Bell X-1, 1/32 Revell
I bought this kit at a club day just as everyone was packing up ,why ?,because I didn't want to go home empty handed and instantly regretted it ,so anyway it came home with me and sat on the shelf of hasty decisions for a while while I completed another build, every time I looked in its direction the bright box art caught my eye and so it was elevated up the list of kits to be built to top spot.
This is a kit which provides a pleasant interlude between more lengthy complex builds having a small parts count and being a good chunky size it also adds a splash of colour in the collection, the cockpit has a reasonable amount of detail only really requiring to have the wireing added to the back of the control panel as it is clearly visible through the canopy and you will really need to swap the kit pitot's ,all three for fine gauge needles as they are grossly overscale, and the panel lines will need to be removed and rescribed as I did or just left off altogether.
The kit does come with a seated Yeager figure which I omitted but would benefit greatly from a standing figure so the well known publicity shot could be recreated.
If you are considering this kit for your collection be warned you will need plenty of lead for balance .
Its real pity there is not a kit of the vastly superior British aircraft the Miles M.52 which for reasons we won't go into here (a'hem) was never completed even though it was a matter of weeks from test flight, oh what could have been...
Hope you like it ,N
P.S. I added the little details on the tail wings as well.
Aircraft not being my specialist subject I don't know anything about the history of this, but it certainly makes for a bright model, and those panel lines look very fine.
Thanks George,it probably would have been more accurate if I had removed the raised panel lines and left the aircraft smooth.
N.
Looks great.
Thanks Rob,N.
Turned out really well, Neil...I still have mine hanging from the ceiling. Nice pilot figure included with this kit, too.
Cheers Craig,thanks for looking,N.
Good work on a "loud" kit mate.
Well done sir.
Most people have looked at the M.52 design (including her intended pilot, Eric Brown) and said it might have been barely supersonic in a dive.
The X-1 went supersonic in a CLIMB.
Sorry, the only time the British aviation industr4y was closer than five years behind throughout the 1950s was in the movie "The Sound Barrier" (and as Chuck Yeager said to Sec AF Stuart Symington at the prmiere of the movie here, in answer to the question "did you reverse your controls to go through the solund barrier?" "No sir. You would crash if you did that."
The X-1, unlike the M.52, was known to be supersonic before it flew since it was designed from the .50 caliber bullet, which was known to go supersonic. British aviation after WW2 was hopelessly behind the times, and only managed to create one major sjupersonic airframe (the EE Lightning) DESPITE the British aviation industry. And you never ever caught up afterwards. Sorry. You're Greece to our Rome.
I unfriended you for a reason cleaver ,please don't comment on my stuff in future.
So, Tom, we did not build a supersonic passenger jet!
Nice build Neil!
beautiful paint...love Yeager
Yeager-gleen like
Looks good...here's how mine turned out a few years back.
Yours looks good too,a later mod I think .Silly question how'd you submit a photo here?
Just link it from Photobucket
This looks great in white ,there is also an option in orange with a white spine and tailfin,looks great in flight.Why not post this on the main page ?
Cheers N.
Besides some build pics, that's the only completed pic I have of that X-1. Even more unfortunate is that I got talked out of it and sold it to a guy. I kind of regret getting rid of it as it turned out really sharp.
G'day Neil, the vibrant colour is the reason I went for this kit; plus I'm a fan of the movie, 'The Right Stuff'. I think your build is outstanding. I've only done a 'dry fit' at this stage and it has redeemed a little of the angst I'm presently feeling about the folks at Revell. But I won't bore you with that saga, unless you've got any opinions about Revell's below par attention to the overall fit of their larger, slightly older kits.
I realise that your X-1 build was quite a while back but if you've got a minute, I have one quick question for you. You achieved a bright, deep orange and this makes me wonder what colour of primer or base coat you used to bring out the finish of the orange so well?
The orange you ended up with surpasses the box art by a country mile and although it's an unorthodox colour your finished model has that unmistakeable look of accuracy about it.
I was somewhat taken back by the dark green of the interior surfaces. Given that the ambient light inside the cockpit would have darkened a little with the ever-increasing altitude as the craft began to approach the beginnings of the edge of 'space'; I would have thought a brighter cockpit colour might have suited the lighting conditions a little more.
I'm ex-RAAF and for the past 25 years or so, since I retired from my day job, I went back to college and became a military historian. My special areas of interest are Allied aircraft of WW2 into Korea and then Vietnam.
My top three aircraft over this long period are the Voight Corsair; the De Haviland Mosquito and the Lockheed C-130 (specifically the A and E models) which I worked with during my time in the RAAF. We were the first foreign air force to take delivery of the C-130 (A) and since then the Hercs have held a special place in my heart; not the most 'beautiful' airframe out there but a versatile aircraft that saved so many more lives than it took.
Anyway, before I start 'waffling' on in earnest and losing your attention, I'll say thank you for your rendition of the Bell X-1. I'm new to iModeler and keen to make connections with others who share my passion for military aircraft of yesteryear.
Cheers and all the best, Bill Halliwell Tasmania, Australia