Overview
Strategic bomber design changed dramatically in the post-war period. Traditional propeller aircraft like the B-29 and B-36 quickly succumbed to the jet age, being replaced by the B-47 and B-52. By the late 1950s, the push to fly faster than the speed of sound, much faster, had taken hold of the bomber folks, and the result was the North American XB-70. With six engines and a big delta wing, the XB-70 Valkyrie was to cruise at Mach 3+ at 70,000 feet, effectively putting it out of range of interceptors. The advent of surface to air missiles and their increased range and speed, coupled with the development of the ICBM, though, led to the cancellation of the B-70 bomber program.
The two prototypes continued to soldier on with NASA, though, as high altitude, high speed research aircraft. The second prototype, AV-2, was lost in a crash in 1966, but AV-1 continued the research program until 1969, when it was retired. That airframe is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.
The Kit
The unique look of the XB-70 has captured the attention of modelers from the very beginning, but it was not until recent years that we had a common-scale model of the plane. AMT released their much anticipated 1/72 XB-70 kit and many were happy. The XB-70 is a rather large aircraft, though, and modelers have been hoping for a smaller scale version. Finally we have one in a smaller scale with this new release from Cyber Hobby. Done to the smaller 1/200 scale, this is a good size for this big bomber (although the dearth of similar subjects in that scale make it a bit more challenging to fit into collections). Molded in gray plastic, the kit also comes with clear canopy pieces and a comprehensive decal sheet that provides markings for two variations of the AV-1 airframe.
Construction begins with one of the more interesting aspects of this kit: the forward fuselage. First off, even though this is 1/200, the kit comes with a detailed cockpit. Yes, that's right, an actual detailed cockpit, with separate instrument panel and seats. This completed assembly then fits into the forward fuselage piece, bringing out the other surprise here: the forward fuselage is molded as one piece. This will fit onto the rear piece, and the only seam to deal with is one small circumference seam (and the test fit there shows that this will be a great fit, so little to no filler needed). The windscreen comes in two modes: supersonic flight mode and landing/ground mode. The canards are also separate.
The next step deals with the lower fuselage/engine nacelle. This is molded as one piece, which fits onto the one-piece wing center section. The vertical fins, rear fuselage piece, and outer wing panels are all separate. The latter can be positioned in the supersonic down position, or the extended position. The exhausts are separate and fit onto a rear bulkhead. Finally, the landing gear is quite nice, with separate wheels and doors and nicely detailed struts. All in all, a pretty simple kit to build, and it's pretty simple to finish, as the painting diagram shows.
The XB-70, to paraphrase Henry Ford, came in any color, as long as that color was white. The aircraft was finished in overall white, with a small bit of black for the antiglare panel. Covering this expansive field of white was quite a bit of stenciling and other markings, most of which are too small to be seen in this scale. The decal sheet does provide some of the test markings and red walkway markings, as well as the national insignia and Air Force markings. Unfortunately, the national insignia have incorrect proportions to the bar areas, so those will need to be replaced from the spares box. The two options mentioned earlier differ in that one has NASA markings and the other is straight USAF markings.
Conclusion
While I would have preferred to see this released in 1/144, which would have allowed for a greater range of aircraft to display with it, this 1/200 example is still a very nice kit and will build up into a great replica of the XB-70. My thanks to Dragon Models USA for the review sample.