1/72 Soviet Parasite Fighter (1/72 Hobbycraft Bell X-1)

[Jay Chladek]

Here's a quickie project I started Monday and finished on Friday. By coincidence, Saturday was Chuck Yeager's birthday. So this is a bit of a modeling tribute to him. This is the Hobbycraft Canada 1/72 Bell X-1 done up as the Soviet Parasite Fighter seen in the John Wayne. Janet Leigh movie "Jet Pilot". For the film, the X-1 was painted in this different color scheme (white wing and all) and Chuck Yeager flew the bird in May 1950 for the flying sequences. It was the last free flight of the Bell X-1 before it was sent off to the Smithsonian. Originally produced by Howard Hughes' RKO pictures, the movie didn't get released until 1958 by Universal Pictures. Howard's quirks of liking to micro manage and tinker are likely factors in why it took so long for it to come out. But the flying footage captured for the film is outstanding.

 

In terms of kits, the Hobbycraft kit builds into a passable Bell X-1, but there are a lot of little errors in the general shapes. And despite it being the same scale, it is NOT a copy of the Tamiya kit (which is the best 1/72 X-1 on the market). Some elements look like they were inspired by the Revell 1/32 kit. I corrected a couple of the shape issues (mainly the tail and the orientation of the engine exhaust), but otherwise this is done more or less box stock. If I were doing a USAF marked Bell X-1 I would have probably corrected more stuff (such as the dorsal and ventral spines which are too flat), but this being an "X-1ski" I felt a few differences were fine since it was a "Soviet copy" of course.

 

Main color used was Tamiya TS-12 spray and airbrushed Tamiya acrylic XF-2 white (shot over Tamiya Fine White primer). It is a quickie build with flaws, but I can live with them and hope I don't have to mask and paint an X-1 framed windscreen that tiny again for awhile. 😉

Edited February 14, 2021 by Jay Chladek

[ColonelKrypton]

Nicely done, one of my favourite movies.

 

cheers, Graham