After having the preorder in since late 2018, I finally got a PayPal request on Friday the 17th. It shipped out of the Czech Republic on Tuesday and was here by 8:00 a.m. HPH requires a signature and I wasn't home but at least the FedEx driver today knew better that to take it all the way back to Appleton and left it at a store in town. The box comes pretty well water proofed and padded with an extra layer of cardboard. The box art isn't much, but HPH spends its money elsewhere. You do get a nice copy of the box art that is there, but it isn't mounted on a sheet of aluminum as with the B-36. (Also this kit isn't numbered like the B-36 although in the email it was stated I had #22 of 100.) I am not adding pics to the text, but will let you check them out at your own pace. I will also link the build thread that someone is posting on HPH's site.
The kit is well packaged as is customary. Surprisingly, the box isn't that much bigger than Monogram's B-29 and is probably about even with Revell's B-1B. The fuselage and wings are glassfibre with a gelcoat leaving nicely recessed panel lines. A nice departure from their past releases is the very tidy removal of all extra parts so that the crew hatch, wheel well openings and bomb bays are all prepped for the builder. I had opted for the extended flaps kit which is an extra. You need to let them know if you are doing this before you buy so they can prep the wing to accept the resin flaps and wells. Also almost all the holes except for the smallest of the resin vents are cut out for you. (All the cutting and filing of vents is where most of the work and time come in on the Peacemaker.) This one is pretty much ready to start building when you get it.
When it comes to building, the manual in this kit is their best effort to date. Along with nicely done CAD drawings there are photos (along with arrows in various spots) detailing how you are supposed to build this ship in a bottle of an interior. There are also special instructions IN BIG BOLD RED LETTERS so as to keep the builder safe from any mistakes.
I couldn't be happier with this interior. The way the cockpit parts are cast (and they did the ENTIRE cockpit) it reminds me of the good old Monogram B-29 interior. It will look fantastic when painted and as a plus various racks, handles and ladders are made from photoetch. (The sheet is a full 8 1/2" x 11" and weighs in around a pound or so.) There is a lot of resin in this kit, but once again prepping it is a cake walk. Most attachments are wafer thin so an Xacto and a file will be all that is necessary. (The exception to this is the pour block for the cockpit roof/windows.) The entire body from the nose to the aft landing gear is detailed with resin parts. The landing gear, although appearing fragile once again have brass cast into the parts for strength. (Although the kit itself isn't that heavy. The walls of the fuselage are much thinner than previous planes and I'm guessing the weight will be around seven to nine pounds. (The shipping weight of the entire package was 11lbs.)
I also opted for a full complement of resin ALCMs with the rotary launcher and wing racks, although I still got two 2000lb LGBs and eight or so JDAMs. (These parts are injection molded with a tag on the sprue showing the AMK logo.) Oddly, there are two tails for the LGBs. One with the fins stowed as you would expect, but also a tail with deployed fins is included!
The vertical and horizontal tail are both resin with internal reinforcing rods. The horizontals are also joined together by an 1/8" x 8" steel rod. (The wings use about a 1/2" x 10" steel rod. The horizontals also have grooves cast in them for placement of the photoetch vortex generators. (Yep, you're gluing those on one at a time! Oh, there are some, a lot really, on the wing too!)
With the B-36 you only have one marking option, which I am choosing not to do. The B-52 only has one as well so I had planned to do an early 80's SIOPs scheme. After getting the kit, I'm building it as is for the markings are for Memphis Belle III. The decal sheets are impressive. In past releases some markings were to be painted on with provided masks with others using supplied decals. The B-52 is all decals with full stenciling. (Including the bomb bay, wheel wells and cockpit!) They are nicely printed but the carrier film is solid across the entire sheet so trim close when cutting stuff out.
I am VERY pleased with this kit and it was absolutely worth the wait (and I'll even say price). If I have anything negative to say at all it is that I am disappointed that they did an H instead of a D as I think the early B-52 were better looking. They also had the striking camo over black and that tall majestic tail. Not much of a gripe seeing as what we got is quite splended!
Here's a link to the build on HPH's site. I think it is being built by one of their employees. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_ZyI6iG2iTZYsYeZBKg4m4uQyHgemw0i
I have included shots with the wings attached along with Monogram's B-17 and B-29 for size comparison.
90 attached images. Click to enlarge.
