B-2 US Air Force Bomber in 1:72 Scale

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber in 1/72 Scale
Testors model number 571

b2-01.jpg

The B-2 bomber is the ultimate stealth bomber aircraft for the US Air Force.

It's development was started in the Carter years under the Advanced Technology Bomber and was used by the Carter Administration as the reason for canceling the B-1A bomber which was just starting production.

However, as the original plan to procure 132 aircraft was cut to 21 aircraft (which has become a normal operating procedure on numerous projects for Democratic administrations) it became clear under the Reagan administration that a bomber would be needed before the B-2 could become available, and that more bombers would be needed. So the Reagan administration reinstated the B-1 as the B-1B and had them built in some numbers (over 100 at the time).

This allowed the B-2 to go forward and develop a tryu very advanced flying wing, stealth technology. Ultinately the 21 airraft were roduced. One was destroyed after production was completed in a crashed landing, where all personnel ejected safely. So 20 of these aircraft remained which enddd up costing almost 800 million dollars a piece. Projectng indicate that had the full 132 aircraft been produced, they would have cost less than half of this, more like 350 million.

The aircraft is designed to approach targets at any level, from low level terrain hugging, up to over 50,000 feet at high sub-mach speeds.

The aircraft use all advaned stealth properties from radar absorbant material, to its physical design where, instead of angled surfaces like on the F-117A at the time it was being developed, and advance technology of continuous curvature, was made possible by advances in computational fluid dynamics, so the The B-2 is composed of many curved and rounded surfaces across its exposed airframe to deflect radar beams in this manner which is orders of magnitude better than using pure angled surfaces.

In addition, the B-2 uses advanced infrared techniques. For example, the engines are buried inside the flying wing and both in flowing air (which is mixed with some heated air from the exhaust) and out flow which pass over a surface composed of heat resistant carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer and titanium alloy elements which disperse the air laterally, in order to accelerate its cooling, hide the B-2s heat and reduces the IR signature (along with other IR methods) by several orders of magnitude over other aircraft.

Finally, all openings including all doors, use positive pressure and sealing techniques to "button up" the aircraft and have all f those surfaces become smooth and remove any edges that might reflect radar, and active electrical ionization and blending also provide very high electromagnetic protection to the aircraft while in flight and as they approach their target or any contested space.

The B-2 has been used in several conventional wars since its activation in the late 1990s. Attacking at both high and low levels, there has never been an instant to date what any lock on to a B-2 has occurred and no missiles have been able to be launched against them to this time.

The B-2 has two large bomb bays, each of them capable of utilizing the stabdard rotary launcher or bomb racks for the ordinance carried which can consist of any of the following, or a combination thereof:

02 x Massive Ordinance Penetration (MOPs) at 30,000 lbs ea. The largest non-nuclear weapons available.
80 × 500 lb class bombs (Mk-82, GBU-38) mounted on Bomb Rack Assembly (BRA)
80 x Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) precision guided bombs
36 × 750 lb CBU class bombs on BRA
16 × 2,000 lb class bombs (Mk-84, GBU-31) mounted on Rotary Launcher Assembly (RLA)
16 × B61 or B83 nuclear bombs on RLA (strategic mission)
16 x AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) or AGM-154-ER (Extended Range JSOW)
16 x AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) or AGM-158 ER (Extended Range JASSM)

At this date, a new program called the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) has been awarded to Grumman to build 120 new flying wing aircraft which will be even more advanced than the B-2 using techniques an technologies developed since the introduction of the B-2. These aircraft, designated as the B-21, will be 5th generation aircraft with even higher stealth characteristics and will be built in sufficient numbers to improve the numbers of stealthy aircraft available, and replace all remaining B-52 aircraft in the USAF inventory. They are expected to enter service in the mid-2020s.

This model by Testors is a decent model.

With patience a very good build can be obtained, though the fit of the wings smoothly into the fuselage is difficult to obtain. In addition, as delivered, the details of the bomb bay and the bays for the landing gera have very little detail.

Having said that, the aircraft produced a very decent 1/72 scale model of the aircraft and it was an enjoyable build.

More pictures of the B-2:

b2-02.jpg b2-03.jpg a-1.jpg a-10.jpg
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The following are pictures of the completed model after adding the decals. Note: The mode is rather old (like almost 20 years) so the deacls were not in the best of shape and left somewhat of an off color. This proved not so bad for the walk ways...but the coloring between the walkways should be clear through to the same gray as the rest of the aircraft...but the age of the decals caused them to have an off color. As I say...it does not look so bad and could indicate a safe place to walk, but thought I should add this note:

b2-51.jpg b2-52.jpg b2-53.jpg b2-54.jpg b2-55.jpg
 
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