Full Review with Paul Ainsworth
The story
The Valkyrie is an aircraft that’s held my fascination for a long time. A truly unique and futuristic design with performance way ahead of its time.
(Photo: Viewed from the front the #1 XB-70A (62-0001) is shown climbing out during take-off on 17 August 1965. Most flights were scheduled during the morning hours to take advantage of the cooler ambient air temperatures for improved propulsion efficiencies. The wing tips are extended straight out to provide a maximum lifting wing surface. The XB-70A, capable of flying three times the speed of sound, was the world’s largest experimental aircraft in the 1960s. Two XB-70A aircraft were built. Ship #1 was flown by NASA in a high speed flight research program. Courtesy NASA)
There are plenty of references for this legend on the internet and in book form.
The Italeri kit is quite infamous in terms of its quality. The parts are the original AMT/ERTL vintage and their level of fit and sheer size is off-putting to many. That said, there’s a mass of plastic for a price of around £50GBP and Italeri must’ve taken sympathy for the modeller by providing excellent Cartograf decals which give the option for both ‘air vehicles’ as they were known.
The plan and build
The ultimate plan will be to hopefully get this project successfully across the finishing line. There are some big challenges to overcome along the journey but it’s one I’m looking forward to taking. The build itself will be totally ‘Out Of Box’ including the use of the excellent kit decals. The plastic kit pitot probe will be replaced with a piece of nickel/silver wire.