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Sanger has announced a family of 1/48th North American B-45 Tornado vacuform kits Source: https://www.sangereng.co.uk/index.htm#Available Kits V.P.

North American Aviation B-45 Tornado Warpaint No.118 Guideline Publications The B-45 was a product of late WWII developed when the US were alarmed by the Arado Ar-234 Jet Bomber, as such the use of swept wings had not been brought in yet and it was a straight winged design with twin podded engines. While a lot of projects were cancelled post war the US chose to keep with the design as future projects were still to far away, however production was limited due to USAF budget cuts to only 142 aircraft. The design did have issues mainly with the engines and it did not look good. However US involvement in Korea and the development of smaller Nuclear Weapons lead to their use in Europe as part of the deterrence structure. At the same time the RB-45 was developed as a strategic reconnaissance platform with 33 being built. These all being assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. Originally flying from Japan to supplement their RB-29s which were easy targets for MiG-15s over Korea. These flew daylight missions until one was lost to a MiG-15, then they were switched to night missions. As well as these missions they would conduct over flights of the USSR until this was stopped the President. The radar data was still needed of targets in the USSR for SAC bombers and in 1951 in 1951 4 aircraft were "leased" to the RAF. These American aircraft suitably adorned with RAF markings and RAF crews would then fly missions from RAF Sculthorpe. The RB-45 was then replaced by the Canberra as the RB-45 could only achieve 36,000 Feet which was within the capabilities of Soviet Fighters where as the Canberra could reach 54,000 Feet. Today two B-45's survive in museums and only one RB-45. Conclusion The Warpaint series always gets a thumbs-up due to their inability to produce a dud! They are always well written and informative with a wealth of picture and profiles, this edition also having 1/72 scale plans at the centre. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Valom is to release in 2017 a new tool 1/72nd North American B-45A Tornado kit - ref. 72120 Sources: https://dukmodell.com/Vorankuendigung/Valom-N-A-B-45A-Tornado-1-72::17988.html https://www.scalemates.com//1030608-valom-72120-north-american-b-45a-tornado Box art V.P.

Hello all, As promised here are final build pictures of my 1:72 scale B-45A Tornado from the Mach2 kit, with a few mods. It is only a little unusual in that it depicts a B-45A from the Air Test Center in cold-weather markings, probably tat Ladd AFB, Alaska, circa 1948-1952. Also unusual is the fact that the arctic markings are not seen on the wingtips. I cannot recall another model of this aircraft depicting the boarding ladders. Built thread is here: Without further ado, the photos: Oops -- windshield washer needs a little bending! I'm sort of proud of that rear boarding ladder! And that's all f-f-olks! Once again was stuck trying to figure out how to show use on a newer, pretty-well maintained aircraft -- while in Alaska. She's not pristine, but not really dirty either. This is my best guess... Thanks for looking. Comments, criticisms and critique always welcome. Ed

