Well, the dream of a 1/48 scale B-36 I've had since around 1989 was fulfilled last Monday when my HPH Peacemaker arrived from HPH. (Shipped sometime Friday, arrived by noon on Monday. Totally cool times we live in!) Having already gotten the Concorde and XB-70 I was expecting a huge box. Not so! I got it home from work and set to checking out the parts.

The major airframe parts are once again fiberglass with a very nice gel coat with a smooth surface and finely molded panel lines. Once again they come pre-bonded which is the one thing HPH does which I wish they wouldn't. In any case it won't be a major issue with the B-36 as the interior goes in through the bomb bay and there will be plenty of room to get my paws inside to fit components. In regards to the bomb bay, they rough cut two holes

as the beginning of the twin 32' bays as it looks like they had to get the support for the spar (read 1/2"x10" steel rod) epoxied into place. This would make doing an A or B (and the B had such nice arctic markings!) impossible without major reconstructive surgery as they had four 16' bays with sliding doors.

The clear parts are once again immaculate

and an astrodome is included for the top of the canopy if one is needed.

The interior is going to be a lot of fun. The give you some very nice nick nacks and the upper and lower flight decks should look quite nice through the canopies. The one thing HPH didn't do this time around is screen print their photo etch fret instrument panels. (A full 8 1/2x11 sheet of photo etch!) This may be because on a B-36 they were for the most part black so it would be easier (for them) and cheaper (for us crazies) to go that route. The seatbelts are in full color and felted however.

(Anyone who works with aftermarket belts like this I'm all ears in regards to tools and techniques as it will be a first for me!)

There is a nice size set of masks for the transparancies and the "USAF" and "U.S. AIR FORCE".

I will be finding an alternative for the lettering as I won't be able to use the masks over metallizer. All other markings and stenciling are provided by decals and the clarity and register on them is outstanding! A full set of wing walk stripes are also included and I don't think even Monogram ever gave us those! Speaking of the Monogram Peacemaker, here's a comparison. It will however fit in the back of my Hornet so I can get it to shows!

The only issues I've found with the parts is that the jet pod intakes are slightly smaller than the pod leaving a pronounced step. (This could be from me not seeing a part that goes between them or from the resin of the intake shrinking as it cured. I hope it's the former because a mis-match like that is something I haven't seen from these guys yet!) The other deals with the spinners and the resin part that forms the nacelle tail piece and air plug. The airplug moves back and forth along the axis of the prop shaft and increases/decreases the area which hot air can escape the nacelle. The position the have it at is about 1/5 of the way closed so there should be a significant gap between the plug and the spinner but there isn't and I think the spinner is just oversized. I may fake it and depict the plug full open and shorten the spinner at its base. We'll see. One thing they keep doing right is embedding rods into the landing gear to support the weight. Not just the vertical portion, but it looks like the bogie truck on the main gear and the axles on all gear are also metal!

I threw in some photos of a lot of the resin, but there are a lot of parts to deal with. (The bomb bay interior looks quite labor intensive!)
I have started cutting on the wings (and there are a LOT of holes to open up to accept all the resin detail pieces) to get the air plug assemblies into place.

I stopped at the first one as I will need to get full goggles and a respirator so I don't damage my eyes and lungs as the Dremel was creating a huge cloud while cutting! Unfortunately it looks like the Peacemaker won't be making it to the WACM show on November 3 but hopefully next year!

P.S. One neat thing HPH did was to include a lithograph of the box art on a piece of metal!

it includes the number in the sequence ghosted on it and a plaque on the reverse side informing you what number out of 100 psychotic modelers you in fact are! In all seriousness, as someone who grew up around and flies RC planes, this really isn't that big. (The organizers of the WACM my think otherwise however!) For display I may hang it from the wall like HK's 1/32 B-17 or build a glass top coffee table to store it in.

40 additional images. Click to enlarge.

Yikes! That mama is gonna be huge! What a palette for some extra detailing. Good luck!

A few points of note, Josh.

a) You really are a bit nuts.

b) I’m guessing you are single (mainly because each photo I see you in you are smiling) but if not it must be nice to have a wife/partner of either independent means or tolerant enough to allow you to gather cars, collect and build models that cost the equivalent of a small country’s GDP, and go flying.

c) You really are a bit nuts.

d) What size is your house that you can hand that bird from your ceiling!?

e) I am sooooooooo jealous. Of all of the above.

f) Most will know I’m a little obsessed over movies at the moment. If you have a like for the B-36 you might like to check this out...

g) Wish I was one of that 100.

Really, really looking forward to seeing the build log, Josh.

@jpatt1000

Ceiling hanger? Nope, just the hanger!

Cheers, Josh!

Jeff, Trumpy has a 1/48 U-boat if you still want a big boat! $340 on ebay. (You know, come to think of it that is in MY scale...Nope, budget busted for a while. Hana already has me on the hook for the B-52 next year.)

I had thought about building a glass top coffee table to store/display it and keep the dust off but it will probably start off hanging on the wall like HK's B-17. The span is just shy of 58" I think the wings are going to be about 80% of the tricky work. I have to cut 12 holes for the intercooler shutters, six holes for the oil coolers, drill twelve holes for the exhaust stacks, trim the rear of each of the six nacelles to accept the resin pieces, cut the bottom of the wing open to insert the main gear wells and then close the holes with the resin plugs they provide to replace the fiberglass you just took out. (Would've been MUCH easier had they given me the wing tops and bottoms unbonded so I could just cut the holes I really need, inserted everything and then closed it up, but at least it's super strong!) After that the fuselage will be a walk in the park. (Except for the bomb bay. LOTS of parts for those!)

I am working on a Monogram 1/72 too so I can practice my painting. I'm going to do one early enough before the orders came down for silver paint, clear coat and the white belly. (Would like the geometric symbol/letter code on the tail too. May scale up Monogram's decals.) I would really like to do a B in arctic markings but there is too much rework of the bomb bays for me.

I know you like WWII stuff, you should check out their 1/32 Helldiver. Full resin, but if it's anything like their Il-28 Beagle it's a treat to build. No giant casting blocks from these guys, just really nice parts! (If you do want to splurge and get it, buy it direct from them, as resellers put a hefty markup on them. I saw one B-36 going for almost $1200, over twice the price of the kit from HPH.)

Working on a man-sized model requires a man-sized burger!

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Um...burger, no - that’s a cow, Josh. That’s a cow.

@jpatt1000