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49" B36 Peacemaker maiden flight at Valley View Dome
640x480 WMV (~10 MB)
320x240 WMV (2.3 MB)
LISTEN to a B36 fly-past from the movie "Strategic Air Command"
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49 inch B36 Peacemaker kit
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$ 37.50
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49 inch B36 Peacemaker kit w/ GWS IPS Brushed Combo
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$ 130.00
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This kit is currently available as a limited-edition hand-cut version, made to order. Please check with us for availability
and allow up to a week for us to prepare the kit for you. The kit includes everything you need to
build the airframe, including carbon-fiber reinforcement. Detailed instructions are provided on a CD included with the kit.
To complete the model as shown, you will need:
- a receiver and three 6g micro-servos
- six GWS IPS brushed motors and a 20-amp ESC (packaged in our motor combo)
- six GWS 4" x 2.5 2-bladed props & propsavers (12 props included in our motor combo)
- One 2-cell 20C LiPo battery, 1200mah - 1500mah recommended
- Foam-safe paint, hobby knife, Foam-safe CA and epoxy glue etc.
The kit is somewhat more complex than our other kits, mainly due to the number of motors, and is meant for the experienced builder.
The "motor combo" package is a $100.00 value and includes the ESC, six GWS motors and twelve props, but not the propsavers.
Although this kit is not particularly difficult, we suggest that this should not be the very first RabidModels kit that you build.
The B36 is stable and extremely easy to fly, and is suitable for indoor or outdoor flying. The kit does not include the landing gear, although
we do include instructions for how to add that.
B36 Peacemaker History
The B36 Peacemaker was the largest combat aircraft ever produced. The "Magnesium Overcast" had a gigantic 86,000 pound payload
(necessary to carry the first generation Hydrogen Bombs) and could fly without refueling for 40 hours and almost
10,000 miles. Everything about it was superlative.
Early B36 aircraft were protected by 6 turrets, each with two 20mm cannon - four of the turrets were in the fuselage and
could be retracted to reduce drag. The turrets proved troublesome and unreliable. At the time, there were no jet fighters capable of
dogfighting at the high altitudes that the B36 cruised at, so the fuselage and nose turrets were simply removed (the tail guns were retained)
along with other things deemed unnecessary (like two kitchen sinks) and the resulting B36 was called the "Featherweight" conversion.
Featherweight, at an eye-popping 410,000 pounds gross weight!!
The B36 was retired in 1959, being replaced by the smaller B52. Today, less than a half-dozen examples exist in museums. Very LARGE museums, such as the
National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton Ohio.
The B36's six massive piston engines and 4 turbojets ("Six turnin' and Four burnin'") made an unmistakeable ground-vibrating howl as the
plane flew overhead, a sight and sound that few people will forget. Check out this short YouTube video clip from
the movie "Strategic Air Command" and turn up the volume!!
And here is a much longer 5-minute video clip from the movie on YouTube, featuring the B36
taxiing and taking off. Have fun!
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