This kit is everything one expects from the Special Hobby label – an interesting subject not often kitted, superb casting with no flash, excellent detail, PE and resin parts, fine decals, and a bit of work to get it all together. Those with patience will be rewarded with a fine kit of a subject not easily available elsewhere.

Five sprues with 74 light gray and 30 transparent (yes, this plane has LOTS of windows!) greet one upon opening the box. There is a photo etched fret with 36 larger brass parts and at least that many smaller parts representing the levers. There are a number of extra levers for the control panel, and it’s a good thing. I have big thumbs.

6 casting plugs with 31 resin parts make up the bulk of the cockpit and the machine guns. These are very well cast and come off the plugs easily and with no breakage.

There are 2 pieces of film for the instrument panel, which work well also.

The Kit

The kit comes in a well-constructed box with a glossy photograph of a built model and the decal sheet on the front. Along the sides are more pictures of the built model and a brief description of the one-to-one vehicle. Inside, you will find over 240 parts on eight sprues, seven soft rubber tires, a comprehensive and colorful decal sheet, and a chrome adhesive sheet. Everything, except rubber tires, is individually wrapped in plastic. Parts for the body are molded in a glossy black metallic finish. The other parts are molded in a semi black finish; there are clear parts for the glass and a small chrome tree. The instruction sheet is a sixteen-page booklet. It has well-illustrated and easy-to-follow directions. The last two pages are dedicated to decal and chrome adhesive placement.

Several months ago, Cyber-Hobby came out with a kit of the Northrop YB-49 in 1/200 scale. They have now followed up on that with a new kit of the Northrop XB-35, again in 1/200 scale. With a wing span of 172 feet, this would be a very large model in 1/72 scale and still a good-sized one in 1/144 scale. With 1/200 scale, the XB-35's wing span is a manageable 10.32 inches in width. There are 70 parts with no flash in their usual light grey styrene and another 8 parts in clear. A few of these parts may or may not be used, depending on which propellers you use, or if you build a flying version or one on the ground. The two largest parts are the upper and lower wing halves, followed by the four propeller nacelles, but you are given a complete interior even if 90% of it will never be seen.