# show off your B1-Bs?



## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

hiya folks! Me again!

just hoping someone here might have done the B1-B Lancer at some point that they'd like to show off. I'll be getting one soon (my favorite aircraft) and thinking that if you had some tips, you might like to share.

Thanks!


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## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

I built one a long time ago. At the time it was billed as the world's largest model aircraft. Maybe Monogram brand? As I recall, it went together strightforwardly. The only issue I had was the connection between the cockpit/nose assembly and the rest of the plane. My puttying skills weren't so great and the seam was lousy. I'd love to post pics but it was hit by AAA (firecrackers) and is no longer airworthy or anything worthy for that matter. If I had the time and chance, I'd build one again. I had been building all the US intercontinental bombers and did: B36, B58, B52, B1, even the space shuttle (which was really, at least partly, a space weapon....at least that was the scuttlebut at the time....). Never got around to the B17 or 29. And the B2 wasn't developed yet. Those kits were all 1/48, BTW


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## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

I just read this review, 

http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/mod/kolb1.htm 

the original post having sparked my interest. This fella says the wings aren't synchronized. That's too bad, as the kit I built did have synchronized variable geometry wings. Say that three times fast.


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## Magesblood (May 12, 2008)

I heard whispers of a 1/24 scale Lancer out there. That would be *huge*. 1/48 seems big enough.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

There are no real 1/72 or 1/48 kits of a true B-1B. The Revell 1/48 kit is a B-1A despite the box. It has the old style bomb bays with SRAM's not used on the B, nor does it have the larger engines and afterburners of the B. IIRC the tail cones from an F-15E strike eagle will work. There are some antennas and scoops different too but those are easy fixes. The big Revell kit does not fit well (body is in 6 parts) and the wings 1) are hollow and warpy, 2) aren't meshed together and flop around and 3) when the wings are extended nothing covers the gaps in the fusilage sides.

The older Monogram 1/72 kit is of the B-1 prototype and used to come with red-white-blue demo markinds.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

I've still got one of the Revell 1/72 B-1's in that red, white and blue scheme - in the stash!

I do have a mostly assembled MPC B-1. Have to find the engine pods and windshield, though. I was going to do this one gear down, etc but over the many years I had it, several parts (landing gear door, rear cockpit bulkhead) went missing, rear stabilizers broke off, necessitating a permanent repair... stuff like that. I made a replacement landing gear door out of sheet plastic and since it was going to be closed, no worries about details. I like the 3-colour camo scheme shown on a couple of the pictures on the box so I think I'll finish it up that way... especially it represents an early B-1 anyway!

She'll be a ceiling-hanger when she's done, though. It was a fairly decent kit to put together although I had some problems getting the fuselage halves to mate up properly and those tiny attachment pins on the engine pods were FAR too small. One on each engine managed to vanish- break off, or something I no longer have any idea!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I've got the ol' Monogram 1/72 in the stashe, with its full compliment of ALCMs, but internal and externally mounted - which it naver carried operationally.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The MPC kit is the Airfix offering. In some ways its the most complex and detailed of the 1/72 B-1 kits but it is less accurate in shape, etc. The Monogram kit is still "better".

But, you can make really nice looking models from any of the kits. They take some work but do look good when finished.

A nice, NEW mainstream scale kit of the B-1B would be really welcome. The Monogram, Airfix and Revell offerings are now 30 years old and represent prototype or early production airframes.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

I really liked the MPC/Airfix B-1 landing gear. Too bad I lost other pieces to prevent me from using it. Even as inaccurate as it is... it looks enough of a B-1 that from the ceiling, it won't matter! LOL!

I kinda doubt we'll ever see an accurate production B-1 even in 1/72; it's a big plane and molds are expensive. The 1/48 planes are HUGE! Haven't seen one for awhile except recently. I don't have the space for one of those.

What about the Revell (I think) 1/144 B-1? Is that based on the prototypes/ early A's as well?


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## jcd132 (Jan 13, 2000)

Here's a few pics of my 1/144 scale Dragon B-1B:

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/jcd132/Models/Aircraft/DSCF2833.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/jcd132/Models/Aircraft/DSCF2834.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/jcd132/Models/Aircraft/DSCF2840.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t135/jcd132/Models/Aircraft/DSCF2832.jpg

Very nice kit, btw. It comes with resin engine exhausts. I did a little scratchbuilding coming up with details on the aft fuselage ECM pods, though.

