X15 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Hello everybody, Really happy to share with you my last build, the M2F1 lifting body. Special thanks to my friend Seb who work on the project for the 3D printind parts. Take care !!! A little history on this amazing airplane that will give birth to the Space Shuttle! The M2-F1 is the precursor of a series of the most incredible devices ever developed from 1963 to 1975 by NASA: the lifting bodies . This concept of Lifting Body begins to be developed in 1950 and more seriously in 1961 during the period of space conquest. The capsules are used only once and they are very expensive. Engineers then think of a concept of reusable device, which will have to be piloted. But to resist re-entry into the atmosphere this machine will have to withstand extremely high temperatures and therefore its shape will have to be very round and of low lift, unlike a conventional device !! Fascinated by this new concept, a Nasa engineer, Dale Reed, who then worked as an aerodynamicist on the X15 program, on the measures of resistance of materials and overheating, decided to embark on the study of this project. He found a lot of skepticism at Nasa and worked with a very small team. He tests at home flying models in paper then in balsa which he throws by hand or makes fly like a kite. The refined design he films his reduced model and will present his film to the boss of Nasa Paul Bikle. He is interested and gives him $ 30,000 and puts the wind tunnel at his disposal for aerodynamic tests! not much to say! Dale Reed will therefore have to convince engineers to work on his concept outside of NASA working hours and find a way to build a device at very low cost and fly it without an engine !! With the $ 30,000 Dale Reed will build the M2-F1 by a glider manufacturer close to Edwards. To make it fly he buys a Pontiac Catalina which he will have boosted by the local garage owner to tow the M2-F1 !! Finally he finds a test pilot fascinated by the project, Milton "Milt" Thompson. Testing of the M2-F1 begins in March 1963 towed by the Pontiac. It will thus make nearly 400 flights proving that the M2-F1 flies and can fly. NASA then loaned a C47 to tow the M2-F1 like a glider. The real tests can then begin and several test pilots will pilot it including C. Yeager. The concept will thus be definitively validated by NASA and will give rise thereafter to the series of M2-F2, M2-F3, HL-10, X24A and X24B, then the series of X-33, X-36, X-38 and finally to the space shuttle! To find out more, I recommend the books by Dale Reed: Wingless Flight and Milt Thompson: Flying without wings. The M2F2 crash with pilot Bruce Peterson will give Hollywood studios the idea of The Six Million Dollar Man serie. X15 SCRATCH BUILDER, Marcel111, Dukie99 and 34 others 37 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Absolutely beautiful model - and perfectly executed! Brilliant choice of subject. Iain mpk and Ryan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Very nice, great subject matter too! Cheers Alan mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Wow, what a great subject! Grand modeling for sure. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Well done! mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircommando130 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 That's awesome! Saw those fly at Edwards when my dad was stationed there. Our next door neighbor was Major Jerry Gentry...a lifting body test pilot! Love that representation of Rogers Dry Lake too! Cheers...Ron Kagemusha and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Lovely executed model. Wow. Great article explaining everything. Thanks for your passion and end result. Well done. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Beautifully done! mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X15 Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Hi everybody, thank you very much for your nice comments !!! Really happy you enjoyed it !! Take care !!! X15 mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X15 Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 10 hours ago, aircommando130 said: That's awesome! Saw those fly at Edwards when my dad was stationed there. Our next door neighbor was Major Jerry Gentry...a lifting body test pilot! Love that representation of Rogers Dry Lake too! Cheers...Ron Hi Ron, Amazing !!!! You are lucky ;) It will be a dream for me to come back at this time and see all this pilots and incredible airplanes !!! X15 mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X15 Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Troy Molitor said: Lovely executed model. Wow. Great article explaining everything. Thanks for your passion and end result. Well done. Hi Troy, this is some good video of the story X15 Edited March 22, 2020 by X15 mpk, Troy Molitor and dodgem37 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobs Buckles Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Magic! von B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpk Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 You had me at Scratch built! Truly superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZPetrP Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Perfect an nice build. Congratulations on an interesting addition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X15 Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Thank you very much everybody !!! Take care !! X15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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