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1/48th Boeing B-52H Stratofortress (Sanger vacuform)


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Cheers Tom! That's interesting and good to know. Where did you get your fuselage measurements from? The Daco book?

 

I'm crazy enough to contemplate buying the (forthcoming) HPH kit for wings and fuselage and combine it with parts from the Sanger kit for the early tall tail/J-57 version... But the HPH kit is just soooo expensive! Difficult to justify...

 

Jeffrey

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On 9/19/2018 at 10:05 AM, JeffreyK said:

Cheers Tom! That's interesting and good to know. Where did you get your fuselage measurements from? The Daco book?

 

I'm crazy enough to contemplate buying the (forthcoming) HPH kit for wings and fuselage and combine it with parts from the Sanger kit for the early tall tail/J-57 version... But the HPH kit is just soooo expensive! Difficult to justify...

 

Jeffrey

 

Yes, the Daco book was the main source of measurements, with another publication (the name escapes me as I write) providing some scale plans, too. 

 

The HPH kit looks rather tasty, but so does the price. The Sanger kit will be more work, but suits my bank balance much better! 

 

The HPH kit captures the thinness of the wing better by the look of it - the Sanger wing is on the thick side at the leading edge but I can live with that. It would be interesting to see the HPH and Sanger kits side by side on a contest table some day...

 

Tom

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Tom, I have a question and maybe you or one of the members can be of assistance. Do you know what size the tyres and wheels are on the B-52? The ones that come with the Sanger kit look a bit too large. I have looked all over the net to no avail.   and its been the better part of 25 years since I got a close up look at one and I can't for the life of me remember their size.

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According to Danny Coremans book the main wheels are 56” x 16” 38-ply tubeless tires, hope that is of some help 

martin

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@LorenSharp the following is from a list of aircraft and the tyres they use I found on the web. It has some of the dimensions of the tyre.

 

Boeing B52-H  -  Main Tire 56x16  -  Outside diameter 57.18", section 15.8"  -  Rim diameter 28", width 12.75"

 

Can't remember the source, but hope it helps.

Dave

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Thank you Dave and McDood. This helps solve a problem I've been searching for  enormously! I'm doing a "B" model but I think the tyres are the same ,the rims and braking system were different which is not a problem I have pictures of those just never could find the measurements. I saw the reference to the Danny Coremans book and found it online and ordered it. this has been an excellent day all round.😀

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@LorenSharp I have found photos of B-52B 52-0013 that show it has 56x16 main wheel tyres. So it looks there was no difference in the tyres between types. Among the photos was one of the outrigger wheel that shows on the hub it should be fitted with a 32x8.8 tyre. Looking it up in the aircraft tyre list I found.  32x8.8 tire - Outside Diameter 30.52", Section 8.63"  -  Rim diameter 16", width 7"

 

Tom... nice work on the fuselage. Impressed with the way you just knock up the bulkheads and make it look so simple. Everything looks clean and tidy as well!

 

Dave

 

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On 9/29/2018 at 6:32 PM, dave665 said:

@LorenSharp I have found photos of B-52B 52-0013 that show it has 56x16 main wheel tyres. So it looks there was no difference in the tyres between types. Among the photos was one of the outrigger wheel that shows on the hub it should be fitted with a 32x8.8 tyre. Looking it up in the aircraft tyre list I found.  32x8.8 tire - Outside Diameter 30.52", Section 8.63"  -  Rim diameter 16", width 7"

 

Tom... nice work on the fuselage. Impressed with the way you just knock up the bulkheads and make it look so simple. Everything looks clean and tidy as well!

 

Dave

 

I haven't done a huge amount of research into the wheels and landing gear yet but as far as I can tell (as Dave states) the size of the wheels remained unchanged throughout. I'm looking into getting some wheels 3D printed for this as the kit ones don't really cut it in this scale.

 

As for the bulkheads, having a profile gauge certainly makes life a lot easier and cuts down an awful lot on the trial and error method I used to adopt!

 

Tom

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Thats my thoughts as well. I just need to replace a control board so i can get a wheel master printed. I have the object created. From there I  make my own resin wheels. Now I have the correct size to go by.
t

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On 10/1/2018 at 4:54 AM, tomprobert said:

I'm looking into getting some wheels 3D printed for this as the kit ones don't really cut it in this scale.

I was thinking along those lines as well, same for the engines, but I may be able to utilise some of my Skywarrior engine parts for my NB-52A (same J-57)...But still thinking about the HPH kit...

J

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On 9/30/2018 at 9:03 PM, LorenSharp said:

Thats my thoughts as well. I just need to replace a control board so i can get a wheel master printed. I have the object created. From there I  make my own resin wheels. Now I have the correct size to go by.
t

It sounds as if you’re further ahead on the wheels than I am. I’d be keen to see your results at some point. You’d probably have quite a few sales if you wanted to sell resin wheel sets - rumour has it that nearly 500 kits have been sold so far and no doubt buyers would be on the lookout for better wheels than the kit provides. 