Jay


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

WarpCore Breach said:


> The 1/48 planes are HUGE! Haven't seen one for awhile except recently. I don't have the space for one of those.


Dragging this back up to the top again...

I'm quoting myself but it's foot-in-mouth time... in spite of myself not intending to get the 1/48 kit (new kits here are around or over $100CDN) I got one last weekend for an unbeatable price of $20CDN! How, you say? One of my favourite shops that I can't get to very often also deals in trades and he got this kit in just before I got there. It was still new in box (box having been opened of course) with most of the parts bags still sealed, except for one.. looked like that the bag was torn open and I still haven't gone through it yet but one thing that was obvious that part of the bag was stuck to one part. The reason for that? When the parts were being factory-bagged, the roof of the main landing gear bay got caught in the sealer, resulting in an ugly scar along one edge of the piece, destroying detail and badly damaging a gluing edge. I've since been in contact with Revell and I have ordered a replacement piece ($0.00 cost to me!) for that.

So this model still represents the B-1A? Okay, this is going to be a silly question but is there a site that deals with the detailing issues that need to be addressed? Some years ago, I found a site that had a number of people doing build ups of the B-1 - and probably the 1/48 kit to boot - but of course no longer have any idea where that was, etc. I am interested in knowing just what has been produced in the way of aftermarket parts to add detail. I'm aware of the metal landing gear set, btw. I'm kinda loath to raid a couple of F-15 kits to swipe the engines, though.

EDIT: I found that "site" mentioned above! It was the B-1 build thread over at ARC and it's still active from the first post in 2003!! Here's the link: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=4079&st=0&start=0

Lots of information regarding the building of the 1/48 kit. Be prepared for a LOT of fit issues in the fuselage. F-15 engines apparently will NOT work for the 1/48 kit; they're too small (still need to confirm that myself but no reason to believe otherwise). The old Cutting Edge resin afterburner cans are no longer available, the only set available are the Eduard PE afterburner cans (52 pieces each!!). There is supposed to be more stuff coming for the 1/48 kit but not until this summer at the earliest. 1/72 parts are also going to be developed, too. I grabbed lots of build pics for future reference.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Hey, is the current scheme overall gunship gray, or overall euro 1 gray? Some dopey writer of an article in this month's Air & Space mag called it overall matte black, which I know is BS.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Not totally sure, John. Of the build participants in that long thread (43 pages!!) only a few have been completed and I didn't see anyone mention the specific colour(s) they used. Frankly, I blew through a lot of the pages so a bunch of it got blurred. The painting instructions of the 1/48 kit I have gives a dark 3-colour scheme, not the current overall single colour. I'm not even close to even needing to do any painting so it's not an issue for me - yet!

But the claim of matt black is completely bogus for sure!


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## RedHeadKevin (May 1, 2009)

The B-1b is painted overall Gunship Gray, which is usually a little lighter due to sun-bleaching. There are some variations on certain portions of the airframe, namely the radome and the leading edges of the wing-roots. There are a lot of mods that need to be done to the 1/48 Revell kit to bring it up to today's standard. 

That thread on the ARC forums is a gold mine for Bone information. You should also look into getting Willy Peeters's "Uncovering the B-1b" book. Another gold mine of detail stuff.


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## GForceSS (Feb 2, 2009)

Ok Heres mine.

Built in 1991. Photographed with a then 1 MB Kodak. 

Revell 1/48 B-1B with Jet Sound throttle quadrant. So real sounding and loud when spooling up that kids were feeling behind the burners for heat. The 4" speaker is painted to match the tarmac and is virtually invisible. Full interior and bomb bay lighting, wing tip and all marker lights operative and tail lights blink, with plug in A/C adapter. One tough build and I learned a lot since this was my first aircraft model after a 10 year break. I would build another but a lot differently if I were to do it again now.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

That first pic is sweet!! (The other 2 aren't available at the time I'm seeing the message)

NICE build. What you accomplished is far more than I ever intend to do! LOL!


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## GunTruck (Feb 27, 2004)

I haven't built one yet - but I had the pleasure of transporting GForceSS' B-1 home from a contest a long way from our homes several years ago. It is much more impressive in person.


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