Buff Master Design 1/72 B-52 HSAB Conversion First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Buff Master Design produces a variety of conversions and corrections for the 1/72 B-52 kits on the market. One such set is the Heavy Stores Adaptor Beam (HSAB) that replaced the conventional bomb pylons/racks used during the Vietnam era for conventioal stores. This set is designed for the Monogram B-52D kit (though not used on a B-52D, the HSABs were fitted to conventional B-52G and H models) and intended to compliment their B-52G and B-52H conversions. The Italeri B-52G kit has the SALT II wing fairing and ALCM pylons in the kit, and if you're doing a Gulf War B-52G, you'll need to find the B-52G without the wing root fairings or B-52H wings to carry the ALCM pylons or these HSABs for CALCMs or conventional stores (respectively).

This set has the wing adaptor shoes, pylons, weapons rack beams, plus the separately-cast weapons racks. As mentioned above, this set is designed for the Monogram kit, but Buff Master Design also produces the HSAB conversion for the AMT/Italeri kits. Both are available from KitLinx. With these, you can carry the standard unguided bombs, JDAMS, SDBs, and more. Unfortunately, they do not produce the pylon and Sniper pod carried by the B-52H.

You can follow our progressive build review that will incorporate this set and other essential updates to render a proper late-configuration B-52H 'bomb truck'.