So, after a bunch of pacing back and forth on whether or not to buy this kit- it showed up in today's mail.
The over-all point of this review is whether this kit is worth the price, so I'll say right up front that I shelled out $73 USD on Amazon (via Sprue Bros. out of Liberty, MO) with free shipping. There were other options on EBay that fell into the $50 USD range ($30 for the kit plus "when ever the boat gets there" shipping) but Sprue Bros. is relatively close to me and I wanted to try a first order with them.
Let that sink in for a minute.
This kit is freaking expensive for what it is. What it is, is very nice but can you justify the dent it puts in your wallet?
The kit contains no photo-etch, just a couple of shades of gray plastic plus the clear glass. A small sheet of photo etch would have been welcome for two antenna masts that are shaped like a T (actually more like an F with a mirror image F next to it) plus some doo-dads for the flight deck and a better cover for where the rotary cannon used to reside in the tail.
The plate you get to plug that hole is OK but if you're really into detail you'll need to drill a bunch of 0135/80 sized holes in the plastic part, something I'm not looking forward to.
It seems like EVERY B-52 kit that has ever existed has had its issues in terms of basic shapes and dimensions, so we may as well get this part out of the way.
Yes, there are some minor accuracy issues with this kit, mostly with the way the horizontal stabilizers are depicted. On this kit, they are nicely faired into the sides of the fuselage, just like a 737 or an Airbus main wing. This is totally wrong, the horizontal stabs of the B-52 pivot to control trim. There should be a "hard' break between them and the fuse. Call up some side-view images of the Buff and you'll notice a bare-metal panel on the fuse from the half-way point of the stabs to just in front of their leading edges. It isn't painted for a reason, its a tight fit but the stabs have to be able to move. To be fair, this is one of the more confusing features of the real aircraft. The parts that look like trim tabs are actually the elevators while the entire surface of the stabs are the actual trim tabs.
There should be six flare ejectors on the bottom of each stab. I'm not sure why this was omitted, the chaff ejectors are nicely molded into the bottoms of the main wings.
One topic people always seem to obsess over are the vortex generators on the main wings and stab, so let's look into that. The vortex generators on the REAL plane are small and there are a lot of them.
There, happy now?
To be fair, Revell did a better job on their B-52 G and H 1/144th scale kits back in the 1990's and they were over-sized. GWH includes them but you'll need to set your airbrush to "wisp" and cross your fingers, otherwise they will sink into the paint.
OK, on to the main wing(s). They look right. You'll need to drill some small holes and add the nav lights, but that's minor. The one issue with the wings is that you HAVE to model the plane as landed with the wheels firmly on the ground. The wings are molded with a slight downward sag which is accurate for the real article if its full of fuel and travelling slower than 50 knots. There is no way its accurate for a plane in the air. If you want to build this thing "wheels up", drink several cans of beer before you start to bend them slightly up. Its a $60 kit and you won't feel so bad when you hear the loud CRACK.
I also don't see this covered in the instructions but the insides of the flap wells and the doors for the tip gear should be painted Zinc Chromate Green (which tends to fade into almost a Chrome Yellow). These green areas tend to get filthy, so weather them accordingly.
Some other obvious things to high-light- GWH modelled the COMPLETE flight deck, both levels. Why? Well, why not, I guess? The seats are there for all seven crew members (a jump seat is included for an Instructor Pilot on the top deck) but you'll need to add the triangular head rests for the two seats you'll be able to see and paint them red.
The main wheels and tires are nice. The tires don't have "weight-on-wheels" bulges but the tires on the real article have something like 38 plies to them so they aren't going to bulge a lot.
There are
supposed to be two red, rotating beacon lights on top of the fuse, about 3/4ths of way back from the nose. These lights are unique to the B-52 and are considered a design characteristic. Its not a big deal to add them by drilling out the holes and "over filling" them in with clear red paint, but they should have been included.
