HL-10 references needed

[swimmer25k]

I'm ready to embark on the 1/48 Collect Aire HL-10 kit, but I have very little by the way of research photos.  Could anyone point me in the right direction?  I'm especially interested in cockpit and aft section pictures.  

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[crackerjazz]

Hi Chris, there are some good stuff here.   

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=54417&page=2

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-six-million-dollar-man/

http://airwingmedia.com/articles/2012/flying-flatirons-from-lifting-body-to-space-shuttle/

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/multimedia/imagegallery/HL-10/index.html#upperAccordion-set1

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal12/11601-11700/gal11628-HL-10-Picardo/00.shtm

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/HL-10/HTML/EM-0014-01.html

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/HL-10/index.html

https://www.scribd.com/document/289672885/Development-of-HL-10-Lifting-Body

 

 

 

 

I'd be interested, too, in more shots of the footwell.  It looks pretty busy and the bubble nose doesn't help to conceal it.   I picked up the Six Million Dollar Man DVD  set hoping there'd be good shots of it.  The pilot episode doesn't really reveal much but there's some nice detail with the canopy open (albeit no direct view to the instrument panel).   I'll have to check out The Deadly Replay from the second season.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aVhhNK6XLY

Edited January 3, 2017 by crackerjazz

[swimmer25k]

Thanks CJazz.  

 

The Collect Aire kit is pretty simple and actually fits pretty well.  The shortcoming is the cockpit.  Those pictures will be handy.  I read that a modified F-106 seat.  I have seats from Aires and True Details.  It sits pretty high in the kit cockpit even after the seat bottom got shaved off.  I'll figure it out.  Airscale instrument decals will be a huge assist.  

 

How is their X-24A (if you've ever seen/built it)?

 

Thanks again. 

 

Chris

[Jay Chladek]

Yes, F-106 seat for the cockpit and F-5A/T-38 main landing gear on the bottom. The nose wheel is the unique bit as I believe that is a T-39 nose gear. BTW, I believe Fantastic Plastic is working on a newer resin HL-10 in 1/48 due out sometime later this year. I wouldn't get too anal about the seat if you put that white painted sun shade on the top canopy. Now if you open the cockpit, then one might want to go the super-detail route. But I have always preferred the clean canopy closed look.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Jay Chladek

[X-Plane Fan]

The CollectAire kit HL-10 does not include the modified verticals and represents the aircraft as it was on its first glide flight. Of the four CA lifting body kits, that was the only one I never finished. Just too much work involved in getting a decent cockpit put in and correcting errors. Decals are off a bit too on that kit. The X-24A isn't a bad build, you'll have to scratchbuild the XLR11 and find better decals. The M2-F2 was decent enough but can only build into an M2-F2 and not an accurate M2-F3 without a lot of work. The X-24B is pretty bad with fit issues, panel lines that don't match, clear parts that were pretty bad and incorrect markings. That one currently ranks as the worst kit I ever finished, though the A-Model Sukhoi T-4 kit I'm currently building gives it a run for that title.

[swimmer25k]

Thanks Jay.  

 

I heard about the Fantastic Plastic kit, but seeing is believing.  

[Jay Chladek]

I know. So much resin has been vaporware of late. But I know the guy doing the master, so we shall see what happens.

 

Concerning references, the 6 Million Dollar Man episode "The Deadly Reply" is probably the best video reference for the details on the HL-10. since they dedicated an entire episode to the plane as Austin takes it up for another run.

 

X-Plane fan did point out one important feature on the jet. The plane had a set of tufts added to the leading edge of the outer tails. Cross section-wise they look like a fixed extended leading edge slat, but blended integrally into the tails. So if you do a model with the white paint on the aft fuselage, that was after the modification. If you do the HL-10, that is pre-modification and it only looked like that for one flight. Bruce Peterson had control problems at high angles of attack, which the tufts corrected by making the airflow more turbulent, giving the control surfaces more air to bite into.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Jay Chladek

[crackerjazz]

Thanks for the info, Jay.   I thought it was "The Deadly Replay" --  like a deadly rerun or something  : )    Glad to know there's good HL-10 reference within the 6MDM dvd set.    I'm not yet done going through all the episodes of the first season; somehow I want to watch everything in sequence.    It's nice to know there's something to look forward to, especially that they will have changed the opening theme when I get to it.   I cringe whenever the original "Love him if you can" intro starts playing, haha.  Somehow I don't remember seeing that intro as a kid.    

[habu2]

The 

3 hours ago, Jay Chladek said:

Concerning references, the 6 Million Dollar Man episode "The Deadly Reply" is probably the best video reference for the details on the HL-10. since they dedicated an entire episode to the plane as Austin takes it up for another run.

......

If you do the HL-10, that is pre-modification and it only looked like that for one flight. Bruce Peterson had control problems at high angles of attack, which the tufts corrected by making the airflow more turbulent, giving the control surfaces more air to bite into.

 

The "Six Million Dollar Crash" was not the HL-10. it was the M2-F2 (NASA tail # 803) on an unpowered glide flight on May 10, 1967. You are correct about Bruce Peterson being the pilot on that flight.

 

After the crash M2-F2 was rebuilt as M2-F3, still NASA #803.  HL-10 was NASA # 804.  Northrop built both the M2 & HL-10 crafts.

 

An excellent reference on the lifting body program can be found in NASA document SP-4220 The crash of M2-F2 is covered in chapter 5.

 

Edit: I mis-read your post.  The episode you mentioned does feature the HL-10.  I mistakenly thought you were referring to the crash footage shown during the intro to every 6MM episode.  My mistake.

Edited January 5, 2017 by habu2

[habu2]

searching on that episode I did find a couple of screen grabs:

 

 

[Jay Chladek]

No worries habu. :)

 

I've been studying Lifting Bodies for quite awhile, so yes I know the M2-F2 crash is what they used. But the HL-10 is also featured prominently in the 6MDM pilot as they pulled it out of storage to film the framing shots with Lee Majors, establishing that he is a test pilot.

 

Wingless Flight is one of my favorite books. I made sure to acquire a hard copy of it from NASA a few years ago when they were having a sale. I decided to get mine autographed... by a certain someone who helped shape the history of it even though he wasn't an engineer or a test pilot. He immediately recognized the lifting body on the cover of the book as the one that crashed when he saw it and signed it the way he did without any prompting from me.

 

 

 

With Sierra Nevada slated to fly their Dreamchaser as an unmanned cargo vehicle in 2019, I am considering writing a book on Lifting Body history, to coincide with the first launch. I just need to see how my first book on space stations is received when it finally goes on sale this summer. There is also the collection of 1/72 Lifting Bodies I want to finish. I have the kits I need, including the Eagles Talon M2-F2/3, HL-10 and X-24s, plus the Muroc Models X-38 and M2-F1 and a few HL-20 based resin kits (all from Ben Guenther's master) to do up as the HL-20 and Dreamchaser variants with the appropriate shape modifications. I have been working on the Eagles Talon vac kits off and on for a few years. They can't be rushed since they are no longer available and I do not want to screw them up.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Jay Chladek

[crackerjazz]

That makes me green with envy!!!