Hasegawa's Classic Boeing B-47E Stratojet in 1/72 Scale!

Another model airplane kit I used to drool over at Peterson's Hobbies in Lancaster California was the Hasegawa B-47E Stratojet. It's still in production to this day I think, and older ones are still on the market at reasonable prices. The one you see here is vintage early 1970s. Hasegawa doesn't date anything on their boxes and instruction sheets, but I believe this model came out in 1973 based on reviews and advertisements about it in SCALE MODELER magazines from the time. Anyway, I built this one straight from the box with wheels up so I could hang it in my office. I think the Stratojet looks sleeker in flight too - she's really a beautiful airplane. I was originally wanting to revert her to an A model, or even a B model based on an article in an old FSM magazine, but the conversion process looked too complicated, especially in the nose area and the JATO rocket nozzles. So I just did the version she's molded in, the main production E. I used Testors buffing aluminum from a spray can and polished certain areas with a Dremel tool with buffing wheel. The anti-flash white on the undersides was painted using Tamiya white primer. Decals are stock. I left off the wing tanks to make her look more like a B model. Based on some photographs I saw, not all E models flew with the tanks on. I think she looks better this way, uncluttered and sleek.