her landing gear installed.  Front gear isn't glued still working on that.

Thanks for clarifying that, guys. I thought there was a possibility that i had missed something...

She is lookin great, FMM! I especially appreciate the head first shot ya posted. Makes you really appreciate her sleek bodylines!

Not to jump into build I'm not part of, but I will anyway

A good Future tutorial:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

Also, IL, simply spraying a gloss coat after decaling will not stop silvering.  Decal silvering is caused by air bubbles trapped under the decal.  The key to stopping silvering is a gloss surface to eliminate microscopic ridges and valleys present on matte surfaces, and multiple techniques to work air bubbles out from under the decal i.e. rolling a damp cotton swab over the decal, pricking the decal and applying decal softner.  I have heard some people pricking stubborn decals and brush applying Future to the decal to eliminate the silvering.  I haven't tried that technique myself. 

Just my for what it's worth.  Ok, you can have your GB back from my inane mutterings.

Thats very interesting aki30,  I might just have to try that.  Just the other day I installed the main landing gear with doors, and the front land gear.  I started applying the deals last night, and they rip to easly.  So before I quited for the night I sprayed on decal bonder, to see is that helps any.  They were ripping way to easy, the smooth gloss surface does let the decals slide easyer.

Here's another update, just about finished with decals.  And some small tounch up work, but she's just about done.  I did make some decals from the 976 blackbird, but when you apply the decal from the paper to the plane its like the decals loses it's color and fades.  I was using decal sheets made from Testors, so I just went with blackbird 972.