X-71 Super Shuttle

from "Armageddon" (1998)

Scale: 1/144
Initial Release: 2011
Medium: Resin
Kit Rarity: 3

About the Design

The X-71 is the top-secret military space shuttle featured in the 1998 mega-hit "Armageddon."  In the film, two X-71s, Freedom and Independence, launch from Cape Canaveral to transport drilling teams to the "Texas-sized" asteroid that is on an intercept course with Earth.  Larger and longer than conventional Space Shuttles, and carrying top-mounted solid-rocket boosters (SRBs), the X-71s are capable of flying beyond Earth's gravity well and into deep space.

About the Kit

Released in April 2011, the this was Fantastic Plastic Model's attempt to provide a kit far more "movie-accurate" than Revell's original 1998 X-71.  Working off dozens of photos of both the SPFX miniature and the 1/2 orbiter mockup, pattern-maker Alfred Wong created a kit that far better captures the lines, dimensions and details of the "Armageddon" super shuttle. JBOT provided decals for both the "Independence" and "Freedom."