Another day, another X-15….

[dhanners]

I’ve modeled Forrest Petersen’s Flight 2-19-35 in 1/72nd and 1/48th, but I figured I’d have a go at modeling it in 1/32nd. To do so, I had to convert of Ken West’s X-15A-2, which involves shortening the fuselage and side tunnels — among other necessary changes.

Flight 2-19-35 was flown 28 September 1961. Petersen — a Navy test pilot who would go on to command the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise — hit Mach 5.3 and reached 101,800 feet. The flight was intended to gather “heat transfer data” and “thermostructural data,” and portions of 66671 were covered in two types of temperature-sensitive paint. The paint turned different colors depending on how hot the surface got during flight.

A gray thermal paint was applied to the left wing and tailplane, as well as the left side of the ventral rudder stub and left landing skid. There was a haphazardly applied patch of paint (which appears whiter than the gray) on the upper portion of the right tailplane.

A green thermal paint was applied to the rear of the left side tunnel, as well as a rectangular patch near the left wing. There was a smaller green patch on the right side tunnel, and the lower right speed brake carried the green paint.

I made the necessary alterations to the Ken West model (and one of YukonJohn’s repaints of it) but the dorsal tail presented a problem. On 2-19-35, 66671 carried only the NASA banner on the left side, and the right side carried the serial number, partially obscured by a stripe of gray temperature-sensitive paint that had been applied a few missions earlier, then unsuccessfully cleaned off. I didn’t have the necessary part for the right side of the rudder in 1/32nd scale, but I did in 1/48th — from John’s repaint of Henry Yuen’s model. I had the tail piece enlarged at a printing shop and with some judicious cutting, I had the right piece. Fortunately, both sides of the rudder were heavily weathered even before the flight; the serial number was almost obliterated, and the attempts to remove the gray stripe had left a patchy mess. The weathering was done with marking pens.

Having zero repainting skills (and only an iPad) I replicated the gray and green thermal paint with Tamiya spray paints.

I had to scratchbuild a number of parts, and I improved many of the kit parts, including the XLR-99 motor.

Dennis Jenkins, author of “Hypersonic,” sent me some photos taken during the flight and afterwards, and they showed some peculiarities I had to model. One was that the jettison tubes had a different design and arrangement than nearly every other XLR-99 flight I’ve seen. No idea why.

Also, there were several uneven rows of small dots painted haphazardly on the left side of the tail cone. They are various colors and some appear scorched. Dennis said they were “tell alls,” small dots of temperature-sensitive paint that change color depending on how hot they get. He said they were quicker and cheaper than using thermocouples.

[Texman]

Exemplary work again my friend. It is an inspiring build.

[Kazziga]

Beautiful!

[ReynoldsSlumber]

Impressive dedication to accuracy. A literal repaint, nice. Such a little brute of a machine.