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Although X-15-1, 66670, was the first of the three X-15s delivered to NASA’s Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, the program’s first powered flight was actually made by X-15-2, 66671. On 17 September 1959, Scott Crossfield flew 66671 to a speed of Mach 2.1. Flight 2-1-3 was the first use of the LR-11 motor and lasted a little over 9 minutes.

This 1/48th-scale model depicts Flight 2-1-3. As delivered to Edwards, 66671 showed North American Aviation hadn’t yet settled on standardized markings. For example, 66670 had U.S. AIR FORCE split lengthwise between the fuselage and side tunnels, and the national insignias were wholly on the side tunnels. When 66671 was delivered, both the U.S. AIR FORCE legend and the national insignias were split between the fuselage and the side tunnels.

As with all the other X-15 models, this is a YukonJohn repaint of Henry Yuen’s model, and I’ve enlarged it to 1/48th scale. The model is built out of 170gsm glossy stock (on their rollouts and first flights, the X-15s were painted black with a bluish tint) and there was no weathering to speak of. At the time of 2-1-3, 66671 had been aloft only twice before — one was a scheduled captive flight and the other was an aborted mission caused by a leaky vent.

I rebuilt or scratchbuilt a number of items to improve accuracy. Scratchbuilt items include the LR-11 motors and the dorsal and ventral tails.

This is Build No. 10 in my 1/48th-scale X-15 series, and the fifth build of a version of 66671.