80000 Feet and Climbing - SR-71A Blackbird - Full Build Report

It is time for something BIG. Almost 70 cm in lenght, if you are looking for a compensator model in your collection this is a good start 

accompanied by a lot of nice toys to play with 

We have a very expensive nozzle set 

Expensive, but rather beautiful 

 

furthermore an OBSCENELY expensive landing gear set 

that one I am especially looking forward to 

the rest is almost peanuts, couple of PE parts, resin seats, pitot, masks 

Also printed out a drawing in scale. Just need to puzzle all 32 A4 pages together 

Let's start with fitting the aftermarket wheel bays. First we need to cut off this part of the reinforcement beam 

And flatten these guides for the kit part since they are a little too narrow 

Like this. The wider ones fit perfectly 

Let's compare kit part and aftermarket 

Kit reviewers have critisized the wheel bays for being rather simplified. I guess not without reason 

With a little paint this will look sharp I think 

So far so good! 

But let's not give too much premature praise, there are some things that should be mentioned. First, some small wires have a "skin" attached. I guess it was not possible or feasible to print those otherwise without them breaking right away.  

Second, 3D printing artifacts. Probably the biggest downside of 3D parts since the resolution has its limits. Looks not that bad in reality because I am holding the part "perfectly" against the light. This one was the worst one, but you notice them everywhere if you look closely enough. 

But we can drill open these holes