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A “different” X-15….
On his way to the X-15 and carrier B-52 on 28 September 1961, the crew literally rolled out the red carpet for U.S. Navy pilot Forrest Petersen. Right before Mission 2-19-35, Petersen had been promoted to the rank of commander, prompting the red-carpet treatment. Within 10 years, he was commanding the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, and later became a rear admiral.
Flight 2-19-35 was the fourth of Petersen’s five X-15 flights. On the flight, he became the only X-15 pilot to record his top speed and peak altitude on the same mission. He hit Mach 5.3 (3,600 mph) and reached 101,800 feet.
X-15-2, 66671, didn’t have the typical monochromatic blue-black look on 2-19-35. The left wing, tailplane and main landing gear were covered in a gray temperature-sensitive paint, while the aft portion of the left side tunnel, some panels on the left and right side tunnels and the lower right speed brake were covered with a green temperature-sensitive paint. The paint turned different colors depending on how hot it got, allowing technicians to determine post-flight how hot various parts of the airframe got.
This build in 1/48th scale utilizes a YukonJohn repaint of Henry Yuen’s X-15 design. I scratchbuilt the LR-99 motor, the jettison tubes and other various bits. I cut apart the dorsal and ventral rudders and scratchbuilt the moveable and fixed portions to improve accuracy. I resized Ken West’s stowed landing skids to 1/48th and used them.
X-15-2 looked pretty weathered on this flight, particularly the dorsal rudder. The left side carried the NASA band, while the right side carried the serial number, which was partially obscured by a strip of temperature-sensitive paint that had been applied several missions earlier. I weathered the model with black and gray markers, gray pastel chalk and eye shadow (!?!).
This is my 10th X-15 build in 1/48th scale….
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05-29-2023, 11:42 AM
Linear Mode
