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SR-71A Blackbird


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Hi folks, here's the Arii 1/144 SR-71A Blackbird, doing a nice pirouette for you out in the sun...

Here she comes:

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turning right:

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showing off her long slender form:

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turning again to give us a view of those massive engines:

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impressive, aren't they?

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rear view:

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round she goes:

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not bad for her age, eh?

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coming round for that head on shot which everyone tries to capture on camera:

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Click!

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I never actually got to see one of these fly, so I had to do this:

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Couldn't resist it...

It's not a bad little kit, some little niggles and I had to build the wheel well from scratch, but I think it turned out ok:

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Hope you like it. Now, what's next...?

Dean

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That's quite lovely but there's one small flaw. The main wheels should be silver, not black. (That's a museum aircraft; I've never seen red hubs on pictures of operational aircraft). The rubber was impregnated with aluminium powder to make it reflect the heat from the airframe better. The nose wheel well stayed cooler, so they didn't have to be so exotic.

I really like the way you've done the fuel leaks. It's a small touch but it does so much to make the model come alive.

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Thanks for the comments folks, it's appreciated.

Jessica, I did know about the silver tyres, I found out when researching my XB-70 and I did it on that model. I've also seen the Blackbird with ordinary rubber looking tyres though, and used ones are definitely black around the treads so it seems the silver wears off there. Anyway, I decided to go with black. Thanks for the info though, as I'm sure many people weren't aware of it.

Cheers,

Dean

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  • 2 weeks later...

All of the Blackbirds, (A-12, YF-12 and SR-71) used the B.F. Goodrich tires with the aluminum impregnated into them during manufacture. It was not just painted on as some people have speculated. The contact surface of each tire did get scuffed and dirty which gave it a dark gray appearance after a few landings. Each tire was good for about 15 to 20 landings and cost $2,300 each in the early 1970s. The A-12 had a cover with concentric rings on the main gear and was painted either bright red or bright green, usually red. The YF-12s and SR-71s did away with the cover and just used the 3 armed bracket on each outer wheel.

A-12 # 06938 at the USS Alabama Battleship Museum, Mobile, Alabama

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A-12 Nose gear, #06938

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A-12 # 06930 at US Space and Rocket Museum, Huntsville, Alabama

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A-12 Nose gear on 06930

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A-12 # 06937 at Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama

This was painted by the museum staff and is NOT indicative of what it looked liked when the plane was operational.

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A-12 nose gear on # 06937

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Edited by yardbird78
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Nose landing gear from SR-71 # 17964 at SAC Museum, Ashland, Nebraska

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Main landing gear from SR-71 # 17964

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Left main and nose gear from SR-71 # 17964

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Edited by yardbird78
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