1:48 2x GBU-24A/B 'Paveway III' (Body BLU-109) + Decals

A bomb for targets hidden under concrete

The BLU-109 body has a thick-walled steel case and a delayed fuze, so it first bores into the obstacle and only then takes effect. Around it is built third-generation guidance gear, which differs from older solutions in that it plans its trajectory: instead of a steep fall it can fly low and come to the target at an angle the operator chooses. For a modeler it matters that this generation looks different, has a longer body and sizeable tail surfaces.

Recognition marks

Anyone who builds an aircraft with this pair under the wings gets a store that cannot be mistaken: a slender tip, a long case and conspicuously large surfaces at the back. Beside an ordinary laser bomb it looks as if from another weight league, and that is exactly the impression intended.

What mission comes out of it

An arrangement of this type belongs to tasks against fortified objects, not to a patrol flight over the desert. The model thereby gets a clearly legible story and sets itself apart from dozens of other machines of the same type that have the usual small armament under the wings.

Assembly

A long casting is separated from the block along its whole length, so it is best to proceed slowly and to keep checking whether the cut is running off. The tail surfaces are glued on only at the end, so that they are not in the way while the body is being sanded. The decals in the package complete the warning stripes and lettering. On a finished model it pays to lay them onto a gloss layer and then to cover them with matte varnish, so that the edges of the thin film disappear and the lettering looks printed directly on the case. With a body as large as this, after all, every visible edge is immediately conspicuous.