RODEN 348 CONVAIR NB-36H PEACEMAKER . CRUSADER (NUCLEAR POWERED) 1/144 SCALE
DESCRIPTION:
(condensed)
In early 1951, the US military called on Convair and General Electric to create an aircraft that would have both conventional engines (for take off and landing) and a nuclear power plant for long stays in the air. General Electric proposed an open-type power plant in which air from the compressor was transferred directly to the nuclear reactor and then returned preheated to the engine turbine. The advantage of this concept was its relative economy and fast development time, but its glaring disadvantage was the exhausting of radioactive particles into the air. Leading physicists strongly opposed such a development, but the military’s interest in such an aircraft outweighed their arguments. Convair proposed the X-6 design concept, which would be based on the existing B-58 Hustler, and assured the military that a prototype could be built as early as 1954.
Another not insignificant problem of the new project was the weight of the nuclear installation. The most compact reactor, in all calculations, could not weigh less than 18 tons, and about half of this weight again had to be provided to protect the crew from the reactor’s radiation during its operation in the air. Before building a new aircraft, it was decided to build a research reactor and install it on one of the few bombers capable of lifting such an enormous weight - the B-36, the world’s largest combat aircraft at the time.
Airframe Number 15712 was selected for testing; it was waiting to be repaired after the damage caused by a powerful typhoon in 1952 near Carswell Air Force Base. In order to install special lead shielding around the aircraft cockpit, the nose of the fuselage was rebuilt, and in the tail section, near the installation site of the nuclear reactor capsule, air intakes were added to cool the assembly. The aircraft’s armament was also completely dismantled, and a telemetry system was used to monitor the reactor in the air.
FEATURES:
* Brand: Roden
* Title: The Convair NB-36H Crusader
* Number: 348
* Scale: 1/144
* Type: Full kit
* Released: 2022 New parts
* Topic: Convair B-36 Peacemaker » Propeller (Aircraft)
* Markings For: NB-36H CRUSADER 51-5712
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