1/72 SR-71 Blackbird Crew Access Steps

[billn53]

A few years back, I built Academy's 1/72 SR-71 Blackbird, which turned out very nicely and has even won a couple of awards in shows I've taken it to. At the time, I bought a set of photoetched brass crew access steps, made by Aircraft in Miniature (AIM) Ltd. Unhappily, Salvadore Dali could have done a better job than me of bending the photoetch, which ended up being trashed.  

 

Recently, AIM released a 3D printed set of Blackbird steps to replace their photoetched version, which I wasted no time in buying.

 

 

Inside the box I found a nearly-complete set of steps -- the only assembly needed is to add the "bumper" that runs along the edge of the platform and protects the Blackbird's fuselage. The biggest job was in removing the steps/platform from its forest of supporting resin. Here's what it looked like when I was finished:

 

 

Basically, all I had to do was add the bumper strip, and paint the bugger. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, no decals are provided so I printed up a set of my own based on photos I found on the web.

 

 

I've not much else to say, so let's see how it looks when done:

 

 

 

 

And yes, I think I may have gone a bit overboard on the weathering:

 

 

That's it! A rewarding afternoon spent at the bench.

 

p.s. If anyone's interested, here's the RFI to my Blackbird build from nearly 5-years ago:

 

 

[Winenut]

Brilliant addition to an already superb build

 

Congratulations

[bar side]

The steps look great for 1/72 - lots of nice detail & no need for fiddly etched brass to fold & solder.  I do miss the days of kits including FOD covers & steps in the kit

[Jackson Duvalier]

It's really amazing what 3D printing can do these days.  At the last show I attended, a small manufacturer was offering printed catapults suitable for 1/72 SOC or OS2U aircraft which were amazingly detailed.  Unfortunately I forgot to buy one. 😖

[billn53]

11 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

It's really amazing what 3D printing can do these days.  At the last show I attended, a small manufacturer was offering printed catapults suitable for 1/72 SOC or OS2U aircraft which were amazingly detailed.  Unfortunately I forgot to buy one. 😖

So far, I’ve built just one 3D printed model (I’m not counting the SR-71 stairs, with just two pieces to assemble). That was a 1/72 Socata Tampico general aviation trainer (the plane I learned to fly in). I seriously doubt any mainstream producer would ever model a Socata.

The crew ladder on my recent F-100 was 3D printed, and came ready-to-paint — I.e, no supporting structure to cut away, unlike the SR-71 stairs and most other 3D items I’ve seen. I wonder how they did that?

[Jackson Duvalier]

1 minute ago, billn53 said:

The crew ladder on my recent F-100 was 3D printed, and came ready-to-paint — I.e, no supporting structure to cut away, unlike the SR-71 stairs and most other 3D items Ive seen. I wonder how they did that?

 

Hired on some Oompa-Loompas, most likely.

[billn53]

I built up and painted a couple of ground crew figures for the access steps, now the steps look a little more busy.

 

 

[Serkan Sen]

The access steps together with Blackbird looks incredibly realistic Bill.

Serkan

[PATRICK FROM THE SANDS]

Well done AIM and your work on the stuff is Top Class! I recently bought a USAF Tractor from them, 3D printed and the kit was firmly attached with so many resin tentacles to its basement, quite a challenge to remove without damaging the main part.

I remember doing this access ladder from scratch for my Italeri SR, not so easy to do. Could be interesting to compare it to the AIM one! 

If I may, there are two additional wires connecting the base horizontal legs, which seems to miss in your build but again the rest is brillant! 

 

 

 

[billn53]

2 hours ago, PATRICK FROM THE SANDS said:

Well done AIM and your work on the stuff is Top Class! I recently bought a USAF Tractor from them, 3D printed and the kit was firmly attached with so many resin tentacles to its basement, quite a challenge to remove without damaging the main part.

I remember doing this access ladder from scratch for my Italeri SR, not so easy to do. Could be interesting to compare it to the AIM one! 

If I may, there are two additional wires connecting the base horizontal legs, which seems to miss in your build but again the rest is brillant! 

 

 

 

Thank you, sir! I followed your fine Blackbird build and was highly impressed with your scratch-built access steps.The AIM set has another error in addition to the one you pointed out — the railings around the platform are too short, compared to photos of the real thing. I discovered this after I was done, but probably would have let it pass even had I noticed it earlier. 

[112 Squadron]

Very beautiful and nicely detailed stairway and figures. 👍 

[bissyboat]

Cracking Blackbird and nice job on the stairway. ⚓🙌