X-15 coming soon

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No particular holdup, just more of a general one. It's a busy time of year, and by releasing these for our advanced construction videos it frees up a decent bit of Tim's (and our teams) time to handle some more pressing things that occur during this season.

That said, I get where you are coming from. I've put this on the docket for our next marketing meeting, I'll argue the case, and we will see where the chips land.

Hoping the Part # 11 Video: Put on the epoxy fin fillets. Also put a fillet along the edge of the plastic fairings to smooth out the joint. (7 min 20 sec) would be uploaded soon! Great job with this kit Apogee!

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Hoping the Part # 11 Video: Put on the epoxy fin fillets. Also put a fillet along the edge of the plastic fairings to smooth out the joint. (7 min 20 sec) would be uploaded soon! Great job with this kit Apogee!

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Nice work. I like that the kit comes with all the neat tools to assure that everything lines up and a rocket stand too! IDK what you call them technically but the card board stabilizers? I guess? They really give it a scale look.
 
Nice work. I like that the kit comes with all the neat tools to assure that everything lines up and a rocket stand too! IDK what you call them technically but the card board stabilizers? I guess? They really give it a scale look.

I agree there great for a work stand and getting the fin alignment correct. I've really enjoyed this build being a huge X-15 fan.

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I agree there great for a work stand and getting the fin alignment correct. I've really enjoyed this build being a huge X-15 fan.

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Nice work! What's great is there's really no special type of tools to use. If you have wood glue and a hobby knife that's about all you need, well sand paper but you know what I mean?
 
I agree that makes the build very enjoyable. Apogee spent some time getting all the details correct imo. The instructions are great and video tutorials help a great deal when you get to the vacuum form fairings steps.

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Apparently he emailed us about this a while back, in which case I am sure it has been taken care of for newer kits. In the event it hasn't, I've passed this on to the powers that be.
 
I just checked the online download of the instructions is still incorrect on both counts, he might want to fix that as well. I don't think he caught the upside down arrow marking yet.

Apparently he emailed us about this a while back, in which case I am sure it has been taken care of for newer kits. In the event it hasn't, I've passed this on to the powers that be.
 
Great, there should also be a star/bar on each side of the top rear fuselage, the drawing in the download just shows one on the left, not sure how many are included in the decal set though....if there are four that will work.


Just talked to our artist. He is fixing it now, and the corrected version will be up today
 
Great, there should also be a star/bar on each side of the top rear fuselage, the drawing in the download just shows one on the left, not sure how many are included in the decal set though....if there are four that will work.

There are three stars/bars, so I guess the sheet is short one.
Also I seem to be missing the NASA meatballs.
I pre-ordered my kit, so I believe it is from the initial production run.
Apogee components, any chance we can get corrected decal sheets?
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There are three stars/bars, so I guess the sheet is short one.
Also I seem to be missing the NASA meatballs.
I pre-ordered my kit, so I believe it is from the initial production run.
Apogee components, any chance we can get corrected decal sheets?
View attachment 444598

I will get an answer for you here, and I imagine I'll be able to let you know early next week. (We are on short time going into the holiday tomorrow).

Know that if we do, it will be awhile. Because these decals are to be applied on black, we had to order them out of house, and that took quite a while (it was the reason we didn't announce the release date till the last minute, as we were waiting on the shipment).

Regardless, I'll find out, and I'll get back to you on that as soon as I can.
 
Whether or not you have the meatball depends if you're modeling before or after flight typically after flight the meatball was mostly burned off and that's the way it's shown in several post flight pictures as well as the one that's hanging in the air and space museum with just the yellow arrow and ball...

There are three stars/bars, so I guess the sheet is short one.
Also I seem to be missing the NASA meatballs.
I pre-ordered my kit, so I believe it is from the initial production run.
Apogee components, any chance we can get corrected decal sheets?
View attachment 444598
 
Most of our scale dimensions and photos came from the one hanging in the Air and Space museum, where there doesn't appear to be a meatball. I'm unclear as to whether or not Tim would like to change that going forward to include the meatball, but as of now none of our kits have included that. I'll have these answers soon.
 
Round three on the X-15 today. 😳
 

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The final step is to add the "clear matte protection coat" as I like the water slide decals time to adhere properly. Built to 100% Apogee Components spec's with the addition of a #220 Parachute Swivel and custom quick release attachment retainer.

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Most of our scale dimensions and photos came from the one hanging in the Air and Space museum, where there doesn't appear to be a meatball. I'm unclear as to whether or not Tim would like to change that going forward to include the meatball, but as of now none of our kits have included that. I'll have these answers soon.
does that meatball come with pasta? I like a lot of sauce on the meatballs
 
Parts 11 and 12 of the X15 assembly videos are up now.
Part 11 covers laying down the epoxy fillets.
Part 12 covers gluing the upper and lower stabs and the launch lugs.

Just watched the two new videos. Part 12 is straightforward. I've actually been waiting to do the fillets on the wings and fairings to see how Tim did it. I was surprised to see him using a piping bag. What do you guys think about that technique? I'm kind of liking it. Having practiced with Rocketpoxy on my DBRM, I think it will work great with this. I don't know how Tim mixed it up, but I wonder if I could even put the two parts in the bag and just use that to mix it, rather in a bowl or paper plate. It would save a messy step.

Curious to hear what others think.
 
I use a small disposable paper or plastic cup and a disposable syringe. Mix the two parts in the cup with a half of a popsicle stick. Put a piece of tape over the syringe tip and transfer the epoxy in. Put in the plunger and invert the syringe so the epoxy flows towards the plunger end and the air flows towards the tip. Remove the tape and press the plunger evacuating the air until the glue is at the tip, then do your fillets. I'm not sure that you can adequately mix the two parts by kneading it in a piping bag. I like to really mix them up with the stick in a cup.
In theory with gloves there should be no mess that you cannot just toss into the trash can. But somehow I still wind up with epoxy on my hands.
Laters.
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