Monogram 1/82 Douglas RB-66A

The Douglas B-66 Destroyer is a light bomber that was designed and produced by the American aviation manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company.

The B-66 was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) and is derivative of the United States Navy's A-3 Skywarrior, a heavy carrier-based attack aircraft. Officials intended for the aircraft to be a simple development of the earlier A-3, taking advantage of being strictly land-based to dispense with unnecessary naval features. Due to the USAF producing extensive and substantially divergent requirements, it became necessary to make considerable alterations to the design, leading to a substantial proportion of the B-66 being original. The B-66 retained the three-man crew arrangement of the US Navy's A-3; differences included the incorporation of ejection seats, which the A-3 had lacked.

There was no prototype B-66. The five RB-66A aircraft were all preproduction planes and only five were built before the B-66B came on line.

Originally released in 1955, Monogram's box scale B-66 has been reissued several times with the most recent being in 1995. The kit is of the raised panel lines and rivets generation with engraved control surfaces.

Typical of these very old kits, things like bomb bay and wheel well detail are minimal or non-existant. The kit does provide a cockpit with three seated crew members. Bomb bay doors are hinged so I guess if one pries open the doors with a finger nail, the bomb that lays on the doors will be able to fall free. The only other operating bit is the twin tail turret guns.

Engines do have an intake piece but an open exhaust. Landing gear are nice a sturdy and there is plenty of room in the nose for weight if some is required. The kit provides a long nose boom which may be a test boom as it seems that refueling booms were attached to the side. There are few photos of A model RB-66s with the tail turret so I'm thinking the box art camo is spurious. Instructions are an exploded view with four construction steps provided. The lone decal sheet has cracked with age so it unusable. The marking option shown in the instruction is overall silver with no unit markings. Finding generic markings in one's spares bin would be the way to go with this one. 

Few people will actively seek this one, especially since Italeri did such a nice job on their 1/72 scale kit. However, there are modelers who like these ancient kits and this should make into a nice model for them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-66_Destroyer

February 2024

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