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1/48 Hph XB-70A Its finally COMPLETED!


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  • 3 weeks later...

Time for more exciting adventures with the Great White Beast! After surviving Thanksgiving and a nasty head cold our fearless adventurer once more combats the Beast. I separated the Elevons so I can position them individually and look a little more normal than the "perfectly" level stance the already had.

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I then cut some brads to use as pins to hold the Elevons in place.

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I'll drill corresponding placement holes in the wing once the outer wing panels are set in place.

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Since the panels are white I took my trusty mechanical pencil and brought the detail out then lightly wiped in the direction of the air flow for streaking. A light coating of Kleer( Future Floor Wax) to seal.

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Speaking of a lot of white. Doesn't give up much in the detail department. Soooo.... I "dirtied it up" a bit, mostly so far on the underneath. It seemed like a lot of the first flights problems with the landing gear sticking at the wrong time or a brakings locking making for a lot of smoke, dust, dirt and what not. Scraped a mixture of gray and black chalk then used a cotton bud to apply. The heaviest around the wheel wells. To accentuate the dust I used the mech pencil to highlight the panel lines some more. From there a few more light coats Of Kleer to seal it all up.

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Edited by LorenSharp
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Wow, Loren. She's beginning to look 'well used'. Love the weathering effects - very convincing.

 

"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast" as a well-known space hero has been heard to say!

 

Keep it coming, sir. Each time I see it it just gets better and better!

 

Kev

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy Holidays One and All! Steady progress on the Great White Beast.Studying photos of the J93 Engines revealed some added detail that I decided to add.These will suffice until Spring and redoing the Engines completely in Photo etch. So, even though It should be done by then there will be an addendum to this build. The feathers are adjusted by linkages and 20% shorter than in the kit. Using very fine plastic rod (some of which is a real pain to handle with my fat fingers).Creating  them does take a while and being 6 engines , make that alooong while.

 

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They aren't perfect but they are acceptable.For Now.

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Interspersed with that whole can of fun I got the wing folds finished. The upper wing panel lines added and the elevons mated to the wings.

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At this rate I SHOULD have construction finished in time for Christmas. Adding the stenciling, because of the volume will take a few days in its self.

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Nice work on those exhausts, Loren. Did you consider using some Nickel Silver rod for the actuators, rather than plastic? I get 0.2mm to 0.4mm rods from Albion Alloys which are easy to cut and bend, and hold their shape well for construction. Perhaps something to consider when you re-do them in PE? Mind you, you'll need a pair of needle nosed pliers and good tweezers to handle them - using your fingers risks being impaled by the little blighters (do NOT ask me how I know this! 😉 ).

 

The wings look spot on. Still marveling at the sheer size of the 'beast'! GULP! 😮

 

Kev

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Thanks Kev I'll try that. The Actuators are a mixture of .8mm and .1mm rod.closest I could get. A bit out of scale still. The wing tips have been a nightmare. mostly just to keep in one piece. As I feared it, doing it this way make this the weakest part of the model and the  most susceptible to damage. Thank you Nickolay, It's been a journey, but not quite there yet. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Merry Christmas! , Frohliche Weihnacten!, Joyeux Noe!, Vrolijk kerstfeest, and of course, S roshdyestvom Hristovym! I hope Father Christmas left many buildable goodies under the tree this year. Well news from the front as expected The Great White Beast still eludes completion. Thats the bad news, good news more HAS been done even if it is 3 steps back and a half step forward. Not quite trench warfare but close. Anyways,  main gear installed

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and went with adding more detail to the main gear doors, mainly hinges and actuators.

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As a present for everyone, I did a temp attachment of the goose neck, one, to see what the gear looked like on a flat surface(with out it the plane is a tail sitter). I will have to fix the port gear slightly out of alignment.

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Edited by LorenSharp
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I have a wide shelf in place for it. that's one reason why I folded down the wing tips just in case it may be too heavy to hang from the ceiling. Attaching the tail fins and the goose neck will be the last steps before completion.  Limited work space demands that.

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  • 4 months later...

Well It's been an interesting year so far. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Mainly due to just after my last post, and I mean literally minutes afterward, my lovely nephews were have a post christmas rough house and in the ensuing melee

knocked  the Great White Beast off of its perch  and onto the floor. I can state that it's like the Space shuttle, i.e. a flying brick, but not as solid. Snapped both winglets off, tore loose 3 engines and broke the landing gear. Needless to say I 

put everything neatly on the shelf and had a quiet nervous breakdown. Almost chucked all in the bin, thankfully didn't. But until recently haven't had the time to pick the pieces back up and put ol' Humpty back together again.  I figured going into full retirement i would spend the time to get the Beast all sorted out,but life has a crazy way of interfering with the best laid plans, namely starting a business and getting it up and operating. So, much for "retirement". But now that its chugging away nicely, back to the grind of the Beast. Here are a few of the more amusing shots for your enjoyment.

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Now it hasn't been all that bad. It did make me go back and redesign how the wingtips are attached to the Main Wings.

So rather than over taking the plumbing I kept it simple. Slot and tab configuration.

 

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Edited by LorenSharp
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From there it was a matter of re attaching the Wing hinges back. This time using Some Milliput

to Strengthen the attachment points.

 

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Nice to see this back in progress, Loren. Looks like your nephews decided that you hadn't enough work to do on the Great White Beast? My full admiration for tackling the repairs and continuing with the build - not sure I could've gone through that!

 

Great work on the re-design of the wingtip mounts.

 

Kev

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