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Sharkit 1/72 Rockwell-MBB X-31


hsr

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This is my Sharkit 1/72 X-31. The X-31 was a joint venture of Rockwell International and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm and was designed to test; vectored thrust using 2 carbon-carbon composite paddles, flight at high angles of attack, and post stall maneuverability.  For more information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell-MBB_X-31.

 

This was my first Sharkit kit. It was all resin with a vacuform canopy. I would rank the resin as on par with Anigrand although I spent a bit more time in "pinhole hell" then I am used to. I know that many of you love vac canopies but, I hate them and this one exemplified all that I dislike about them. There were actually 2 canopies included but they were not 2 copies of the same one. One seems to be for having the canopy closed and the other for the canopy opened. The one for canopy closed did not have the frame included since it was molded into the fuselages, while the canopy open included the framing so it would have required major surgery to the fuselage to remove the moulded in frame. None of this was specified in the instructions so I am guessing. In both cases there were no, or poor, indications of where to cut or panel lines. The parts list on the instructions included something called "canopy resin help" but I couldn't find it. Since I usually do canopies closed I first cut out that version. Without any indication of where to cut this added to the usual difficulty of cutting out vac canopies. What I ended up with was a little too small. Next I tried the canopy open version and that came out too large. After hours of trying to trim it down one  and trying to stretch the other I finally ended up with a passable fit. But there was a very ugly seam. So more hours were spent trying to blend that in. This resulted in clouding the canopy and at one point blowing completely through it. At that point I considered trashing it and waiting for the promised Modelvit version to come out.  But I soldered on and came up with what you see below.

 

The decals appeared to be printed on a medium resolution inkjet printer and for the most part held up well but there were a couple spots where the color rubbed off and needed touch up.

 

So, here it is.

 

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Next up will be the Italeri HO4S-3 that I will be building as one of the first ASW helicopters 

 

Enjoy.

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I fancied getting this for display alongside the EAP, as they are very alike in shape, but the price put me off more than anything.

Seeing your sterling work on fighting this beast, it really looks the part.

I think I might wait to see if Modelsvit do it though.

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1 minute ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

Your willingness to work with dodgy kits, not to mention your build rate, are inspirational.

Being retired helps :)

 

Thanks

 

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Very nice seeing one build after all! You're a brave man. That took quite something!

As for the canopy, I would have tried a different approach, namely taking one from a Hornet kit?! I'm pretty sure Rockwell took an off shelf solution for it. It looks very similar to me.

 

However. Congrats to your build. It turned out very well.

 

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You have a good eye. I just checked it against my Academy Hornet and they are very close. I'll have to remember that when the Modelsvit one comes out if they use a vac canopy

 

Thanks

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  • 3 months later...

Antonio

Ho trovato il mio su eBay. È elencato nella pagina web Sharkit https://www.sharkit.com/sharkit/X-31/X-31.htm per EURO54. Ho mandato un'email a Renaud a [email protected] e mi ha detto che aveva intenzione di rimetterlo presto in produzione. Potresti provare a inviarlo via email tu stesso. Altro che guardarlo su eBay.

Grazie

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You made it the hard way! Brave man!

Modelsvit will be a much easier and better kit.

I made a date with the big girl some years ago, a whole afternoon in Oberschleissheim Museum. Cockpit and canopy ist genuine F-18A.

Cheers,

Tom

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I am sure the Modelsvit kit will be better, but it has bee almost 2 years since they hinted at it so it may be a while.

 

Thanks

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