Academy/Hobbycraft 1/144 B-47E
Comments
JohnThanks, David. I'm amazed at your vacuform work. I don't have the skill or patience to pull those off, but speaking of the B-47, I think there is/was a 1/48 vacuform B-47 if you want to take a crack at it!
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I made this a few years ago for a relative who flew one back in the late 50s/early 60s. The aircraft represented is from the 100th Bomb Wing out of Pease AFB, NH. Not sure the SAC nose bands are correct, but my choices were limited.
Not a bad kit overall. I normally prefer 1/48 so this was a bit of a departure from my usual, but since this was meant for display, I had to go smaller scale. Not that a 1/48 B-47 wouldn't be fun, but I don't have a hangar for it.
I got an acrylic display case at a local big box hobby store that was meant for football helmets and cut it shorter, then made a wooden base using its dimensions. Even with the smaller scale the wingspan was too much to fit, so I angled it and it seemed to make for a nice presentation.
Most challenging part was making it "in flight" since this kit was never meant to have a gear up pose, fitting the doors acceptably without destroying what little detail there is. Worked OK. Held up by a couple of brass rods, simple.
Finish is various Alclads with some shiny work on the engines courtesy of a couple of ancient bottles of Testor's metalizer I had lying around. Since it's in a case, I figured the "don't breathe on it or it's gone" metalizer finish would be fairly safe. So far, so good.
Just a smidge of weathering as they kept their birds clean and the presence of panel lines in this scale is a bit of a joke, but the recipient was happy with it, so good enough for me!