Boeing B-52G Stratofortress: 34 BS, 366 WG
Revell #4583 B-52G parts with #4584 B-52H fuselage halves. Traded G strakelet fuselage and pylons for H straight wing fuselage. Thank you Jonah!
Wing - fuselage test fit. Hmm, I will have to add some filler to close gap at trailing edge.
Fuselage gluing. Went together extremely well. Only slight gap at nose, which I will fill with super glue. I painted the cockpit, only to remember that I will use Caracal decals for windscreen. Doh!
.50 cal turret had two sink holes on l/r sides; have puttied.
So, now to assembling the engines. For some reason, even though the parts look very similar, the inboard & outboard engines are numbered differently, so I will follow the directions.
Sample engine pods, faces, and exhausts.
Inboard (longer) and outboard (shorter) pylons.
Outboard engine pylons glued.
Outboard engines glued.
Inboard engines & pylons glued.
After removing the rubber bands, i can see a small gap in the nose radome and behind the cockpit.
I took a small nail file and tried to sand the ridge flat without trying to remove too much detail.
Excess glue sanded down along the seem.
So before I do any putty work, I decided to glue on the cockpit canopy; it fit like a charm! I will have to add the ejection hatch rails from stretched sprue (two per door) to the upper hatches.
Oh, I almost forgot. Before further engine assembly to the pylons, I will drill a small hole just over half way back. Revell moulded the lower notch on the accessory drive, but not the hole. They also forgot the cooling vents below each engine face.
The two available options for gray paint at my local Michaels store.
Methinks the primer gray is closer to gunship gray.
I had to rob my Revell (ex-Crown) B-52H of its Skybolt pylons for the stub pylons on each wing.
I will trim each pylon longitudinally into two pieces; one for the main stub pylon and the remaining piece for the short pylon between the engines.
Putty night tonight. Will sand seams on Saturday afternoon. Oh, I sanded off the chaff/flare bins from the top of the horizontal stabs. Thought I would build the MiG-23 Flipper (Ye-152) while I had the putty out. It needs it!
Sanded with CRM Hobbies sanding swizzle sticks: medium, fine, & polish. Now for putty round two! Canopy will be decals, not to worry. Still have to add wing trailing edge fillet and upper ejection seat door rails.
Engine detail and fit were a little disappointing. Putty round two. Not sure how I will replicate small cooler intakes on front bottom of each engine. See color photo above.
Sanded off chaff bins on top of stab. Oh, on extreme left is one wing tank that developed a glue sink hole, hence the putty.
I broke off one .50 cal gun barrel, lower port side. I promptly glued it back on, so as not to lose it completely.
Stretched spruce glued on to simulate the ejection seat door rails. I will trim and lightly sand to taste.
Unabashed advertising for CRM Hobbies in south St. Louis, MO. These sanding sticks are awesome and a bargain.
I saw these Hasegawa micro saws on another blog post used to cut out vacuformed kit parts. Again, extremely useful! I ordered mine from Plaza Hobbies in Japan, along with some very thin kabuki tape.
Here is a curved blade with teeth on both inside and outside edges. Key advantages are flexibility and fine cut.
Trimmed the Crown B-52H pylon mounting tab in just over a minute. Five seconds with a swizzle stick and GTG! Did I say that I love these micro saw blades? I will use one of the long straight blades to trim the pylon into two pieces longitudinally
Glued on two plasticard shims from the tab that I cut off the Revell pylon. Nothing like saving plastic!
Side view.
Hmm... that looks a whole lot better. The shims are a little long, but I will trim to size as I adjust the wing-fuselage joint to get a good tight seam.
Preparing to cut the pylons. Masking tape serves two purposes: 1. As guide for saw blade cut; 2. To give me something to hold onto as the piece wants to move with the saw.
And done! A couple of notes: 1. Go slowly and don't push the saw blade as it tends to want to bind and then bend and flex. 2. Be careful when wiping excess plastic shavings from the blade, as I sliced my thumb pretty good. No stitches, just a bandage.
Wing pylons in place. I measured and made small holes with the tip of my X-Acto blade in each wing for the pylon mounting tabs. Apparently, only B-52Gs carried the mid wing pylons, as none of the B-52H photos I looked at show them.
For some reason the there was a step between the upper & lower wing halves, creating a noticeable gap when mating with the fuselage. I shimmed with pasticard and trimmed off the excess.
Vertical view of the shim.
Frontal view of the wings mating to fuselage. Wingtips are supported to ensure proper droop angle. I will probably have to recontour the windscreen, the shape is just not right.
Top view of wing to fuselage joints. There is a slight gap still, which i will fill with micro styrene and super glue.
I went ahead and primed the engines. They don't look that bad, just lack the lower cooling vents and starting cartridge exhausts on the left side. I will probably replicate both with black decal.
Taped over the vortice generators to protect them from the putty and subsequent sanding. Even though I glued some very thin stretched sprue into the gap, it still required a little putty. Will sand tomorrow.
Wings on and seam sanded! Engines on! Tailplane on! Ready for paint
Tailplane set at 0 deg angle of incidence. I broke off the errant lower port .50 cal barrel again and will replace with appropriately sized Evergreen rod.
