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1/48 Collect-Aire X-20 DynaSoar kit review


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Today the postman brought me the 1/48 scale Collect-Aire X-20 DynaSoar. This is a rare and elusive kit that I've been trying to get my hands on for several years, and now I finally have it! I'm very tempted to halt all of my current projects and immediately start building it, but instead I will for now do a brief review of the kit now that I'm seeing it close-up for the first time.

 

The box is dated 1990, but looks a lot newer. Everything is in fantastic shape, as if it was made just yesterday. The sales slip inside is dated 2007, so I'm guessing this is one of the later re-issues.

 

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The decal sheet appears to be in great shape.

 

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Here are all the parts you get. Five resin parts, an optional clear vacu-formed canopy, and a bunch of metal pieces.

 

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The DynaSoar is one big solid block of resin. I'm guessing it weighs about 5 pounds! I doubt the kit landing skids alone will be enough to hold this thing up. I'll probably have to consider using some type of clear support beam underneath when it comes time to display this thing.

 

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The resin parts include the rear bulkhead, instrument panel, canopy, and heat shield. There is an optional clear vacu-formed canopy, but you'd have to cut a hole in the top if you wanted to show the hatch open. That might be the way to go, seeing as how the hatch in the resin canopy is too narrow and would need to be widened.

 

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The metal parts are for the landing skids, doors, hatch and ejection seat. There's also a tall, skinny pilot figure who looks like he is about 7' 2" and could play in the NBA. The shapes of the rear doors are inaccurate, the the forward door is completely wrong. These will have to be re-done with styrene sheet.

 

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The shape of the bird is very, very close!

 

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The length and overall profile of the vehicle is correct. The vertical fins will have to be sanded to shape, as they're a bit too rounded off. There's plenty of flash to clean up, and there are panel lines that are incomplete or missing (mostly on the nose, flaps and fins).


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The bottom of the X-20 has plenty of pin holes that will need to be filled. The pattern of panel lines is totally incorrect, but probably not worth the effort to rescribe since the bottom will not be visible when displayed. The rear landing skid bays are too wide, and the forward compartment is the wrong shape entirely.

 

Despite its flaws, this is still an awesome kit! One that I'm sure will be a lot of fun to build.

Edited by Hotdog
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Thanks for posting the review! I have one of these in my stash but it has been years since I looked in the box. I forgot how cool it is! I built the Collect-Aire 1/72 X-20 but that is no where near as detailed as this version.

Have fun modeling!

Mike

:cheers:

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It's not coming along LOL. It's going in my stash until I can finish the 5 other builds I have in progress first :)

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  • 4 months later...

Hello all,

I've been lurking for a while. Looks like a nice place.

 

I bought this kit from Collect-Aire back in the late '80s. Probably 1989. Your kit looks identical to mine, even the packaging of the metal landing struts.

Yours looks to have more pin holes than mine did.

 

I finally built it about 4 years ago. The rear bulkhead and the resin cockpit top fit require some work, otherwise it goes together well. The landing gear is strong 

enough to hold the finished model. I know it does not seem it , but it works well. The cockpit detail is ok, I had to add the translation controller and a few other thing. Once it's all together it's mostly hidden, even with the top hatch open. 

Overall it builds into a very nice looking X-20.

 

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