Ok folks I am working on Italeri’s XB-70. I was thinking instead of the traditional all white scheme, what about a what if one. Right now I am leaning toward a SIOP type camo finish. I have thought about the black one like the U-2, SR-71. Any thoughts.
SIOP doesnt seem suited - buy hey, it’s a what if…
A black or very dark blue along the lines of the SR-71 would be interesting.
I think I would go with the camo. I have seen builds of the TSR2 done in Brit camo What If scheme, I think the 70 would look nice that way as well. But I hope you have plenty of paint.
I think FS 36118 Gunship Gray would look pretty good.
You know GMorrison you may be on to something. A finish something like the F-4G used to carry couple shades of gray, split somewhere along fuselage.
im fairly sure only white or black are suitable for mach 3 flight for thermal reasons but what if means anything goes
There’s a thought… Mach 3 intruder mission! What’d my avatar say?
“…if the pilot’s good, see, I mean, if he’s really… sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low, you oughtta see it sometime, it’s a sight. A big plane like a ‘(70). VRROOM! There’s jet exhaust, fryin’ chickens in the barnyard.”
I think they were white to reflect nuclear blast radiation. B-52’s from the time were NMF with white undersides.
But gunship grey looks cool.
If you look up pics of the B-70 after extended high speed flight, much of the white paint has come off, revealing the stainless steel skin. What an amazing airplane. I believe that the intake plenum before the engines was eight feet tall. TomZ
Lizard camo would be cool!
Sounds cool… Having worked for NASA I tell ya overall white scheme was generaly used on prototype/experimental aircraft by the boys down at Edwards. Regards, Chuck
If you want to go completley what if - Splinter camo (Viggen style) in black / grey / silver[proplr]
One of these days, I want to accomplish a whif project that I’ve had in mind for decades:
Imagine a B-70 in SIOP camo at Mach 1.5 refueling from a Concorde tanker. I call it
(wait for it)
SAC’s Fantasy
I’ve got the Concorde from the review I did of the Airfix 1/72 kit. I just need to pull the landing gear, scratch a multi-sonic refueling boom, build the AMT B-70, and get creative with a display stand for it all. Someday. Maybe.
Ok folks I just hit the big time. I have PaulBoyer throwing in his [2cnts] worth on a thread that I started. [proplr] By the way the Concorde as a refueler would be very interesting. I actually saw the Concorde flying one time. For some reason that escapes me now it was at the airport in Battle Creek Michigan. I had heard it was going to be there so I went and watched as it was buzzing the field. I do not remember if it landed or not.
The B-70 was intended for high altitude penetration of enemy air space. Lets say however that the B-70 is being used for conventional bombing. The bomber is a B-70B. Drop 51 Mk83 bombs on Hanoi during operation linebacker. Paint it like a B-52D/F/G in the early 1970s.
Yep SS, but SAC doctrine changed to low kevel penetration before the idea of aircraft carried weapons was abandoned entirely. The Brits reconfigured their Vulcans, and TSR-2 was foreseen as a low level penetrator from the beginning.
Remember there was a rumor for a while about a B-58 in SEA camo. Turned out to have originated in an Italeri sheet.
I found one called the Ferris Heater for the F-16XL. It is 5 different shades of gray in a diagonal pattern across the aircraft. We may have found a winner. Thanks to Cyber Modeler Websight. I look at this way the B-52 had several different camo patterns, this could be the same for the B-70. Let me know what you think.
Heater/Ferris, actually. It was applied to one unit of Navy F-4S types in the 80s, I think, and some test birds. That would look pretty cool on the “Valk.”
Seen from above as a giant chunk of Russian Highway. I like it.
Not seen that before, I rather like it.