Operation ju jitsu B45

[Ruskin Air Services]

Living only 8 miles from the old airfield of Sculthorpe which is steeped in history and secret operations and other incidents. I had always wanted to build a B45 and Valom answered the call. As with valom kits they are of a limited run nature, so reading and rereading the instructions is a must and cleaning up the parts is required with plenty of test fitting too. So her goes:

Obligotary box top

Box contents

Nice decals and instrument panel films

Two decal options and painting guide including horrendous spelling! 

The etched control wheels are more 1/48th than 1/72nd sourced a couple of wheels from a scrapped Dakota 

The cockpit soon takes shape, time for a break! 

[Kushan_Farsight]

did not know the RAF operated the RB-45c!  Learn something new everyday! So from the look of the paint scheme and boxart, was the rear gunners station not used during RAF service?

 

That photoetch sheet has quite the patina! and those control wheels! 

 

Will be watching this one love the early era jets. With this being an operational RAF vehicle, im surprised the Panavia Tornado wasn't called the 'Tornado II' when in uk service! 

 

[Robin]

Hi there.

A rather interesting model you have decided to build, and a Valom one to boot.  In the 1950s I was living in Lancashire, and like yourself being interested in aircraft was a regular visitor to my local military airfield, which in my case was RAF Burtonwood, a major USAF air base.  and that a fairly regular visitor were the B45s normally based at Sculthorpe, I seem to remember that these aircraft quite often had interesting paint schemes.  As you are aware, at the moment I am struggling with a Valom Varsity, so I will be interested to see how this turns out.  I may even consider a B45 as my next project.  Good luck with your build.   Robin.    

[franky boy]

Great choice of subject. 
 

It may be worth popping over to the completed group builds forum and have a look at the nato/Warsaw pact 50’s gb from 2019 as at least one of these kits was built there. 
 

Look forward to some progress Updates. 
 

James

[stever219]

31 minutes ago, Kushan_Farsight said:

did not know the RAF operated the RB-45c!  Learn something new everyday! So from the look of the paint scheme and boxart, was the rear gunners station not used during RAF service?

 

That photoetch sheet has quite the patina! and those control wheels! 

 

Will be watching this one love the early era jets. With this being an operational RAF vehicle, im surprised the Panavia Tornado wasn't called the 'Tornado II' when in uk service! 

 

The RAF never “officially” operated RB-45Cs, however some were painted in spurious RAF markings and, operated by RAF crews, flew reconnaissance sorties close to the Iron Curtain.  What’s never been fully disclosed as far as I know, is exactly which side of the curtain was being flown close to.

[The Tomohawk Kid]

22 hours ago, stever219 said:

The RAF never “officially” operated RB-45Cs, however some were painted in spurious RAF markings and, operated by RAF crews, flew reconnaissance sorties close to the Iron Curtain.  What’s never been fully disclosed as far as I know, is exactly which side of the curtain was being flown close to.

 

A lot is explained here in this Timewatch programme, when it originally aired back in the early 2000s it included recently declassified material - some facts/sorties still remain classified re the RAF's overflys of the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The RAF was far more involved than has ever been divulged both now and in the mists of time, some activities are still denied, however former Soviet air force personnel have now confirmed the vast majority of RAF overflys of the USSR, as this programme alludes to. 

 

 

 

Tommo.

Edited July 8, 2020 by The Tomohawk Kid

[Ruskin Air Services]

Due to the short run nature of this kit I started and got really frustrated with it and so it went back in its box with a few choice words. 3 months have passed and have found that the heritage centre at Sculthorpe airfield are having a new display for the the covert operation, they have a B45 in flying trim refueling from a KB29 but don't have any gear down so I dragged it back out and restarted it so here's how far I've got. The plastic for valom kits is very powdery, it seems they're using ground up/recycled polystyrene 

 

 

 

 

 

[John_W]

Looking good so far, Valom kits can be a challenge.

The B45 always looks like it should have had piston engines though.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

For all your troubles, this is looking good from my standpoint, but I'm also not sitting at your workbench.  Is the upper nose section an after-market replacement for the kit's transparency?  One of our club members struggled with this kit, too, and said it fought back every step of the way.  He prevailed, and so can you!  Alex

[Ruskin Air Services]

4 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

For all your troubles, this is looking good from my standpoint, but I'm also not sitting at your workbench.  Is the upper nose section an after-market replacement for the kit's transparency?  One of our club members struggled with this kit, too, and said it fought back every step of the way.  He prevailed, and so can you!  Alex

No the part is for the rb45c and is made by valom and is included in the kit along with the other noses and they all fit badly 

[mackem01]

What a great job your doing despite your frustrations with the kit. Enjoying your work and looking forward to you crossing the finish line, especially as you've chosen such an interesting subject.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

I appreciated the video, too, as I had never seen it before.  It contains dated/inaccurate information about alleged "unauthorized" B-47 missions and the number of U-2 overflights, since corrected by historians, but it was revealing to see the interviews with RAF pilots/navs on the RB-45.  Due to the Official Secrets Act, I would not have expected them to come forward, and was astonished by their openness about the depth to which they had overflown Soviet airspace.  They were real pros, whatever one might think about the policy of overflying Soviet territory for intelligence gathering.  Seeing Robbie Robinson on camera was a great surprise!  I loved how he clammed up when asked about how many U-2 missions he had flown.  LOL.  Sadly, the joint commission mentioned in the video made no progress with resolving the fate of missing Americans...

[At Sea]

Very interesting.  So sad that the missing men have never been resolved, or that those that flew as bravely as any 'Ace' were sworn to secrecy and kept that secret.

 

As a tragic aside there is a very harrowing book I read a few years back 'Stalin's Slave Ships, Kolyma and the Gulag fleet' by Martin J Bollinger.  This details the appalling movement of men and women from the Eastern ports to the high Arctic, and the depravations and brutality therein.

 

The ship's were Lend lease vessels, and on occasion actually dry docked by the USA in the USA as part of wartime agreements still in force post war.  

It is alleged in the book that US personnel, possibly Korean war POWs were moved via these vessels and worked to death in the Gulag.  It is entirely probable that this could have included the above mentioned missing Americans.

 

Another gruesome 'discovery' by the author is that the prisoners of the Gulag may be the last humans to have eaten Mammoth, given the meagreness of the rations and the occasional find of a frozen prehistoric beastie!

 

So after my tangential wander into crimes against humanity and culinary oddities, great work on a tough kit!