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1/32 Scale White Knight & SpaceShipOne


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Hi guys...

This will be my first in-progress roport of my build that I've ever posted on ARC, and the topic is (well you already know :D ) about Burt Rutan's successful manned space program.

But in 1/32? Yes. But there's no plastic or resin kit for this subject in this huge scale, yet (Unicraft has the 1/72 resin kit [which in my opinion, is not good], & Revell is planning to issue a 1/48 scale kit for SS1). But there's a cardboard model for that. Dr. Emil Zarkov of ModelArt card models (He's the owner & sole card model designer) issued a downloadable kit of the tandem in 1/32 scale, priced at $18-20.

And for the proress pics...

The Cockpit/Front Fuselage Pieces:

wk001.jpg

Together w/ a 1/48 SS1 card model I built as practice for the 1/32 scale build of the same thing later :P, the interior was painted flat black to represent to dark color of the carbon composite used for the construction of the real airplane (the woven carbon fibers are noticeable from the inside of the real WK & SS1)

wk002.jpg

Co-Pilot & Flight Engineer's Seat

wk003.jpg

Pilot Seat (The side panels containing the throttle control, flap control, centerline pylon release etc. were drawn in MS paint, these items are one of the details not included in the card model kit)

wk004.jpg

The Instrument Panel (All in-sheet details, all inaccurate, were erased in MS paint & replacement details were again drawn in Paint, all based on the WK Instrument Panel). The diameter is about 1-1.5 inch :o (the SS1 cockpit will receive the same kind of detailing when I build it later :) )

wk005.jpg

Pilot seat installed

wk006.jpg

Instrument Panel Installed, this is before installation of control stick (which unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of... :) )

wk007.jpg

Rudder pedals, before front fuselage closure

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For the tail boom assembly

The Tail Boom's internal framework was actually a single piece with glued formers at each section, but it was ineffective because the skin didn't fit properly when applied (learned it after a costly mistake involving the left tail boom, & have to print another set of parts for it)

wk018.jpg

wk019.jpg

So my solution is to cut it in pieces where the elliptical formers were glued, and to my relief, it went better than expected.

wk020.jpg

The finished tail booms

Wing Assembly

wk021.jpg

The wing's internal framework is a major chore. Invloving many strips & boxes of cardboard, but the end result was a very rigid framework, with gluing points which make the wing skin a joy to stick in

wk022.jpg

The finished wing, measuring to about 3 ft

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wk023.jpg

the major pieces

wk024.jpg

Now all joined together (Very sorry for the dark pic, no adequate lighting available for this one... :) )

wk025.jpg

Left Engine (This is only the exterior, the interior details [exhaust nozzle, intake turbine, are yet to be assembled)

wk026.jpg

What I've finished so far in the past 3 weeks, next to the 1/48 scale WK/SS1 combo I built more than a year ago, & a foot ruler placed on the left wing for size reference

Comments very welcome :)

Edited by Hans
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:lol:

WOW that is big...

i think you did a wonderful job on it, my first attempt at a card model (of the HUbble space telescope) came out as a gluey mess :D

whered you get the smaller model in the last pic? and any more info on the Revell 1/48 kit?

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If Revell is doing SS1 in 48th, why not the White Knight? They've done bigger models in the past. Yeah I know, money! Maybe sooner or later someone will doa resin SS1/WK combo.

Chappie

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:wave:

WOW that is big...

i think you did a wonderful job on it, my first attempt at a card model (of the HUbble space telescope) came out as a gluey mess :D

whered you get the smaller model in the last pic? and any more info on the Revell 1/48 kit?

The 1/48 scale SS1 came from a friend of mine by the name of Ralph Currell, where in his site, he continues to churn out excellent card models for free. In fact, the SS1 that flew with Brian Binnie on flight X2 was his design! :D

His site is: www.currell.net

And for the 1/48 scale White Knight, that came from another friend, the German Physicist Jan Mueller's URL; www.cardmodels.de

As for the Revell kit, I've only heard of it at the FSM forums when I posted this in-progress there, but still, Revell haven't revealed any details for their 1/48 kit, AFAIK...

Well, my first card model was a good mess too, but I guess practice made good. It really is a great break when building plastic kits (I usually build a card model when I wait for a plastic model paint job or sub-assembly to set or cure :lol: )

Edited by Hans
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Excellent! I only wish there was a plastic model out there. It's a beautiful plane... and a little rocket :wave:

Yeah, me too sir... But if you'll buy the card kit (for $18-19) at www.card-models.com (the kit is downloadable, the designer will send you an e-mail containing the secret URL on which you can get it, after the payment is received [thru PayPal]), you can actually use it as a template to build it in styrene :D

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That's quite an interesting project. Thanks for posting your progress. It looks very good so far.

I've got to admit, this is my first time to build a card model in this size, but I'm really glad you guys like it!!! :D

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That must be so hard! I haven't seen any kits made of card before

Its pretty intimidating at first, but during assembly, it goes together like a well fitting plastic model, only the build takes a bit longer than a plastic kit, because I have to shape each and every part before gluing it...

