Sometimes it takes a while to figure out where you’re going and how to get there. Usually, though, when it comes to long-lived military aircraft, this isn’t the case. Sure, they might fill in different roles as they age, but they start out being pretty good at their intended jobs. A surprisingly famous counter-example of this is the Rockwell B-1B.
Despite being resurrected as a stopgap until the arrival of the B-2, the B-1B program was highly controversial, and produced 100 examples of a plane that, for a long time, really wasn’t as useful as the plane it was supposed to (but never did) replace (the B-52). Still despite all the technical and financial issues, the “Bone” soldiered on and finally found its calling as a high-speed, long-endurance smart-bomb “truck” over the Middle East.
To this end, Academy released a new-tool 1/144 B-1B kit a few years ago. I have always loved the B-1B, and really wanted a better kit of it than the early offerings from the mid ‘80s. This kit answered all my prayers and then some!
Check it out in the out-of-box review below! It’s a great looking kit of a great looking plane!
