posted 05-16-2005 03:46 PM               

As the showpiece to my new game room, I've just ordered a mahogany desk model of the stack from Silent Thunder Models. They also feature a solo SpaceShipOne model at the same scale in X-Prize livery.

Instead of the "stock" model, however, I've ordered a custom version that should integrate some changes and improvements as outlined below. It is due "the second week of July." Silent Thunder tells me that they will make the changes I describe, so I would wait if you want a more scale model than exists presently.

When I get it, I'm having Mike Melvill (my former boss and good friend), Brian Binnie, and Burt sign it. It should be quite the heirloom!

This is what I sent the model company.

Thank you for speaking with me today. I'm looking forward to receiving my custom model from Silent Thunder Models.

I would like to have my model painted in the livery of the X Prize flights in September and October of 2004. Many very detailed photos of White Knight and SpaceShipOne as they appeared during these flights are available online, with all sponsor decals painted on both. If the detail online is insufficient, please let me know and I'll search my personal photos.

There are several details that I would like changed from the "stock" model as shown on your website. I am very proud to have been a part of this program. I plan on having this model for the rest of my life, so the inclusion of a few corrections and details would be very much appreciated.

1. The color of the thermal protective material on SpaceShipOne's nose, forward underside, and leading edge of wings and elevons is incorrect. It is painted on the model as a bright red that matches the stripes on the White Knight. In fact, the color should, in fact, be a very "dusty" grey-pink.

2. The color of the spaceship's rocket nozzle is also incorrect — in reality, the color is very similar to that of the thermal protection system, only darker.

3. The "stock" model lacks the struts that stabilize the SpaceShipOne while it is mated to WhiteKnight. The struts extend downward from near the aircraft's wing root, just forward of the trailing edge. They are not swept, but do angle outward at about 5 degrees. It attaches to the spaceship at about mid span on the wing, and are painted in a black and white striped "barber pole" fashion.

4. When retracted, the nose skid strut actually protrudes beyond the outer skin of SpaceShipOne and should not be painted the color of the surrounding thermal protection system. Similarly, the main landing gear tires of WhiteKnight do not retract fully inside of the booms and, in fact, protrude slightly.

5. The WhiteKnight features "cave art" depicting previous captive carries and launches performed during the program. These appear on the left side of her fuselage. While I understand the level of detail may be too small to paint, some representation of the "cave art" would be very nice indeed.

6. Where possible, I would like control surface, gear doors, and other panel lines to be depicted on both vehicles, including the spacecraft wing-feather hinge line at mid-chord on SpaceShipOne.

   Also of particular interest is a line depicting the removable nose cone that both the spacecraft and aircraft feature (as both share essentially the exact same cabin and nose section).

   It is also noteworthy that your "stock" model incorrectly depicts the hole for the cabin pressure plug as open during flight (visible on your stock model as a smaller window porthole). These are only open during ground servicing and taxiing — they are plugged up during flight and thus would not be visible.

7. Wing shape of the "stock" model is incorrect. This model appears to use a pure "Hershey Bar" wing with no sweep to either the leading or trailing edge — a common error. The actual aircraft features a subtle taper on the wing panel between the booms and the winglet.

I am no longer employed by Scaled Composites, and thus do not and cannot speak officially for them, Vulcan/Paul Allen Group, Mojave Aerospace, or Virgin Galactic. That being said, I have forwarded info on your models to some of my friends and associates at Scaled — I'm sure that they will place orders with your company as well, especially a properly "corrected" one.

posted 06-29-2005 10:05 AM               

I have just received some photos of the Silent Thunder model I've given my input on. It looks great! I should have it within a week or two.

I know for a fact that a couple of the guys at Scaled are ordering one of these for themselves. Here are a couple of shots:

posted 07-01-2005 10:09 AM               

Nobody has seen the Griffin models yet because they're still being built, but from seeing other Griffin aviation models, they do excellent work which is why I bought two of them.

I'm sure Burt ordered a Thunder because of the quality, but he gave Griffin the order for to build one for every employee at Scaled.

It's not a "mine is better" attitude, they're both beautiful pieces and your model is probably more accurate. The fact remains that 99%+ of the people out there have no idea and don't care about the differences in details between Thunder and Griffin.

posted 08-04-2005 10:31 AM               

Lots of pics of my model on Silent Thunder's website.

posted 08-31-2005 08:01 PM               

The ships themselve were terrific sharp looking replicas. I would be great if they could spend an extra effort to get the graphics made by a professional decal graphics shop and add them on that way rather than the hand painting.

I don't know if I got a "bad paint day" model or if the quality on them is "get what you got", but I was disapointed.

posted 03-14-2006 05:18 PM               

I was recently back at KMHV (Mojave Air and Space Port) on business, so I stopped by my old digs at Scaled Composites.

They had just purchased a handful of both the "stack" and SpaceShipOne alone from Silent Thunder. Burt Rutan is very happy with them, saying that the Silent Thunder models are the only ones to get the birds right so far.

posted 12-19-2016 11:22 AM               

It's quite a large model, at 1/48 scale, it has a 20" wingspan and it's 11" long.

As you can see from their sample photos on their website to mine, there's some major improvements such as the cockpit windows. All the little details on the engines, antennas, markings, cockpit windows... it's a beauty. Here are some pictures: