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Thomas Probert
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Monogram B-36 Peacemaker

September 21, 2019 · in Aviation · · 34 · 3.6K

Evening all,

I'd been suffering from a serious case of modeller's block and had ground to a halt on all my projects and just couldn't get restarted. I'd actually built this kit on and off a while back, and all it needed was painting and decalling so in an effort to restart the mojo I splashed some Halfords and Tamiya paints on and just went for it. It's far from perfect but has got me back in the groove and keen to get going on some of the other kits I have on the go so its purpose was well-served.

The decals actually represent a B-36B rather than the Mongram kit's RB-36H configuration, but all I did was fill the slots for the jets and round off the prop tips. A proper B-model would have a different bomb bay set up, different tail radar and various other slight differences but I didn't want to get bogged down making any further modifications so left it as is.

I saw a real one of these in Datyon a few years back and it's MASSIVE - hence it's no surprise the 1/72nd version is also MASSIVE!

Happy modelling, folks.

Tom

Reader reactions:
17  Awesome

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


34 responses

  1. This is one STUNNING B-36. You made this Monogram classic shine in all the right places. Having two of these behemoths in my stash, I think I should get mine onto the 'to build next' list.

  2. WoW! Fan-freakin'-tastic, Thomas! It looks awesome! I have Monogram's 1/48 B-29 and it's pretty big, too, though this great model of yours (in 1/72nd) is likely about the same size or bigger.

    VERY well done, Tom! Bravo!

  3. That looks great, Tom! I have this kit, every once in awhile I take it out and fondle it, then put it back. Nice to see one done!

  4. Great job on this kit. It is huge and eats up a lot of space. You did the old kit justice with the nice paint job. Nice to see it on this forum.

  5. Your mojo is most definitely back! Amazing build, very handsome and impressive.

  6. I remember when I was very young, one of these came to Denver, Colorado, for it's Hot and High test in the "Mile-High City." My dad took me out to Stapleton Field to see it take off but it couldn't because it was so underpowered, and because it was a 75F day, so the density altitude on the field was around 8,000 feet. It sat there for a week until the temperatures came down. It wasn't long after that that the Air Force got it equipped with auxiliary jet engines. A few years later, I did see one of these fly at Lowry AFB for the AF Day show. Those things really were enormous.

    I guess up in Alaska, they didn't have to worry about warm days and density altitude. 🙂

    My aerobatics instructor in the 70s was a retired SAC pilot who had flown these, he told me about flying recon over the USSR at 55,000 feet and the MiGs couldn't climb up to their altitude.

    • A great story, Tom. Apparently it was a very easy aeroplane to fly - very stable yet maneuverable, and could easily out turn the jet fighters of the day when up at 60,000ft. It was also one of the first operational aircraft where the crews had to wear pressure-suits due to the risk of a bailout at the extreme altitudes.

  7. Splendid piece of "eye candy", sir...one of the best I've seen of late.
    And the perfect background color to show it off as well. Nice work !

  8. Absolutely beautiful!

  9. 🙂 … Greetings … 🙂 :
    Very attractive work Thomas, got to love those MONOGRAM kits.
    The finish alone is very " attention calling ".

  10. Nice job on this B-36, I like the clean "desk model" style.

    • Thank you, Jerome. I'm not one for heavy weathering and I always go for a less-is-more approach. The honest truth is I'm scared to muck it up with over-weathering so I tend to steer clear. Also reference pics of these birds showed them reasonably clean so I kept mine that way.

  11. This is really beautiful! Such a nice model, well done!

  12. Always a pleasure to see a beast such as this built up and painted well.

  13. Well done Tom, she's pretty darn impressive and wonderful to view.. Even at 1/72 scale how big is she? I've seen the the 1 to1 version at the USAF Museum and she's massive to say the least.

  14. Very nice! Smart to add the orange to the scheme, to bring it to life a little more. Though I only build 1/72, I don't think I'll ever tackle this one - just too big to display!

  15. I repeat our friend Jeff Bailey: WoW! Fan-freakin’-tastic, Thomas! It looks awesome!
    This work was really very inspiring.

  16. Outstanding model. The scheme is very attractive. These weren't the most colorful of aircraft but this scheme really stands out, which it was supposed to and makes for an eye catching model. I bet it gets a lot of ooh's and aah's at model shows.

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