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1/48 SR-71A Blackbird 61-17972 - The mighty Habu.


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Hello all,

 

Here is my entry for this GB - Revell's recently released 1/48 SR-71A Blackbird, which will be marked as 61-17972 which holds 3 individual speed records:

 

1st September 1974: New York to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes, 56.4 seconds (Average speed of 1806 mph).

13th September 1974: London to Los Angeles in 3 hours, 47 minutes, 35.8 seconds.

6th March 1990: Palmdale California to Dulles in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 17 seconds (flew at a max cruise speed of Mach 3.3).

 

Staggering numbers I think you'll agree! 972 first flew on 12th December 1966 and during 23.5 years of operations, it flew for 2801.1 hours. 972 became the 'Skunk Works' test Aircraft before being flown to the Udvar-Hazy Museum, at Dulles International Airport. I had the pleasure of visiting the museum way back in 2013 (when my camera wasn't great :lol:)

 

52358615442_7de0d2c7fe_b.jpg

52359880239_92a305af1f_b.jpg

 

Now, to the kit:

 

52359880764_06fc5b363d_b.jpg

52359881179_df79d000d6_b.jpg

52359802483_9f44b96c37_b.jpg

 

Extras:

 

52359802313_46958e1f96_b.jpg

 

I'll be using Caracal decals, Quinta cockpit set, New Ware masks and I've ordered a set of ejection seats from Hypersonic models and will most likely order a set of exhaust nozzles from BAM.

 

Some essential references:

 

52358616227_bcbf67079e_b.jpg

 

And some online sources:

 

https://www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/17972/

http://www.habu.org/sr-71/17972.html

 

I'll take some hints and tips from both @Alan P's and @Serkan Sen's builds.

 

Stay safe

 

Dave

 

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Nice introduction and good start Dave. I am very happy to catch this build very beginning.

The weakest parts of this kit are the wheel bays and carriages, intake cones, pitot tube and the exhausts (plus interior details). With a little effort (but not exaggerated like I did) you can build very nice Habu.

Serkan

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Thanks all!

 

1 hour ago, arnobiz said:

Excellent, the Graham book is fantastic, beautiful pictures and very informative text on all Blackbirds!

 

Will you build it on the ground or in flight?

 

Arnaud

It’s a great book, well worth the investment. I’ll be building it on the ground, plan to order your exhausts to dress it up a bit!

 

20 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

Nice introduction and good start Dave. I am very happy to catch this build very beginning.

The weakest parts of this kit are the wheel bays and carriages, intake cones, pitot tube and the exhausts (plus interior details). With a little effort (but not exaggerated like I did) you can build very nice Habu.

Serkan

Thanks Serkan. I’d looked at adding the Master brass pitot tube so might add that to my cart now! I’m content with the kit details in the other areas, for the moment anyway :lol:…saying that are your MLG parts available for purchase?!

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16 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

This should be a great project Dave, the Blackbird is such an iconic aircraft and the new Revell kit looks like a good basis for a great model.

I shall follow this with great interest mate.

 

🇺🇦

Thanks mate, hopefully I can do it justice. I  think I still have the old Testors kit I built up in the loft, be an interesting comparison!

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17 minutes ago, DaveJL said:

Thanks mate, hopefully I can do it justice. I  think I still have the old Testors kit I built up in the loft, be an interesting comparison!

I had built that kit 25 years ago and recently I decided to convert it to A-12B Titanium Goose using 3D printed parts:

 

Here is the Testor kit before starting conversion together with unboxed Revell:

2617.jpg

 

And here is the Revell and Testors kit comparison:

2777.jpg

 

Serkan

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25 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Of that I have absolutely no doubt mate.

I imagine there would be quite a difference between the Revell and Testors/Italeri kits but the over all shapes should be okay.

 

🇺🇦

Cheers Craig! I actually need to have a good look at the Revell plastic, haven’t really had a chance to look at it in detail! My only memory of building the Testors kit is that a lot of filler was needed!

 

12 minutes ago, Serkan Sen said:

I had built that kit 25 years ago and recently I decided to convert it to A-12B Titanium Goose using 3D printed parts:

 

Here is the Testor kit before starting conversion together with unboxed Revell:

2617.jpg

 

And here is the Revell and Testors kit comparison:

2777.jpg

 

Serkan

Some nice work going on there Serkan!

