1/72 Testors B-2A Spirit

by Björn Dol

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This is the well known but also hated B-2A from Testors.  It was a very long build, it took me almost 1½ year to finish it.  This included a 3 month stop from all the filling and sanding.  The model depicts the first operational B-2A AV-8 88-0329 ”The Spirit of Missouri ”.   I don’t know for sure, but I think I used 1 full tube of Tamiya normal Putty on this plane.  The seams where really horrible.  Because all the sanding on the leading edge, I had to make it as a Block 30 B-2A with the leading edge from 1 section.

Here is the model just after I assembled the major fuselage and wing sections together.  Here you can see the large seams on the upper surface where the wings join the wing/body.  The first of a lot more putty to follow is applied to the exhaust and IFR door.

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Here is the lower side of the aircraft where you also can see the large seams, which are even more horrible then the seams on the upper side. You can also see that there is totally no detail inside the wheel bays.
A pictures from above, here I installed the inlets which also required the tube of putty. All the seams of the upper fuselage are filled.  And ready for the first time of sanding, a lot of these runs where needed to get a nice result.
A close-up of the left inlet, the sanding work on the inlets is almost done here.

I airbrushed the model using Humbrol 125 Gunship Grey.  This was the first time for me to mix my own paints to airbrush, before this I used the airbrush ready paints from Revell.  I applied very thin layers.  After I applied the ground layer the already black painted exhaust started to crack up.  I wanted to paint it over because I didn’t liked the black exhausts.  But after the model was finished and I re-painted them using different metal paints I liked the rough result.

The first to thin layer on the underside, you can see that the seams are almost non-existent. I painted the bomb-bay white but because only 1 bay was molded I decided to close the bomb-bay.

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The upper side of the model, after “I believe” the last layer of paint. The seam on the left wing is still a little bid visible. But I just had to finish the model and, after it was finish with the decals and the layers of clear-coats it is almost not visible anymore.
The Assembled landing gear.

The kit I got only had decals for AV-1 82-1066 as it was rolled out in 1988.  But after contacting Testors and explained them the problem they send me the newer sheet which now is in the kits.  I’m very thankful to them for sending me the new sheet.  At the moment I started this model there was no aftermarket stuff for the kit, so it is completely out of the box.  If I would build it again I would use the Eduard set, and add more detail myself.  But I doubt if I will ever build this model again.  It was a horror to build it but now it is finished I’m really happy with the result.

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Some history dates about the aircraft; AV-8 was delivered to the USAF on Whiteman AFB in December 1993 as Block 10  B-2A.  The aircraft was redelivered as a Block 30 aircraft during November 1997.  It is (just like the rest of the 21 B-2A’s) operated by the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman AFB.

Björn

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Photos and text © by Björn Dol