1:72 Northrop XP-79B

[Roktman]

 I picked up this RS Models kit a while ago, just because it fit my  idea of an odd ball plane. It wasn't mentioned on the box that it was a Northrop design until I started to research. 

The military, toward the end of WW2 felt they needed a plane that could ram enemy planes similar to what Germany was rumored to be designing.  Northrop came up with this design complete with magnesium wings to help the plane survive the hit. 

One was built and on it's first trial the XP-79B made its first flight on September 12, 1945, however, 15 minutes into the flight control was lost for unknown reasons while performing a slow roll. The nose dropped, and the roll continued with the aircraft impacting the ground in a vertical spin. There are two accounts of the end. One that test pilot Harry Crosby attempted to bail out but was struck by the aircraft and died. The other that in the spin, with such forces, he was unable to open the door open to bail out. The problem was identified, and Northrop was ready for prototype #2, but they were told with the war over, there was no longer a need for a Flying Ram. 

The pros were the majority of the plane went together very easily. The cons were that they instructions were just exploded type illustrations and determining exactly where the part goes was difficult. Also not mentioned was that despite the plane having 4 wheels, it's still a tail sitter and needs weights up front.

My biggest goof was having the Tamiya Extra Thin spill out of the joint and getting a finger print on the clear canopy. Hours of sanding later the print was gone, but a cloudy area remained. So I took some Vallejo Smoke paint and some Future to create a tinted canopy.  I made it dark enuff to get rid of the cloudy area, but it's also dark enuff that all the interior is just about invisible. 😞 

I also made a little piece of tarmac so I could glue the model to the base.  After that I called it done. Thanks for looking.

Edited May 2 by Roktman

[ghodges]

Now that is something different! I wasn't even aware of the plane, let alone that we had a "ramming" project. I'm guessing this is 1/72? From the sharp looking result, I wouldn't know you had any problems at all. The tinted canopy is a good solution considering the extent of the marring you mentioned. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the problem solving!

 

Gil 

[Roktman]

Thanks!  Yes, it is 1:72 scale. I too had no idea this was a real plane in the beginning, and just figured it was one of those "Never made if off the drawing board" concepts.

[SkyKing]

Nice build. But it’s not “Northrup;” it’s “Northrop.”

[Roktman]

10 hours ago, SkyKing said:

Nice build. But it’s not “Northrup;” it’s “Northrop.”

Thanks.

You're absolutely correct. Misspelling corrected. 😉