Boeing B-52H Stratofortress: Dr. Strangelove
The goal; with the exception of being depicted in flight mode.
Revell #4052 (ex-Crown) B-52H early. I will assemble in-flight mode, as u/c are atrocious. I have enough spare markings to make it a generic B-52H circa early 1960s to go with my Dr. Strangelove theme.
Wings gluing up. These are much thicker than the later Revell #4583 & #4584 wings. I do not like the joint placement, or the fictitious panel lines.
Okay, I did some major assemblies without taking photos, and now I am trying to catch up. Stabs & tanks, base coat of satin white, with chrome silver. AGM-28 Hound Dog is partially assembled. Next up: TF-33 assembly & paint; very ugly engine fan disks!
Here are the fuselage and wings, partial masking removed. I built up several thin layers of "satin" white and let that cure for a day or two. Except for the nose radome, no puttying of seams. Then I masked and sprayed with Kyron Premium Metallic Chrome.
Masking tape removed and wings test fitted to fuselage to check the seam. Looks good, better than Revell fit, although panel lines and spoilers are not accurate.
Side view with B-52G 57-6520 of 34th BS in background. I masked all the straight lines first using panel lines as a guide, then trimmed some tape using a large metal jar lid for the gentle curve up to the lower radome line on the nose.
Stop the presses! This just arrived: Golden Dragon #GDPR44008 B-52H early for the Revell-GMBH #4052 B-52H kit. (I think they meant Revell ex-Crown #4728.) By "early," they mean late 1970s with ECM blisters, but no EVS. However, EVS's came first.
Revell (ex-Crown) wing tanks on outside and Golden Dragon resin G/H tanks on inside. Kit tanks are larger and fatter in shape than resin tanks. I think I will go with the resin.
Revell (ex-Crown) TF-33 engine nacelles still on the tree. The shape is none too accurate.
Revell (ex-Crown) TF-33 engine intake fans and exhausts still on the tree. Basically ugly.
Golden Dragon TF-33 engine intakes and exhausts. WOW! Much finer and delicate detail and the overall nacelle shape is outstanding.
Golden Dragon TF-33 engine nacelle tops.
Golden Dragon TF-33 engine nacelle bottoms.
Golden Dragon B-52H "Early" nose halves with not so clear canopy (exterior view). Notice the fine detail of the reinforcing plates, various intakes and vents and the slight "step" in the radome. Nicely molded!
Golden Dragon B-52H "Early" nose halves with not so clear canopy (interior view). Brackets are molded to receive the Revell (new mold) cockpit, but could also hold the Crown cockpit as well. Cut out in bottom is for Revell EVS panel.
Golden Dragon B-52H "Early" 20mm turret with extension (side view).
Golden Dragon B-52H "Early" 20mm turret with extension (end view). Upper radome has a slight hollow spot, but the 20mm rubber boot is better than the Crown molding.
Golden Dragon engines and tanks cut from their molding blocks. Their mating surfaces will need to be sanded.
Notice that one tank has a slightly short shot trailing edge. Otherwise all excellently molded.
First set of TF-33 engines. These turned out the best. The intakes mated to the exhaust portions almost perfectly. Top view.
First set bottom view.
Second set of TF-33 engines. These intakes did not mate well to the exhaust portions, leaving gaps. Top view.
Second set bottom view.
Engines all puttied, cleaned up and mated to pylons. The first set of engines became the inside engines and the second set the outside engines.
Engines & pylons, top rear view.
Engine bottoms painted white.
Imagine my surprise to discover that 7/8 inch wide blue masking tape is the exact width I needed to mask the anti-flash areas. I trimmed each piece square, then folded in half before applying to the center of the nacelle undersides and leveled the sides.
Engines glued to each wing. Had a little difficulty getting the pylons to seat all the way into the wing slot. Next time I will glue the pylons to the wing before painting, then add the engine pods. Wing tanks are next.
Wings & tail glued on. Still have to paint anti-glare panel in front of cockpit and paint the nose radome a very light tan.
I added a little "up" pressure on the wing tips with two clothes pins, thereby ensuring no gap on the top of the wing-fuselage seam.
Wing tanks on. First AGM-28 ready for putty.
Anti-glare painted flat black; radome painted light tan, and windscreen painted gloss white (all I had). Will mount tomorrow, when everything is dry. Decals are next!
AGM-28 Hound Dogs with first coat of white paint.
Finally complete. I am calling this one done! Well, almost done!
B-52H, 60-0008, 843rd Bomb Wing, Burpleson AFB, "The Leper Colony," Maj Kong, Pilot, circa 1963.
Port cockpit close up.
Port tail close up.
Stbd nose close up.
Right 3/4 front view.
Bottom view. No markings present on early B-52s. Some B-52s had the anti-flash white cover the entire lower wing, but not all!
I removed the canopy and cut to size some Scalemaster black stripe (width E) and applied it the the back edge of the framing. Looks pretty convincing!
There! Windscreen all fixed! Stbd view.
Front view. What do you think?
Port view.
Hound Dogs decalled and ready to launch.
An early B-52H as it should appear: with a AGM-28 Hound Dog missile under each wing and two unseen Mk 6 thermonuclear bombs in the bomb bay, flying airborne alert and holding at its fail safe point, with Major Kong as the pilot in command of the "Leper Colony."
Completed!
Kommentarer
3 September 2018, 15:55
Greg BakerTWO B-52s?! I was thinking... didn't I just see a B-52 build from Dutch? But it looked different...