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10 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Excellent an SR-71 this should be fun to watch. I have the skunkworks logo above my desk its been there since 1987 when I drew it up for my high school art class. 

Thanks Dennis, I'll do my best!

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Hi Craig,

A great plan but the Blackbird in the  Udvar-Hazy Center is not the Absolute Speed Record holder.

 

According to a few books ..

 

61-7958 Holds the Absolute Speed Record and is now at the Warner Robins, Museum of Aviation. USA. Confirmed by the museums web page.

 

61-7962 held the Absolute Altitude Record and is now at the Duxford Air Museum UK.

 

61-7972 now at the Udvar-Hazy Center set the New York to London record.

 

These seem a bit odd as I too would have expected the Speed holder to be in Dulles but there are many SR-71 things we dont know so....!

 

I built 61-7958 a few years ago as part of my 'Speed record breakers' series. Here is the SR-71 and the Meteor. Only 30 years separates them, 1946-1976.

 

SR-71 024

 

All the record breakers were (not sure about 972) were painted with "a cross to make it easier for the FIA representatives to track them from the ground". The SR-71 in Action book shows the detail of the cross. The white stencils are also obvious on the pictures.

 

SR-71 023

 

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1 hour ago, Hockeyboy76 said:

That’s a really big kit. Good luck.  

Cheers mate!

2 minutes ago, Colin W said:

Hi Craig,

A great plan but the Blackbird in the  Udvar-Hazy Center is not the Absolute Speed Record holder.

 

According to a few books ..

 

61-7958 Holds the Absolute Speed Record and is now at the Warner Robins, Museum of Aviation. USA. Confirmed by the museums web page.

 

61-7962 held the Absolute Altitude Record and is now at the Duxford Air Museum UK.

 

61-7972 now at the Udvar-Hazy Center set the New York to London record.

 

These seem a bit odd as I too would have expected the Speed holder to be in Dulles but there are many SR-71 things we dont know so....!

 

I built 61-7958 a few years ago as part of my 'Speed record breakers' series. Here is the SR-71 and the Meteor. Only 30 years separates them, 1946-1976.

 

 

 

All the record breakers were (not sure about 972) were painted with "a cross to make it easier for the FIA representatives to track them from the ground". The SR-71 in Action book shows the detail of the cross. The white stencils are also obvious on the pictures.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info! 972 holds the 3 records point to point as I've listed in the original thread, as you say the altitude and absolute speed record are held by other airframes.

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Top stuff Dave, great aircraft, and a great kit.

Very keen to see how you get on with it, as I know someone who is interested in the resulting model.

I remember seeing 972 at Farnborough in 1974 - the first visit of an SR-71 to the UK.

 

Yesterday we sold this book at Jet Age, for a record breaking sum. . . .

Sled-Driver.jpg

 

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6 hours ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

Top stuff Dave, great aircraft, and a great kit.

Very keen to see how you get on with it, as I know someone who is interested in the resulting model.

I remember seeing 972 at Farnborough in 1974 - the first visit of an SR-71 to the UK.

 

Yesterday we sold this book at Jet Age, for a record breaking sum. . . .

Sled-Driver.jpg

 

Thanks mate!

 

I took a look for that book myself....crazy prices!!

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  • 1 month later...

Unfortunately I'm going to have to withdraw this build. I won't get it done within the time limits and with an upcoming house move in early February, I'd be concerned that it would be too large and awkward to move safely.

 

However, I'll be entering it in the upcoming Reconnaissance GB in March and this will be the first build in the new house so all is not lost :lol:

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5 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Unfortunately I'm going to have to withdraw this build. I won't get it done within the time limits and with an upcoming house move in early February, I'd be concerned that it would be too large and awkward to move safely.

 

However, I'll be entering it in the upcoming Reconnaissance GB in March and this will be the first build in the new house so all is not lost :lol:

No worries, understandable you don't want to move a partially built kit. 

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20 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

No worries, understandable you don't want to move a partially built kit. 

More so the size of it! I've some padded trays I can use for 'regular sized' 1/48 builds but this is a brute! Will be a much more enjoyable build when I've moved and have everything set up.

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1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Hope the move goes well mate, and I look forward to seeing your SR-71 come together in a future GB.

 

🇺🇦

Cheers Craig! I'll still be able to get a couple more kits done while here, just don't want to rush this one in time for the GB deadline!

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