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Yeager's X-1


LSP_Kevin

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My entry in the GB is a slightly lateral one (as well as a late one!). This is Revell's 1/32 kit of the Bell X-1, which I'll be doing OOB as Yeager's "Glamorous Glennis". So, it's an aircraft flown by an ace, but I'm sure the closest thing he came to killing in it was himself!

 

Obligatory box shot:

 

post-3071-1261796712.jpg

 

And its contents:

 

post-3071-1261796725.jpg

 

Dig that groovy orange plastic! I'll be relying on the kit stickers to get me through, and they look OK in the box. But if they're not, I'm stuffed!

 

More soon.

 

Kev

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Far out man,....you won't even have to paint it! B) Great idea Kevin, I like it. Hmmmmm, now if I could only find an ace that flew the X-15....... :P Meh, no such luck. Guess I'll have to delve into deeper corners to find another subject to re-enter this GB with. :lol: Now,.....if they only made a 1/32nd B-29...... :evil_laugh:

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Well, I've started doing a bit of research, and it looks like the stars and bars on the kit decal sheet are wrong - to represent this aircraft at the time of Yeager breaking the sound barrier, they should have the red stripe. I guess there must have been an earlier time in this aircraft's brief career that the kit decals correctly represent, but I haven't found documentary evidence of it yet. Was there a time when the X-1 wore stars and bars without stripes and the "Glamorous Glennis" motif?

 

Once I sort out a good match for the interior colour, I'll begin actually building the model! (Shock horror...)

 

Kev

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Having just looked online at the Cutting Edge sheet for this kit, it seems that the X-1 was indeed initially painted with stars and bars sans red stripes, but also without "Glamorous Glennis". This seems to have been added for the first supersonic flight, but so were the insignia stripes. So it seems the kit decals are a bit of a hodge-podge. I guess I could try adding the red stripes after decalling, using either paint or red decal material.

 

Anybody got a CE sheet they want to sell?

 

Kev

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My research showed the markings to be correct. The bars were added after the plane was turned over to NACA and painted white.

 

Ah, thanks for that Carl. That contradicts what's presented on the Cutting Edge sheet, but I'm happy to take your word for it, since it saves me a heap of trouble!

 

In the meantime, I've started rescribing, and glueing the odd piece together.

 

Kev

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Well, in typical fashion for me, I failed to pay adequate attention to the instructions while absent-mindedly gluing parts together, and managed to join the wrong wing halves together. I failed to notice this because the large tabs that insert into the fuselage slots are handed, meaning it's on the bottom wing half on one side, and the top wing half on the other. So I ended up with two top halves glued together for one side, and two bottom halves for the other.

 

:punk: :beer: :) :frantic: :mellow:

 

It was too late to separate the pieces by the time I noticed, so I just scribed in the missing detail on one side, and removed what was now excess detail on the other:

 

post-3071-1261901695.jpg

 

This orange plastic is incredibly hard to photograph! Anyway, the top wing shows the original raised hatches, and the lower shows my scribed-in substitutes. Only the raised aileron actuator detail will remain missing on the starboard wing, but I can live with that. I think I need to get some grey primer on this thing ASAP!

 

Kev

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Hey Kev, nice to know I'm not the only one to 'fudge' things.... interesting subject and isn't it amazing with all the documentation on a recent, historic event, it's still a fight to get the markings/ paint right ? Looks like you're having fun though and thats the main thing.

 

Cheers :lol:

 

Vaughn

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  • 3 weeks later...
:popcorn: Hey Kevin how's the little orange beasty progressing?

Highest Regards,

Gregory Jouette

 

Thanks for your interest Greg! I'm afraid I haven't touched this one since my last post, as I've had my hands full lately with the LSP Kit Database among other things. I've also got a Minicraft 707 to clear off the bench first. I haven't been completely idle though, as I managed during this week to pick up what I think should be a good match for the exterior orange colour (Tamiya TS-12 in the rattle can, recommended in an online build I saw while doing research). Also, I managed to find at the library today a copy of the book Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1, which looks like it might be vaguely related to this project.

 

Kev

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Too much computer time can be detrimental to your health... not to mention cutting into your building time ! We do however appreciate your efforts :popcorn:

It'll be great to see you back at it though.

 

Cheers

 

Vaughn

 

Thanks Vaughn. It doesn't help that I started back at work today, so let's hope I can squeeze some glue-sniffing in there somewhere. :wacko:

 

Kev

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  • 2 weeks later...

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