13 September 2018, 03:01
DutchYes, two distinct B-52 builds; one early & one late. I am using the Krylon Premium Metallic Chrome spray can (same as used on my son's Monogram B-17G) and Krylon satin white spray can (what I had kicking around the garage.) I will be doing the engines when I get back from short weekend trip; which will allow the Chrome to cure and harden up. I noticed that it tends to be soft and will adhere to your fingers if you handle the sprayed areas before completely dry & cured, hence the masking tape holding it to the box lid in Photo #4. BTW, I have one more 1/144 B-52G to go with possibly another B-52H. I haven't decided whether to do a Vietnam B-52D/F from Minicraft yet. I think they used the same wings as the ex-Crown H and just changed the fuselage/tail and engines/tanks. They may have added dumb bombs too!
13 September 2018, 13:08
Greg BakerWow. I've got plans to build a 1/144 B-52 as well, so I'll be watching closely. Any recommendations on a particular kit? I'm not picky about which letter comes after 52.😉
13 September 2018, 15:17
DutchGreg, get the cheapest one you can find. They are all good. Crown B-52H TF-33s are nothing to write home about, but after market replacements are available. However, you do get a wide variety of nuclear stores (AGM-28 Hound Dog, AGM-69 SRAM, GAM-87 Skybolts, ADM-20 Quail decoy). Revell & Minicraft both re-released this kit as an early B-52H, just changing the box and decals. Minicraft then re-popped it with late B-52H mods, but the engines & tanks require much work. The new Minicraft B-52D uses the wings of the H, but adds new fuselage/tail/turret, engines, tanks and bombs. The Revell G & H (#4583/84 and later) are good for late models, but windscreen suffers from a wrong outline. None of the kits have accurate spoliers or panel lines, but the later Revell kit come closest.
13 September 2018, 15:36
DutchThanks John. I just received the Golden Dragon B-52H correction set for this kit and it is nicely done. I will only be using the engines and tanks though. It was a small gamble, but the payoff will be worth it.
19 September 2018, 10:22
GlennLooking good Dutch! Boy it's such a pain that no B-52 in either 144 or 72 scale is good outta the box! So many changes eg. engines, wing tanks, blisters, bumps nose and tail! all need work or changing! NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I wish they would just get it right! at least some of the time! 😮
19 September 2018, 12:29
DutchMore work tonight. Finished the engines and mated to pylons. Will paint over the weekend and attach to wings later next week. Have to work on the AGM-28 Hound Dogs, next.
23 September 2018, 03:36
DutchMasked and painted the engine nacelle undersides silver tonight. Will let them set and cure for a day before flipping them and painting the upper sides and fan faces. I still have to fix the short shot on the one wing tank before priming and painting them both silver. Lastly, i will work on the Hound Dogs. Then all I need to do is assemble the pieces and apply the decals.
26 September 2018, 02:24
DutchIt's the closest formation flying of eight engines, with the possible exception of the Blue Angels!
27 September 2018, 02:46
DutchEven though I have not finished the AGM-28 Hound Dog missiles yet, I will add them later. I am calling this one done.
26 November 2018, 03:03
DutchThanks guys. When I painted the windscreen, I only had gloss white in a bottle, so it is a little out of place. I also accidentally painted over the upper windows, so I will cut some black decal to shape and put that on there when I have a chance. I learned a lot on this kit, and will use that information to make some corrections on the next two I build, a B-52D (with Retro Wings conversion) and a B-52H in SIOP scheme.
26 November 2018, 13:15
DutchNow, I have added the AGM-28 Hound Dog missiles and it is complete. Phew! It took a little longer than I had planned.
9 December 2018, 14:09
GlennHope your proceeding well with your little BUFF Dutch. I just got the second release of Modellcollect B-52 kit the B-52H and well They STUFFED UP AGAIN!!! Total fools, They released it with the latest AGM-129 cruise missiles and then still left the 20mm Vulcan tail as the only option in the box! That gun was long gone by the time these missiles were carried. As you know it should have no gun and the much longer ECM tail fitted. I think they also stuffed up the size of the tailcode letters too they seem much too large! So i don't think i will ever want to buy another Modelcollect aircraft kit again. I was looking forward to the B-1B release but i think I'll stick with the Monogram kit and use the Barracuda/Leading Edge conversions to sort that out!
10 December 2018, 01:41
DutchYes, I was watching the ARC Forum discussion on both the B-52G & H and was concerned over the inaccuracies from the start. While their CAD approach portends great things, their knowledge of the aircraft fell short. I had a G on backorder for over a year, then cancelled earlier this year and received a refund. However, to be fair, their most recent CAD renditions show great improvement and they have promised corrections to all early recipients of their B-52G kit. I can only assume they will do the same for the H. I have to commend them for their customer service. As it is, I will probably only build ONE 1/72 B-52 and will stick with my AMT/ERTL kit with resin corrections for now. I still have four more 1/144 BUFFs to build. Stay tuned.
10 December 2018, 14:07
Don WondersLooks great Dutch! If I didn't have so many other projects going right now I'd be adding a BUFF to the stuff already on the bench.
8 January 2019, 17:45
DutchThanks Don, Thomas & Gerald. I definitely learned many lessons from this build. I will use the knowledge on my future 1/144 B-52 builds.
10 January 2019, 02:34
DutchThanks Augie, Your builids this past year, along with some others, motivated me to get cracking on a few kits.
10 January 2019, 21:33
