The flying wing airliner and freighter concepts

[McColm]

 Having all this free time on my hands means flicking through my old pages on this site and comparing with concepts of the RW.
You will pleased to know that the flying wing has been embraced by the major players in the aviation industry. There's two main ideas:
One to have the flying wing mounted above the fuselage in a cargo /passenger roll-on roll-off. The concept for a front opening door isn't new Saab came up with the idea based on it's mini-jumbo jet. The door would be parked flush against the terminal building so that the passengers could just step off the plane and after a quick clean the new passengers could walk straight on .
The second concept is to blend the wings into a fuselage in the middle,  stretching the wings in length so that the appearance of the fuselage looks like a regular airliner.

The largest model kit I could find in 1/72 scale has been the Revell/Monogram  Convair RB-36H Peacemaker,  I have had three of these and one in vacform.
Learning from my mistakes it is possible to switch the wings over to those of the X/YB-35 or X/YB-49. A metal coat hanger or hangers would be ideal for the spars to align on for the new wings. The cockpit area will need to be removed and so will the rear cone for a good fit. Likewise the vertical tail fin from the Peacemaker will need to be removed as well. A V-tail can be created by using leftover parts. Extra windows can be painted or a few decal sheets used for the passenger airliner.
For the cargo variant the nose wheel  well of the Peacemaker is prominent so you would need to cut further down the fuselage and swing the nose to one side.
I have attempted to create a rear loading ramp by imitating the C-130, but I now see my mistake and should have followed the upwards curve of the rear fuselage as this will form the loading ramp when cut out. It's a little on the steep side but a winch could be glued in place at the top of the ramp.
Both flying wings come with their own sets of engines,  the X/YB-49 has jets, I had the idea of using a pair engines from a B-52G underneath the wings,  the same would have been used on the X/YB-35 wings.
Landing gear,  the main landing gear could be switched over for cosmetic purposes.
It's a big build so you will need plenty of space and somewhere to put it when completed,  it's a good job both kits are in 1/144 scale which is a bit more manageable.
If you don't fancy chopping up the Peacemaker,  the 1/144 An-124 or Lockheed C-5 look like two more contenders to be kitbashed or the Airbus A380.