Sten Ekedahl

If you decide to tackle the Xtrakit PR.9, this build blog might be of some use: http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=112264&page=1

As someone pointed out, the intake rim is not one of the strong points on the Sword kit. I found that an easy way to improve this is using the Quickboost resin nose ring instead. Although it is intended for the Trumpeter kit (IIRC), by removing a few mm from the front of the Sword kit, and attaching the Quickboost part, you'll get a far better result.

Didn't see this thread until today. Means we've got two B-47 builds going at the same time, here on BM!

ALL the good answers in this thread prompted me to start new a thread about this subject in the WIP section. So no more inputs on the B-47 from me here.

After posing a question in the Cold War forum regarding the B-47, I thought why not start a WIP-thread on this build. That might put enough pressure on me to hopefully eventually complete this build. It all started with a visit to my LHS where I spotted the Pavla resin cockpit set for the Hasegawa B-47. Turned out a customer had ordered it, but in the end never bought it. I had long been considering getting this set for the B-47 kit buried somewhere deep down in my stash since... well, a long long time ago. So I thought this is my chance, and bought it. So after a bit digging deep in my stash I eventually found the kit. If you look carefully you can actually read the price tag. Yes, it says £6.95! That's how old it is. Bought at W.J. Walker's in Hackney, a shop now long gone, on one of my visits to the UK. This kit has been reissued a couple of times over the decades. But I think this is one of the very early ones.It was top of the line when first issued, But by today's standards it is a very simple kit. It is reasonably accurate, but has raised panel lines and rivets (B-47s were flush riveted!), nice wheels but simplified gear legs, a very thick canopy, very little cockpit detail, the RWR antenna and bomb aimers periscope on the tip of the nose incorrectly positioned on the centre line instead of offset to port, missing landing lights on the inner engine pods, substandard decals which have yellowed over the years. But nevertheless, with a bit of work it can be made into a very good model. So the Pavla set is quite extensive and will do wonders for the cockpit. It will require some very fine detail painting, especially the two instrument panels. Unfortunately the vacformed canopy has some nasty scratches on one side. Luckily I have a Falcon vacformed canopy which I will use instead. The main resin "lump" has to have some of the resin trimmed off in order to fit inside the fuselage. This is clearly shown in the instructions. The areas that have to be removed are also marked on the resin. After that I did a dry fit which looked promising. But when I dry fitted it in the port half of the fuselage, the crew access passage didn't line up properly with the crew door. The whole resin piece needs to be moved 4-5 mm to the rear. But to do this I had to remove just over 3 mm from the rear end of the cockpit insert in order to clear the front end of the forward wheel well. For the time being the cockpit has been put aside and will be dealt with later. In order to be able to start this project, I had to make sure that I had proper decals for it. A search on the net showed that Warbird Decals had issued four sheets for the B-47. One sheet with stencils and wing walk/ways, and three sheets featuring individual markings. Unfortunately most of these were sold out almost everywhere. But Warbirds themselves had the stencil sheet in stock, and Sprue Brothers had one of the other sheets in stock. So both of these sheets were ordered last week, and three days ago the sheet from Sprue Brothers arrived in the mail. (Sorry for the slight out of focus. Printing is actually very sharp.) Just waiting for the other decal sheet to arrive. Since the kit has raised panel lines, I have started to rescribe the kit. She scribing is actually not that difficult and doesn't take that much time. What actually does take time is the sanding afterwards, especially since some areas on the wings are not even and the thickness of the trailing edges are not constant. So I have spent several hours scribing, sanding and polishing. So far one wing, one stabiliser and one wing tank is more or less done. Meantime, I'll carry on scribing and sanding, scribing and sanding...

Thanks! Seen most of those photos, but the close-up of the nose of 52-609 was new to me. Now saved on my hard disk. The Warbird decal sheet arrived in the mail two days ago from Sprue brothers. Now only waiting for the Warbird sheet with B-47 stencilling and wing walk ways. Had to order it directly from Warbirds since Sprue bros were out of them. BTW Warbirds themselves were out of sheet WB72007.

Not to mention the two decal sheets by Warbird decals, needed to replace the useless kit decals. Especially since I had to order them from two different shops in the US, i.e. I've had to pay postage twice.

