This one started out as a result of our model club's Shelf of Doom build, which started a year ago as a way to get some lingering projects done. My original one is still in the box, but this one popped up when one of our members offered it to anyone who was interested. It had been built by a third modeler who decided to get out of the hobby and passed a bunch of kits and semi built models to the club member. No one else wanted it, so being a s****r for misfit models, I held up my hand and ended up with it. I took it home and promptly forgot about it.
A few weeks ago, an email arrived reminding us the deadline for the SOD build was coming up. I had just finished the B-52, and Jack was in a plastic tote upon which sat the B-52 box. It was already partially built, so I figured it would be a nice weekend project, so I pulled it out and dived in. What could possibly go wrong?
In the tote was the model, an Aeromaster decal sheet, an Eduard PE set, a nice reference book, two Squadron vac canopies a box of Falcon vac canopies for nearly every Japanese airplane ever built, and several small plastic boxes with various pieces parts inside. The seams were already filled, the cockpit was nicely done and I figured this would go quickly. Until...
Most of the panel lines were wiped out, so they had to be redone. I used the kit instruction sheet as a guide to redo those. Vents behind the engine and shell ejector chutes in the wings were drilled out, but not all of them. That was another interesting evening spent opening those up. The deck behind the cockpit had been removed and replaced with styrene sheet, so the radio behind the pilot seat was missing. The beam from the top of the seat headrest to the aft cockpit bulkhead was a PE part, which I managed to get bent and installed with no problems until I noticed that the headrest was slightly offset to starboard. That and the additional height of the styrene deck meant the canopy didn't quite fit.
I originally intended to use one of the vac canopies, but the kit part was really well done and amazingly clear, so i decided to use it. It's molded in the closed position, but all the cockpit detail is quite visible through it. It took some sanding and finagling to get it to fit, but in the end I think it was the right choice.
The elevators had been cut free, so I reinstalled them in a slightly drooped position, which matched the position of the stick in the cockpit.
After all the touchups, it was off to paint. I masked off and painted the yellow leading edges and tail stripe, followed by the black anti glare panel. After drying overnight, I shot the gray undersides, and after another overnight sprayed the green uppers today. I'll let that sit for a bit, then start getting decals on. The kit wheel wells had been ground out and replaced by scratchbuilt bulkheads. It was very nicely done, but the mounting lugs to the landing gear struts were also removed, so mounting the gear is going to be an interesting session of possible four letter metaphors.
Stay tuned...
