The X-15’s first NASA flight…

Here’s my latest build, a 1/32nd card model of X-15-1, 66670, as it appeared on Flight 1-3-8, the program’s first flight for NASA. It was flown by NASA pilot Joe Walker on 25 March 1960.

The model is a conversion of the Ken West X-15A-2. The modifications involve shortening the fuselage and side tunnels, changing the cockpit windows, digitally “repainting” some the markings and numerous other changes.

Visually, two things stand out about 1-3-8. The first is the yellow NASA banner on both sides of the dorsal rudder. This was the first flight that carried the banner, and “NASA” was in a non-standard font. This particular version only appeared on a few early flights, and the banner may have appeared on both sides of the rudder only on this flight. Also, the serial number was painted on the fixed portion of the dorsal rudder in a rounded font; later iterations would have the serial numbers in a larger Amarillo USAF font. (Early in the program, the yellow NASA banner rarely appeared on both sides of the rudder on all three X-15s, a nod to the fact many of the flights were flown by the Air Force.)

The second thing to stand out visually was the vehicle had a uniform semi-gloss black color. The three X-15s arrived at Edwards from North American Aviation painted semi-gloss black. Eventually, the paint wore off and the Inconel alloy airframe turned a deep bluish-black through repeated heating and the vehicles took on a splotchy appearance. But Flight 1-3-8 was only 66670’s second powered flight, and the rows of silver rivets and fasteners that would come to kind of define the X-15s’ appearance were still black, except for a few fasteners on the engine access panels in the rear.

The model was printed on 170gsm glossy cardstock. The West model has rows of rivets, but I had to black them out with a black marker. Converting at X-15A-2 into the earlier XLR11-powered X-15 requires quite a bit of scratchbuilding, including a nose boom, bug-eye camera housings, a new and longer rear engine section, the two XLR11 rocket motors and the various jettison and vent tubes. Detail was added throughout, including the speedbrake bays.

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Building an X-15 is on my wish list, not a lot of options for finding a kit though.

How was assembly (fit/finish) on this one, great/good/decent/shoddy/walk-away-slowly?

Asking because I’m too old (or lazy) to fight.

As cardmodels go, the Ken West model is fairly straightforward but does require a couple of relatively advanced skills. But the instructions are pretty good and the model is well-designed and logical. If you have any experience with building cardmodels, it’s not difficult. I would not want to make it my first cardmodel, though.

I have a couple of accuracy beefs with the model, but overall, it is a pretty good representation of the X-15A-2, which brings me to my other beef: it’s a pretty boring livery. The X-15A-2 wore three different schemes in its service life — the one depicted in the model, one with orange ablative panels and the all-white speed-record version. The model comes in the most boring of the three. I did build the speed-record version, though, by building the model inside-out, of all things. It required some additional scratchbuilding, but was worth it, I think.

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I would’ve never guessed this as a card model @DHanners55 . I’ve seen some of these at the shows though and some of them (like this one) turn into pretty dang convincing wrap ups.

Great work bud. :+1:

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I appreciate the wave-off!

I just returned to the hobby in 2024 after a ~30 year hiatus. I do have some skill, but I’m no pro and have never HEARD of a cardmodel. So again, I thank you.

Your model is a work of art, even if it were a styrene (easy-mode-for-newbs) kit.

Thanks for the kind words. And I suppose modeling is like riding a bike; it’ll all come back to you quickly.

I got into cardmodeling in the late ‘90s because I was wanting to model launch vehicles. There were no plastic or resin kits of a lot of the models I wanted to build, and the ones that did exist were expensive. But there were some cardmodels — and many of them were free online. (Some, like the Ken West X-15, do cost, but once you download it, you can make as many copies as you want. For $12, I’ve built eight 1/32nd-scale X-15s and am starting on my ninth.)

Some of the skills in plastic modeling (which I used to do) carry over into cardmodeling, but there are other skills you’ll pick up. Plus, you’re not dealing with smelly or caustic paints and glue. And if you screw up a part, you just print out another one.

Another feature, if you’re good on computers (I’m not…) is you can digitally “repaint” models into almost any scheme or livery you want. For example, the F-106 pictured came in the markings of the 27th FIS. But I wanted to build an F-106 for a buddy in Texas, a judge whose cousin died in an F-106 crash (as a result of the plane’s notorious ejection seat issues) but he flew with the 5th FIS. We even had a photo of the actual plane, tail number 90017. So I had a buddy of mine who has done a bunch of my X-15 repaints re-do the plane in the proper markings. The judge was thrilled when he got it.

A few of my builds over the past few years:

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A few more. The Shuttle Stack, MLP and Crawler Transporter are 1/288th scale, the Orbiter is 1/96th, the Admirable-class minesweeper is 1/200 and the Gemini is 1/32nd. Not sure what scale the Millennium Falcon is….

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