History

The X-15 remains the world's fastest manned aircraft 46 years after it last flew. Built to conduct research into high-mach flight, it was considered to be a stepping-stone to space flight until political considerations involving the “space race” rendered it a sideline. Regardless, the data the flights produced remained extremely valuable, and are still being used in the design of high-speed aerial vehicles.

The X-15's markings were in a constant state of evolution, and changed for nearly every flight, depending upon operational and test requirements.

First impressions

This sheet is crammed with markings sufficient to add detail to any of the X-15 aircraft during any flight. The double sided instruction page is designed to be supplemented by a much larger PDF file available for download at Hypersonic's website. The set contains one large, and one smaller decal sheet.

Sheet 1

The first and largest sheet contains most of the markings. Stencils and supplemental markings are supplied for each of the three different X-15s at any phase of their careers. Since each aircraft's particular markings changed frequently, these stencils and markings will not all be used, depending upon which aircraft and which date is chosen. The PDF instructions detail 22 different variations of the three aircraft and their markings at different stages of their testing careers. 5 different variants of the X-15A2's external tanks are also shown.

Sheet 2

This sheet is printed mostly in white, and contains stripes of various sizes, plus the yellow “rescue” markings worn in the cockpit area.

final thoughts

This is a very useful supplemental sheet, but it cannot be used on its own. It will have to be used alongside the Special Hobby kit sheet, or with Hypersonic's X-15 markings masks sold separately

Hypersonic Models products are available for purchase directly from their website

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