1/72 Tamiya & 1/48 Eduard Bell X-1's

by Tony Crews

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I built both of these X-1's while stationed at Edwards AFB, California this past year.  Between the longs hours of my job, I was able to take in as much history of the extraordinary base as I could.  And being a modeler, I naturally had to do an X-1 while at Edwards.  The 1/72nd scale is the Tamiya kit and the 1/48th scale is Eduard's (without photo etched & resin parts.)  The latter kit was built at the request of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot Commandant to be displayed at the Test Pilot School, which was a great honor.

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Both kits were built straight from the box, with the addition of broomstick handles whittled down from the ends of round toothpicks (gotta keep the historical accuracy.)  Both kits' interior was sprayed with Testors' Zinc Green Chromate and lightly weathered with pastels and some dry brushing.  The Tamiya kit's fuselage was masked off carefully using painter's masking tape to allow as much of the interior to be as visible as possible without showing the seam lines from joining the fuselage halves.  I used a liquid masking agent to ensure that the tape was tightly sealed to the model, as a bit of paint on the clear portion would have been disastrous.  I used Testors' Gloss International Orange as the base coat and apply the decals to the dried exterior 48 hours later.  I lightly weathered both aircraft using a very sharp #2 pencil on all panel lines and a very light mixture of tan & brown pastels, applied with a closely trimmed brush.  As you can see, I VERY lightly weathered the aircraft as they were both to be display pieces.  After allowing the desert air to dry out the decals overnight, I applied Testors' Dullcote to give the gloss the toned-down sun baked look that everything gets in the Mojave Desert. 

The Eduard kit is definitely one of the most detailed and extremely pleasant to build.  I had no problems whatsoever with construction and the decal sheet provides extras that you normally only find in after-market sets.  So if you're going to do an X-1, I highly recommend the Eduard kit for the greatest accuracy and superb markings.  As you can see from the picture above, I was paid the highest compliment a modeler can receive before the Eduard kit took it's place in the display case at the Test Pilot School.  The other is in a glass case in my modeling room as my most prized kit, complete with Brigadier General Yeager's signature.

Tony

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Photos and text © by Tony Crews