Cutting Edge Pegasus XL
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KIT # |
CELO44002 |
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PRICE: |
$17.99 |
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DECALS: |
No |
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REVIEWER: |
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NOTES: |
Resin |
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HISTORY |
Orbital Sciences Corporation, (OSC), developed the Pegasus launch vehicle to provide their customers the lowest cost per pound to place a 1,000 LB payload into low Earth orbit. The Pegasus launch vehicle consists of three solid rocket motor stages with a wing and fins for lift and attitude control of the first stage and gimbaled rocket nozzles on the second and third stages. The vehicle is carried aloft horizontally and dropped from a carrier aircraft at approximately 40,000 ft and .8 Mach. Upon motor ignition, the vehicle accelerates to a velocity of 8,300 fps (8.3 Mach) and performs a 2.5 g positive pull up to the correct trajectory angle. The 2nd and 3rd stages are then fired sequentially to place the payload into orbit.
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THE KIT |
The kit, produced by Cutting Edge Modelworks, consists of 7 very
nicely cast resin parts and a single page instruction sheet. No decals are
provided. The kit cost $17.99 from Meteor Productions.
Accuracy of the kit is good, although some panel lines were omitted from the
foreword parts of the rocket, and there is no engine detail. The wing shape is
good as is the wing boot. The only problem I found with the kit are the tail
fins. They all appear to have been carved individually and none exactly match
the others and the surface texture of the fins is a bit rough. All of the parts
are still attached to their pour lugs, which with the aid of a razor saw, are
easy to remove.
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CONSTRUCTION |
Assembly was fairly straightforward. The parts were removed from the pour lugs
and sanded. the rough textures on the tail fins were sanded and some fine cuts
with the x-acto brought each fin closer in appearance to each other. I drilled
out the engine with a countersink bit, then used a 1/8" bit to make the hole for
the mounting wire. The fuselage was then temporarily glued to a wood dowel to
make construction and painting easier.
The wing was attached to the fuselage with superglue. The lower surface of the
wing fits very nicely to the wing boot, but the top of the wing requires putty
to get all of the angles to conform properly. Bondo glazing putty was used for
this to very good effect.
After the wing putty had dried, the tail fin locations were measured and marked
with a pencil, the tail fins were then securely glued in place.
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PAINTING & DISPLAY |
The model is painted in flat white Gunze Sangyo acrylic paint. An airbrush is
used to apply the paint in three light coats, with
the final coat being "wet"
with 60% isopropyl alcohol. This final wet coat creates a very smooth surface
finish as opposed to the grainy appearance flat paints tend to leave. The only
surface detailing are finely scribed lines around the circumference at each
stage or connector section. These were drawn with a .003 black pen, with two of
the rings hand painted with chrome silver. Bare Metal Foil is used for the
silver panel on top of the wing.
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CONCLUSIONS |
I spent a total of 12 hours
building and painting this kit, with most of the time going into carefully
puttying the wing boot and painting the model. I am very satisfied with this kit
overall, but it would be nice to have some decals. My local hobby shop did not
have an L-1011 kit in stock, so a test fit of the pylon was not possible. The
rocket fits quite nicely into the pylon and I don't imagine the modeler will
have any trouble with attaching it to the aircraft.
I purchased a second kit for a future conversion to the Pegasus/X-43
combination, I'm looking foreword to that!
Accuracy: 7 Good overall, but missing some small surface
details.
Fit: 9 very few parts.
Ease: 9 practically falls together.
Instructions: 7 text only.
Decals: none
Overall: A very good stand-alone kit or add-on to add to your Lockeed L-1011
Vince Hoffman If you would like your product reviewed fairly and
fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to
Contributors.