Dragon 1/144 X-15 Build Update 6 (Final)

When I started this project back at the beginning of December I really didn’t think it would be the beginning of March before I finished it.  I had some distractions along the way that caused some of the delay and then life stepped in there for a while.  For example, I had to delay putting on the decals for a couple of weeks when it got so cold that the humidity inside the house dropped to 12%.  At that level, my decal setting solutions evaporated before I could get the decal on the model. But eventually the weather changed and I could complete the project.

Here they are with their topside decals placed.  At this point I still needed to apply Solvaset a couple more times to get some of them to really settle down into the details.  No clear coat done yet, just decals.  There are a few small decals that will go on the underside.

After putting on all the decals I let them set for a day, and spent the time on the base for the pair.  It is just a round wooden base that I picked up from Hobby Lobby.  It needed quite a bit of sanding, then primer and then some more sanding.  Once that was finished I added the rods that will hold the models in place and then sprayed on some Dupli-color gloss black.  After giving that a day to dry I put on the X-15 project decal and then two other decals that list the specific plane and mission being depicted.  Once those were dry I then gave the base a coat of Tamiya Clear Gloss to protect the decals from the Tamiya Dull Coat that was to go on next.

I then placed the models on the base.  There is a short rod that keeps X-15-1 from slipping off the base.  The angled rod is for the X-15-3 which I’m displaying in flight.  Here are a couple of shots of the planes on the stand.

Here are some closeups of the planes showing some of the small decals.

The end result looks pretty good and it will take it’s place with my other 1/144 scale manned space vehicles.  The decals took much longer to create since I kept finding more markings than I originally thought were on the planes.  Plus, I had to redo them a couple of times to get the sizes about right for the model.  I’m not sure how much longer my ALPS printer is going to last as the last set of decals I printed gave me a few problems.  As long as it holds out I’ll keep making custom decals when I need them.

I don’t know what the next project will be yet, I guess I need to go through the stash and find something that strikes me.

Thanks for looking.