This
is the well known but also hated B-2A from Testors. It was a very long
build, it took me almost 1½ year to finish it. This included a 3 month stop
from all the filling and sanding. The model depicts the first operational
B-2A AV-8 88-0329 ”The Spirit of Missouri
”. I don’t know for sure, but I think I used 1 full tube of Tamiya
normal Putty on this plane. The seams where really horrible. Because
all the sanding on the leading edge, I had to make it as a Block 30 B-2A with
the leading edge from 1 section.
Here
is the model just after I assembled the major fuselage and wing sections
together. Here you can see the large seams on the upper surface where the
wings join the wing/body. The first of a lot more putty to follow is
applied to the exhaust and IFR door.
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Here is the lower side of the aircraft where you also can see the large
seams, which are even more horrible then the seams on the upper side. You
can also see that there is totally no detail inside the wheel bays.
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A pictures from above, here I installed the inlets which also required the
tube of putty. All the seams of the upper fuselage are filled. And ready
for the first time of sanding, a lot of these runs where needed to get a
nice result. |
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A
close-up of the left inlet, the sanding work on the inlets is almost done
here. |
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I
airbrushed the model using Humbrol 125 Gunship Grey. This was the first time for
me to mix my own paints to airbrush, before this I used the airbrush ready
paints from Revell. I applied very thin layers. After I applied the ground
layer the already black painted exhaust started to crack up. I wanted to paint
it over because I didn’t liked the black exhausts. But after the model was
finished and I re-painted them using different metal paints I liked the rough
result.
The
first to thin layer on the underside, you can see that the seams are
almost non-existent. I painted the bomb-bay white but because only 1 bay
was molded I decided to close the bomb-bay.
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The
upper side of the model, after “I believe” the last layer of paint.
The seam on the left wing is still a little bid visible. But I just had to
finish the model and, after it was finish with the decals and the layers
of clear-coats it is almost not visible anymore.
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The
Assembled landing gear.
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The
kit I got only had decals for AV-1 82-1066 as it was rolled out in 1988.
But after contacting Testors and explained them the problem they send me the
newer sheet which now is in the kits. I’m very thankful to them for
sending me the new sheet. At the moment I started this model there was no
aftermarket stuff for the kit, so it is completely out of the box. If I
would build it again I would use the Eduard set, and add more detail
myself. But I doubt if I will ever build this model again. It was a
horror to build it but now it is finished I’m really happy with the result.
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Some
history dates about the aircraft; AV-8 was delivered to the USAF on Whiteman AFB
in December 1993 as Block 10 B-2A. The aircraft was redelivered as a
Block 30 aircraft during November 1997. It is (just like the rest of the
21 B-2A’s) operated by the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman AFB.
Björn
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