It is said that
the SR-71 "Blackbird" needed a replacement - capable of stealth,
Mach 6 and high altitude operation
It is said that this plane
was first flown in 1989.
It is called
"Aurora" - according to a Pentagon budget request from 1985 (it
appeared right under the budget request for the SR-71 and the U-2).
Well this and even more
astounding information can be found in the internet concerning this
CIA spyplane.
The Testors XR-7
Thunderbold model is representing the "Aurora" hypersonic
mystery plane of Groom Lake, Area 51 - or not... It is of course much more
a fictional model than anything else. As a fan of science-fiction and
airplanes it makes the best of both worlds for me and a nice change in the
showcase - or on ARC.
The fact that this is a
fictional kit prevented any rivet-counting and was a good excuse for
building it straight from the box.
Click on
images below to see larger images
I do not recall big
problems during construction, except that the large fuselage halves where
a bit warped. Despite that the construction went forward very
quickly.
Testors suggests an overall
black paint scheme, which makes sense: The hypersonic X-15 was also back
on most of its missions because of the high temperatures which the air
friction is creating - the black paint was capable of absorbing some of the
heat and to withstand it. There was also an overall pink and an overall
white X-15 paint scheme - the later one was used on the speed record
flight actually.
And finally Auroras
precursor spy plane is a black bird - sorry for the pun. So I decided to
use predominantly black which also makes Auroras lines even more nasty.
As
a reference to the X-15 I made the canopy framing white (I saw this on
some pictures of the X-15), which brakes up the monotone colour and was
easier than to use different shades of black. I can be awfully lazy
sometimes.
I decided to close the
canopy and to give it a gold "heat shield" coating. This
perfectly hides the simplified cockpit of the kit.
The kits decals where used and
everything was sealed with a flat coat from a spray can... I did not find out
what happened but the clear coat frosted! I suppose that the humidity and
temperature (I sprayed it outside) was causing this, but I am not sure. I could
have tried Future on this frosted coat to make it clear again, but I decided to
be very happy with this unexpected result, because it reminded me on the Bell
X-15 when it was full of propellant - the fuselage was frosted then.
So my XR-7 Aurora Thunderbold
whatever what-if is filled up and prepared for a short flight around the world.
René
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