Collect-Aire Models

1/48 B/RB-45A/C Tornado

Kit Number: 4873

Reviewed by  Rod Lees, IPMS# 10821

MSRP: $279.95 Collect-Aire kits are available from the manufacturer (www.collectaire.com). The Collect-Aire 1/48 scale B-45 is a hefty beast (I've added a picture of the B-45 with Tamiya P-51B next to it for an idea). The only kit I've built in resin that weighed more was Collect-Aire's F-105. (Or was it Sinifer's Sunderland? I forget). This is one of the best of the lot; Lou's B-66 was (and still is) a landmark kit from his stable; the B-45 is equally matched in finesse, detail, and accuracy. The only problems I had with this kit were self-induced. Nothing else was needed; I only did a few modifications for durability and appearance. The cockpit is well detailed; I only added a couple of throttle levers, painted the whole thing interior green, highlighted panels and boxes in black, and drybrushed white on the dials and switches. Easy. This assembly fit well within the nose; I had to grind off some of the bottom of the cockpit floor and the roof of the nose gear well, and it all fit great. I opted for the RB-45 version; I like the bomber but wanted to work the Korean war angle (with the nose art... more on that later). I cut and fit the navigator's overhead window and recon camera windows in the lower fuselage tail from Plexiglas; thick superglue, let them sit overnight without accelerator, then grind, sand, polish. They came out great, and the resin made it easy to do, without flexing. The vacform part for these items would not have stood up to my hands tossing the kit around. There is a clear sheet taped to the instructions for the recon windows, which will work for those of more genteel effort. I added a few more details in the nose section, filled the camera/radome area with lead fishing weights (as well as the area under the walkway on the cockpit floor and just behind the aft cockpit bulkhead) and it was a guaranteed nose sitter. Forget this step and you'll return to the days of using a brick to keep the nose gear on the ground. (And the excuse "I heard from a guy they used to use 55 gallon drums to ensure they didn't tail sit" is a bunch of .) There's a lot of moment arm on the tail; almost as much as a Canberra, so fill every cavity, as they say. The tail gunner position has some detail to satisfy; a seat and gunsight tower, then glue on the canopy. I opted for the gun tail version; the kit comes with the streamlined tail but, having seen a gun tail on an RB-47 in reference photos, (and no pix of the tail of the aircraft I'm modeling) I went for defense. The .50 cal barrels are clipped from Monogram's 1/48 Catalina waist guns. On to the massive wings. These will not warp; they are one piece items, straight as they need to be with equally massive mounting tabs. They will take the weight of the wing tanks if you use them. Make sure you put the correct engine intake section in place on each wing; the port side has the leading edge light, the starboard didn't. Guess how I know that? I drilled out the exhaust areas and installed 1-1/2" lengths of Evergreen tubing for more depth, using the kit supplied turbines to close the ends. The intake parts are easy; make sure they are painted and flashing is removed from the compressor vanes, and superglue in place. Install the wings, using gap filling superglue, and leave overnight. The stabilizors fit well. use the same technique. The extreme dihederal is accurate. Vacuum the cockpit so you won't have sanding dust in the greenhouse, then install the main canopy. It's a perfect fit if you take your time. Last items are the external tanks; huge, heavy. I drilled them out from the front to back, then ran a couple of different size bits in from the wing tip mounting socket to make them a bit less heavy. MV lenses on plastic nose bulkheads when finished, then attach the clear domes from the vacform sheet. I opted to not glue them, as the fins are extremely fragile and I may need to move the kit around sometime. Also prevents you from jabbing yourself in the eye with a fin. I finish sanded all the seams (I don't know of a resin kit that doesn't require putty in some areas) and sprayed the model with primer then krylon gloss black. Lesson for the newcomers: LET IT DRY FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS. This old hand forgot and really paid for it later with much rubbing down, repainting, and swearing. Paint shop. I experimented with a new technique. Mask the canopies and clear parts, paint the anti-glare sections and canopy frames olive drab. Then use Tamiya Silver Leaf from a rattle can ( I didn't decant it; I was looking for a quicker way than spraying my normal aluminum finishes); when dry for a day, (or three), use SNJ polishing powder and post it notes for masking, and you'll have a hard surface. One other hint; use gloves from now on because you will find the surface doesn't like skin oil. More lessons. Also, take off your watch while polishing, or you shall end up with yet another re-spray and mask job that won't look good (sure, ask me). Hence the comment about waiting a couple of days; the paint will "Asphalt ridge" on you if it's not dry. Everyone seeing a trend here? The landing gear is sturdy cast metal; the gear doors are detailed, and there are even some small actuator arms in the metal bag to detail out the struts. Gear wells are acceptable, simple; if you want to snake a bunch of microsolder in there for more detail, knock yourself out. Wheel and tire assemblies are perfect. Two piece items for the mains, nose gear are fine as well. Detail is extremely crisp, with excellent brake cooling apertures. On to decals; I took the kit instructions and scanned the young lady "nose art"; put her in MS paint, the proceeded to put flesh on her legs and fix her face. This was the only part of the kit decal I was personally disappointed in - others may find it acceptable but I didn't. Once I got her "cleaned and purtied-up", I transferred to PowerPoint for sizing and printed on Testor's white decal paper, using their fixative after about six hours. Light misting, no heavy spray. Again, (everyone), "Ask me how I know". When it came time to decal the model, I noted the nose art I had made was just a tad too big. Too bad. My money, my model, my improved nose art. The rest of the decals went on extremely well; opaque and properly sized. There are four marking options in the kit; by now you should have made up your mind on which one. Excellent decals with the exception of the female human form which I fixed previously. As I look at my photographs, I realize I have a couple of detail items missing; fuel dump probes, and the very prominent pitot tube on the top of the nose. Sometimes you just say "enough". and I've reached that point. In the end, this is an impressive model, a great effort from Lou and the Collect-Aire crew, one worthy of purchase if you are a lover of old jets like I am. Model courtesy of my destroyed budget.

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