B-2 Spirit - Testors 1/72

[Skii]

Its not good, far too many builds on the go at once, nothing finished, disorganised chaos everywhere, filthy looks from the accountant (sorry i meant fiancee)

and bits of various projects in every corner of the house.

So I started another one

As a few of the chaps at the Southern Expo can recall I picked this kit up in a moment of madness for a mere £10, however the clear parts were missing and was marked down to £15 as a result (had to knock him down a fiver y'see)

Martin (Hatchet) came to my rescue with the clear parts and we're good to go.

Its a big bugger alright, going to be a few pots of gunship grey alright, anyway - couldn't resist assembling the top fuselage and wings, a few styrene card re-inforcements along the joint, copious amounts of CA and finally a good sanding and priming with halfords wet n'dry and primer

et voila

wing joint ? what wing joint ?

also i've done some initial scratch work on the bomb bays , firstly i grafted the bomb bay from the second fuselage section that Hatchet kindly donated , then removed the roof on each one as the bomb bay is deeper than represented in the kit , also the roof should be curved and at an angle following the profile of the upper fuselage hump, however with the addition of pipes, cables and junction boxes the effect should be pretty similar.

the walls of the bomb bay will be scratched in a similar fashion onto styrene cards which i can then secure in place, this will make building the bomb bay neater and easier (in theory)

finally the windscreen is wrong as the side canopy frames are far too angled forward, these were sanded down untill gone (a bit more awkward as they are recessed into the plastic, not above it) and then micromeshed and finally some of Ted Taylor's fantastic 'Final Touch' polishing compound which gives the clear plastic a clarity which is not done justice in a photo.

thats all for now

[JakeEaton]

Can you say 'rescribe'?

Brilliant choice of subject Skii. Loving it so far.

What's happened to that 1/32 Tornado you've been planning all this time? Infact...what's happened to all those other builds I've been seeing dotted over the net?

[Skii]

Can you say 'rescribe'?

Brilliant choice of subject Skii. Loving it so far.

What's happened to that 1/32 Tornado you've been planning all this time? Infact...what's happened to all those other builds I've been seeing dotted over the net?

Panel lines? on a B-2 stealth ?!! HEATHEN !!!!!!

Nahh all of the raised muck will be sanded off and the different panels will be represented by different shades of gunship grey , just like the real thing

The 1/32 tornado is still on the stash and unstarted, one day Jake, one day

J

[John the Yank]

Way to go Skii, about the time you finish this one, Trumpy/HB will probably issue a new release for us. Looks like you are off to a good start, keep posting updates with solutions to the problem areas. I always wanted to display a Vulcan and B-2A side by side, that would generate conversation.

JTY

[Smiffy]

Panel lines? on a B-2 stealth ?!! HEATHEN !!!!!!

Nahh all of the raised muck will be sanded off and the different panels will be represented by different shades of gunship grey , just like the real thing

I'm liking the sound of that.

Off to a great start.

[hatchet]

wing joint ? what wing joint ?

That is a fantastic job you've done on that join John

Sending you the extra lower body worked as planned I see

The grafting of the bombbay looks great mate. Not much difference from you building a new one from card tho' it seems

Edited March 23, 2008 by hatchet

[Dave]

That is a big bugger! Nice start John.

[ChelseaFC]

blimey you have started it, going to be watching this one as I really want a B2 but been put off by the reviews of this kit although probably should know better than listening to some

looking really good so far Skii

[Skii]

I really want a B2 but been put off by the reviews of this kit although probably should know better than listening to some

see thats the thing Andy, I've taped this thing up and as long as you build it by assembling the wings to the fuselage halves I really don't see a problem with the kit, and from every angle it looks absolutely spot on, sure it is lacking in detail in the wheel wells and bomb bay, but what do people expect from the most classified and secretly guarded aircraft in the world ! even the detail on the wheels and undercarriage legs looks good.

People are spoiled with kits these days, they expect a model to fall together with a splash of paint, if every kit was like that it would be much less fun and interesting hobby for me personally.

J

[Craig]

What a fantastic looking plane this was.

Kit progress is looking good so far.

I must get one some time.

Edit: Found one on E-bay. No one bid on it Pretty please

Craig.