Starboard engines look much better. Will use black decals for details.
ECM pod pylon on port wing is slightly askew and tilted outboard. Ah well! It is firmly welded to the wing now! Also note that the engine pylons slightly missed their wing fillets.
As noted above, the fact that the lower port wing shifted inboard during gluing, means that the upper port wing pylon fillets moved slightly outboard vis-a-vis the engine pylons. I will try to file to shape before painting.
First coat of primer. Wing-fuselage joint looks kinda ugly to port, stbd, not so bad. I will sand and re-putty the joint. I will also have to address the engine wing-pylon joints. Oh, and fill in the cockpit windows; didn't realize how much relief exists
Window frames sanded, final coat of paint applied. Still need to paint & touch up the wheels and engine intakes / exhausts. Port front 3/4 view.
Starboard side view.
Top view. Time to start decaling.
Decaling has begun. Custom ALPS printed decals on very thin decal film. Stbd tail.
Port tail. The leading edge of the Thunderbird tail band curled under, so I will fix with a little black paint.
More decals applied tonight. Most of the custom deals are on.
Tail with serial & ECM panel decals. Still have some Caracal stencils to place.
Accidentally dropped some water on the windscreen decal, and so trimmed it out and applied it quickly.
Added custom decal for Lt Col Ed Rice's name to port cockpit side. More Caracal stencils to follow.
Tail walkways. Seems a rather irregular pattern, but it is accurate. I will have to add more Microsol to get the decal to settle down over the vortex generators.
Cockpit Stbd side view; all decals applied.
Cockpit port side view; all decals applied.
Overall view. Still need to add sealer coat of clear lacquer. Then add the wheels and doors.
C'est finis! Not perfect, but I am proud of this one. And I will use what I have learned on my bevy of BUFFs to be built later this year. Stay tuned!
3/4 port front view. What cannot be discerned is the fact that on a level surface, the stbd outrigger touches the ground, but the port outrigger hangs a scale 3 or 4 ft above the ground, just as in the project header photo.
Port side view.
The Caracal window decals snuggled down nicely after I filled the slight indentations moulded into the clear part by Revell. I did not use any setting solution. All the Caracal decals went on beautifully.
Stbd rear fuselage. I used custom decals for the US insignia on fuselage sides and upper wings.
I cut a short piece of very thin Evergreen rod and super glued it to the missing stump (lower left barrel), then painted the barrels dark metallic grey. I have since touched up the radars and barrels. They look much better now.
Caracal horizontal stab walkway lines snuggled down over the vortex vanes using first MicroSol, then MicroSet, then cleaned with watered down rubbing alcohol before clear coating. Just beautiful. Thank you, Kursad!
Custom tail markings graciously provided by Chris Weir! Thank you! I couldn't have completed this project without you!
Kommentarer
1 3 August 2018, 08:22
Kerry COXDutch. 🙂 Even at 1/144, these are still an impressive looking kit. 🙂
Looking good so far. 👍
8 August 2018, 00:03
DutchThanks Kerry! Looking to finish it up in a week or two for a friend who flew it (I have custom decals) and will retire from his second job for good at the end of the month.
8 August 2018, 00:39
Kerry COXI wish you well mate. 👍
I am wondering. How are you handling this unusual heat over there. ?
I am seeing bad stuff happening all over. Not good.
So what will you be doing after this project.? 🙂
8 August 2018, 02:39
DutchPuttied the fuselage and engines tonight. Was really disappointed at the fit and lack of detail on the engines.
16 August 2018, 02:23
Clifford KeeslerLots of putty huh. Looking forward to the final result. Agree that the grey primer is closer to Gunship Grey. Do you have a Hobby Lobby near you Dutch? They sell Model Master paints both Enamel as well as Acrylic, as well as some Vallejo paints. I buy craft paints at Walmart or Michaels and a lot of times I mix my own colors. I thin the craft paint with windshield wiper fluid 50/50 mix and a touch of future/pledge. I just got done mixing a batch of Russian Grey/Green for my Mig-29.
17 August 2018, 23:30
DutchClosest Hobby Lobby is about 45 min away. Michael's is only 5 min away. This one will have to be "rattle can close enough." I have not set up my compressor and airbrush yet.
17 August 2018, 23:38
Clifford KeeslerI know what you mean, My Hobby Lobby is also about 35 mins away, so when I do go I always wind up spending a boatload of $$. I buy most of my stuff off line.
17 August 2018, 23:42
DutchThere is a HobbyTown USA near Hobby Lobby. Maybe I will make a trip soon.
18 August 2018, 00:11
Clifford KeeslerHuh that is one I have never heard of. I went on a SU-27 binge today. I got an Acadmey 1/48 SU-27 Flanker B, and then bought all the goodies for it. I got it for 20.00 off E-Bay.
19 August 2018, 03:37
Clifford KeeslerI thought it was a good deal. The Hobby Boss and Kitty Hawk one's are so expensive. But I want the New Kitty Hawk SU-33/35 Bad. LOL.
