I am looking for advice on what is the best available kit for a Vietnam era fully loaded B-52D? I dont mind trying to patch up minor fit problems, but would like something accurate with reasonable recessed detail?
Your opinions would be appreciated.
The only B-52D available in 1/72 is the venerable Monogram one. It has raised details, however it is a decent kit accuracy wise.
I think your only choice is the old Mongram kit. Still a very nice one after all these years. But no recessed detail. All B-52 AMT kits are pre or post Vietman variants.
Would really prefer a kit with recessed panel lines, I suppose I could plump for a late / current model??
teh AMT kits are over a decade old… not sure if the panel lines are recessed or not on them,and they are supposed to ahve windg droop issues, as in not enough!
Yep, with the other guys. If you want a D, your only choice is the Monogram kit. Got a half built one in the shed that i will get round to finishing one of these days.
OK I have gone done a bit surfing & from what I can see the Italeri & AMT kits are one in the same & have some considerable issues?
I have seen a Revell B-52 - does anyone know if this is a Monogram re-pop & if so what issues does this kit have;
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Yes, i believe that is the monogram kit, though with different markings. I believe those are for the red flag excersise some time in the 70’s.
As far as issues go, this is an old Monogram kit. The fit will be typical for those- not perfect, but not bad. Interior detail is moderate for the cockpit and gear wells. The wing to fuselage fit is good and strong, Critical on a kit kit like this. The bombbay has a single plate of 750 pounders moulded in place to represent a full bombload. straight OOB it builds in to a decent kit, but with some work can really shine. The flaps are positionable and a reasonable effort in that scale. An expereinced modeler such as yourself can make quite an eye catching build. It is an old classic, but still probably teh best game in town of all the BUFFs in 1/72.
Yes it is the same kit. Monogram is a brand owned by Revell which is now owned by Hobbico. This kit also came in a NB-52 with an X-15, I have one in my stash and will someday build. With moderate skill this turns into one impressive model. If you want recessed panel lines…simply sand down the raised details and scribe in recessed ones…shouldn’t take all that one as long as you have the patience and the right tools.
Be sure you have plenty of room on the bench…its a monster!
The nice thing about doing a D model is the variations of schemes…camo, NMF with Antiflash white belly or NMF with Black belly.
I have the 1/72 Revell B-52 in my stash ;
I picked up the kit for $38 [AUS] , there usually priced around $80 here in Sydney .
I was a bit disappointed with the decal sheet , there are no wing walk decals , so I guess that’s why the kit was half price ?
John .
Those are easily paint as the walkways have raise panels around them. I don’t ever remember this kit coming with walkway decals except maybe the NB-52 which is NMF.
The Monogram, Revell/Monogram, Revell and Revell of Germany B-52D kits are all the same kit in different boxes. The original Monogram kit was re released with several different box art versions. It is the ONLY 1/72 kit of the Dog model and it is actually a pretty good kit. The cockpit is very spartan for details, but you can’t see much of it after assembly anyway. The tail gunner is a figure attached by a peg to side of the fuselage, no compartment detail at all, but again, you can’t see it anyway. The lower half of the bomb bay doors open, ( as they would in flight for dropping the bombs). The upper halves are scribed, so they could be cut out easily if you want to position the entire door assembly open as done when loading internal weapons. The plate inside the bay has the lower halves of about a dozen Mk-117, 750 pound bombs molded into it. They look fairly decent, but are not positioned correctly. The only way to fix that would be to leave the plate out and put in 3 scratch built clips with bombs at least across the bottom of each clip. The multiple ejector racks on the external pylons are way to thick and should be replaced with ones from the Hasegawa weapons kits such as Number One. The wheel wells have no detail at all other than the struts, so you could spend a lifetime adding detail in there. The four .50 caliber tail guns are just stubs sticking out of the turret shrouds and should be replaced with after market gun barrels of some sort. The Dog models as used in Viet Nam had a gazillion ECM antennas under the belly, most of which are missing on the model.
Darwin, O.F. [aln]
OK folks, thanks for your input, it look like I will be adding the Revell / Monogram B-52D to my must have list.
Cheers.
Yardbird’s correct, there is only one “D” model in that scale, I’ve built several since they first came out. Here’s some shots of my last “D”:
You can also do a “G” for Vietnam as they were for a period, based out of U-Tapao Royal Thai Naval Air Field.
ikar01,
Nice work on the ol’ BUFF. I absolutely LOVE that belly full of Mk-82s. The contrasting color on the tail fin assemblies of some weapons is a nice touch.
Darwin, O.F. [aln]
If you’re interested in a good book about the life of a B-52 crew during the Vietnam War then I highly recommend this one from my friend Robert Harder. I had the pleasure of meeting him this past year at AirVenture, when I had the honor of interviewing him for EAA’s Timeless Voices program. An interesting man with a great story to share. He tells the real deal! I hope the interview gets posted to the archive soon. It sometimes takes a year to process all of the interviews conducted during AirVenture…I did several.
Thanks Yarddog, I took the design for the bomb cartridges from a picture I took it U-T’s bomb dump on my first official duty day while assigned to a Q.R.T. in Bravo sector.
I have the old Monogram “Big, Bad, and Beautiful” release. It has some decent wing spars for those massive wings, which I even added brass rods to reinforce. Somehow I just never got around to gluing them in place and also wish I had added some detail to those gear bays as I will have no choice but to display it as a hanging model.
I have space limitations that would prohibit the 1/72 scale B-52, but the Tamiya 1/100 scale B-52 series is a really good alternative. Apart from the odd scale, they feature comperable molding with the Monogram kit, crew seats for the pilots & tail gunner, bulkheads in the wheel wells, optional position flaps, full internal & external bomb loads, and very good decals for their era.