"Cheek dimples"- The B-52 G and H have a very complex shape to the nose and forward fuse, even before the FLIR and LLTV turrets were added below the cockpit. This resulted in a very slight crease or dimple between the nose cover and the lower part of the fuse. On the old Revell kit, the dimples were were fairly deep. GWH has toned this dimple down a little more and it looks "right". The cockpit area should also have wrinkled skin due to the cockpit being pressurized, but this effect is very slight especially at this scale. You can create this effect using a thick primer/surfacer or some mottled highlights, just don't go overboard.
Engines- Basically the same as the pods found in the old Revell B-52H, only different.
Both designs are valid and accurate, IMO. Revell got the complex shape of the inlets closer to reality but GWH includes the "blow in" bypass doors which are open at slower speeds and higher power settings.
Really, this is a "push" between both kits. Just be sure to paint the nose cones of the actual engines NATO Black then weather/chip the snot out of them. Revell didn't mold the bypass doors, GWH did but they're almost "too prominent" and you'll need to do a little bit of filling and sanding to tone them down slightly. The bypass doors should be one of those "Oh, of course" items if you know what to look for.
Decals- To be really honest, "meh". The GWH decals look fine but my first impression was, "I can't wait to see what the aftermarket decal companies come up with". One thing that's glaringly off is walkway stripes for the main wings and fuse. There aren't any which would rate a "Harumph" even if the kit was sold for $20 or less. Either wait for the aftermarket to come to the rescue, buy the Minicraft late-model B-52H for the decals and junk the plastic, or get ready to lay down masks for pin striping. Really, GWH. I don't mind paying top dollar and the plastic is fantastic, just humor me a bit and go the extra mile. I shouldn't
have to be looking for decals and photo etch at this price point.
Don't get me wrong, I gripe because I can.
The parts just click together after clean up (the way the parts fit together on this kit is just
sick, everyone needs to experience a kit like this at least once) and everything tends to look right. If this is your first B-52 kit, you could do worse. Much, much worse...
One quick note on cleaning up the parts, GWH uses what I call "flush" sprue connections. Not quite the same as a standard plastic model, the sprue connects to the part at the seam of the part. This results in much cleaner molding but you need to be careful when removing the part from the sprue. Cut the part loose leaving a bigger chunk of sprue on the part than normal then carefully file/sand the sprue away until you get a smooth, flush seam.
If you've never built a kit like this, take your time and work slowly at first. You'll see the advantage to molding a kit like this but it usually happens after you screw up one of the parts.
What else? Detail tends to go over-board a bit, but at least its there. You get a full crew compartment even though you'll only be able to see the front seats. You get a full bomb bay even though you can only pose the model on the ground, with the bomb bay doors open and almost touching the pavement.
You get the rotary launcher and its support members which, again, you won't be able to see. There are multiple pylons for the different weapon types (basically nuke and conventional) so you might want to try adding some magnets to hold the pylons in place. The only true gripe I have with this kit are the blade antennas, and there are a LOT of them. For some reason, they are not as sharp as the antennas on the older Revell Buff. Which is a shame. Again, we're back to having the aftermarket save the day which will still be tough. Photo etch would be too thin and cast resin would be way too fragile. That leaves scratch building with plastic sheet stock for a 1/144th scale $60 kit.
As far as nit-picking, there is an error where the bomb bay doors joint the fuse. There are actually four doors on each side and the upper doors are the same length as the lower doors. Not a big deal, some quick scribing will fix this.
So, do I recommend this kit? For North America, this is a lot tougher than it should be. The engineering is top-notch (mostly) and there are some very minor flaws. There's also the price tag which makes this kit tough to recommend to new builders. I'd like to see some photo etch hit the market plus some better decals. An optional tail gun would have been great for a pre-2000 build (the gun part is easy, the fairing that goes around the barrels is a lot tougher) as well as an option for "in-flight" or "parked" wings.
Am I hoping to see GWH do it again as a B-52G? Well, heck yeah! Figure out an option for the wing roots so its either a "straklet" cruise missile carrier or a "777" conventional bomber. Add an option to pose the FLIR/LLTV turrets open or closed (for once) and figure out those blade antennas and these kits will become highly recommended, even at the current price.