I know we have some X-plane X-perts (sorry) out there and I have a few questions about the X-1 on the day it broke the “sound barrier.” I am pulling the half-finished Eduard Profi-pak kit out and trying to salvage it. I just saw some more archival film and photos of the plane and it questions my previous notions about color. I know that it is a mistake to weather the X-1, and, for that matter, all of the X-planes involved in speed and altitude research, because they were kept pretty immaculate, and some, like the X-15, got new paint jobs quite often because the aerodynamic heating they encountered burned the finish off at hypersonic speeds. And some of the fast X-planes, or most, had the joints between panels filled and sanded very smooth to cut down drag (this was also done on the first two or three P-80s, in that Pearl Gray color scheme), so panel lines should be subtle to non-existant for most of the planes.
The orange color seems to be very bright, brighter than International Orange, but not day-glo. Is there a good match for this? I was going to use MM acrylic Orange, but now it seems dull. I know early color film greatly exagerrated the vividness of colors, but the still photos also show a blindingly bright orange.
Also, I have read that on the day Yeager did the historic deed, the legend “Glamorous Glennis” had not yet been added to the plane. Anyone know the truth here?
For those who’ve managed to finish the Eduard kit, you know that the background decal for the Glamorous Glennis logo is blue, when in fact it was silveron the real thing. Can someone suggest a fix for that, keeping in mind I’m no artist?
And, finally, I still have the problem of getting that PE instrument panel in the fuselage, since I followed Eduard’s instructions, closing the two fuselage halves before trying to install the panel. It just doesn’t want to fit, no matter how much cutting and mangling I do. (After all that work to make a beautiful panel with a scratchbuilt oxygen regulator to replace the resin one, which took a carpet dive.)
Help!
As far as I have read “Glamourus Glennis” was on the A/C at the time of the Mach 1 flight. As for color, I have seen it painted with Reefer Orange and CP Rail Orange with gloss coats over them and they both looked close to the right color. The only way you would notice a difference in shades is to put the models next to each other. For decals, Cutting Edge has a great sheet that has markings for all the different variants of markings. Go to http://www.meteorprod.com do a search on the X-1 and you’ll see them.