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


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7 hours ago, Uncle Uncool said:

:wub: Aaaww... such a proud papa... :lol: Patting yer kid in the tummy, Tom? 

Very good... 

6 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Do you have a second house to display it in? It's bloody enormous!

 

Ian

Unfortunately not - just the attic which I have all to myself. 

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Nah, he has his own hangar...

 

Simon.

If only... wouldn’t that be great! I could make a 1/32nd scale BUFF then!

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  • 1 month later...

I've finally had the opportunity today to add a splash of colour to the flap bays. Trouble is, this beast is a little too large to fit in a spray booth:

 

50057835833_29bdf6b17f_z.jpgIMG_0277 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Equally, finding a place for it to dry off is equally problematic:

 

50057835548_eb30a3f930_z.jpgIMG_0280 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Anyway, size issues aside, Xtracolor's Zinc Chromate has brought this area to life:

 

50058404991_d0eee8db92_z.jpgIMG_0285 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

I've also given the out-rigger bays another spraying as I felt the Humbrol Chromate Yellow was too brownish:

 

50058647052_58ec77e8e7_z.jpgIMG_0282 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50058646862_14600600ea_z.jpgIMG_0283 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50058646417_1cd5580b2f_z.jpgIMG_0288 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50058647757_2c21d37bf2_z.jpgIMG_0290 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Pretty happy with the outcome :)

 

Regards to all, 

Tom

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You deserve a gold medal for patience, two gold medals for modeling skill and three gold medals for finding the courage to undertake building this monster. To say I'm in awe is definitely an understatement!

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4 minutes ago, SAT69 said:

You deserve a gold medal for patience, two gold medals for modeling skill and three gold medals for finding the courage to undertake building this monster. To say I'm in awe is definitely an understatement!

And 10 gold medals to SWMBO

 

Brilliant work as always Tom. 

 

Dick

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4 hours ago, jenko said:

And 10 gold medals to SWMBO

 

Brilliant work as always Tom. 

 

Dick

Don't worry, Dick - she just does as she's told. I am the boss in my house, and when I put my foot down, that's it - with her permission of course. :D

3 hours ago, (ex)Sgtrafman said:

By ‘eck that is a whopper!

 

Iain

Not the first time I've heard that, Iain - for the model that is..!

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6 hours ago, CJP said:

The structure you did in the flap area looks superb

CJP

Thanks - when I was labouring away for hours on end making all the ribs I wasn't sure if it would be worth it, but now it's done I think it'll help bring the underside to life which is what it's all about.

4 hours ago, woody37 said:

Looking amazing although I’m not sure mrs P feels the same 😂

 

maybe you could suggest hanging it from the ceiling in your bedroom? 

The wife isn't overly impressed but she's pretty accommodating to be fair. As to hanging it from the ceiling - that might be pushing my luck a bit too far... mounting it on the living room wall would surely be worth exploring though!

 

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10 hours ago, Bedders said:

Really impressive, and not just because of the...bigness of the thing; your work on the internals and external panel lines is just great. 

 

Justin

Thanks, Justin. 
 

The panel lines were a lot of work - all the originals on the kit had to be filled as they were totally out of scale. You have to look hard on a real B-52 to see a panel line and the way Sanger had them depicted would result in a ground crew member twisting an ankle if they got caught in one!

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Evening all :)

 

The B-52 has external hardpoints between the inboard engines and the fuselage - modern day H-models can carry a wide range of weapons on these pylons from the basic 'dumb' free-fall bombs to the most modern and sophisticated cruise missiles. As the Sanger kit comes, there are no external pylons provided but their locations are marked on the wing. However, these bare no resemblance whatsoever to the large pylon mounts seen on the real aircraft:

 

50075997203_806e1f93d4_z.jpgIMG_0308 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50076636151_02aa50caf7_z.jpgB-52H Underside by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

As my model will be finished without the pylons, I needed to make a more accurate representation of the mounts, so I grabbed some plastic card from the stash and started to fashion them:

