Martin B-51G Panther “Tropic Moon III” Finished!!!

[Captain Canada]

This just keeps getting better and better ! Excellent work. You're really going all out to make it your way....

[trickyrich]

I had pushed this one aside for a while I wait for the new canopy to arrive (still haven't decided if I'll buy a B-57 as well). But while I was waiting for bits on the Arado to dry I did a little bit more on it.

I finished off the wings, they've had their final rub down and I've managed to get a nice smooth finish on them, which is great.

So with that done I couldn't help myself and decided to fit them! I will start by saying the logical way would have been to fit these before fitting the engines (a big hint to anyone building one of these!!!). This would have made life sooooooooo much easier, but because I was working with a plastic-to-plastic join it hasn't been that difficult.

The biggest job was getting the anhedral right, which wasn't that easy! I made up a jig with balsa and locked down the fuselage, then after 40 minutes of measuring and fiddling I was set to glue them.  With the wings in place I initially used thin liquid glue to join them. There were some gaps (Anigrand has the original wing angle wrong at closer to 10o rather than the correct 6o, it doesn't sound much but with the extended wings there is a big difference!) so into the gaps went some CA glue, this just locked everything in place. The remaining gaps, all under wing luckily, were filled with plastic strip.

The end result was very little sanding was needed to get some nice top joins, the lower ones will be nicely hidden by the engines and won't normally be seen, but they too will clean up nicely. Not much filler was required either.





those are terrible files marks! Not sure how they got there, but they're gone now!

Next up while the wings were drying, the Arado was still drying and the Skyshark was...... just sitting there, I had a look at the tail!

The lower section of the rudder and base of the tail had a curved trailing edge to it, this just didn't look right when compared to the more squared off tips on the new wing and elevators. I wanted this now to be more squared as well, so out with the sanding board.



This now has a much more squared off look, which matches the rest of the plane.



One other thing is with the tail on, the elevators tilts upwards, from the nose, where they should be inline with the horizontal axis of the plane. The whole tail needs to be tilted up slightly, once done it looks more natural. I may have to adjust that trailing edge of the rudder to make it square or I may just leave it with a slight slant.



I was struggling to get a photo that showed what I meant clearly



That new section though will make a perfect spot radar-warning receiver!


There is actually not a lot left to do on this at all now, once the replacement canopy arrives, all should progress very quickly to the painting stage!

[NARSES2]

I have to keep getting my kit out of the box to check it's the same kit. This is outstanding work

[trickyrich]

I have to keep getting my kit out of the box to check it's the same kit. This is outstanding work

hopefully your one won't be warped and don't whatever you do put it near warm/hot water to straighten it!!! I think that's what made the initial issues even worse! It would have been such a simpler build if it had been all square and straight!

[trickyrich]

Ok just a minor update today.

I have fitted the tail and completed the modification to it! Just needs the usual final tidy up and she's done!

As I mentioned previously I didn't quite like the look of the tail or how it sat, I think it needed to sit up a bit more at the back, so that's what I did.

The tail and body were drilled in two places and plastic rod was used to get the tail in line with the centre axis of the fuselage plus to lift it up a bit, plus give it strength. Next the gap was filled with green putty, I just couldn't be bothered yesterday with filling the gap with plastic card.




After curing over night it was given a good sanding back and some basic profiling of the tail as well. Plus I added a small bit of card so as I could get a nice sharp trailing edge. Now the fine filler was added.



You can clearly see what was required to fill the hollow in the fuselage behind intake #2!!



Once this filler had cured everything was given a good sanding back and the tail was finally profiled to shape.



Looks pretty good now, though I don't like the bump on the top of the tail anymore so that will go, to be replaced by a rearwards facing radome below the rudder, and above the brake chute door, which needs to be added!





I think it looks much better now and suits the new lines of the aircraft. As I mentioned it's pretty well complete now just sand final touching up and the tails complete, actually the same can be said of everything else. It's almost to the stage that I could start painting now. No more modifications as I run the risk of breaking something...notably the wing tips!

[PR19_Kit]

That's coming together nicely now.

