1/72 AMT B-52H Stratofortress

by Warren Osborne

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This is the AMT 1.72 scale B52H of the 92nd bombardment wing at Fairchild AFB Washington, it was the 744th and last B-52 to be accepted by the USAF.  The kit is huge, it was an effort to build it in my workshop.  Detail is ok, but lacks in a couple of areas especially the engines.  I added a little extra detail to the cockpit including seatbelts and the silver curtains which are prominent on the real thing.  I used aluminium foil to do both.  The fuselage comes in four sections which took a little time to line up.  I removed some plastic from the front and rear sections, to get a good join dry fitting as I went, time doing this is well spent or the join will be very visable.

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The kits other problem is the wings, if you build is as per the instructions the wing tip wheels do not touch the ground.  To get over this I carved some plastic from the wing spar which helps to attach the wings to the fuselage, this allows the wings to droop.  The resulting gap was filled and sanded rescribing any lost detail.  The kit flaps are moulded up (although internal detail is present?).  I cut them off and scratch built them in the lowered position, for this I used plastic card and filler and lots of reference photos.  They're not strictly accurate, but they give the kit a busy feel. 

Humbrol enamels were used throughout sprayed over thin cardboard masks to get the camoflaged effect.  Pastels were used for weathering and to accentuate the panel lines especially on the engines (to give an impression of more detail than there really is).  The finished kit sits on a chipboard base spayed to resemble a picture I have of a B-52 sitting on its concrete apron.  To give an idea of the finished kits size, the base is almost a meter square.  Currently be biggest kit in my collection. I am really pleased with the result.

Warren

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Photos and text © by Warren Osborne