Okay, so finally made up my mind: I’m going to build the NB-52A with the X-15 underneath the wing.
“First flight of the X-15”-type of thing. Diorama style, I guess.
One problem–No idea who makes a 1/48 B-52 for use with a 1/48 X-15, and no idea who makes a 1/72 X-15 for use with a 1/72 B-52.
Anybody? [%-)]
Now THIS is a project I’m looking forward to seeing!
To help you on your way, here’s a link to a 1/72 X-15 by Revell:
HTH! [tup]
Many years ago Monogram released a 1/72 scale B-52 with the X-15. It was in the Young Astronaut Series. Kit number is 5907. There is one currently listed on e-bay. Old Model Kits also has one for sale.
There are/were several ways to do this project in 1/72, 1/144, and 1/200. Monogram had a version of the 1/72 NB-52 and X-15 combo as mentioned above. The Minicraft 1/144 B-52H has had resin conversion kits to make it an NB-52 from Golden Dragon and Meteor along with decals also from Meteor. Golden Dragon also has a 1/144 X-15. Meteor was better quality but they have gone out of business. Golden Dragon is still around. There was a 1/200 NB-52/X-15 kit by Crown I believe. I just saw one at a model contest. There was also Revell’s box-scale B-52/X-15 combo which was probably about 1/180 or so. That’s all the combos that I know of.
I have seen a few completed models like this, but most were grounded, not in-flight models, for 1/72 and 1/144. Very impressive with the black X-15 with the orange-white tanks!!! Special Hobby did a 1/48 X-15, and may be a 1/72 I think (sorry but 1/72 just aint my scale [:)])
No B-52 in 1/48 available that I know of, and that may include those rare limited run vaco kits.
If thinking about aftermarket, the now closed-down Meteor Productions released a limited run of 1/144 (and 1/72?) decal sets and resin conversions for the NB-52 early and/or late scheme. Seen on eBay, getting around 50-80 USD, and rare to find with online stores. If you dont buy them, you can still get some info off the profiles and sheets for ideas.
Good luck.
The X-15
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sex on a stick
Best of luck
Chris
The 1/72 Revell X-15 isn’t a bad kit but it would take a little work to back date it to the X-15’s first flight since it is a later version of the X-15. At a minimum you would have to modify the canopy, I think most of the other changes are already options in the kit.
No clue on the B-52, even in 1/72 that would be a bit of a monster.
The 1/72 Revell kit doesn’t have the parts for the older version.
The biggest change is in the engines. The original configuration used 8 XLR11 engines arranged in two sets of 4 in a vertical pair. The newer XLR99 that the it comes with is a single engine with one large exhaust nozzle so the rear aspect is very different.
The kit also has a half globe experiment housing mounted at an angle facing the rear that was used onlater flights.
The cockpit is also different with the kit having a solid shutter and one clear oval window on the canopy as opposed to two rectangular windscreens on the older version.
Dealing with the engines is probably the toughest issue. The old Revell kit, a box scale kit, was initally released with the early engine package and was later rereleased with the new engine.
This is one of my favorites plane combos. Good luck finding all the parts!
Thanks for the input guys but keep on talking about it 
I can learn from this stuff.
I confidently believe I can scratchbuild the new XLR11 engine part, but the canopy is the part that intimidates me…sculpting isn’t quite my forte. Not sure what I’d do if it came to that!
New Ware has a conversion kit for the early X-15 in 1/48 scale see here:
Unfortunately, I don’t know of any 1/48 b-52 kits.
Regarding the NB-52 vs B-52, there are changes here also.
The tail turret is removed and faired over.
I think there are some extra observation windows and bubbles.
There is a notch cut into the right wing to clear the X-15 tail.
There is the pylon which may be the most difficult piece to copy. This link has some photos:
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/vault/nb-52%20pylons/index.html
Keep in mind that there were two NB-52’s and each has had a variety of color and marking schemes over their life. With the demise of Meteor and Gold Dragon there isn’t a good source of decals or conversion parts so you’re options are limited.
Again, good luck!
While the changes mentioned earlier need to be made to the R/M X-15, perhaps the biggest necessary change is shortening the fuselage. The X-15A2, which is the verison R/M offers, was a stretched version of the X-15 and was 52’ 5.5" long. The original X-15 was 50’ 3" long.
Aside from changing out the engines and shortening the fuselage, there’s also the matter of shortening the fairings that run along the side of the fuselage. The fairings contained control cables, hydraulic lines, wiring and various propellant tanks. On the X-15A2, the fairings extended to the rear edge of the XLR99, while on the XLR11, the fairings ended further up the fuselage.
The X-15A2’s nose gear was also lengthened, so that would have to be shortened to model or the X-15.
Actually, FSM had an article on the making all the changes necessary to backdate the R.M kit to an X-15. The online index says it appeared in the January '99 issue.
Good catch on the length issue! I totally forgot about that one!
I should also note that anyone interested in modeling the X-15 would be well-served to get a copy of the Dennis Jenkins/Tony Landis book, [i]Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15[/i].
The book is 276 pages of great color and B&W photos and diagrams that show the vehicle in great detail. For example, the three X-15s had different control panels (and even the same X-15 had different control panels over the course of its life) and there are color photos of the various permutations. The book has details galore.
Also, the May 2007 issue of Scale Aircraft Modeling (the other modeling magazine…) had a cover story on the X-15. It included four pages of color plates of the various paint schemes the vehicles appeared in, many showing the strange test patches of ablative materials that the X-15 sometimes carried.
Try this for the 1/48 B-52 http://www.sangereng.fsnet.co.uk/boeing_52.htm . Im not sure if its ready for delivery, but it says june 2008. BTW 1/48 B-52, are you crazy, if i hang it on the seiling i`m prety sure that the roof of my house will fall [:D] !
When you are done, here is an idea for the follow-on project:
The rocket boosted, scramjet powered Hyper-X.
How could I forget about Sanger - thanks for the reminder. I didn’t know about their on-the-bench or future projects (the possible 1/48 B-36 would be on my wish list). Anyway back to this topic, I have sent an email for an up-date on release and express my interest (but where would I put it? . . . . oh, that’s right - in my stash, . . . . but a valuable addition).
Sanger states this multimedia kit will contain some parts for the NB-52 X-15 Mothercraft version. But still such a kit would require a bit of scratch-building I think - but that’s a good thing - open for everyone’s taste whether a simple OOB or enhanced model.