a couple of interesting psuedo 1/72 aircraft finds

[aferguson]

Both of these are pretty unique subjects, not likely to be seen in 1/72 again. They are by Hot Wings, so quality isn't great but they're not bad either....with some modelling skills could be made to look better.

First up is the X-36 which was an experimental design to test highly agile fighter configurations. The real aircraft was about 18 feet long with a 10 foot span and was flown as a UAV. It was a 28% sized test model of the full sized aircraft (which was never built even though the test vehicle performed better than expected). The Hot Wings model is over scale but still quite small and to me the size is not really all that important, it's the configuration that matters.

the model: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HW12112-Hot-Win ... 463wt_1153

the real thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_X-36


Wings need to be painted white and blue trim added to the tips; remove ugly undercarriage, paint over clear canopy. Once done should produce a neat little model for the collection.


Next is the Moller Skycar, which is a sort of 'flying car' that has been under development for decades. It has seen many design variations and has never really flown successfully (other than a few wobbly tethered hovers) but is an interesting little aircraft nonetheless. Specs call for max speed of over 300 mph and ceiling of 25,000 feet.

the model: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HW12114-Hot-Win ... 584wt_1153

the real thing: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billrobin ... 92345.html

many design variations shown in that article. This is the one the model is based on:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-0 ... -thumb.jpg

Difficult to get an exact scale as i can't find the dimensions of the variant in question but from scaling from pictures the model looks to be between 1/64 and 1/72, which given the unusual subject matter is fine by me. All that really needs to be done is to remove the ugly wheels from the bottom (u/c is retractable on the real aircraft).