20 August 2018, 15:32
DutchGlued the wings on last night. Will now fill upper wing-fuselage seam, then add the stabs, antennae and possibly the engines. I will save the wing tanks for later. Then give everything a coat of primer to see where i need to fix any flaws.
1 September 2018, 13:58
Kerry COXDutchy, For the size that it is, your making a super result happen mate. 🙂
The wind shield area does look a little out of shape, but nothing you can't fix mate. Great work. 👍 👍 🙂
1 September 2018, 21:50
DutchThanks Kerry. It really is a pretty decent kit. All I did was make little improvements. Obviously it is taking me longer than my initial estimate of a week or two. My friend retired to three hours away. So i will deliver it to him later.
2 September 2018, 00:30
DutchMore work done today. Wings on, tailplane on, engines on, ready for paint! Pics posted.
2 September 2018, 21:07
Ray SeppalaWow Dutch, so you do build stuff! 🙂 Seeing your build gives me the urge to find one of my 1/72 B-52s and have a go at it! (not that I need any more on the bench at the moment) I am enjoying the mods you are making. Gunna be a fine model when finished.
5 September 2018, 03:42
DutchThanks, Brother Ray! Yes, I haven't stopped buying, but I have slowed down a bit. My close friend's retirement (former B-52G pilot) prompted me to start cracking on this one. I finished (except for decals) a ARII Ye-152 Flipper, and have another B-52H on the line, partially glued up. A mentor once told me, "To build a great kit, you have to start with a great kit." I have been trying to follow that advice for years now. So I am trying to thin the stash and focus on the best kits for my limited time. Thanks for tuning in. R/ Dutch
5 September 2018, 11:58
Dennis DilmoreI have one of these still in the box and another i bought from a goodwill on line auction. The goodwill one was built, but poorly. Only thing i'm missing are the outrigger wheels, struts and doors.
12 September 2018, 00:32
DutchDennis, show us some pics. I have the u/c outriggers from my Revell (ex-Crown) B-52H kit i will send you. You will have to make your own doors from plastic sheet. R/ Dutch
12 September 2018, 00:37
DutchDennis, when you login to SCM, you will see a series of tabs below your prfile photo/name: Collections, Projects, Albums, etc... Click on the Album tab, and three more green tabs appear. Click Add an Album. You can also create a Project, then scroll down to see where you can add an album to that project. This is my preferred method. HTH. R/ Dutch
14 September 2018, 02:44
DutchNew Year's Day! I got about 1.5 hours work in decaling the jet. I lost one of me ECM tail decals, only to find it sitting right under my nose. Cockpit windows seem a little glossy, but them maybe they should. Album updated with pics #53-56.
2 January 2019, 00:34
Łukasz GlińskiNice progress, though some of them seem to silver a bit. Pic #56 looks like a new type of imperial droid😉
2 January 2019, 08:04
Ray SeppalaAlmost there Dutch, looking good! Such a nice looking airplane, it makes me want to have a go at my AMT B-52H 🙂
2 January 2019, 11:08
Dutch@Lukasz, yes there is a little silvering on the custom printed decals. They were printed on continuous decal film, so I had to trim very carefully to minimize the surrounding film. However, on the real jet, several of the markings were repainted in a slightly darker (newer) shade of gray before the markings were applied, so the mismatch is not too noticeable. The Caracal decals are very glossy. I will have to overcoat with clear gloss before applying the final matte coat.
@Ray, Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have a lot more stencils to apply. You don't see them from a distance, but when you get close to the plane, they really pop out at you. Then add the last .50 cal barrel and undercarriage, and it's off to the races. I have several mor e1/144 B-52s to build and will use what I learned on this kit and the Dr. Strangelove kit to build those. I too have a AMT 1/72 B-52G, but am putting that on off until I have some serious time to devote to it. I will document it as well. Thanks for the inspiration, brother!
2 January 2019, 14:51
Dutch9 FEb 2019. Finished applying all the little data decals today. Then clear coat and add the wheels and doors. Not too long now.
9 February 2019, 23:07
DutchThanks guys. Your encouragement means alot. I have several more hangar queens to finish this year.
10 February 2019, 23:04
DutchI finished the project this afternoon. Not perfect, a few small mistakes, but I am pleased with the results. Check out photos 61-68.
18 February 2019, 01:02
Bart GoesaertNice one, and pretty large considdering the scale...those taillines, just thought of picaso in the air
18 February 2019, 08:10
DutchGentlemen, Thank you for the kudos. I am just glad that this one is done. I will use what I have learned on this one and my Dr. Strangelove B-52H to build my next four BUFFs. Again, thank you for your encouragement.
18 February 2019, 23:53
Kerry COXI would love to see you tackle the image of 'Strangelove' on the bomb on his way down. 🙂 👍 That would be awsome. hehehehe
19 February 2019, 01:46
HoxAs the proud recipient of this B-52G model that Dutch has labored on for the past year plus - it truly is a work of art and very authentic looking !!!
Thanks Dutch
19 February 2019, 02:17
DutchHey Hox, Thanks for joining in. It truly was a pleasure, my friend! As an added benefit, it kept me off the streets and out of the bars for the better part of last year, keeping the missus happy. R/ Dutch
19 February 2019, 13:23
