1:200 XB-35 Carson 722017 500722017

The XB-35 was an experimental long-range heavy bomber produced for the US Air Force (USAF) by Northrop during WWII, with the aim being to create an aircraft capable of bombing Germany after taking off from as far away as the USA. 

It was a radical design in that it was a 52.2m-wide flying wing that eliminated the need for a tail and fuselage. The bomb payload was carried inside the single thick wing, and such a design had the potential to dispense with structural weight and drag. Crewed by nine personnel, the aircraft was to have a 10,000-mile range whilst carrying a 10,000lb load. Design work began in earnest in 1942, and two XB-35 craft were built to pre-production stage. The flying-wing design could not use a traditional rudder, so flaps on the trailing wingtip edges performed this function. Powered by two radial engines, the XB-35’s maiden flight occurred in June 1946. By this time the war was over and the USSR was the new enemy. The USAF subsequently cancelled the program and the two XB-35s were scrapped in 1949.

Cyber-Hobby has produced a plastic kit of the XB-35 in scale 1/200. The model assembles with consummate ease thanks to clever engineering and the use of high-tech molding technology. The propeller engines on the rear of the flying wings are reproduced in sophisticated detail. The propellers themselves are made true to scale. The experimental XB-35 was an innovative aircraft design, and Cyber-Hobby has done an extraordinarily good job of rendering it in 1/200 scale for the benefit of modelers.