Next step was to complete the wings. The trailing edges of the real wings on the B-52 are very thin compared to the overall wing dimensions and the kit's edges are pretty thick, so it requires a lot of sanding to get them even close. One note: if you've ever been around a fully-loaded and fueled buff with the flaps fully extended, the corners of the flaps are about at eye level and very sharp and pointed. Definitely a safety hazard but oddly enough, I never saw any safety cushions for them. You just had to be careful walking around them.
Since Russ planed to have bomb loading in progress, the flaps have to be in full up position for ground equipment clearance. That requires a lot of work to get the trailing edges of the flaps to match up with the wings - the kit flaps were obviously not intended to be fully retracted in the model. Sadly, the model's flap assemblies don't look anything like the real flaps. Russ had to fill notches in the back edges that do not exist on the real flaps. The picture below shows progress on the wings:
Also, Russ wanted to show the ailerons "cocked" as they often were. To do that, he had to cut them out - a very frustrating task since the top edges don't exactly match up with the bottom edges.
Russ discovered that it would be best to cut the ailerons out from the bottom of the wing, as shown in the photo below, using the sides of the bottom part of the aileron as guides. The cut-out ailerons should look like shown in the picture above.
To show the ailerons cocked on the model, glue one pointing up and one pointing down. The photo below shows the left wing with the mounted aileron in the down position; if flying, this would indicate the plane was making a right turn. Now, if you're really picky, you'll want to have the controls in the cockpit turned to the corresponding position - to the right in this case
The ram air intake port at the left wing root is not rendered correctly in the Monogram kit. The model has it extending into the upper wing, similiar to the input port near the pylon. However, the port should only be on the lower wing root, as shown below. To correct this, you'll need to fill in the upper section.
Russ rescribed the top surfaces of the wings and decided not to do the same on the botom surfaces of the wings, as they won't be seen anyway, so that saves a lot of work.
Wings of the Monogram kit don't seem to have the necessary droop for the outrigger gear to touch properly. To fix this Russ decided to remove a 1 mm strip on the underside of the wing. If you want to try this, follow the steps below.
NOTE: You will need to have the fuselage assembled with the main wheels attached to test the wing droop.
The next thing Russ decided to do the spoilers. The kit has a slot for the spoiler but the whole spoiler assembly (including the "feathers") fits into the slot when actually, the feathers overlapped the wing as shown below:
Russ filled in the lower part of the slot with a 7 mm strip of plastic.
Then he had to sand the strip, the wing along the edge of the strip, and the back side of the spoiler behind the feathers to get the spoiler to lay flat. He also sanded the feathers from the top to make them thinner (the spoiler is just tacked on in the picture below to see how it fits):
Although those spoiler feathers in the above photo almost look like dentils, they are actually flat, as you can see in the photo below, just like they were rendered in the kit. On the other hand, the spoiler body was really tapered but the kit rendered it flat. To compensate and keep the spoiler even with the top of the wing, you end up tapering the feathers:
(Photo courtesy The Boeing Company)
Russ further thinned the feathers so it's hard now to see that they are slightly tapered. You have to be careful not to get them too thin or they'll break off. Being tapered slightly makes them a little stronger.
Russ managed to find a clear green plastic he could use for the right wingtip navigation light (he got it from a plastic clip) and then he could complete the two wingtips:
One thing that presented a problem - the thickness of the left and right wingtips is different, so the lights don't look exactly the same. But since they are at opposite ends of a long wingspan, Russ didn't think it would be noticed.
Russ didn't like the way the outrigger wheels are shown on the Monogram kit - the wheels are molded together with the strut yokes. It's possible they did this for strength so the outriggers could support the pressure from the sloped wings.
Russ decided to remedy the problem. He happened to have the main gear wheels from an old 1/72 F-4 model that were just about the right diameter, although a little thick, on the other hand.
For the axles, he used a common sewing pin. He inserted a pin through each wheel with the head on the outside hub and glued it into the wheel, making sure the pin was perpendicular to the wheel all around.
Next, Russ carefully cut away the wheels from around the yokes. If you use a sprue cutter, be careful not to deform the yoke. Then he cleaned out and sanded the yokes and drilled a hole the size of the pin through each yoke at the axle center.
NOTE: If you plan to flatten your wheels, do not glue them to the struts at this time. Wait until the model is ready to stand on its feet and then attach the wheels so you can match the flat spot to the tilt of the wings.
Once the glue around the pin is hardened, insert each wheel through the hole in the axle and cut off the excess pin, then glue the axle in place.You will also need to file down and finish the hub on the outside of the axle.