Edited March 23, 2008 by Craig

[ChelseaFC]

see thats the thing Andy, I've taped this thing up and as long as you build it by assembling the wings to the fuselage halves I really don't see a problem with the kit, and from every angle it looks absolutely spot on, sure it is lacking in detail in the wheel wells and bomb bay, but what do people expect from the most classified and secretly guarded aircraft in the world ! even the detail on the wheels and undercarriage legs looks good.

People are spoiled with kits these days, they expect a model to fall together with a splash of paint, if every kit was like that it would be much less fun and interesting hobby for me personally.

J

good points mate,

I think it is far more fun when you have to battle with something a bit, of the 2 I have near completion 1s a hase F-18 which has fallen together really (the decals on this one is a different story but I havent got to that yet so im expecting it to get a lot more fun) and a short run resin kit, which has been the more enjoyable? yep the fight with the resin kit as its stretched me more than anything ive built before

In no way am I a rivet counter if it looks right thats good enough for me,not having a go at rivet counters but 100% accuracy doesnt bother me or the ppl who like a kit to fall together, if thats what you want cool plenty of kits that will do you for that

For some reason I fell for the hype of this kit being crap and havent gone anywhere near it, until you bought it and I found Sprue bros had a couple at 11 quidish each... yep ones on its way

actually "fight" with the resin kit isnt fair more a lot of hard graft would be more precise as it sounded like it was bad kit and thats not the case

Edited March 23, 2008 by ChelseaFC

[Craig]

Cheers

Just been on to Sprue brothers and brought one myself.

If anyone want's to outbid me on the E-bay one, Please feel free.

I can see myself ending up with 2 of these.

Craig.

[AnthonyWan]

John's making a B-2???

Oh boy...get me some popcorn!!!

Edited March 24, 2008 by AnthonyWan

[Dave T]

Cheers

If anyone want's to outbid me on the E-bay one, Please feel free.

Craig.

This one ?

LINK

[periklis_sale]

WOW!!

Great work so far mate!

[Craig]

This one ?

LINK

Yeah, Thats the one.

My max bid is only a few quid more than the starting bid so with any luck I will get outbid.

If I do end up with 2 of them I will offer it here again for sale.

Craig.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Craig

[Dave T]

Why don't you just retract your bid ?

Here's how to do it

.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Dave T

[Osher]

That's a real big bird! What's the kit like though? Great start!

[Skii]

That's a real big bird! What's the kit like though? Great start!

Basic, a bit warped in places, needs work if you are going for detail, but it has the right shape.

Certainly not as bad as they make out

[Phil @ Flory Models]

Another Skii special in the making!!

Edited March 24, 2008 by Phil @ Promodeller

[Skii]

Another Skii special in the making!!

if not it'll make a great boomerang Phil

righty then - I've started on 2 the outer bomb bay walls , the 'ribs' are strips of styrene card glued 1mm apart, the top of these will interweave with the equally spaced ribs on the bomb-bay doors forming a hinge, then I can add diagonal spars inbetween these ribs and various cabling and ductwork on top. Just like the roof of the bomb bay, the mosty assembled wall can be painted and then popped in place at a later stage

[AnonymousER99]

so how accurate are you planning the bomb bay being Johnny old bean?? Looks pretty darn nice so far!!

I can't believe you already cleared off the bench and started this beastie.

[Skii]

so how accurate are you planning the bomb bay being Johnny old bean??

Well i've got some good shots saved, as well as the Squadron Signal B-2 book for reference with a lot of very useful images, to be honest i'm most looking forward to doing the rotary launchers , they look like fun, but rest assured i'll be working on getting this as accurate as possible Mike

J

[AnonymousER99]

Well i've got some good shots saved, as well as the Squadron Signal B-2 book for reference with a lot of very useful images, to be honest i'm most looking forward to doing the rotary launchers , they look like fun, but rest assured i'll be working on getting this as accurate as possible Mike

J

See where I am going with this Skii?? See I own this little resin company and some bomb bays for B-2 models may be quite interesting......get my drift??

[Skii]

See where I am going with this Skii?? See I own this little resin company and some bomb bays for B-2 models may be quite interesting......get my drift??

ahhhhh I certainly do mate

Well to be honest I might be a fair task moulding my assembled pieces out of resin , the big question being how accurate I can get it - better get my thinking cap on eh ?

J