Mach 2 Ryan X-13 Vertijet 1/72

[hsr]

Here is my build of the Mach 2 Ryan X-13 Vertijet. The X-13 was an attempt to build a VTOL tail sitting jet. It didn't actually sit on its tail like the XFV-1 and XFY-1 but hung from a cable on a specially built cart that would lift it to a vertical position for take off. It would then hook the cable for "landing".

 

The kit consisted of the aircraft and the cart. The cart was the biggest part of the build and had the most parts.  This is my 8th Mach 2 kit and I have to say it is one of, if not the, worst one. The main issue, other then the usual Mach 2 issues is that the 2 halves of the molds didn't line up. That meant that the top half and the bottom half of all the part were offset from each other. This in tern meant that and small or round parts were useless and had to be replaced with various styrene and brass rods. The cart suffered the most from the misaligned mold halves. There was also something wrong with the wing which was divided top and bottom, not right and left. If I lined up the center line of the wing with the center line of the fuselage then the trailing edge was crooked, if I made the trailing edge straight then either the front of the rear didn't line up with the fuselage. I went with lining up the center lines and tried to sand the trailing edge straight with less then satisfactory results. The decals were pretty good except for the stars and bars. The blue seemed a bit light to me, but more important the blue also was allergic to MicroSol and just wrinkled. Luckily being generic I was able to replace them from the spares pile. The black decals did not have this problem. The "clear" canopy was translucent at best to I did not spend a lot of time on the cockpit.

 

But enough grousing and on to the pictures. First the aircraft itself. 

 

 

Now the aircraft on the cart.

 

 

The next Mach 2 kit I have is their X-5 and I checked that one and it doesn't look like it has the same issue with the misaligned molds. But first the next up is the Hasegawa P2V-7.

 

Enjoy 

[Mark Joyce]

Saying it might be the worst Mach 2 kit you've built says a lot!  You definitely deserve an award for perseverance.  The final result looks great, though, and the cart is especially well done.  I don't know if it's the photographs but that kit looks pretty tiny.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[hsr]

The aircraft itself is just 4 inched (10 cm) long so it is pretty small.

 

Thanks

 

[replicant]

18 hours ago, hsr said:

I have to say it is one of, if not the, worst one.

You are so right, i needed 100 hrs (w/o trailer) for mine, so much pain per Millimeter

Cheers,

Tom

[kapam]

Your perseverance on such a difficult kit deserves a bravery medal!

You got quite a nice result, considering all the issues that came with the plastic.

 

[Harold55]

Excellent job and as a reward you get a Hasegawa.  That is the only way I can finish the occasional awful model I tackle, I promise myself a Tamiya or Hasegawa next up on the work bench.  But seriously the model does look great and particularly so as it has a NMF.

[Eric Mc]

Great result. Anyone who tackles and finishes a Mach 2 kit deserves praise.

 

I was rummaging in my stash yesterday and discovered I have a 1/72 resin kit of this aircraft. I might give it a go.

 

[hsr]

3 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

 

I was rummaging in my stash yesterday and discovered I have a 1/72 resin kit of this aircraft.

Who make the kit?

[Eric Mc]

10 hours ago, hsr said:

Who make the kit?

Good question. I'll have to go up into the loft again to check.

[FZ6]

I have one of these to build so it was interesting to see what it comes out like. Thanks for sharing.

 

Mark