SpitfireGuy Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Well here we go. I have the Revell 1/32 X-1 Rocket Plane along with the Cutting Edge Conversion to turn it into the X-1E and the corresponding X-1E decals. In addition to this I also have Airscales 1/32 instrument decals. I will need to completely fabricate an interior as the CE conversion only covers the airframe. I found a number of reference photos on the net of the cockpit and bang seat that should be helpful. If anyone knows of a really good X-1E reference I would be more than appreciative because I have not found a lot. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hotdog Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Oh wow, love love love the X-planes and you never see any X-1E's so looking forward to seeing this build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
X-Plane Fan Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Other than Jay Miller's X-1 Datagraph an his X-Planes books, there aren't many good references available for the X-1E. I have an extensive collection of photos on it, just let me know what you're looking for and I'll help where I can. The 'E' went through some minor mods during its career, you'll need to pick a timeframe you want to do and go from there. The early airplane is pretty straightforward but after a while, vents & fins were added and markings were changed. At the end of the program even the nose gear door had been changed from a single piece to dual doors. Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Modeler7 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/asm003.htm Good article in this Aerospace Modeler I did a few years ago. It might help although I could not find hardly anything on the interior so I kinda used artistic license. You might not be inclined to do that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Thanks I may pic that issue up. I found a few pics of the interior on the net. It is not a lot to go on though. What I would really like to find is some pics of the canopy hatch. I have no pics of those details. I would also love to find some detail shots of open panels and see if there are any neat details I can add behind some panels. I know the original X-1 carried a lot of its instrumentation in a compartment of the port wing but I am not sure if this tracks for the X-1E Nice build by the way. Those are the markings I intend to do. As to the interior color; was that part of your SWAG (scientific wild a** guess) or do we know it was green? I was going back and forth between green and dark gull grey or some similar interior grey color that was being used in jets in the late 50's. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Well no finding pics of the X-1E fromt he NASA Dryden website right now. It seems the website was taken down due to the current government shutdown...... Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Modeler7 Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 Honestly Zach, I was getting so bogged down on research that I wasn't building anything. The editor had a deadline and I needed to get moving so I did what I thought was reasonable and plausible to the cockpit to move on. I found an Aerofax X-1 book on Ebay for over 70 bucks. More than the price of the kit and conversion and decided not to pay that price. I did something shocking, I started building. I know a lot of people will find that a terrible thought. And some will applaud for getting something done. I think it looks nice in the display cabinet. It made a nice article and there was only one person that was worried about the 2 mm short fuselage and didn't mention the cockpit at all. So have fun with yours. The conversion wasn't bad. When you do your research you will notice the pictures where the paint on the canopy was coming off. It was painted different than the rest of the plane so it was gloss white and chipping off due to stress and heat. That was duplicated on my kit and intentional. The white was worn good after a few flights. One thing I didn't replicate was the dints in the lower faring right in front of the nose wheel well. I had a blast with the project. I wish you luck and the same enjoyment of a very unique and cool plane. Kel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnlove_mk_II Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 FYI, if you want to take a look at the Aerofax book on the X-1, it's on scribd.com ... I read through it the other day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 Honestly Zach, I was getting so bogged down on research that I wasn't building anything. The editor had a deadline and I needed to get moving so I did what I thought was reasonable and plausible to the cockpit to move on. I found an Aerofax X-1 book on Ebay for over 70 bucks. More than the price of the kit and conversion and decided not to pay that price. I did something shocking, I started building. I know a lot of people will find that a terrible thought. And some will applaud for getting something done. I think it looks nice in the display cabinet. It made a nice article and there was only one person that was worried about the 2 mm short fuselage and didn't mention the cockpit at all. So have fun with yours. The conversion wasn't bad. When you do your research you will notice the pictures where the paint on the canopy was coming off. It was painted different than the rest of the plane so it was gloss white and chipping off due to stress and heat. That was duplicated on my kit and intentional. The white was worn good after a few flights. One thing I didn't replicate was the dints in the lower faring right in front of the nose wheel well. I had a blast with the project. I wish you luck and the same enjoyment of a very unique and cool plane. Kel Kel, like I said the build looks great. I was curious about the cockpit as I had not found anything on it. Looks good to me and really green is plenty plausible so it seems cool to me. :) I had noticed the chipped paint in the pictures. I am anxious to dig into this one. I hear what you are saying about research. I have managed o research myself out of builds in the past and that is just no fun. Thanks for the thoughts. I think I will pick up that copy of Aerospace modeler and check out your build little more. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
