Anigrand Craftswork 1/144 Boeing XB-15 Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Boeing undertook the job of designing a long-range strategic bomber as the model 294 and initially designated as the XBLR-1. This aircraft was massive in size and initially the largest aircraft built in the US at the time. Designed to use four liquid-cooled 1000 horsepower engines, the XB-15 (as it was later designated) suffered the fate of many developmental aircraft as the intended engines never materialized and the prototype had to fly with four air-cooled R1830 engines rated at 850 horsepower. Compared to the B-17G, the XB-15 weighed 5000 pounds more and was powered by 1800 less horsepower. Even if the engines had been available, the aircraft would have been too slow to be effective in World War II as a long-range bomber.

When the Army Air Corps elected not to produce the B-15, they did press the prototype into service as a cargo aircraft, becoming the XC-105 and served until the end of World War II. The aircraft was only smaller than the Douglas XB-19 and the Martin Mars flying boat.

Actually there are four kits in here. The subject of the box, the large XB-15, the famous OS2U Kingfisher, and two Bell prototype aircraft. The four subjects in this box are:

1. Boeing XB-15 (XC-105)
2. Vought OS2U Kingfisher
3. Bell XFM-1 Airacuda
4. Bell XP-52

This first image illustrates the usual fine job of packaging of each kit and clear parts to get you a complete and undamaged model. Each bag contains one kit, and each bag is heat-sealed into separate compartments to keep parts from shifting around during shipment and potentially damaging one another.

The second image is of the main parts of the XB-15. The kit is beautifully cast and has nice detailing in the castings. Assembly is straightforward with the clear resin parts providing the nose cap, cockpit cover, and side blisters. Even in 1/144 scale, you can see this is going to have a wingspan of almost 13 inches!

Take a look at the photo at the bottom of ths stack. This is a nice shot of the four aircraft included in this set built by Ken Friend for Nostalgic Plastic, plus the recently released Blue Gemini kit reviewed here.

The third image shows the ancestry of the P-61 Black Widow. The F-15A prototype was a P-61E that had been disarmed and given a new nose section to house its cameras. In all, 36 of these aircraft were produced and in 1948, these were redesignated as RF-61C.

The kit provides two sheets of decals to provide sufficient pre-war/early war national markings for all four aircraft.

I am still in awe over the quality of the resin work that Anigrand Craftswork puts into these models. If you are a prototype fan, these four are definite must-haves for your collection (yes, the Kingfisher did make it into production, and thanks to Anigrand, I feel a diorama coming on with this Kingfisher and the Trumpeter 1/144 Gato-class submarine. The nice part about 1/144 scale is that it will take up a fraction of the shelf space of the larger scales.

My sincere thanks to the US importer, Nostalgic Plastic for this review sample!