There was an early test flight when the XB-70 went to mach 3 and the paint failed big time, flaking off in big patches all over the aircraft. I know that is not the same as shading, but thought I’d mention it.
I would imagine at least the underside of the aft fuselage would have some streaking from engine fluids.
Thank you for the update. Yeah, pre-shading can be hard to get right on some things. Not exactly sure how I’d try to replicate that, but can understand about a solid white paint job making the thing look like a toy.
And holy cannoli, Batman, in the second picture is a B-58 chase plane. It looks TINY compared to the B-70, and it’s not a small bird. Just wow.
The B-58 is also about 500 yards behind the object which will make it look about 60% smaller than it actually is… In the same space a B-58 would fit within the B-70’s wing plan leaving about 25 feet on either side and 40’ shorter at the nose… Smaller definately but only about 50%
Ha ha, I saw those pictures, just rectangular chunks taken off all over, crazy!
Got things sealed up and glued up the final pieces. I put the plane on the base, but when I got home that evening, the mounting frame, the metal struts that I had put together had broken apart from the stress. So I’m now trying a different glue and seeing if that works.
I’m very, very slowly getting better at scribing panel lines, I can’t imagine the terror I would been in trying to do an entire aircraft.
Very nice work. Cool ‘diorama’, too. 
Ha ha! Yeah it was extremely nerve wracking, and this time involved a HUGE amount of luck, as opposed to skill.
It’s right up there with doing canopy masking for me. I have about 6 different scribing tools and I’m not confident with any of them. I end up scratching stuff and having to go back and fill and sand. On my F-86 I probably have 4 hours in on just fixing my scribing mistakes.
So are you using that thicker plastic scribing tape? The clear stuff? Other thing I found really helpful was the super thin scribing templates and then using them like rulers/guides for straight lines. They are so thin they easily fold around curved surfaces. But it’s still really nerve wracking. I guess practice makes perfect? And keeping a really light touch.
Ha, yes I have a drawer full of scribing tape of different typed, and found one that I like that is rigid and thick.
I also have 3 of the scribing templates but I’ve only used them for shapes, so that is a good idea, thanks.
I’m typically not much of an aircraft guy (due mostly to a lack of display space) but you’ve made one beautiful model.
Yup, luck be a lady. That’s the type of modification I like to make very early in the build when I don’t have a lot of time invested.
And on an expensive kit? Forgetaboutit!
I can be a bit of a coward.
Yeah I’m the same way, I was extremely reluctant to try this, but figured God hates a coward! LOL!
Great job. I’d love to do one if I had the shelf space
Just watched a YouTube video about this aircraft and between your excellent build and that show, it makes me want to build one someday.Even though it would be my only 1:72 aircraft in the fleet, maybe this and a B-52 would look great together someday?
I remember building the B-52 as a kid (I wonder what happened to it?), I did the camo sceme painted with a brush. Would be fun to do these two and hang them from the ceiling in formation.
Do them both in NASA paint schemes, if only for the contrast. Mind, that might tempt a person to add a U2 and and SR-71 in NASA colors as well. Just to show the range of research craft flown.
That is a very interesting idea, were there actual NASA versions of the XB-70 and B-52? I didn’t realize that.
There were Nasa versions of almost every high performance aircraft the Air Force flew…
