X-3 Classic Revell
I remember buying this kit at the 99 cent store that was above Pioneer Market in my home town of Ashland Oregon when I was 9 or 10 years old. Slapped it together and played with it until it was broken and tossed. Leap forward 50+ years and I find myself seeking out those old kits I built and trying to make them again, but with better skills and more patience. This one I got off ebay, sealed and the boxing I remembered the "Strategic Air Power" series. The needle nose and the glowing red hot wings (The X-3 could only break the sound barrier in a dive) as it screamed aloft. Ahh yeah! Anyway, I did build it pretty quickly, but I think it turned out well. I tinted the glass with Tamiya clear and just had to put the pilot in!The kit decals were shot, but I managed to salvage the X-3s for the nose, the rest are from my spares box. The stand is a treat. My best friend send me a text one day, from an antique shop. "Hey could you use these old stands?" YES! Those look to be original Revell stands from the 50s and 60s! Once they arrived, I could see they were in fact originals not re-pops that have come about recently. Some still had the decals on them. B-52, P-39, F-89, and some blanks. I chose a blank and replicated the look of the original decals with paint and letters and numbers from my spares box. Anyway, and enjoyable build! Next up Monograms FW-190, and yes I will choose and option in the box, and yes I will do one of the inaccurate paint schemes!
Nice job, Rob! Very futuristic and nostalgic at the same time...Great looking build...love the display stand.
Thanks!
I love it! First time I have this kit built up so nicely. The stand is great! Well done Rob.
The key is not worrying about anything other than fit, then sand, sand, sand for the parts that don't fit so great. Really had i chosen to leave the gear down as designed it would have been done 2 weeks ago, but I had these stands...
I remember this one! It's one of the first I built & it met the same fate yours did, Rob! @robertandy
I still have bits and pieces of kits from those days, that's about it!
Nice! I think that I got mine from Wool Worths, and in this boxing waay back when.
Awesome, department stores were the "Go To" for kits in many towns. We had the 99 cent store (a small department store, above the grocery, where we bought school supplies and such) and then in the next city over we had "Schwinn Cycle and Hobby". Bikes and kits! That's where I discovered Tamiya and Bandai kits!
Cool, Rob! I remember buying that one at about age 9 too. Mom sent me down to the drug store for a gallon of milk and I grabbed the X-3 too! They had a small section of Airfix and Revell kits next to the shaving supplies. Great memories!
Cool, The drugstore reminded me of different places that you could buy kits. I almost forgot that Ace Hardware had a model section in its' basement for years. They still had them in the 80s in Medford Oregon, right before I joined the Navy.
Excellent job, Rob! The base is the icing on the cake.
Keep them coming!
Superb result, Rob @robertandy
A sharp looking needle.
That stand is indeed the perfect finishing touch.
Nicely done Rob and I bet you had a lot of fun building her. Great way to display her on a stand I give her two thumbs up.
Thanks again everyone for the kind comments!
Nice clean build, it really looks great. I don't know anything about the X-3 but I always thought it looked so futuristic. There's something about the old classics that make them a lot of fun to put together. Maybe it's just the simplicity of putting together an airframe that only has 8-10 parts. I cant wait to see what you do with the Monogram 190. That's another one of my favorites. Thank you for sharing.
Nice job Rob, my build in the 60's was done the same way you described your build back then. I love the overall vibe you build sends out.
Beautiful job! I saw the actual X-3 at the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH. It is interesting how small the aircraft is and how tight the cockpit is. Well done.
Brings back memories - I never built it as a kid but a few of my friends couldn't resist.
Great build, Rob! It's really good to see all the old models being built again. It's a great antidote for superkit burnout and you get to have airplanes in your collection that no one kits anymore!
Great job on this old dinosaur. It looks great. I wonder what the real one might have done with J-57s.
I don't know Tom, maybe gone as fast as the box art!
@robertandy, That is very cool Rob! ? I don't see a mention of scale here; is this a completely different kit from the ancient Lindberg X-3 in 1/48? I bought that old chestnut off a clearance table at a Michael's craft store years ago. It is amazing that when mocked up, the parts on that Lindberg model seem to have a beautiful fit. Your neat little X-plane is quite inspiring to me sir! ? Perhaps I should take another look at her! ?
It is a completely different kit from the Lindberg kit. It is a "box scale" kit originally issued in 1955 in 1/65. It comes from a time when there was no standard scale for many kits, but they were made to fit in certain size boxes for better display at department stores, drug stores etc, where many of these kits were sold. Mine was molded in about 1969-70, box date is 1969, but that is more relevant as the issue date, and could have been molded anywhere during the years of the "1969 issue" run. As for the Lindberg kit, I have seen some very nice ones built up on the net. I think it captures some of the subtle shapes better than the Revell kit, but seems a bit "pudgy", not enough to matter as it can really look great, and as I say, some of the other subtle lines, such as the sit of the intakes, the exhaust and tail area are better represented than the Revell one.