Lifting Bodies Part 2: Anigrand HL-10 1/72

[hsr]

This is the second in a series of NASA lifting bodies. The first was my X-24A that I posted a few weeks ago. This is an Anigrand kit and while I see a lot of complaints about pin holes, and short shots with Anigrand kits, this one must have been cast on one of there good days. With the exception of the "transparencies" all the parts were clean and crisply molded with no pin holes or voids and the fit was very good. The exceptions were the "clear" parts that were translucent at best and in the case of the main canopy was way too small for the opening, but nothing some super glue, styrene strips, sanding and polishing couldn't fix. The decals were OK being a bit thick and stiff. Paint was Alclad II Aluminum. This was a very quick build taking less then a week to complete. On to the the pictures;

 

Note that this was designed to fly at a high angle of attack, imagine the pitot tube horizontal and the pilot spent most of his time looking between his legs out the front glazing.

 

More information about HL-10 can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_HL-10

 

[invidia]

Nice looking build. Odd looking plane!!

[Eric Mc]

Excellent.

 

The lifting body programme was an intriguing affair and could have led to hybrid blunt body/aerodynamically controlled re-entry vehicles - but it never happened. At the moment there are a number pf paper projects out there that could result in a lifting body orbital spacecraft so the concept is by no means dead.

[hairystick]

A nice little kit there.

 

I've always wondered what became of the outcomes of this programme. I wrote to JPL in the 70's to get some photos (NASA's suggestion. They were very nice with PR stuff back then) but JPL flatly refused.

My suspicion is that the research became embedded into part of the F-15 and F-16 family, in some small way*.

 

 

 

 

Edit: 

* As in the flow around objects and shapes, rather than the entire craft.

If you take the wings off of the fuselage and still attempt to fly, some success is possible (Israeli F-15, also an aggressor F-18 after collision). The lift generated by a Tomcat is very interesting...

Edited August 5, 2017 by hairystick

[Meatbox8]

A really nice build and a beautifully smooth finish.  The lifting body programme is fascinating.  I was always under the impression, wrongly it seems, that some of the data gathered went in to the Space Shuttle development.  For me it will always remind me of the 6 Million Dollar Man.   

[Eric Mc]

No - the lifting body programme most certainly did have a major part to play in the  Space Shuttle programme. The last lifting body - the Martin X-24 was rebodied to emulate closer the behaviour of the eventual Space Shuttle design. In this guise it was known as the X-24B

 

However, there were alternatives to the lifting body concept. One was the "Short Stubby Wing" concept (favoured by NASA and Mx Faget in particular) and the larger delta winged version, favoured by the USAF because of its better gliding properties.  Because of these preferences by the two most important parties to the design, the lifting body idea was pushed into the background. As we all know, the large delta wing concept was what they went with in the end - with all the consequences that entailed in respect of heat protection etc.

 

The Russians also toyed with a lifting body and actually flew one into orbit in 1982 - and recovered it in an Indian Ocean splashdown. A lifting body based on the shape of the original X-24 was put into orbit by the Americans.

[malpaso]

Thant's a lovely model.  It reminds me of the Six-Million Dollar Man TV show we watched every week.  Although the crash sequence is of a different lifting body, that sure looks like the HL-10 attached to the B-52 while Steve Austin is pre-flighting!

 

[hsr]

The launch sequence is of the HL-10, but the the crash sequence was of the M2-F2, which I am building next. I guess they dcouldn't get films of the launch of the M2-F2. The pilot of that crash survived with "only" the loose of an eye due to infection. A really good source of information on these is Wingless Flight by R. Dale Reed https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0813190266/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

Edited August 4, 2017 by hsr

[Meatbox8]

8 hours ago, malpaso said:

Thant's a lovely model.  It reminds me of the Six-Million Dollar Man TV show we watched every week.  Although the crash sequence is of a different lifting body, that sure looks like the HL-10 attached to the B-52 while Steve Austin is pre-flighting!

 

Hahaah!  Nice one.  I remember even at the time, when I were just a lad, that the opening titles were the most exciting part of the programme.

[Meatbox8]

9 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

No - the lifting body programme most certainly did have a major part to play in the  Space Shuttle programme. The last lifting body - the Martin X-24 was rebodied to emulate closer the behaviour of the eventual Space Shuttle design. In this guise it was known as the X-24B

 

However, there were alternatives to the lifting body concept. One was the "Short Stubby Wing" concept (favoured by NASA and Mx Faget in particular) and the larger delta winged version, favoured by the USAF because of its better gliding properties.  Because of these preferences by the two most important parties to the design, the lifting body idea was pushed into the background. As we all know, the large delta wing concept was what they went with in the end - with all the consequences that entailed in respect of heat protection etc.

 

The Russians also toyed with a lifting body and actually flew one into orbit in 1982 - and recovered it in an Indian Ocean splashdown. A lifting body based on the shape of the original X-24 was put into orbit by the Americans.

Thangoo for the info.  I shall read up on the issue.  A fascinating area.

[Eric Mc]

It's a very interesting sideline to aviation and space history. We may see a lifting body spacecraft yet. 

One big advantage these days is that a digital fly by wire control system would go a long way to sorting out the inherent bad flying characteristics that the original lifting bodies possessed.