North American X-15 Delta-Wing Concept (1965)

Scale: 1/48
Initial Release: 2003
Medium: Resin
Kit Rarity: 4

About the Design

By the mid-1960s, tests with the original X-15 rocket plane had "pushed the envelope" of hypersonic flight about as far as American engineering could go. Now it was time to go further. To deal with the shockwave problems created by conventional wings at speeds of Mach 5 and beyond, engineers proposed equipping the X-15 with slim delta wings in place of its normal wing-and-tail structure.  However, the successes of NASA's manned spaceflight program combined with the crash of the X-15-3 in November 1967 scuttled the X-15 program, and the delta-version was never built.

About the Kit

This simple but nonetheless handsome large-scale resin kit was produced in 2003 by Action Hobbies, an East Coast garage kit manufacturer. The kit consisted of a single solid resin body, two wings, two wing vanes, and upper and lower tails. The kit came sans decals.

This model is an original issue with custom decals.