Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar 1/48 - design Mark Cable

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Hi there, friends.


Haven't posted in a long time. Sorry for that. Besides my nowadays regular day job in the regional archives describing old digitised celluloid films, I also have been working on and off at a documentary film I made with my So about the first Dutch satellite. It will be out in a couple of months now. Today we locked the film so it can be colourgraded next week. Exciting times. When it's time, I'll post a link to the trailer. (it will have English subtitles)

In all the time inbetween I have found the time to build this model designed by Mark Cable of the legendary Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar. I have used different types of paper for the Transtage, which was used for orbital insertion, attitude and braking manoeuvres. The X-20 itself was provided with a strong little magnet in the back, that would stick to another one hidden in the spacecraft adapter part of the Transtage.
The X-20 is a relative straightforward build. Not too hard, not too easy. The instructions are good, but here and there numbers are not entirely correct and some parts that are numbered aren't mentioned in the instructions. But if you aren't new to the hobby, nothing of that would give you a headache. It is, as said, quite straightforward.
And very well designed. Mark, my compliments. This is a great model indeed! The shape is very well captured, the details are well-researched, especially when taken in mind that there isn't much hardware to get research from.


Then the build itself. You have to provide your own glue strips but I like that. It gives me the freedom to modify and fiddle with the fuselage.
I found that adding the rear part of the hull before closing the hull up works better than adding the rear part after closing up the hull. It also is handy, I thought to close up the nose section on the belly with a longer glue strip that sticks out backwars so it can also be attached to the wing parts.
I also cut out the windows and replaced them with pieces of blue gel filter normally used for stage lighting. ( I have a couple of sample booklets I can scavenge for this purpose).
The wings need a little help to get nice and flush with the hull. But it all fits very well. The vertical stabs need some TLC when added and you need to look closely and bend the parts where they meet the wings. Glue strips help a lot. The rear parts and the ailerons are not hard but you need to look carefully in the instructions and test a little before glueing it all together to see whether it fits and looks right.
If all goes well, you end up with a very nice rendition of the X-20. Now the Transtage.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Transtage time. Here, I used Mark's kit mostly as a template while I used all kinds of card and paper to create the stage. The ring was made from aluminium coloured metallic card. I used a small saw wheel for my power tool to create rivet lines. (it is all suggestion here, I want it to look good but I know that the average rivet counter already might start to get agitated. Let's also not forget this spacecraft has never flown so it practically is a what-if.)
The hypergolic fuel components were stored in two tanks that were very different in shape. One thin and long, the other fat and short. Both had a pointy end, acting more or less like a funnel, with a fuel line leading to the rocket engines. The whole shebang was pressure fed by two helium tanks. These were made from two styrofoam balls, I first covered them in a thin layer of PVA glue and after that I painted them gun metal.
The struts were rolled from thinner aluminium coloured paper. I put some left-over decals on the outside of the Transtage to brighten up its appearance. Just for fun. It looks nice. Tell me otherwise. I don't mind. I like it.

More stuff I changed. The engine bells were made from actual green card. The bells Mark made were without an inner part, sou one would see the glue strips. I didn't go for that and made a slighty smaller inner engine bell out of aluminium coloured paper. Then I drybrushed them with gun metal to give it a used look. The stack is displayed as in orbit, so the engines should have been used.
I scratchbuilt the parts that connect the engine bells. I also created the plumbing from scratch, using photos and diagrams I found. The plumbing is made from thin rolled tubs of aluminium coloured paper with a piece of welding wire inside. I first wanted to create it all from just paper with elaborate elbow pieces and all that but in the end I couldn't be bothered. No one will see it, this actually looks better and I am not a purist.
So there, the plumbing went on, I rolled even more tiny tubes for the trusswork the engines are attached to, and the whole shebang was glued with a tiny drop of CA here and there.
Last picture is of the completed stack. I might do some beauty shots later.

Well that's about it for now. Hope you like it. I do! (-;

[chmilestones]

Absolutely stunning so far , I can’t wait until you are finished … Love following your builds … Regards Chris …

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Erm... it *is* finished. Look at the last picture. That is the final product. I only might post some extra photos in a more showy condition.

[chmilestones]

Sorry , that’s not what I meant .. got used to u posting dioramas !!!

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Originally Posted by chmilestones

Sorry , that’s not what I meant .. got used to u posting dioramas !!!

That's okay... The beauty shots might contain some fake dioramas.. And there will be a perhaps surprising follow up, but it won't be a diorama. The one I originally had in mind would have been too big! (-:

[dhanners]

Fine job. I have that one in my virtual stash as well. Will get around to it at some point. Good to see your build photos and nice finished product.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Thanks, David, especially coming from you - that X-20 model you made years ago was truly an inspiration. And that was with a much less detailed model as well!
There is coming something more Dyna Soar-y, hopefully quite soon. Watch this thread. (-;

[Paper Kosmonaut]

I won't bother you all here with my way too elaborate story I wrote about this What-if version I made. You can check it out on my weblog. Here are some photos of how the X-20 might have looked after NASA got hold of them in the early 70s to pave the road for the shuttle and retire them around 1980. This is Enterprise, the other Dyna Soar ship was christened Kitty Hawk. The first Rockwell Shuttle, named Constitution, was built to go into space from the beginning, and made its maiden flight in 1979 thanks to the efforts of the two X-20's.
The look was inspired by the appearance of ESA' Hermes shuttle in the later drawings.
I used canvas-textured paper for the white blanketed parts of the hull.
I also scratch built a bit too elaborate trolley to transport the X-20 to the hangar after landing.

[rifleman]

thats a cracking build pk well done