1/72 Scale AMT/ Ertl X/YB-35 Build, Part III

I forgot to mention something last week, so let me fix that first just in case somebody reading this builds one of these someday – I added more weight to the nose before I sealed up the fuselage. No danger of this one being a tail sitter because of the design having no tail, but after taping the major components together and balancing it on my fingers, I wasn’t completely convinced the nosewheel would stay down either. I ended up adding a little less than 1.5 ounces more, bringing the total to just under three ounces.
Okay, the sanding is done (whew!) and the panels have been rescribed. All the sub-assemblies are fully prepped. Notice that the engine shaft fairings are labeled on the card, they are all slightly different and I am trying not to mix them up.

Here is a closer shot of the nose area. The fit of the bubble-type canopies looks good, but those built into the main body are just a mess. You basically pick a side to mate up, and then try to feather in the rest. You can get an idea how bad this is by looking at the amount of putty around the clear parts. The underside is worse – there is a pretty good sized gap to fill there.

Here’s the “Batterang”. Really, who primes with black? Anyway, the first coat of primer is on, a whole ounce! There are some filling touch-ups, thankfully minor.

Here is a shot of one of the main gear legs. The center section is substantial, but if you look closely it is independent from the cross bracing above it. What actually supports the weight is the much smaller bracing extending to the corners. When I test-fitted this part there was a lot of play fore-and-aft. Given the soft plastic I was certain I would manage to knock this off and it was sure to be a messy repair. I drilled through the cross brace into the main leg, and superglued in a thick piece of copper rod. Much more solid!

I wanted to arm the turrets, as I find this more visually interesting. For this I used the Quickboost gun set QB72055, designed for the B-25J Mitchell. Quickboost packages their detail sets for specific kits, but look a bit and get what you really need – in this case I needed .50 cal gun barrels. You get 15 .50cal barrels with the B-25J set, far fewer of the same barrels with their other choices. Likewise, if you want a very nice R-1830 Cyclone buy one of their “B-17 Engines” sets. Four engines for the price of one!

I wanted to keep the spinners shiny, but the prop blades dull. With six different shades of Alclad, I’d had enough of masking tape to last for awhile. Here’s a quick trick – a mask made from a slotted piece of card. Slide it over the base of the prop and spray, move it to the next.

The finished article, all shiny and with all the fiddly bits flying in formation.  The panels are six slightly different shades of Alclad.  Masking was a bear but the finish is much more interesting than a monochrome finish.

Completed pictures here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/06/11/amt-ertl-northrop-b-35-in-1-72-scale/