ertl XB-70 valkyrie 1/72

North American XB-70 Valkyrie
AMT / ERTL
XB-70 model in 1/72 scale AMT/ERTL kit
North American made a really fast MACH 3 strategic bomber prototype back in the sixties, called the Valkyrie. It never was taken into production, and prototypes were known as the XB-70. ERTL AMT issued a very good kit (no. 8907) in the eighties in 1/72 scale. Also, it was issued as a "pre-issue" special, but the kit was the same. It is huge! Over 30 inch long!
The assembly of the main parts can be changed to improve alignment of the big parts. - Glue the wingtip first to the main wing parts. - Add large amounts of weight in the nose! - The upper fuselage parts in stage 10: glue and fill / sand straight but do not glue the parts 3 and 4 together yet as to make alignment later simpler to the rest of the wing/fuselage tail.
The tail pipes! 6 of them! You can make some small improvements: - remove a small part of the canards (parts 28); remove a triangle shaped piece of the canard at the trailing edge near the fuselage junction. - re-scribe the main undercarriage doors outline in the lower fuselage (part 13). - add smaller pitot tubes, etc. ..
- The wheels are coloured metal (not black) as they had a coat of metal on it to cool faster. - The main undercarriage misses a small wheel between the two larger ones as anti-skid control. (there is some strange shape, but replace with a real wheel). main u.c. nose u.c.
Finished is the model in white. Apply several coats and polish with rubbing compound. Finally mask and add the required black panels and metal areas near the exhausts. A spray gun is really needed here! Decals are provided for a USAF prototype and the research aircraft of NASA. The end result is a large, eye catching model!
references: - Air international Vol 44 , page 288
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