Convair B-36B Peacemaker

Roden, 1/144 scale

Reviewed by John Miller

Background:

The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker” is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70.1 m).

The B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal from inside its four bomb bays without aircraft modifications. With a range of 10,000 mi (16,000 km) and a maximum payload of 87,200 lb (39,600 kg), the B-36 was capable of intercontinental flight without re-fuelling.

Entering service in 1948, the B-36 was the primary nuclear weapons delivery vehicle of Strategic Air Command (SAC) until it was replaced by the jet-powered Boeing B-52 Stratofortress beginning in 1955. All but four aircraft have been scrapped.
 
Edited from Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_B-36_Peacemaker

This is going to be a big model when assembled. Despite its size, the kit has a low parts count and utilizes conventional engineering with the fuselage, wings, and horizontal stabilizers all comprised of halves.

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Thumbnail panels:

Being a limited production kit, extra effort will be required to deal with flash and parts clean up. Surface details are crisply rendered if not a bit sparse.

Surprisingly, assembly begins with the main gear, four-wheel bogies versus the cockpit or more flight deck. There’s an annoying reason for that and we’ll get to it soon.

Next up are the propeller assemblies (all six) followed by joining of the upper and lower wing halves and the addition of the previously assembled main gear to the main gear wells in each wing.

With the wings assembled, the builder is now directed to join the fuselage halves which trap the nose wheel well. Usually at this juncture of the average build, I add a comment about the cockpit being trapped by the fuselage halves however, there is no cockpit or detail of any kind provided; not even a floorboard or bulkhead, nothing, nada, zilch.

Although the clear panels directly over the flight deck are small, they are sufficiently large to reward the inquisitive viewer with a few basic details like a cockpit floor and seats but only if they are scratched by an industrious builder. The wings now slot into the top of the assembled fuselage and with the addition of the horizontal stabilizers the airframe is largely complete sans cockpit, of course.

The multi-paneled canopy parts are sufficiently clear and well molded but will need some clean up and buffing prior to use.

The decals, by Roden, are well printed with good registration and color density.

Airframe stencil data and markings for two airframes are provided as follows:

• Convair B-36B-1CF-44-92075 Peacemaker, USAF, 8th BG, Eielson, AFB, February, 1950.

• Convair B-36B-1CF-44-92033 Peacemaker, USAF, 7th BG(H), Alaska, 1949.

The layout is simple and straightforward with a low parts count. I suspect this will be a quick build with no apparent issues other than extra work for clean up and the lack of a flight deck, which to many is not a big deal for a model of this scale. Conversely, some will feel the need to scratch something to fill the space under the rather large, multi-panel canopy; I would. Recommended to those who can live without a flight deck or don’t mind scratching one.
Now go paint something!

--John                               

Review kit provided by Skyway Models via my retirement fund, again.

For more on this review visit Modelpaintsolutions.com
https://modelpaintsol.com/reviews/roden-144-convair-b-36b-peacemaker-347

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by John Miller
Page Created 11 March, 2021
Last updated 12 March, 2021

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