mbinsewi Wow Mike, it looks like that 4 engine plane is going to do a fly over, and see what that bright light is all about. Mike.
Wow Mike, it looks like that 4 engine plane is going to do a fly over, and see what that bright light is all about.
Mike.
That would be kinda scary...
I tend to model planes with a personal connection -- and there are a few, having grown up as an Air Force brat. In this case, it's a WB-29, a conversion of a standard B-29 to collect "weather" data.
In the time before satellites made predictions of global and oceanic weather easier, the Air Force flew synoptic routes to gather various data. What's synoptic about? Basically flying the same routes on a daily basis, taking readings at fixed points along those routes, and feeding them to prediction centers, eventually including one of the first uses of a computer at SAC HQ. You gotta know the weather where you might need to go...
But I used "weather" in quotes, because these missions served another deeply secret purpose, which the designation weather helped obscure. If you look closely at the up close pic, you'll see that the gun turrets have been stripped away and a large rounded structure attached to the back part of the upper fuselage. That was known unofficially as the "bug catcher." It held filters of a special paper, which were changed regularly at fixed points along the synoptic route. On landing, the crew turned the filter papers over to another crew that didn't talk about what they did...
Which was monitoring the papers for any signs of radiation. The WB-29s began flying these missions on an experimental basis in 1948, with what was essentially a global system of these routes, although they focused on what the winds brought out of the USSR. This effort was rewarded by its detection of the first Soviet nuclear test in the early fall of 1949.
The WB-29s also regularly flew at US test shots, where these techniques were practiced and refined, chasing the fallout plumes from the US and the Pacific test sites. Like ordinary B-29s, the weather planes had engine and other issues, so a number of their crews died in support of this mission. They WB-29s were later replaced with WB-50s, which were converted from the upgraded B-50 that was largely an improved B-29 -- but not improved enough to avoid a similarly bad record of accidents. Eventually, the mission was conducted with WC-130 conversions of the standard Hercules airlifter.
The model is a snap together B-29 kit that I stripped the turrets and most markings off of, then I added the bug catcher bashed from a HO scale roof ventilator.
So I'm really hoping that bright light from behind the mountains isn't....
You can read more about this in my dissertation (free): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307575273_Nuisance_to_Nemesis_Nuclear_Fallout_and_Intelligence_as_Secrets_Problems_and_Limitations_on_the_Arms_Race_1940-1964_Revised
Be glad to answer further questions via PM.
hon30critter Mike Lehman, that is a nice kitbash. I like the paint job too. Dave
Mike Lehman, that is a nice kitbash. I like the paint job too.
Dave
Thanks, Dave! There's a sprayed on base coat of aluminum, then I drybrushed the rust streaks on with some acrylics. It's been a long time, so that's all I recall.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thanks Dave.
My You Tube
mbinsewi, nice modelling!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Ed:
Thanks for the video. Lots of good ideas, although I would do some things differently. I don't like the 'wiring' (conduit) not being straight, and there is too much contrast between some of the corrugated panels IMHO. I would try to find replacements for the windows that are too thick, just as the modeller intends to do. The addition of the walkways and ladders is excellent. The examples of how to keep all the parts organized is good too.
I better shut up until I build the kit myself.
SeeYou190The New River Minig Company is a very "kitbashable" model.
I sure get that. I'm probably in the minority, but I don't have the NRM kit on my layout.
BUT, I do have other Walthers kits, that have been combined, kitbashed with others, so I think most of Walthers kits, along with DPM, can be combined and bashed to unlimited possibilities.
This mill, bakery, and frozen food plant is a combo of all of the above, along with a bunch of scratch building:
Along with this plastic injection molding plant,
Along with these foreground buildings, bashed with Walthers and DPM kits. Two of the buildings in this scene are straight DPM kits, the 4 story structure on the right, is Walthers, and scratch built:
The New River Minig Company is a very "kitbashable" model. I combined two of them in N scale into amn industrial plant following an article by Art Curren. It was wonderful.
.
The kit has endless possibilities.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Oustanding work! I love the photos. That structure is perfect on my coal layout and what fantastic way of addressing the design issues. No question that the instructions are a 'guide' and not an edict!
Dave,
This is what I did with my NRM, converting it into access to a MTs in/loads out arranegement.
Take a look at the site I just linked to in my first reply, Dave. Also, there are a couple of YouTube videos that show a little fun stuff for detailing and weathering the kit.
I'm anxious to add more details to mine. Tichy ladders and walkways, gooseneck lamps, etc.
Glad I could be of help. I'm ready to hit the hay, now!
Cheers! Ed
Ed to the rescue once again!!
Hi Ed. Your pictures answered my question very nicely. I don't have to reverse the kit at all. I didn't realize that the loading bays could be approached from either side. (that was probably really dumb of me to not recognize that in the first place). The mine will fit quite nicely in the space we have available just the way it was designed to be built. Of course, that doesn't preclude making a few modifications to it so that it doesn't look like it is straight out of the box, and it definitely deserves to be detailed.
Thanks again!
hon30critterDoes anybody know if the building configuration is reversable, or if the kit could be kitbashed to accomplish the same thing?
Just about any walthers kit is kit-bashable, Dave. You could run that conveyor house just about any direction you want with only a little modification.
I'm about ready to turn in but I just took some (dusty) photos for you to mull over:
NRM_5 by Edmund, on Flickr
NRM_4 by Edmund, on Flickr
NRM_3 by Edmund, on Flickr
NRM_2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Nothing says the conveyor housing has to enter the building where it does. You could blank-off that opening and use some scraps of corrugated siding to box it in at another location.
NRM_1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I plopped the kit onto the layout in this spot about twenty-years ago with the intention of getting around to adding lights, stairways, stacks, ventilators and all that good stuff.
Where does the time go?
Anyway, it would be a simple matter to modify some of these walls. You could even combine it with a Diamond Coal Corp. (933-4046) kit so you would have extra pieces & parts (I bought a Diamond kit just because I liked the cylindrical slack hopper!).
Of course, extra conveyors are available, too. Sometimes these ran quite a distance to the mine adit.
Let me know if you need more photos (later this afternoon )
There's some great photos and ideas here:
http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/models/structure-models/
Hope that helps,
Regards, Ed
Hi gang:
I'm in the process of choosing industries for our club's new layout. Several members have expressed their wishes to have a mine on the layout, and the Walthers New River Mine seems to be an appropriate choice.
https://www.walthers.com/new-river-mining-company-kit-main-building-12-1-2-x-9-x-9-3-8-quot-31-2-x-22-5-x-23-2cm
However, there is a problem with the kit as it appears in the catalogue. The mine building is 'backwards' in terms of how it needs to fit on our layout. In other words, the model has the conveyer coming into one side of the mine building but we need it coming into the other side of the building in order for it to fit into our proposed location. Likewise, the loading tracks need to be on the opposite side of the main building as well.
Does anybody know if the building configuration is reversable, or if the kit could be kitbashed to accomplish the same thing?
Thanks,