I've settled for 52-609, the 1000th Witchita-built B-47, completed on 14 October 1954.From the photos I've seen it looks like it has a small square window on the nose just below the black anti-glare panel, at least on the starboard side. So I guess it's time for some plastic surgery since these windows are missing in the kit, just like the landing lights under the intakes on the inner twin engine pods.

Recently picked up the Pavla resin cockpit set for the Hasegawa 1/72 B-47E at my LHS.This prompted me to dig out said kit from my stash where it had been lingering for decades. The price tag actually revealed its age; bought at W.J. Walker's in Hackney (now long gone) for £6.95! Apart from rescribing it and correcting a few inaccuracies, there remains one question: Did the B-47E retain those two windows for the nav on either side of the nose? I've looked at numerous photos on the net and in the Squadron "In action" book. Seems some aircraft had them and some didn't. At least they're not visible on some aircraft. Or did those windows have metal shutters like the camera openings on the nose of the Swift FR.5? Any help to clarify this would be appreciated. TIA

I can't recall any Swedish interest in the Meteor night fighter. But eventually Sweden bought the Venom NF.3 - without ejector seats. They were delivered with a lead ballast in the nose. After delivery the ballast was replaced with the radar sets removed from the J 30 Mosquitoes (NF.30) that the Venoms were replacing.

Real modellers never read the instructions.

During my first years in the Swedish Air Force, working in a sector operations centre, we regularly saw Brewers on radar over present day Lithuania. There was a regiment of the based at Siauliai (spelling?) They had a bombing range close by. and we used to see them flying bombing circuts there. But they rarely flew off the coast out over the Baltic sea.

Back in my days with the Swedish air cadets in the late 60's, we used the 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser m/96. When we turned 17 we were trained on the m/45 Carl Gustaf 9 mm submachine gun.These days I think the air cadets (or what remains of that once proud corps) only use air rifles. O tempera o mores!

Really nice to see. Very impressed with your cockpit detailing! I started this kit a couple of years ago. But after having rescribed the wings and given the Pavla resin cockpit and seats the first coat of "light black" paint, the build stalled. Plan is to do an early NM aircraft using the Model Art decals. Have a second kit in my stash with plans to do a camouflaged later aircraft. Unfortunately missed getting the Model Art decals for this before thay sold out which annoyes me since the kit decals are useless.

Ah, The Spotninks! Remember them very well from childhood days. Quite successfull group, even internationally.

Glad to hear that you are (almost) OK. Could have been a lot worse. DUI is one of the worst offences in my book! Great winn by the Bills BTW.

I take it for granted that private Murphy will be court-martialled for this, followed by the usual procedure at dawn the next day. We certainly can't tolerate such behaviour!

Yes he survived. Although a very skilled modeller, he seems to be slightly accident prone. On another occation he almost circumciced himself when his scalpel accidently slipped over the edge of the table and landed staight into his lap.

A modelling friend of mine actually confessed he'd sort of done that. Early in the morning on his way back from the bathroom after a shower, he walked into his modelling room, still stark naked, to check the work done the previous night. Upon inspection he realised some more superglue was needed, and promptly begun applying some, Somewhere along the way he, without thinking much about it, scratched himself to relieve a slight itch in a very male place on his body. That's when he realised being naked and using superglue, was not a good combination.

Sah! Request permission to join the spectators, Sah! Is there a sepsrate section for officers, Sah?

60 feet!!! My God, that's an 18 meter table, or 4,320 feet in 1/1 scale, just some 340 yds short of a mile! Enough for a WWII runway, albeit a bit short.

Have the Baby kit somewhere in my stash.Should maybe bring it out and start it, using this excellent build as reference.

Don' forget the civilian camping bed in the rear part of the cockpit. Saw an interview on TV with a (female) USAF colonel B-2 pilot. IIRC she was the deputy wing commander. She said that the biggest problem flying long intercontinental missions, was the lack of bunks in the rear area. They had to lay on the hard cockpit floor there. Air force byrocracy would need several years to provide a solution. So the pilots went to the local Walmart store and bought cheap civilian camping beds themself.

Looking forward to meeting you, maybe already at Malmen (i'll be there on Sunday), but certainly in Gothenburg where I'll be one of the judges. Am very much looking forward to see the BC SIG display!