This is my first post on these boards – so please be gentle.
I wanted to share with you my prototype build of the Fantastic Plastic Models’ new Northrop Nuclear-Powered Flying Wing kit. This is a 1:144 all-resin kit mastered by Scott Lowther based on one of several “nuke wing” designs Northrop proposed during the halcyon days of the 1950s. I’m particularly fond of the Star Wars “B-Wing”-like configuration with the crew pod attached to the end of the port wing (to keep the crew as far from the atomic reactor as possible!).
The model itself is painted with a wide variety of Alclad II laquers and Testors metalizers to give it that “bare metal” look.
Watch the Skies!!!
Not only is it a fascinating subject matter, it is very masterfully modelled. Well done, Allen.
Oh…and [#welcome] to the forums.
You have boldly gone where no one has gone before and done a beautiful job once you got there. Congratulations on a terrific accomplishment.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
That’s some nice work, particularly variations given to the various panels. That’s one of those kooky Cold War projects (which I absolutely love) that I had never heard of.
Thanks for the kudos. I’m a sucker for Cold War “project” aircraft and plan to produce additional flying “oddities” in the months ahead.
- Allen B. Ury, Fantastic Plastic Models
Great job on the kit, I love the different shades Alclad.
I’ve never heard of a nuclear powered plane experiment. Guess you learn something new every day!
There was at least one aircraft which took an operating nuclear reactor into the air - the NB-36H. It was used as a test bed for the feasability of actually desiging a nuclear fueled engine. It was built from a B-36H that had been damaged by a tornado that struck Carswell AFB in September 1952. The reactor was mounted in the aft (#4) bombbay and the crew was carried in a lead lined capsule in the nose. Canopy was replaced with an airliner style canopy. It made a total of 47 flights (215.75 hrs total), of which 21 (89.0 hrs total) were made with the reactor operating.
On all the flights, the NB-36 was accompanied by a C-97 with a platoon of Marines whose job it was to parachute down and secure the area if the NB-36 crashed (giving a whole new meaning to “glowing in the dark”). Even though the program proved that a nuclear reactor could be operated in flight, cooler heads question if we really needed or wanted to have one in flight and the program was cancelled. Magnesium Overcast by Dennis Jenkins has an extensive chapter (including pics and drawings) on the NB-36H