X-Plane Fan Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Zach, Here's a random selection of late X-1E photos from my files. The cockpit was actually more of a military green rather than Zinc Chromate, except for the inside of the canopy which was a strange light blue-gray color. There was no canopy lifting system, it was done by had and a special fitting was placed inside to hold it open until the canopy bars could be installed. Hope this helps to get you going in the right direction. Tony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 12, 2013 Author Share Posted October 12, 2013 Wow Tony those are really great pics!! Thanks so much. Those should be great help tot he cause. In the meantime I started making some basic cuts to the fuselage for the conversion. I made the cuts for the canopy section and for the flush wing root peices. I also cleaned up most of the major resin pieces. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ralf Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 I am also looking forward to this build. It think the conversion is a great choice since there aren't many models of this type. Cheers Ralf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Griffin Posted October 12, 2013 Share Posted October 12, 2013 Will also keep an eye on this one, very rare to see one built ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Modeler7 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Tony! Where were you when I was writing my article and building my X-1E?!!! Ha! I know, I know. All I had to do was ask. Great pictures. You always surprise me with your vast knowledge of X plane subjects. Take care and I sure enjoyed seeing those pics you posted. Kel Jamison Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 I started roughing out the new interior. It is just general shapes right now but I wanted to get this all set and make sure everything fit before adding the details. I used the Revell interior as a former for this assembly because it offered some structural elements and it aids in locating things around the nose gear well properly. Bulkhead and floor are made out of 2 thou plastic sheet and the sidewalls are made from 1 thou. It all fits in there very nicely. Now I just have to decide how I am going to go about adding the interior bits and details. The biggest challenge here will be the bang seat and the IP but I suspect some work on these will resolve any fears. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Other than Jay Miller's X-1 Datagraph an his X-Planes books, there aren't many good references available for the X-1E. While Jay's Datagraph #3 is an excellent X-1 resource, it has only a couple of small b&w images of the E cockpit, most of those involving the ejection seat. If you can find one for a decent price I recommend it, but specifically for the E cockpit I'm afraid you'd be disappointed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 It's been a productive weekend on this end. Got some sidewall detail done and some more work on the cockpit floor and instrument panel. I used the center section of the kit IP as it was pretty good and just jazzed it up some. I am headed too the LHS today to grab some more styrene bits. I admit up front that not all of this detail is 100% accurate. I am just shooting for a good representation and feel for the cockpit. I think this should look pretty good once it is all painted and installed. I still need to add the side panels to the IP and the other side wall details and my big hurtle is the bang seat right now. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
X-Plane Fan Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Any progress lately? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 Tony, I have made a little more progress. I will post pics shortly. I have also been working on finishing up the Zoukei Mura A-1H Skyraider which had taken a short sojurn to the Shelf of Doom so I have not had so much work on this lately. To date I have built the Bang Seat and added the rails for it, added details to the main cockpit assembly and started playing with the IP assembly some more. I need to do the other side wall and detail the inside of the canopy. I also scratched some belts from lead foil and spare PE buckles (not super great but once installed they ought to look the part). I will post some pics soon. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Hi all - I am back after a long hiatus from this project. I picked this project back up for the NASA group but it fizzled when my wife and I devoted most of our spring and summer to buying, moving into and then getting settled into our first home. Thus my progress was disrupted but I am glad to be back at it now. here are a couple of pics showing where I am at with the interior now. I need to add some belts to the bang seat but otherwise I feel this is in good shape. I have never completely scratched/scrounged an interior together before. I have added details and embelished on many a project but this is my first full scratch effort. It got a big helping hand from spares box elements and it is not 100% faithful to the 1:1 scale X-1E but I think once installed it should more than look the part to all but us experty types. :)/> I am now movving on to add details to the canopy. Pics to follow soon on that front. Zach Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Nice to see ya here again! Your scratchbuilding looks just fine. When I do something from scratch, I just try to give the impression of the shape. I let the viewer use his imagination a bit, rather than show every detail, I'll glue in a lump of styrene and they'll say, wow you even got the 'Remustran and the Kadiddle!' With a little paint, it'll look outstanding! And nobody will be the wiser! Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Spitfireguy, awesome scratchbuilding!!! Hey, Pete, that's a wonderful insight. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SpitfireGuy Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 (edited) Thanks for all the compliments guys! Very encouraging; especially coming from such a talented group such as yourselves! Well thought I throw together a little update tonight. Fairly productive week at the bench despite the holidays. I did some work on scribing the fusalage panel lines using photos and the CE decal profiles as a rough guide. Been playing with my new rivet wheel too. So far I like the effect provided I don't go overboard with it. I also go the interior painted and got the PE belts on the bang seat.... I really like the way the bang seat turned out. built entirely from plastic card, strip and wire with a seat pad made from epoxy putty and left over PE belts from the spares bin. The red headrest is artistic license but i thought it would add some color to the interior and to me an ejection seat just looks right with a red headrest. Call me crazy.... :)/> Here is the IP. I used the Revell kit panel and embelished the details with scrap photo etch and wire and also cut the sides away and repsotioned them to fit the X-1E cockpit layout. The instruments are all airscale decals I love this product and use it all the time in my cocpits. It really makes the panel pop when you use them. And here are some pics of the mostly painted and assembled interior. I am really very happy with the results. My constant dry fitting as I built out the interior really paid off too because it fit like a glove. I assembled the fusalage haves moments after snapping these shots.... And to quote Porky Pig "Th...th...th...thaaats all folks! (er...for now anyway) Zach Edited December 21, 2014 by SpitfireGuy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Check Six Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Very nice cockpit/interior! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
crackerjazz Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Those airscale decals look fantastic! Agree with Check Six -- That's an awesome cockpit! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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