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The cockpit is done first.  The instrument panel has some detail molded on it as well as the B/N and WSO stations.  Unfortunately they sit too far back to be really visible in the completed model.  The ejection seats are composed of several pieces.  I pre-painted all the cockpit parts interior grey followed by painting the IP, console tops and glareshield black with some dry brushing to pick out the details.  The seats were then detail painted with red arm and head rests.  The WSO windows were glued in place followed by the cockpit and nose wheel well.  You need to add some weight to the nose to prevent it from being a tail sitter.  I used some BB’s on each fuse half held in place with thick CA.  Once this was done the fuse halves were joined. Because the only choice of finish for a B-66B is natural metal you have some seams to clean up.  I also glued the canopy in place and masked it off.  I used some putty and Mr. Surfacer and a lot of sanding and polishing to clean up the seams and to fair the canopy into the fuse.  Some of the panel lines were lost in the process so rescribing was in order.

The wings and engine pods were assembled, seams filled and sanded.  Detail that was lost from sanding on the engine nacelles was rescribed.  The horizontals were glued in place and care needs to be taken to assure dihedral and symmetry between the left and right sides. The wings were then glued in place and some filler was required to blend the wings properly with the fuse.  Once this was accomplished the engines/pylons were glued in place.  The fit of these was very nice and no filler other than the Pro-Weld was needed.

Since this is a NMF airframe plenty of surface prep is needed to make sure seams and flaws are well hidden.  Lots of time wet sanding, applying Mr. Surfacer and Future and polishing with 2000 to 8000 grit cloth were invested in order to achieve a base for the Floquil bright silver.  Once the silver had dried it was time to mask off panels for the various of metallic shades.  I used a mix of Testors metalizers and Alclad II shades to achieve the desired effect.  I had to be careful in that I applied the Alclad II colors first followed by the Testors metallizers so as to avoid applying masking tape over the Testors and thus ruining the finish.  The nose radome area was painted with Tamiya black.

B-66 color schemes were not noted for being colorful.  The kit gives you option for two aircraft; The first is an RB-66B of the 42 TRS/10 TRW based at RAF Chelvston in 1960.  The second is for the 19 TRS/66 TRW RB-66B based at Spangdalem, Germany in 1959.  I chose the first one because of the red diagonal stripe on the engine nacelles and the rainbow comet on the tail.  The decals were VERY old and the clear areas of them had a bit of a milk haze to them.  I found if I soaked them extra long in the water and used a brush this “haze” could be removed.  Needless to say this resulted in more time than usual to apply all the decals.  Microsol helped them to settle nicely.  Once decaling was finished I applied a coat of PollyScale clear to seal everything in.

Now was the time to add all of the fiddly bits; IFR probe, tail guns, landing gear, wheels, doors, etc.  After I had these in place the canopy and window masks were removed to reveal the clear parts in all their glory.  I applied a light wash in the gear bays to bring out some of the detail there.

All in all this was a nice build, despite being a NMF (which I am not a fan of).  The kit is going on 30+ years old but it’s still the only game for a bargain priced B-66.  The CollectAire kit is nice for 1/48 scale but it’s completed size matches it’s price tag.  With this one done I’m tempted to build Italeri’s EB-66 in SEAC cammo. That might go a bit easier…..

Jeff 

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