Posts: 445
From: Santa Paula, Ca,. USA
Registered: Dec 2007

posted 07-18-2013 05:39 PM               

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I'd like to kit my X-15 in 1/15th scale, this would be the regular X-15 not the A2, and I was wondering if there's enough interest out there for them, especially considering the cost.

The kit would have a fiberglass fuselage, cast urethane wings, horizontals and verticals with separate flaps and speed brakes. It would have a detailed cockpit and landing gear, along with the XLR-99 nozzle and ring. All the little details like pitot tubes and dump tubes will be either white metal or printed steel.

And like the A2, the kit would include the large decal sheets needed to cover most of the model, the areas that couldn't be covered would use the printed decals and rivets.

The kit cost would be around $1,500. I know that's very expensive as far as kits are concerned but I'd need that to cover the molding costs. I wouldn't anticipate selling more than 10 of these kits so that's the number I'm using to estimate costs.

Posts: 1169
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 07-20-2013 02:57 AM               

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I would be interested, but the price point would need to be a lot lower - as in an order of magnitude lower.

Given the seeming inevitability that 3D printing will soon revolutionize the modeling world, have you considered doing a high-resolution 3D scan and selling via Shapeways or some similar company?

Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

Posts: 191
From: Trinity, FL USA
Registered: Jan 2011

Posts: 445
From: Santa Paula, Ca,. USA
Registered: Dec 2007

posted 07-22-2013 04:02 PM               

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A kit this size runs into a couple problems as far as cost is concerned, the main one being of course the size. The molds for the wings alone would be close to $2,000. The cockpit molds are the most expensive because there's so many parts that need to be molded, $3,500 for a dozen or so molds would be a big capital investment.

I think the way to go with a model this size would be to offer the body, the wings and horizontals then offer all the other parts thru Shapeways, that way you could decide the level of detail you'd like to put on your own model and as more parts are designed, more detail could be incorporated.

Posts: 191
From: Trinity, FL USA
Registered: Jan 2011