B-70 Valkyrie

[chrisonord]

I have the AMT XB-70,I have had it for a long long time. It has probably done more mileage from bringing it home from the shop on my bike, 75 miles and me moving house than the real ones did
Mine is going to get whiffed, of course. I am thinking of putting ramjets in where the wings bend, and sticking an X-70 thunderdart on the back.
Chris.   

[kitnut617]

Actually the XB-70 is well represented in model form in one scale or another, from my book (PAK-20) and all injection unless noted otherwise;

Academy (& Minicraft) 1/144; AMT (reboxed by Italeri) 1/72; Aurora 1/105; Contrail (vacuform) 1/72; Cutting Edge (probably resin) 1/144 ; ID Models (vacuform) 1/48; Lindberg 1/169; Nitto (reboxed by Academy, Entex, Playkits, Sunnt/Japan) 1/300.

HTHs
Robert

[kitnut617]

Here's a pic of the 1/72 scale AMT one I'm in the process of building, but still packed away after my house move.  Dont recall any major problems with the build so far though:

[PR19_Kit]

Sweet frigging jesus....Shes a big girl isn't she?

You're not kidding! 

I took a trip to the USAF Museum at Dayton OH back in '01 and the XB-70 was one of the a/c on my list of 'gotta sees'. They have it parked above the X-15, which looks like a toy huddled down there. The six exhaust pipes are just GINORMOUS, and you need wide angle eyes to see them as the a/c is backed almost right up to the hangar doors.

Well worth it if you're ever in range of the place. In my case the company paid as I was working in the Minneapolis office at the time and Dayton was just a short trip away by Mesabe Airlines. 

[rallymodeller]

The iron in the paint of the blackbird oxidized?  Was that due to just the air or due to the temperature of the air it plowed through at high speed?

KJ Lesnick
"Let's hope I don't get a heart-attack"

Just plain ol' rust. Of course, heat cycling didn't help one bit.

BTW, did you know that the SR-71 actually became stronger every time it flew? The heat cycling actually strengthened the titanium parts of the structure. Theoretically the Blackbird airframes had an unlimited fatigue life if used as they were intended...

[JayBee]

Actually the XB-70 is well represented in model form in one scale or another, from my book (PAK-20) and all injection unless noted otherwise;

Academy (& Minicraft) 1/144; AMT (reboxed by Italeri) 1/72; Aurora 1/105; Contrail (vacuform) 1/72; Cutting Edge (probably resin) 1/144 ; ID Models (vacuform) 1/48; Lindberg 1/169; Nitto (reboxed by Academy, Entex, Playkits, Sunnt/Japan) 1/300.

HTHs
Robert

Thanks for that memory Kitnut, I had forgotten all about the Aurora kit in 1967.
Can't remember what happened to it.

JimB

[Mossie]

Actually the XB-70 is well represented in model form in one scale or another, from my book (PAK-20) and all injection unless noted otherwise;

Academy (& Minicraft) 1/144; AMT (reboxed by Italeri) 1/72; Aurora 1/105; Contrail (vacuform) 1/72; Cutting Edge (probably resin) 1/144 ; ID Models (vacuform) 1/48; Lindberg 1/169; Nitto (reboxed by Academy, Entex, Playkits, Sunnt/Japan) 1/300.

HTHs
Robert

There's one more that I know about, a 1/144 resin kit from Anigrand.  Pricey, but you do get the three 'secret' kits as well, one of them being an F-108!
http://www.anigrand.com/AA4007_XB-70.htm

[Archibald]

Here are a couple of Mav's that I like.

GREAAAAAAAAT !!! Now we need a NASA variant.

the SR-71 actually became stronger every time it flew? The heat cycling actually strengthened the titanium parts of the structure. Theoretically the Blackbird airframes had an unlimited fatigue life if used as they were intended...

How about that... the fastest aircraft on Earth has an unlimited fatigue life.

[rallymodeller]

the SR-71 actually became stronger every time it flew? The heat cycling actually strengthened the titanium parts of the structure. Theoretically the Blackbird airframes had an unlimited fatigue life if used as they were intended...

How about that... the fastest aircraft on Earth has an unlimited fatigue life.

Pretty much. Of course, the titanium was subject to the same kinds of mechanical stresses as other metals, and in a metal as hard as titanium any cracks can be catastrophic indeed. However, the main issue as far as life expectancy for the Blackbird is concerned were the J-58s -- they were really, REALLY expensive to operate and hideously maintenance-intensive.

[uk 75]

The prototype B70s were all over white. However, in the artwork before the plane flew it was shown in the SAC all over metal shiny finish like B52s, complete with the SAC sash.  I love that scheme and I think there are pictures somewhere of a model.

Like the UK's Avro 730, the B70 ends up in all over white.  I assume that all metal coloured versions would have been impractical, though equally given the speeds and heat involved, the white paint might have been peeling.

SAC's B52s of course ended up in a wide array of camo schemes from SIOP and Vietnam SEAC through to later Lizard and current boringsville grey.  I assume that B70s would have been too fast and hot for such schemes.

Presumably there would have been no scope for ordinance under the wings as the nuclear payload was squeezed into the belly bay.  Any thoughts or pics?

UK 75

[KJ_Lesnick]

I thought for the production design (if it was built) they were going to use some kind of opaque silver coat which was to reduce thermal signature

[famvburg]

         My bet is that if we'd needed camo'd B-70s & F-12s or something other than bare metal, white or black, hi-temp paints in appropriate colors would've been developed, at least that's my excuse for some alternate B-70s & F-12s.

The prototype B70s were all over white. However, in the artwork before the plane flew it was shown in the SAC all over metal shiny finish like B52s, complete with the SAC sash.  I love that scheme and I think there are pictures somewhere of a model.

Like the UK's Avro 730, the B70 ends up in all over white.  I assume that all metal coloured versions would have been impractical, though equally given the speeds and heat involved, the white paint might have been peeling.

SAC's B52s of course ended up in a wide array of camo schemes from SIOP and Vietnam SEAC through to later Lizard and current boringsville grey.  I assume that B70s would have been too fast and hot for such schemes.

Presumably there would have been no scope for ordinance under the wings as the nuclear payload was squeezed into the belly bay.  Any thoughts or pics?

UK 75

[Mossie]

High temperature paints were available. The black & white finishes were a painted finish.  The reason black or white tends to be used in high speed aircraft is that the colour itself offers around 15⁰C protection over other colours, regardless of the finish.  It's not essential, but it does reduce the temperature enough relieve a little stress on the airframe.  Also, at the high altitudes such aircraft operate, camo is less of a requirement.  If operational needs were greater, then a camouflage finish could have been applied.

In the case of the Avro 730, models appeared in white mostly because an anti-flash finish was in use at the time.  The fear was that heat absorbent finishes would cause the airframe to be severly damaged by the flash of a nuclear explosion.  Hence white overall with very pale roundels & stencils.  It just so happened that it was useful for high mach flight as well.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Nononono,

The XB-70 if it entered service was proposed to use a type of twin-layer silver paint-coat which was designed to alter the frequency of the IR radiation emitted from the aircraft to frequenceis which soviet IRST scanners weren't generally designed to pick-up...


KJ Lesnick

[Damian2]

Paint the thing desert pink...or just plain pink...