What would be the best bet if I wanted to purchase a 1/72 B-47 Stratojet (yes?)? I really have no idea what’s out there in terms of this kit, and for all I know there’s only one offering. But if I can get some help in finding both a kit of it, and all the “stuff” (Aftermarket details and whatnot) that goes with it, it woud be great.
The wheels in my head are grinding again ([}:)]), and I’m gathering preliminary info for (ANOTHER) possible project. More information if anything comes of it. (Stop rolling your eyes! I do NOT have too much out there right now!)
The only 1/72 kit that I know of is the Hasegawa kit of the B-47E, kit # K-0007. It builds up into a pretty decent B-47. I don’t know of any AM parts available for this, although there very well might be some. This kit is long OOP, but shows up on Ebay occasionally.
I have one in my stash if you have some particular question about the kit.
There was some resin wheels for the Hasegawa kit made by True Details at one point in time. I don’t know if they are still available. Decals are scarce too.
Mike:
Just as long as your idea of a diorama does not conflict with my idea of a diorama. My idea consists of using two different aircraft (flying) in close formation with each other. If you check out my bio for my addy I would be glad to tell you about it. Maybe some kind of group build will come of it. Incidentally, the Hasegawa kit of the B-47E, (kit # K-0007) is the only kit out there.
Having been born on a B-47 base to a B-47 pilot, this is naturally my favorite a/c of all time. And even if I weren’t, it would still be one of my top five favorites, since it is just so darned beautiful, as Jimmy Stewart remarked when he first got a glimpse of one in “Strategic Air Command.”
The “Hasegawa” kit is in fact an AMT kit released in 1971, and it is good for its time, but that’s all. And I know of no other AM parts or decals for it than the wheels mentioned above.
I once had some Boeing drawings in 1/72 and found that the old kit is pretty close to dead on, but it is sorely lacking in detail. You can’t see much through the canopy, even if it wasn’t thick, but the seats and what little else is in there are rudimentary at best. There is no bomb bay. The landing gear is so-so,the wells are bare. The wheels on the B-47 were pretty elaborate, with a strap that stetched from one edge of the rim over the hub to the far side of the rim, and this is not reproducted well, since it’s impossible to mold to the wheel in one piece without looking cheesey.
Last time I looked, this kit was back in the Hasegawa catalogue, but the price, considering I paid $6 the first time I bought the kit, is absurd. And while I realize what 35 years of inflation mean, it’s not as though any more money has been spent cutting new molds. Monogram’s ancient kits don’t increase in price like that.
What we need is a new B-47, preferably in 1/48 (it wasn’t that huge of an airplane), and I fear our only hope there will be Trumpeter, and I’m not as ecstatic over this firm’s products and prices as so many others seem to be.
TOM
I just got a Hasegawa B-47 from my LHS about six months ago (they got it for me from their distributor in about a week)- they are available, and they are the only game in town, near as I can tell. I recall that someone did a resin RB-47H conversion for this kit- does anyone out there know more about that (that’s what I’d really like to do with this kit, I recall seeing some over at Clark AB in the Phillippines when I was a kid- Dad was a Hun pilot)?
I got the plane hanging from my ceiling myself. It was an easy kit to build, but like others said, it’s very light on the details. I’ve been looking for an aftermarket decal set for that one and the B-36 in 1/72 scale sinice I need to repaint both of mine to bring them up to a better level of quality. I’m guessing that there aren’t any out there.
One beutiful aircraft. With that said , I worked on the fire control system when I was in the Airforce so I had to build one. The kit has no problems except setting the correct anhedril (spelling) " wing droop at rest. If it isn’t correct the wheels will not touch the ground. The hard part is getting information on it .
As I’ve mentioned here many times, I used to climb all over and inside the one that was sitting derelict out back of the old Confederate Air Force museum at the Harlingen, TX airport. I was astonished at the leap in technology in barely two years between the end of WW II and the first flight of the Stratojet. The co-pilots ejection seat, since it was a tandem airplane, sat on an electrically driven turntable so he could swivel around to look into the scope of the radar directed tail guns and fire facing to the rear. But to show how it straddled two generations between the B-17 and the B-52, there was a little trap door in the top of the rear canopy so the co-pilot could take sextant fixes. It was incredibly cramped in there, especially considering all the gear they carried on them and under them in survival packs. That scene in “Dr. Strangelove” where Slim Pickens takes inventory of the survival kit was absolutely hilarious, but what most people don’t know is that it was true, I believe, down to the last item. The only things he left out that the crews carried were the folding shotgun and handaxe. And they had to sit on these things sometimes for a full 18 hours airborne alert (nuked up) or a 24-hour runway alert strapped in with a cocked airplane. Some Cold War. Dad used to bring home some of that survival stuff for us, like the parachute riser knives (which fighter crews carry special G-suit pocket, which of course the B-47 crews didn’t wear), the official SAC fishing kits and other things like that.
Speaking of the RB and EB-47H’s, those were among the last to fly, and they were assigned the spook missions. More than one was shot down by Soviet fighters in a few incidents, some of which are still classified. Some EB-47’s were fitted with a “Raven Pod” carrying a three-man crew where the bomb bay was on the other versions, and there was no provision for emergency egress. The RB-47E’s carried flash bombs in the bay.
As for the model, when Hasegawa was briefly in business with the old Minicraft, there was a release of the kit in the late '70s as a WB-47E in a very gaudy scheme, which would be a real find now, because they are rare. It had an enormous decal sheet in it with da-glo orange stripes and swirls all over it.
TOM
I hate to dredge up this topic from so deep in the forum, but I had to thank everybody for the help. As stated, I’m not big on the jet aircraft, but it do admit it’s quite an aircraft. I had the privelege of seeing a real airframe at the USAF museum in Dayton, OH. (Gee, am I lucky) It’s not that big of an aircraft, true, but still impressive right up next to it.
Well, lack of detail I can deal with. It’s just good to hear it goes together OK. If plans follow as they should, I’ll be building two of them, along with another B-36 (using the skills I learned from my previous build to make it better). I won’t give specifics, but I will tell you I would really like to detail the crap out of all three, and stuff the Peacemaker full of electo-goodies (motors and lighting). It’ll be a very in-depth project of mammoth proportions (ala Ju 290Z)- I hope.
Well…Good topic. Especially since I’m planning a diorama featuring aa Academy KC-97 and the B-47 in flight and refueling. Wish me luck with this one, I gotta feeling I MAY be biting off more than I can chew. I found mine on e-bay and paid about $25.00 for it.
