I started the AMT B-52G about 3 years ago and then shoved the partially completed model in the corner where it has been gathering a few inches of dust and crud. I shoveled off the dust and did some more work on the beast. Here are some progress pics. Comments welcome, pro or con.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Kit turret, stock
Modified turret
Some parts
More parts
Yardbird78, a NMF would look great on our B-52G model. To me the hardest thing to paint with mine H model is the wheels, how the wheel hup is level with the center of the tire. Getting a perfect line around is hard for me.
Keep us updated on yours!
i had the same problem until i read about using a circle template. paint the rubber portion first then find the size you need on the template and spray away. works even if you use rattle cans! i think my template cost around 4 bucks or so at hobbylobbie.
Yardbird, your work looks Fantastic, what did you use for the Guns PE or Scratch built ? You Guys and these big Birds (a finger pointed at FeldMarSchall also) have gotten me interested in these Giants. I have bought the Squadron Walkarounds after being teased with pictures(Yardbird) and I have also bought the Monogram B-29…This could be Habit forming [:-^] Looking forward to the Progress. Maybe someone will pitch these Giants as a GB in the Future …
Yardbird, I remember when you started this. Glad to see you’re back to work!!
some assembly requird, thanks I just might have to try that out.
Summit, hehe
I bought an aftermarket sprue about 10 years ago that had eight .50 calibre gun barrels on it and it has been in the “spares” box ever since. They were probably intended to be used sticking out the leading edge of a WW-II fighter. I am using four of them on this G model and the other 4 a D model I am building.
Darwin
Can’t wait to see it finished, it’s looking good…One question which may sound dumb, but I never understood painting parts on the sprue. If you paint them like that, when you clip them off isn’t there some bare unpainted plastic showing?
A small amount, but that can be easily touched up. I find it easier to hold the small parts for painting while they are still on the sprue.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Yeah, but how do you contend with the seam and excess plastic?
B-flippen’-52! Looking sweet!
…so AMT’s… that’s a 1/72?
Nice looking ‘Hound Dogs’ BTW…
So you planning on building the D with a scratchbuilt bomb bay?
Remove the painted part from the sprue as normal and then carefully trim off the sprue stub and brush paint the speck of white/gray that shows. Yes, it is 1/72.
Mikeym.
I am still debating about doing a complete bomb bay. Right now, I am concentrating on the outside of the aircraft and external activity.
Darwin
Darwin, if anybody can make a masterpiece out of that kit, it would be you. There’s not much anybody can tell you about the BUFF, and I miss the stories you used to email me about the BUFF’s and the D-21’s, among others.
One thing I’m curious about, though you may not have thought about it since it is so far down the road: I built this kit with the Hound Dogs on it several years ago, and it was in NMF except for the flash-white belly (which was unecessary in a cruise missile carrier). As you well know, the stripes for the wing walks on a BUFF are absolutely labyrinthine. Oddly, the most strange ones are on the horinzontal tail sections, where the stripes go in all different directions at once. But the whole thing is hard to do. I tried to use press-type stripes for it, but I didn’t know at the time that art supply store press-type does not like NM surfaces. It was a mess.
But I want to do another one one day, and I’ll be following yours with great interest.
TOM
[:P]long time no hear.[:P] so Mel where did ya disappear too? So you ever build that Sturmovic I sent you yet?
Tom,
Thanks for the compliment on my modeling ability. I hope it is not misplaced and that I can do justice to this kit.
The SIOP plan for the BUFFs carrying Hound Dogs was that they would launch the HDs out ahead of their flight path and “blow a hole” in the bad guys defense network and then go on through to their targets. They usually carried 4 gravity weapons in the bomb bay, so the anti-flash paint would still get a chance to do its job.
I am tentatively planning on using black decal stripes for those crazy no step walk lines.
Darwin
Mike:
Sadly, no. I’ve been acquiring more AM stuff for it (most recently, a decal sheet), and I plan to open up the wing bomb bays on it and make them functional using the excellent Eduard set for that purpose. (Not really functional, but accurate looking…well, you get the point.) Again, thanks for getting it to me. Now, do I owe you something for it that I forgot to send? I’m terrible about that. If I owe you a kit, or frets, they’re still here.
Tom
Darwin- courage man, a well built BUFF model isn’t something you see often, present company included.
I used a trick on the wing walks that did look good though. I sprayed the surfaces black, and then masked all the lines, then went with the NMF and removed the masks. Almost perfect, (hah!), and touch up with black was simple.
Bondoman:
A spray of semi-gloss black along the general area of the walks, and then a roll of – What? 3/32" tape? – and the job is done. Bondoman, that is entirely too simple and logical for me to have thought of. I had to come up with an elaborate and doomed-from-the-start solution to the problem. A friend sends me these very large rolls of very thin auto-body shop masking tape he uses for just such jobs, and that’s how I would do it now. And thanks for the tip. Even better, Alclad is right: Some NMF colors come out better with a black undercoat.
TOM
I did a little more work on my early G BUFF.
The original G had the back edge of the radome, (black line), even with the second bar in the windshield. The late G had the back edge moved forward in line with the first windshield bar, (silver line), in order to provide room for the EVS turrets. The AMT early G kit has the back edge of the radome in the position for the late G. It will have to be corrected.
There is a large air scoop in the leading edge of the fin that has round lower lip. The kit has a flat lower lip and I filed it to a more rounded shape.
The canopy/upper-forward fuselage piece is faired in place and ready for a coat of primer.
Darwin