The build
The mixed bag starts here : The cockpit is super pretty and detailed. But you need to add some sprue under the control sticks, otherwise they'll tickle the pilots' underknees...
Again in the bomb bay : really nice oob but... the rotary launcher is poorly designed, it's 2 component pieces ploting actively to not align properly
... and the socket is too shallow. No biggie, you just need to strengthen it with some metal wire.
In this case a simple paper clip 🙂
... held in place with putty to avoid wiggly lost pieces in the inside later when the fuselage is glued together.
This is how the instructions would have you glue in the cockpit. Dont! if you do you'll have to deal with a pretty nasty gap with the upper fuselage.
Dry fit. Not much will be seen anymore... BTW i had to sand quite many inside parts to get the 2 fuselage halves to align properly.
Same for the engines, very nice details that'll disappear in the bowels of the beast !
This is how i would recommend (and did) glue the cockpit and the intake trunks for best fit and maxium bond.
Next the wing. I found it best to 1. glue the upper wings to the upper fuselage then 2. glue the lower wings and only 3. glue the lower fuselage. Best possible fit imho.
The lower fuselage with weight hold in place with putty. The white card is meant to reinforce the trap doors to the engines, as i elected to shut them up.
What did i get my self into....
Primed Tamiya Sea Blue, Light Grey for the RAM panels.
Oh the brilliant masks by New Ware. Pretty usefull as the decal sheet oob is quite basic with no RAM stencils. Very easy application of the great many stickers!
Took only 45 min to mask the upper and lower side. Those masks are really worth investing into.
Marbling done
And main coat in very thin layers. The mix is TF-54 , TF-77 and TF-08 in ratio 4:1:1
This actually - sort of - worked.
Bad case of silvering...
... that i havent yet figured out how to overcome. Suggestions welcomed.
Half a year after, back with new decals. Had to sand the top surface down (though most the original paint job survived somehow).
So far worth the effort i d say. Some fading and a final matt coat should provide an adequate result 🙂
Next time i ll paint the walkways and mask them before the base coat. Those long, thin and fragile decals are no fun to apply 🙁 (tombe fair the Begemot decal sheet performed over all very well)
Comments
3 28 January 2019, 21:59
Vince VenezuelaIt took about half a year to muster the courage to come back to this model, and try to save it from its very bad case of silvering. After taking advice and ordering a fresh set of decals, and after several hours of sanding down without hurting the original paint job too much, followed by more hours of touch ups and yet more hours of new decaling, the intermediate result os not that bad! Next step three more coats of gloss, a mist of base coat to fade the white of the new decals, a matt finished and we ll call it done 🙂
22 December 2019, 23:30
Łukasz GlińskiThat's a very nice progress. How did you fix the silvering issues?
28 January 2020, 14:32
Sven SchönyanNice to see someone else dealing with this beast!
Greeat result so far. I like the mottling and the ram panles! I think I should get some of the ram panel masking, too.
28 January 2020, 14:53
Vince VenezuelaAnd finally done, after a third sanding and a third decal sheet... the first attempt to fix the silvering failed miserably, with results worse than the application. For this last try, i only took care of the worst decals (the walkways and id numbers on the central top section). And switched gloss varnish from Life color to Tamiya acrylic. Also cut out the middle transparent parts of the decals. Still not perfect but now acceptable (from a distance and without excessive lightning)😉 looks like a B-2 at least!
11 July 2020, 08:18
Album info
So far a mixed bag of a kit.
The fit is generally pretty decent and the pieces nicely and fairly detailled.
And on the plus side... it's a FR%ç*"KING AWESOME B-2
But there are plenty "meh" and "duh" moments so let's dig into it^^
