"There was a
Demon who lived in the air"....
Following Dean
Large's excellent build and article, I decided to have a go at this kit myself.
The Revell kit is
getting harder to find, but I managed to track one down on ebay, and it was duly
shipped half way round the world to my workshop.
Suitably armed with
the Smithsonian book- "Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1" as a reference,
and having watched "The Right Stuff" a couple of times, I was in the
mood to begin.
I weighted the
interior by using an old HP9v battery -wrapped in cling film, to prevent any
possible battery acid leak in the future. It was secured ahead of the
undercarriage wells , using masking tape. This creates a suitable weight at the
correct location, ensuring that the model will sit on it's mainwheels and not on
it's tail.
I painted the
cockpit interior using Humbrol Interior Green, which is a close match to the
colour photos of the actual Bell X-1 in the Smithsonian book. The aircraft was
assembled as Dean decribes, and the painting stage was next. I used a Tamiya
spray can colour TS-12. This seems to be the best match when compared to the
photographs I have studied.
I also bought a can
of Tamiya TS-31, but after test spraying a sample, decided that it looked
too red.
After 2 coats of
Tamiya High Gloss Orange, the decals were applied.
I acquired the
excellent Cutting Egde decal sheet- CED32040, which allows any of nine possible
colour schemes which the X-1 carried. Despite being generally good, the colour instruction
sheet did not show where all of the decals should be located. Check your
photographic references to help with accurate placement of the smaller stencils.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Only the 2 fuselage stars 'n'
bars
on the rear fuselage gave any trouble, but were finally persuaded to conform to
the fuselage plates by using some Microset solution and a dab with a soft
handkerchief.
Final details were addition of a
tiny stainless steel tube to the bottom of the engine exhaust bells, and
creating the distinctive diamond tread pattern to the main wheels-shown to good
effect on page 85 of the "Smithsonian book". This was done by lightly
drawing the pattern using a propelling pencil, and then carefully sawing the
tread pattern with a razor saw. The tread was then cleaned up using wet'ndry
paper, and painted using Humbrol Anthracite, drybrushing with a bone colour to
represent the dust of Edwards Air Force Base. The model took about 4 weeks to
build-hope you like it?
Dave
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