 

I've been making slow progress in the undercarriage bays. I’ve made and detailed the basic roof structure, and I am soon to turn my attention to the sidewalls and forward/rear bulkheads. Unfortunately, work has been getting in the way and progress has been a lot slower than I want. 

 

I’m off to Australia for a wedding next week so progress will be even slower, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and I’ll be keen to get cracking when I’m home. 

 

Tom

Edited by tomprobert
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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a while since I've done any work on the big BUFF but thought it deserved a stint back on the bench...

 

Since the last update and completion of the internal bulkheads, the next logical step has been to have a play with the landing gear bays. It took a lot of head-scratching to get the legs themselves correctly positioned and therefore the internal bay roof structure, and as is often the case with these types of builds, you sometimes have to sacrifice accuracy for structural integrity. Therefore the bays I've made are an approximation of the real thing but close enough for a cursory glance when it's placed on the model show table - especially when the big doors and legs are in place to hide the majority of my work! I had a good delve into the bays of the B-52 at Duxford for some much-needed reference as well as a few books, and armed with plenty of plastic card and Evergreen strip, I set about building up the basic interior structure.

 

The front bay:

 

32462256997_c04ff7df3f_z.jpgIMG_0865 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

33528305398_99d0505bc3_z.jpgIMG_0862 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

32462256617_60cea4e8a5_z.jpgIMG_0855 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

And the rear bay:

 

32462258277_e7d4fe5fbf_z.jpgIMG_0863 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

32462255757_2443e491f3_z.jpgIMG_0859 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

32462256227_353fbc1221_z.jpgIMG_0856 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

And both bays together:

 

32462254887_b6cc547140_z.jpgIMG_0861 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Still lots of further detailing to be done, but the basic structure is now there...

 

Until next time,

 

Tom

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Just found your build thread Tom, I'm seriously impressed with the work you have dne so far. I think you are very, very brave to attempt a build of this size but hey man go for it. The parts look to be very well moulded, which might make your job/build a tad easier. Looking forward to the continuation ...

 

Colin

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19 hours ago, Johnny_K said:

It's nice to see that you are working on your model again. Nice work in the wheel wells.

Cheers, Johnny K - modelling time is limited these days with both family and work. Long projects such as this seem to creep along at a glacial pace, especially when I have lots of different builds on the go, but I'm determined to get there in the end...

18 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Just found your build thread Tom, I'm seriously impressed with the work you have dne so far. I think you are very, very brave to attempt a build of this size but hey man go for it. The parts look to be very well moulded, which might make your job/build a tad easier. Looking forward to the continuation ...

 

Colin

Many thanks, Colin. I'm not sure if it's bravery or stupidity with these sorts of projects, but they are great fun. The parts are indeed of a fairly good quality - not quite Tamiya standard - but for a vacform they're not too bad at all.

 

Tom

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On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:02 PM, AdrianMF said:

Nice wells! i see one of them falls across a fuselage join, too.

 

Regards,

Adrian

Indeed it does - the rear bays have the fuselage fore/aft join to hide - I had to get creative with the plastic strip for that!

On ‎3‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 5:12 PM, toniosky said:

This detailing is insanely clean !

Thank you - just don't look too closely...

 

I've done a little more detailing and am hoping to get a squirt of light grey on the bays over the weekend.

 

Tom

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Afternoon all,

 

I've given the wheel bays a squirt of grey this afternoon:

 

46534657095_3c65b5473d_z.jpgIMG_0869 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

...and I've also made a start on the numerous vents and grills found dotted all over the fuselage:

 

47449860021_63e2a9d8cc_z.jpgIMG_0868 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Lots more vents. etc to drill out and make, but it's the fine details like this that bring an otherwise blank vacform to life.

 

Tom

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This week I've been having a play with the main landing gear and working out how to get it installed correctly.

 

Sanger provide some fairly decent white metal as a starting point, and the bays I'd built earlier have been constructed to accommodate the legs and provide a mix of both reasonable accuracy and structural strength. 

 

The legs and their supporting struts are just taped together at this point for test fitting purposes, but as you can see they should look ok when fitted to the forward bays:

 

33637311698_be6b2ba0aa_z.jpgIMG_0879 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

40548068863_c23b0340c7_z.jpgIMG_0880 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

The rear bays:

 

40548068273_7f2730ba25_z.jpgIMG_0882 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Here you can see why it was so important to move the port side bays back so that the main undercarriage legs were directly opposite one another - the way Sanger has molded the bays would mean the left side legs were approx 15mm too far forward:

 

32571771387_88d89196c2_z.jpgIMG_0883 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

The sit looks about right - with the main wheels added the model will of course sit higher:

 

46598566565_96c88bb3d2_z.jpgIMG_0877 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

The camera angle in this picture distorts the shape of the fuselage, but this gives a good overall impression of the fit of the landing gear:

 

40548069433_1e9cf4deb1_z.jpgIMG_0878 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

The main legs and struts are going to need some detail adding to them, but at least I know the Sanger parts are perfectly usable. And the bonus is they can be fitted once the fuselage is together so there's no risk in damaging them whilst filling/sanding. Phew!

 

Until next time,

 

Tom

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