The business of extended wing tips breaking off is always a problem, but you get used to moving the model around so that it's wings don't hit anything. Believe me, I've LOTS of experience in these matters..... 

[Captain Canada]

Is it ever. Great ( and lots ! ) of work on this one ! Really coming together now tho...love it.

[trickyrich]

Ok this is really a small update as I haven't had much modelling time......work it interfering again!!

The vacform canopy hasn't arrived yet, but I have decided to buy a B-51G as well, the canopy from this will be used for the build and the vacform one used on it.

I fitted a new radome to the base of the tail as well as removing the hump I added to the top of the tail, this looks much better in my opinion.



The whole thing was given a coat of acrylic Lt Grey, this was a chance to look at the completed plane. As well The main gear was temporarily fitted. Fitting the gear will be fun, especially to get it even and level!







It has such a good look to it, completely different to the squat look the B-51 has.

I'm glad to have finished all the main work, just the final tiding up of joins and she will be ready for painting....once the canopy is fitted!

[Gondor]

This is looking amazing

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Definitely looks good ! And as you say, very different when compared to the squat look of the B-51....like it's going to leap off the ground ready !

[trickyrich]

opps I meant B-57!!

[trickyrich]

Thanks guy's, sorry things have slowed down a bit as work has given me a new project, so for the next couple of weeks things will be progressing very slowly until the new roster starts.

Ok this is just a very minor update, as I just haven't had much time at all to work on this.

The new Falcon vacform canopies arrived and I was all set to fit the B-57 one again, but looking at it I would still have the original problem.



While I like the shape of the B-57 canopy it really doesn't fit the shape of the B-51, plus I would have to try and reshape it (a lot harder with a vacform canopy) some how. So I abandoned that idea and was going to wait for the B-57 kit.

I was looking at the rest of the canopies and noticed the shape of the B-47E's canopy! It would fit and it looked and suited the B-51 even better than the B-57 one I was using.

So I had to rebuild the canopy frame to suit this canopy....would have been soooo much easier if I hadn't made the original cockpit/canopy hole so large in the fuselage!!!



I think it looks much nicer and a bit more sleeker now plus it is a bit narrower as well which does suit the B-51's thin fuselage. So I just have to clean up the new framework and fit the canopy and then it's painting time!!





Oh and part of the reason I didn't get too much done today besides waiting for filler to dry is I brought this beasty out.



National markings have been painted on, this is part of what caused the delay originally, plus cowlings/props/ and undercarriage have been fitted, I'll update the original post.

[NARSES2]

Nice work on that canopy, and it does look good

[Captain Canada]

the canopy looks great and the Tigercat looks great ! Nice work on the national insignia....that looks excellent !

[trickyrich]

I was really happy how the Tigercat came out, she's finished now and looks awesome!

The canopy is so much better than I had hope, I wish I had thought of it early! Anyway....

Ok as mentioned in the Arado update, work is killing me at the moment, am flying of Sunday evenings and coming home Friday nights! So not too much modelling time!

Anyway, have finally finished sanding and filling this beast! Well I did find a spot I missed but will sort that out later.

I've added a few bits and bumps to her, to give her a more busy look, she's not meant to have nice clean lines now...she's a work horse!

So next up the canopy was masked up....for a second time..and no dust bunnies present either this time!

First up the panel lines were pre-shaded, I only have to worry about the upper surfaces as the undersides will be black. Though I will spray each one as a separate panel to help break the blackness!



Next up the first colour down was the Tan, I will be using enamels for the paint job instead of acrylics. As much as I like using them I do need to do quite a lot of masking and enamels just have so much better bit of the undersurfaces. Plus because the panel lines are quite deep (!) I don't have to worry if the coats are a wee bit thick. That said the first coat went of perfectly!




The photos were taken just after I had painted her so there are a couple of spots that were still not quite dry and a bit shiny.  Now that it has dried some more she looks great, the first coat went on perfectly! It'll have a full week to cure before I can start on the next part which will be Mid-Green.

She looks so much more like a real plane now with this coat on...I just can't what to see the final results.

And the two beasties together!