Russ has also rescribed the horizontal stabilizers (see picture below). He cut the trim tabs loose and positioned them at a slight angle and also thinned out the vortex generators:
In the next photo you can see one of the horizontal stabilizers painted and weathered:
Below is a photo that shows a combat-ready B-52D with fully loaded flare dispensers. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't show the exact placement for the dispensers so Russ had to make a best guess. The flare dispensers were mounted under the horizontal stabilizers:
Russ wrote the following on the dispensers: "Each B-52D had an AN/ALE-20 flare dispensing system that consisted of 6 flare dispensers, three on each side of the aircraft, and at least one control panel (I can't remember if there were more) at the EWO station. There were also six rotating stepper switches (shaped like top hats), one for each dispenser, that were mounted under the horizontal stabilizers, three to a side. They were behind panels so they don't show in the picture. The EWO control panel operated the stepper switches which fired the flare cartridges.
Each dispenser held 8 AN/ALA-17A flare cartridges and each cartridge held two flare pellets, for a total of 96 flares. A single flare dispenser is shown below with a flare cartridge cut in half just in front of it."
"As ECM technicians in the Avionics Maintenance Squadron (AMS), we were responsible for ensuring that the dispensing system worked correctly. The Munitions Maintenance Squadron (MMS) folks were the only ones who loaded or handled the flare cartridges."
Russ also decided to build some D-21 chaff magazines for the chaff dispensers to go with the flare dispensers. The chaff system on the B-52D was the AN/ALE-27 dispenser system, made by Lundy Corp. It consisted of 8 electrically-operated dispensers, 4 on each side of the 47-section in the tail of the airplane. There were 8 chaff ports on each side with 1 dispenser servicing 2 ports (chaff ports shown below):
The picture below shows 4 chaff dispensers, each holding 2 D21 chaff magazines.
A single chaff magazine is shown in the photo below. There were 16 of these on each aircraft. The magazines were inserted into the dispensers using the two curved hooks at the bottom and rotated to a vertical position, then locked into place with clamps.
The chaff magazines were metal cases about 4 1/2 feet long and each magazine had two chaff channels. Each channel could hold a variety of different chaff bundles. These bundles were different thicknesses so the total number varied depending on the mission. Each magazine had two U-shaped handles that were used for carrying and mounting.
The magazines had spring-loaded "feeders" in each channel that were latched to the top during loading. After loading, the feeders were released. The feeders forced the chaff bundles down to the "gate" of each channel. The gate was a movable plate that held each bundle ready to be ejected. Each plate contained a cutter that ripped open the bundles as they were ejected. The plate could be adjusted for different sized bundles.
Each dispenser had an electric motor that drove four pawls mounted on a shaft, two for each chaff port, as shown below. The pawls had serrated edges that gripped the bundles and forced them out the chaff port. Each dispenser was programmed and activated by its own control panel at the EWO's position.
Russ recalls: "One of the many jobs of the ECM tech was to load the chaff magazines prior to a mission. There were 16 chaff magazines per plane and they usually flew 4 planes in a cell, so there could be a lot of magazine loading to do depending on how much they were used."
"Once the magazines were loaded at the shop, they had to be carried out to the plane and manually heaved up into the 47 section. This usually involved two technicians. One tech on the ground passed a magazine to a tech on a B-4 stand under the 47-Section hatch and that tech would then heave the magazine up into the aircraft and onto a catwalk that ran through the 47 section."
"Each magazine weighed about 40 lb fully loaded, so after heaving 8-16 of these, you were ready for a break. Fortunately, we didn't have to load magazines for every mission since chaff wasn't always used. But if any dispenser was used, its magazines had to be reloaded."
Below is a photo of some of the 8 magazines Russ made:
Here's a minor correction you may want to make. The exhaust fairings behind the engines are not shaped correctly on the model. They should taper to a sharp edge and blend with the trailing edge of the stantion, which should also be tapered at the back, as shown in the photo below. Also, the bottom of the fairing should be concave, not rounded. The ones on the model are rounded, almost oval.
This one has been corrected.
Russ decided to go ahead and put together the other engines but didn't like the effect of not seeing the engine exhausts around the exhaust cones so he fabricated some fake exhausts. The same modification had to be made for the display engine because its exaust nozzle is too small.
Russ didn't like the way the model had the bombs attached directly to the pylons. The real bombs were attached with hanger plates called "shackles" which were then attached to the pylons. Russ simulated them with small pieces of sheet plastic:
Another problem with the pylons that Russ tried to correct is that they were molded as one piece so they don't really emphasize the fact that they were actually four individual assemblies: the original AGM-28 Hound Dog missile pylon, a long adapter attached to that, and finally the two 6-position ejector racks that actually carried the bombs.
To make each rack more distinct, Russ took a sharp knife and cleaned out the plastic filling the spaces between the different racks as much as possible. Be careful to cut around the four hardware brackets that helped stabilize the ejector racks. Doing this goes a long way to making the pylons look more realistic.
Below is a picture of the left wing, painted and weathered:
Taxi lights and locking bars were also addded to the inboard outrigger gear doors:
And at last all the subassemblies are mated together to form the whole aircraft. Wings are left removable to make moving the whole diorama possible:
