I think the store where it was obtained had stored it in a humid place, they didn’t apply properly.
I believe the original kit of the blackbird (ostensibly an SR-71) with the D-21 was a Monogram kit released in, I think, 1984. Darwin, when you refer to the original Revell kit (No. 5 on your list), are you talking about the one that came out in the 1960s? I remember the kit in the hobby shop when I was a kid, and have wondered lately just how (in)accurate it was. Since they weren’t exactly parading them around to airshows then, I wonder what the moldmakers worked from. Have you got one?
TOM
Yes, I had the Monogram with the D-21.
Revell released a 1/72 model of the YF-12A in 66 or 67 and about a year later they released the SR-71. The USAF put the YF-12 on public display for the media in either late 64 or early 65 and let them take pictues of it. They later released pictures of the SR-71 and it would be fairly simple to redo the nose on the kit. Both kits had a “radar” dish and some electronic cabling under a removeable nose cone that was very close to the one in the real YF-12, but totally wrong for the SR-71. Both were reasonably accurate overall, but lacking in anything even close to detail. The landing gear was barely better than a “blob”, the engine nacelles were almost a perfect tube instead of having the taper towards the front and the cockpit was non-existant. There was only a piece of flat plastic to mount a pilot head & neck on. The fuselage cross section is a little too deep and there is absolutely no surface detail other than the wing corregations and the bypass air inlets in the nacelles. Mongram released a 1/72 SR-71 with the D-21 drone about 1980 and of course that now carries the Revell name, sometimes both Revell and Monogram, depending on which issue you have.
I have two of the original SR-71, kit # H-212 and two of the YF-12A, kit # H-206.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I remember buying that kit and reading that it had “realistic Radar”. I was disappointed to find a dish and not the proper SLR.
I hadn’t even heard of an SR until I was in Tech School and learned that that was the plane that everyone wanted to work on. Out on a class of 9, only 2 of us got assigned to Beale. I consider myself fortunate to have worked on them from 75 to 77. I was also one of a handful of people to work on the prototype SLR for the U-2R. It was housed in a large blister on the bottom of the Fuselage behind the nose gear as I recall. If anyone has a photo of it, I’d like a copy for my album.
Don
Yardbird i bought that Revell kit H-206 in 1977 for $13 ! A lot of money back then but i wanted it bad and no other kit was available . I was disappointed with the detail (as per your discription ) when i oppened the box . I built the kit but have since misplaced it but still have the box it came in . Whats interesting is the discription on the side panel that says the black bird is a forerunner of the SST. Wasnt it then president Lyndon Johnson that twisted RS-71 into SR-71 when he announced its existance to the press ?
CFR [oX)]
I have heard that story about President Johnson numerous times and I tend to believe that it is true. He made the announcement in late 1964 as a way to get political brownie points for the upcoming election. The first SR-71 or RS-71 was barely off the assembly line and the USAF didn’t want to show it to the media and public as yet. They flew two YF-12s from Groom Lake to Edwards, put them on display for the media and called them the SR-71. That was also about the time frame that the US, Russia and Britain/France were all trying to develop an SST and be the first to fly one. The Blackbirds provided a lot of aeronautical and engineering data for that contest.
If you want to build a REALLY unusual model, build a B-52H with a D-21 drone under each wing. When they lost the M-21/D-21 combo in the mid-air collision, Kelly Johnson decided to use the B-52 as a launch platform instead of a Blackbird. The BUFF couldn’t fly fast enough to get a light off on the ramjet engine on the drone so they had to design and build a big strap on solid rocket booster for it. They launched about 17 of them over the California desert and/or just off the coast as tests and eventually launched four of them on operational missions over China. On the first mission, the autopilot missed a programmed turn point and couldn’t figure out what to do from there, so it just kept flying straight until it ran out of fuel and crashed, supposedly just across the border in Russia. The second one made it to the target area and back out to the ocean and jettisoned it’s film capsule, but the C-130 missed the airborne retrieval. The Navy destroyer working as back up retrieval made a pass at it and instead of coming alongside, he ran over it and sank it. The third mission got back and jettisoned the capsule, but the parachute didn’t open completely and it hit the water pretty hard and sank immediately. The fourth mission never made it out of the target area, probably got shot down. The drone and the M-21 was called Project Tagboard and drone and B-52 combo was called Project Senior Bowl.
I built the two drones and special pylons several years ago, but have never finished the BUFF to carry them. one of these days!!!
http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21b03.jpg
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I think I am now inspired to do a blackbird in the future. Now for kit selection…hmmm.
Interesting info Darwin. Did you use the D-21’s from Monogram’s kit’s ? Ive got 2 of Mongrams B-52 kits ( one w / X-15 ) and have never gotten up the nerve / ambition to build them . BIG plastic phobia i guess .
CFR [oX)]
Ben Rich in his book “Skunk Works” mentions the Johnson confusion with the SR/RS designation.If you want to know the behind the scenes development story of the SR-71,U-2 and the F-117 read this book.It is both informative and entertaining.
Sounds like a good read , i’ll check at the library ,thanks.
CFR [oX)]
There are 3 books titled “Skunk Works”, one by Ben Rich, one by Paul Crickmore and one by Jay Miller. All three are excellent books that cover the same subject, but from different perspectives. The book “Kelly” by Kelly Johnson is absolutely fascinating to read. It really gets into his life and his philosophies on building airplanes.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
OK Darwin [alien] i’ll look for those books also…CFR [oX)]
Now you´re making me jealous, the B-52/X-15 is one of my dream projects. I´ll better get on ebay right away…[:D]
Those were my original builds for the drones. I have since redone them using the Testor’s/Italeri version. These have a little more detail and a MUCH better rendition of the camera area. It has the correct, bulged shape and the camera windows inscribed on the hatch. If you ever do a D-21 as carried by the M-21, be sure to remove the pitot tubes on the wings. These were added when the remaining drones were converted to B models for use with the B-52. Both the Monogram and the Testors versions depict a standard jet engine burner ring for the aft end of the engine instead of the conical exhaust chamber of the ram jet.
Darwin.