scvrobeson Posted May 29 Posted May 29 I can officially call my speedy silver cigar done! The Miles M.52 was a proposed British attempt to break the sound barrier more than 3 years before the Bell X-1 would accomplish the feat. The project was canceled in 1946, and Miles was directed to share their research and data with Bell, who would apply it to their own barrier breaker in 1947. This kit was Aerocraft's first full kit, as well as my first full 3D printed kit. Bit of a learning curve, to be sure, but a great kit to put together. The only challenge was in the surface finish, since the surface to be basically glass smooth. Numerous applications of Mr. Surfacer and careful polishing were the order of the day, but eventually, it was smooth enough for the gloss black and Alclad finish. Strong coats of Gunze GX2 Black set the stage, and then Alclad High Speed Silver coated the airframe. Select panels were picked out in Stainless Steel, Aluminium, Airframe Aluminium, and Polished Aluminium until I was satisfied with the finish. The roundel decals were replaced with Eduard units with peelable carrier film, while the serial number, prototype logo, and fin flash were all trimmed to eliminate any extra carrier film. Aerocraft was nice enough to include printed trestles for the plane to help alleviate strain on the landing gear, and I dealt with one main leg breaking under load. That side is also missing a gear door in certain photos, that was removed to give camera access to the engine bay. Please let me know what you think of it. Matt Out2gtcha, MikeC, Hubert Boillot and 27 others 30
geedubelyer Posted May 29 Posted May 29 Superb BMF Matt. All of your hard work certainly paid dividends. You now have a pretty unique model on your shelf. Well done. scvrobeson and Polecadt 2
LSP_Kevin Posted May 29 Posted May 29 Superb build and finish, Matt! And now the subject of this week's banner image on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/largescaleplanes Kev scvrobeson and Mal_Belford 2
scvrobeson Posted May 30 Author Posted May 30 Thank you both. Kev, I'm honored to be the banner image for the Facebook page this week. Matt geedubelyer and LSP_Kevin 2
Dpgsbody55 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 (edited) Very good work, Matt. A unique model, and very well finished. Love the silver metal colours. Cheers, Michael Edited May 31 by Dpgsbody55 Mal_Belford and scvrobeson 2
Greif8 Posted May 31 Posted May 31 Superb surface prep and airbrush work Matt, the NMF is flawless and beautiful. Your assembly work was excellent as well as the end result looks perfect to me eye. Well done my friend! Ernest scvrobeson 1
scvrobeson Posted June 2 Author Posted June 2 Thanks very much. The surface prep was really about 90% of the work time on this build, had to get it as close to perfect as possible. Matt Mal_Belford 1
LSP_Ray Posted June 6 Posted June 6 On 5/28/2026 at 8:57 PM, scvrobeson said: I can officially call my speedy silver cigar done! The Miles M.52 was a proposed British attempt to break the sound barrier more than 3 years before the Bell X-1 would accomplish the feat. The project was canceled in 1946, and Miles was directed to share their research and data with Bell, who would apply it to their own barrier breaker in 1947. This kit was Aerocraft's first full kit, as well as my first full 3D printed kit. Bit of a learning curve, to be sure, but a great kit to put together. The only challenge was in the surface finish, since the surface to be basically glass smooth. Numerous applications of Mr. Surfacer and careful polishing were the order of the day, but eventually, it was smooth enough for the gloss black and Alclad finish. Strong coats of Gunze GX2 Black set the stage, and then Alclad High Speed Silver coated the airframe. Select panels were picked out in Stainless Steel, Aluminium, Airframe Aluminium, and Polished Aluminium until I was satisfied with the finish. The roundel decals were replaced with Eduard units with peelable carrier film, while the serial number, prototype logo, and fin flash were all trimmed to eliminate any extra carrier film. Aerocraft was nice enough to include printed trestles for the plane to help alleviate strain on the landing gear, and I dealt with one main leg breaking under load. That side is also missing a gear door in certain photos, that was removed to give camera access to the engine bay. Please let me know what you think of it. Matt Awesome plane! May I post it on the website? scvrobeson 1
scvrobeson Posted June 7 Author Posted June 7 4 hours ago, LSP_Ray said: Awesome plane! May I post it on the website? Yes, of course. Thank you, it would be wonderful to see it on the website. Matt
Mal_Belford Posted June 7 Posted June 7 Yaih...Wooooa...King Kong imo, and unusal aircraft indeed..darn, its finnished and here it is in all pride and glory, geez, as followed that project and loved it from start to finnish. Very very nice indeed. scvrobeson 1
RCPlym Posted June 8 Posted June 8 On 5/29/2026 at 4:57 AM, scvrobeson said: I can officially call my speedy silver cigar done! The Miles M.52 was a proposed British attempt to break the sound barrier more than 3 years before the Bell X-1 would accomplish the feat. The project was canceled in 1946, and Miles was directed to share their research and data with Bell, who would apply it to their own barrier breaker in 1947. This kit was Aerocraft's first full kit, as well as my first full 3D printed kit. Bit of a learning curve, to be sure, but a great kit to put together. The only challenge was in the surface finish, since the surface to be basically glass smooth. Numerous applications of Mr. Surfacer and careful polishing were the order of the day, but eventually, it was smooth enough for the gloss black and Alclad finish. Strong coats of Gunze GX2 Black set the stage, and then Alclad High Speed Silver coated the airframe. Select panels were picked out in Stainless Steel, Aluminium, Airframe Aluminium, and Polished Aluminium until I was satisfied with the finish. The roundel decals were replaced with Eduard units with peelable carrier film, while the serial number, prototype logo, and fin flash were all trimmed to eliminate any extra carrier film. Aerocraft was nice enough to include printed trestles for the plane to help alleviate strain on the landing gear, and I dealt with one main leg breaking under load. That side is also missing a gear door in certain photos, that was removed to give camera access to the engine bay. Please let me know what you think of it. Matt You nailed that metal finish! I know a lot of effort went into it! Well worth it. I'm starting on achieving something hopefully as good for the Lightning completion. scvrobeson 1
LSP_Ray Posted Saturday at 05:44 AM Posted Saturday at 05:44 AM On 6/6/2026 at 9:29 PM, scvrobeson said: Yes, of course. Thank you, it would be wonderful to see it on the website. Matt Article is posted! Nicely done! scvrobeson 1
mozart Posted Saturday at 08:17 AM Posted Saturday at 08:17 AM Gorgeous unusual plane Matt, and that finish is the next level! scvrobeson 1
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