I'll post more later, And I hope to finish the entire model (including the 1/32 scale SS1, still in the sheets) before the end of july, because a friend of mine who's an officer in our student organization requested to have the model presented in their science week exhibit

Many thanks to all of the comments!!! :D

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Well done Hans :D Do you intend to paint the model, or will you leave it as is?

I once saw a thread somewhere about a gorgeous build of a DC-9, also card based, which made me buy the same kit, along with a 1/32 B-17. Both are still in my stash...

Edited by Scalephantomphixer
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Well done Hans :D Do you intend to paint the model, or will you leave it as is?

I once saw a thread somewhere about a gorgeous build of a DC-9, also card based, which made me buy the same kit, along with a 1/32 B-17. Both are still in my stash...

Yes sir, I intend to paint it, so that I can erase those painfully visible seams, and to apply better decals :wave:

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If Revell is doing SS1 in 48th, why not the White Knight? They've done bigger models in the past. Yeah I know, money! Maybe sooner or later someone will doa resin SS1/WK combo.

Chappie

The White Knight isn't that large in 1/48, the wingspan is just about 1-1.5 ft.

The unicraft 1/72 resin kit is (from me) not that good...

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  • 1 month later...

Whew! After 4 months since this build started (because of many delays), finally, its finished!!! :lol:

So here it is!!! Scaled Composites' Tier One finally done!

First stop, White Knight :woo:

T1008.jpg

Starboard Side

T1014.jpg

Port Side

T1031.jpg

Port side, close-up to cockpit/nose

T1029.jpg

BTW, the (bond paper) decal you see just behind the Official White Knight Logo is (obviously) the symbols for the 17 successful test flights (with some minor incidents) of SpaceShipOne, from the first glide test to the final, X-Prize winning flight. I manually drew this from MS Paint. :worship:

13-3b.jpg

Here's the actual, I didn't include the 2 other artworks below, since it represents the X-37 Glide test that NASA conducted in cooperation with Scaled. :blink:

T1021.jpg

Forward side, close-up (BTW, the intake turbines aren't just printed, they're all raised detail)

T1030.jpg

Forward View (overall)

T1032.jpg

Aft View

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Individual details

T1022.jpg

SS1-WK mating pylon (the 2 anti-sway braces glued in each wing are scratchbuild, since the card kit didn't provide it... :D )

T1023.jpg

Right Main Landing Gear, similar to the left (the original card kit landing gear struts are just plain wrong, so i replaced it with an enlarged version of the mains that came from my e-copy of the 1/48 scale WK model (available from its designer, Physicist Jan Mueller, at www.cardmodels.de), which is correct, the wheels came from the 1/32 card kit though, but reduced in diameter slightly because its too large <_< )

T1024.jpg

Right Vertical Stabilizer (with camera pod, again not provided in this kit, but I got it from the SS1 model)

T1025.jpg

Camera Pod View (well, sort of...) :lol:

Before I finished the entire airplane, I pained it with gloss white, but it turned out to ba a catastrophe :crying: ! So I printed another set, but but on bond paper only, and only for the outer skin, and glued it as a second skin, and applied the markings... Fortunately, it hid away any traces of that disaster :woo: (whew!)

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Next in line is of course, SpaceShipOne! <_<

T1001.jpg

Cockpit/Nose pieces

T1002.jpg

Ballast Cabinets (Scratchbuilt)

During the X-Prize qualifying flights, the FAA was in the process of approving the law in which people will be permitted to fly in space (at their own risk), but it didn't make it on time for the flights, so, Scaled resorted to the alternative, put ballasts that have an equivalent weight of 2 adult persons (this altenative is also stated in the X-Prize Rules), but instead of putting sand bags, dummies or any heavy object, Burt Rutan decided that each and every employee of Scaled should send some object or item or memento that will symbolize them and put them inside the ballast cabinet, along with some toys and other stuff... But for this model, I put 1 stone each inside :D

T1003.jpg

SS1 Pilot seat

T1004.jpg

Seat & ballast cabinets installed

T1005.jpg

SS1 Instrument Panel, Control Stick & Rudder pedals

T1006.jpg

Now installed in the nose section

T1007.jpg

All closed up! :crying:

T1009.jpg

Dorsal View

And continuing with the rest of the fuselage;

T1011.jpg

:lol:

Edited by Hans
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T1016.jpg

All Finished! (Apologies, first, I forgot to take pictures for the tail boom assembly, and for the dark pic, again no adequate lighting... :crying: )

T1017.jpg

Another one

T1018.jpg

Next to the original 1/48 scale SS1 (this model is just an enlarged version of the 1/48 kit)

Also, I want to tell that after I finished this one, I kinda felt that the 1/48 kit just "shrunked", because it felt somewhat "smaller" everytime I hold it... :woo:

T1019.jpg

WK Attachment Points

T1020.jpg

Right Tail Boom camera pod (sorry again for the inadequate lighting & blurry pic... :lol: )

T1026.jpg

Another Shot

T1027.jpg

And Another

T1028.jpg

And Another! :D

<_<

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