PATRICK FROM THE SANDS Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Hello Everybody! I start a series of three blackbirds with the SR-71 Italeri kit. I always wanted to build this wonder but the choice was pretty poor on the market: Hasegawa, Academy and Revell made some but they are all wrong in shape and details so the less-worst is, my opinion the Italeri kit. However, if you want to have an "accurate" rendition of this iconic aircraft, a lot of work needs to be done. The Italeri kit comes with a D-21 drone, and I was surprised by the size of the bird! To simplify on the work to be done, I completely reshape the nose fuselage section which is too close to a A-12 "double seater" (!), way too thin and too flat. This is a big surgery and you need a good drawing to capture the right nose shape, add the navigation device "hump" in the rear of the navigator position etc... The other challenge is to add some "fat" to the fuselage section, not easy. For the rest, the kit needs to be engraved carefully, I used some PE for the auxiliary intakes doors etc.. The cockpit needs some extra work also but you will not see that much once finished... The landing gears required some detailing, I have separated the middle wheel from the main undercarriage (it is molded in a single piece) and detailed the three wheel wells which are pretty empty. Painting the kit is another challenge, as black is not necessarily black so I used various shades of blueish, brownish blacks sprayed randomly to some panels. For the marking, I selected a/c 1967 in the late 70 style based at Kadena in 1978. The decal sheet is from Rocketeer Decals "Ichi Ban". Highly recommended! Unfortunately I have only one photo of the aircraft. A slight weathering was also made. So the Photos: The real stuff: mine: ...and a little dio: the Ford tractor comes from the Hasegawa kit but needs to be enhanced. The SR-71 AG-330 starting group is from the British supplier 'AIM-ground equipment' but unfortunately the wheels are in white metal and are useless. Two groups were made, one type equipped with Chevy engines and the other one with Buick engines. The ladder is scratch built. As a conclusion, a disappointing kit and I am not satisfied with the result... When a definitive kit of this beauty at the 72eme scale will be on the market ??? 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcello Rosa Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Looks great to me, thanks for sharing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragan_mig31 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Love it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Excellent work! The variation in the black is very realistic. I especially like your access platform, and wish I had one for my Blackbird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATRICK FROM THE SANDS Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 5 hours ago, billn53 said: Excellent work! The variation in the black is very realistic. I especially like your access platform, and wish I had one for my Blackbird. Thank you for your kind words! I did the access platform based on photos and it is not so complicated, just time consuming... Definitively the SR-71 deserves a better kit, as well as it ancestor the A-12! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 1 hour ago, PATRICK FROM THE SANDS said: Thank you for your kind words! I did the access platform based on photos and it is not so complicated, just time consuming... Definitively the SR-71 deserves a better kit, as well as it ancestor the A-12! I just discovered that Aircraft In Miniature have a 3D printed access ladder for the SR-71 (in 1/72 and 1/48 scale). I tried their earlier photo etch set when I built my Blackbird, but wasn’t able to get it assembled properly. The 3D printed ladder should be much easier. Unfortunately, it is pretty pricy: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/GE72031R 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 I'm working on the revell 1/72 blackbird at the moment (currently filling, sanding and completely rescribing...) and will be chuffed to bits if it's even half as good as this! I completely agree we need a new version of this amazing aircraft in the one true scale! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Very impressive work! I like the diorama! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATRICK FROM THE SANDS Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 9 hours ago, billn53 said: I just discovered that Aircraft In Miniature have a 3D printed access ladder for the SR-71 (in 1/72 and 1/48 scale). I tried their earlier photo etch set when I built my Blackbird, but wasn’t able to get it assembled properly. The 3D printed ladder should be much easier. Unfortunately, it is pretty pricy: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/GE72031R Yes I forgot that one put on the market recently. I bought from them a USAF Coleman tractor in 3D printing (first time I try this) and it was very difficult to separate the main pieces from all the sprues attached to them. The main problem is that those sprues are sometimes inside the piece and, even thin, it is not easy to remove them without risking to damage the part. I can't imagine the hassle to do the same with delicate parts of an access ladder at the 72eme scale! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATRICK FROM THE SANDS Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 9 hours ago, SaminCam said: I'm working on the revell 1/72 blackbird at the moment (currently filling, sanding and completely rescribing...) and will be chuffed to bits if it's even half as good as this! I completely agree we need a new version of this amazing aircraft in the one true scale! When I started this project, I found an interesting article comparing all SRs a that scale and the Revell kit was not at the top of the list (being undersized with poor details), that's why I chose the Italeri one, which is way far to be perfect: the panel lines are all wrong and need to be engraved, the nosewheel and main undercarriage wells are too shallow ( I changed them) and (as the Revell kit) the aft fuselage cross section is too shallow etc... You have now a lot of aftermarket kits to enrich whatever SRs, but what the point of pouring so much money on wrong kits??? (unless you are stupid like me doing heavy surgery with questionable results!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 It is superb! Well done!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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