 

50076563036_f9b9577e95_z.jpgIMG_0312 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50075996758_cb41ae0d48_z.jpgIMG_0313 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Lots of careful trimming and sanding ensured a nice, snug fit to the wing:

 

50076812172_e8c54500a4_z.jpgIMG_0319 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

I presume on the real thing the pylons are mounted to this plates - and I use the word plates as that just what they look like and have very little in the way of surface details. Both are now done and look like a significant improvement over the original kit offerings and are certainly more in keeping with the real aircraft:

 

50076812617_95b5dc7141_z.jpgIMG_0317 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

50076812432_8f5be8209d_z.jpgIMG_0318 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

That's another job done!

 

Take care all,

Tom

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All those days peering over the fence finally demonstrate why! Tom - the 'pylon' is more of a fairing for the actual pylon when no adaptor is fitted: it has a strange up-swept nose to it:

 

B-52h 61-040 (34)

 

Compare to it with the adaptor beam fitted:

 

B-52H 60-044 03Jun16 (15)

 

The leading edge fairing is part of the adaptor beam kit, and you can see the colour difference above.

 

A few more for info:

 

B-52H 61-0020 14Jun17 (24)

 

B-52H 61-0020 14Jun17 (19)

 

Hope these are of interest.

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@Sabrejet very useful indeed - I was struggling to find decent images of the forward part so your pictures are most helpful. I’m glad I wasn’t too far off with my guesstimations so only minor mods needed. I take it your shots are at Fairford? I must fort over there one day for some spotting!

Edited by tomprobert
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12 hours ago, tomprobert said:

@Sabrejet very useful indeed - I was struggling to find decent images of the forward part so your pictures are most helpful. I’m glad I wasn’t too far off with my guesstimations so only minor mods needed. I take it your shots are at Fairford? I must fort over there one day for some spotting!

Yes - Fairford over the years. It's become an obsession, but then again there aren't too many front-line combat aircraft that are older than me!

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I have to admit they didn't do a very good job using the putty to fair in the fairing. The missed some spots, and it's not even painted in places. Definitely wouldn't pass muster at a modelling competition. On a more serious note, when I built my B-52G (1/72nd scale), I tried to reproduce this in places - it makes it look like I did not do a good job painting it, but it was true to the original.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited by Learstang
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  • 3 weeks later...

B-52s are festooned with various lumps and bumps covering a wide array of sensors and jammers etc., but these are not covered by Sanger so it's a case of making your own. So when it's a rainy afternoon, it's time to get out the BUFF and Milliput...

 

50154952991_5f0f7aa9d6_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

First off, the rear fuselage has this (what I presume is) chaff dispenser that later model Hs don't have:

 

50154395363_a903b1f92f_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

This was swiftly removed with a razor saw to make way for a new fairing to be made:

 

50154952031_df70a2a066_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Speaking of making fairings, I've adopted a fairly fool-proof method of getting a snug fit to the fuselage. Step 1: place some masking tape on the area the fairing will sit, and then make an approximate shape of the required fairing in Milliput:

 

50154396868_a392f5947d_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

 Step 2: When fully cured, remove the tape (which by default removes the fairing,) sand to shape and then reattach to the fuselage for a perfect fit:

 

50155185997_af1a80f66d_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

There is a fairing in place of the chaff dispensers on the rear fuselage, as well as one on either side of the fuselage near the rear landing gear bays:

 

50155186142_89c3d0c509_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

As well as two atop the forward fuselage:

 

50154952996_5cb9364aae_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

As you can see from this image, I've also started adding the various strengthening plates at the upper wing-roots and atop the mid-section:

 

50154395253_4ffa5060f7_z.jpgUntitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

 

Until next time, 

Tom

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Hi Tom, been a while since  I looked in on your build. Some excellent work on the flap and scabbed on parts.

 

If you are looking for somewhere to 'hide', it once built, maybe hang it on the wall?

 

Colin

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