Hi all, I'm back again. This time, after a unanimous vote (from Christian, whom we all know is exiled to Africa!), my next attempt at self-flagellation will be the notorious Mach 2 B-45 Tornado jet bomber in 1/72. By and large, the Mach 2 offerings have gotten a pretty bad rap -- in most cases not deserved. This is one of those kits. While not exactly a snap-together, and certainly not up to the modern pour-from-the-box-self-assembling model standard, it really isn't THAT bad. (Perhaps because my kit was bought so long ago that it was maybe a first run from the molds and now qualifies for Social Security?) In any event, we'll begin by showing the worst it has to offer. I'll not do a sprue review per se, as that has been done by others. Not many have actually assembled the kit, however. It looks like this: We now come to the first of the problem areas, the mold release pins, which are in some cases, humongous. These are marked "A" in the following picture. The items marked "B" are the sink holes on the other side of said pins, and the sink marks are in direct proportion to the size of the pins! Moving along, we encounter a few areas of excess plastic, known to us modelers as "flash". There really isn't much flash on my kit, so no worries. However, the next photo shows the real PITA as far as I am concerned -- the red arrows point to the "short shots" or missing plastic, which happens to occur on BOTH of the left-hand pieces of the pilot AND the co-pilot's seats. However, Mach 2 was kind enough to give us excess plastic in the cockpit itself, where the entire left-hand side (shown with "X's") should not even exist. The cockpit should look more like an American B-47, with a walkway from the nose entry door, and requiring a short climb up to the aforementioned seating. Please forgive the out-of-focus picture, but in-focus, it's REALLY ugly! Next, we have some classic "sink" marks, where not enough plastic filled the mold completely, leaving small "divots" -- as opposed to the short-shots, where plastic is missing entirely. Here "A" denotes the sink mark filled with CA glue, as this will be the left engine intake fairing and it will have a landing light fabricated later on. The "B" marks denote the sink marks of the right side engine intake (which does NOT have a landing light) as well as both exhaust fairing, which are simply filled with red primer putty, as they will require no reworking other than sanding. Next we have the clear parts, which are somewhat thick and not real clear. It remains to be seen whether they can be cleaned and used, or must be replaced. That accounts for most of the issues; a couple others will be addressed down the road. For now, the drill will be fill, sand, fill, sand, polish, etc. I will try hard to use little filler other than CA, because this will be a mostly NMF finish. In the areas where I must use filler, I will probably give those areas a light smear of CA glue also, to harden them up for polishing. Since every seam on this build will require sanding and polishing and re-scribing of lines, this part will not go quickly. This will not be a two-week build! Without further ado, I will show the tools that will help to tame this part of the beastly build: First, some of the sanding devices, mostly available through beauty supply outlets. You could pilfer these from your significant other, but I would suggest this only to those extremely young or those desiring only restful sleep! My favorites in this photo are the 4-grit version at the top -- as you progress through each of the four stages, you can virtually arrive at a polished canopy type finish. I also love the standing twigs, which are simply the larger items cut into 3mm widths. You can buy these at hobbyist supply, or roll your own in you have really sharp blades and a steady hand. I like them because you can get into tight spots, do minimal surrounding damage, and as they wear, simply snip off the ends with your sprue snippers and keep on keepin' on. For really tough chores (like thinning wings and vacuform models) I like the black one, which is #80 grit on one side and #100 grit on the other. For this build, I probably won't need that much muscle. Next, we have the means for restoring all those nicely scribed kit panel lines (which while building this kit, many will be destroyed), the scribing tools: At the top, and going clockwise, we have a few of the perhaps 2 dozen scribing templates, available from many suppliers. While not really necessary, I find they save a lot of time restoring vents, small panel and the like. Next we have the Dymo tape, which used to be used as a medium for old-school labeling. They have been largely replaced by newer technology, but remain invaluable for this use. You peel the protective film from the back, leaving a sticky, thickish plastic tape, which when applied to the model, gives you a nice, fairly hard edge to run the scribing device against, particularly on vertical lines on a fuselage. Each piece of tape is good for only a few "stick-ons" however, before it becomes roughed up on the edge or the sticky gets too stuck up with sanding or scribing dust. In any event, get some if you want to do any scribing, because sooner-or-later, you'll need it. I found mine on Amazon for a pretty low price, which was good, because few office supply stores in my area still carry any. Next, the scribing devices themselves. First up, a plain old embroidery needle stuck in a pin vise -- my oldest, and surely the cheapest devise. Next another scribing tip, stuck in another pin vise. This hardened tip from Mission Models, may no longer be available. (Mission Models also made the best scribing device that I ever used, a little two-sided little hatchet-shaped deal, about .005" wide, that cut a perfect square-edged slot into the plastic, that required virtually no sanding afterward. If you have one you'd like to be rid of -- I'm your man!). Lastly, a regular carbon steel tool scriber, useful if you encounter really hard plastic (which is why I no longer have the MM one described above). I also have another type, from Squadron Shop, (not pictured here) with two curvy end that are triangular in section. It is great for longer, straight lines, not so much so on curves. Also, there is a new series of scribing chisels out of Japan, but at $30 US to $60 US, I'm not certain that I'm that sincere. Next we have just simple brass shim stock, whose main advantage is that it can be trimmed to get into tight spots (also great for making cowl fins on P2V-3 Neptune models!), as is the regular old credit card, which plastic gets cut up from time to time for the cause. And lastly a plain old 6-inch steel ruler, which usually I either tape into place, or glue a piece of fine sandpaper to the back with rubber cement, so that it doesn't slide around so much. Well, enough for now. Next tie, we'll get into actually molesting plastic... Later, Ed

This is the RB-45C Variant. Interestingly this variant was operated (clandestinely) over the Soviet Union by the RAF "special duties" unit at RAF Sculthorpe. Pics Taken By Darwin at the SAC Museum in Nebraska