SR-71

rangerj

It was at least 20 years before anyone knew that the F-117 exsisted so I would bet that the replacement for the SR-71 has been flying a long time now. 

 

Good point.  A possible replacement for the SR-71, the  so-called "Aurora", has been around since the "1990's" according to Bill Yeene who wrote a History of sorts of Groom Lake called "Secret Jets",  as well as Ben Rich of Lockheed who wrote  "Skunk Works" in 1994.

As an aside, I speculate that Bob Lazar saw an F-117 nose on and not a Flying saucer.  Take a look at the "Area 51 UFO" Model made from his description and compare to the 117. From a Nose-on perspective the silhouette is very similar. Bob Lazar's 3 gravity generators match to the 117 landing gear too.

     Nino

It was at least 20 years before anyone knew that the F-117 exsisted so I would bet that the replacement for the SR-71 has been flying a long time now. 

I recently picked up a second 1/48 kit at the AMA West Coast Convention at the swap meet for R/C stuff.  $15 and didn't have to think very long about it. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Assuming a museum would permit LIDAR scanning, that would be the best way to start an accurate set of drawings for a new kit.

As for the bulge/no bulge issue, I’ll see if I can dig up vacation photos of the AFM’s YF-12A belly.  I did take photos with the issue in mind.  And I can definitely state there was a noticeable bulge.  But all this is purely academic until a new kit is announced.  Tan Models (try googling that for laughs) indicated they were doing one in 1/48, but nothing so far.

I have the Testers 1/48 SR-71 with a full resin cockpit and wheel set. Ive seen AB cans and wheel well sets, but they are spendy. And I know the old Testers kits are going for big money now. 

BK

Satellites?

Real G

Existing museum birds are there for LIDAR scanning, including a YF-12A at the AFM, so it is possible to get good data.

BTW there was a heated debate on another board about a bulged aft belly that did or did not exist on the A-11/SR-71/YF-12A, and the “no bulge, any variant, any time, anywhere, no way, no how” camp seemed to win because they shouted the loudest.  BUT!  I personally walked under the AFM’s YF-12A and it DID have a bulge in the back, with a noticeable kink in the lower fuselage contour.  Shows how much the bully expert crowd knows.

 

Some "Battle of the" Bulge" Pics...

  Above: You really have to get closer to see the vatiation at the rear and the National Air and Space Museum was not accommodating.

 The above Pic is from the San Diego Air and Space Museum.  Wish I got a closer picture but it does appear to have a Bulge at the rear.

The above pic is an older one and I suspect it is what started the Bulge issue.

     We will never see any acurate plans from the Government of the A12, A12B, YF-12a, (YF-12c?), SR-71, SR-71A, SR-71B, SR-71C, or M-21 aircraft.  Heck, accurate external hull plans of some Nuk subs from the 50's are still secret.

     Has anyone checked any of the kits for accurate length?  The SR-71 was longer, (107' vs 101'), than the YF-12. I wonder if Revells YF-12a measures out to proper scale and if The old Testors/Italeri  SR-71 and YF-12 are on the mark.

  Nino

   I had no idea Tamyia did one in 48th, bet that would cost a pretty penny if I could find one.

    Was the Italeri a re box of the Testors or did they have their own molds?

    OOPS just re read Real G s post about Tamyia being a re box of the Italeri. Same question about the molds though.

Real G

Existing museum birds are there for LIDAR scanning, including a YF-12A at the AFM, so it is possible to get good data. BTW there was a heated debate on another board about a bulged aft belly that did or did not exist on the A-11/SR-71/YF-12A, and the “no bulge, any variant, any time, anywhere, no way, no how” camp seemed to win because they shouted the loudest.  BUT!  I personally walked under the AFM’s YF-12A and it DID have a bulge in the back, with a noticeable kink in the lower fuselage contour.  Shows how much the bully expert crowd knows. As for the SR’s replacement, I’d bet it’s alreeady flying.  So shhhhh....

First, it should be the A-12, not the A-11. Also, I have heard that the replacement is the Lockheed SR-75. anigrand has a kit out of it. I doubt it is too accurate though, as no one (that I know of) as seen/leaked images of it. It will be interesting to see what it ends up being.

Existing museum birds are there for LIDAR scanning, including a YF-12A at the AFM, so it is possible to get good data.

BTW there was a heated debate on another board about a bulged aft belly that did or did not exist on the A-11/SR-71/YF-12A, and the “no bulge, any variant, any time, anywhere, no way, no how” camp seemed to win because they shouted the loudest.  BUT!  I personally walked under the AFM’s YF-12A and it DID have a bulge in the back, with a noticeable kink in the lower fuselage contour.  Shows how much the bully expert crowd knows.

As for the SR’s replacement, I’d bet it’s alreeady flying.  So shhhhh....

Don't count on getting any more detailed information on the Blackbird any time soon. A new 1/48th kit would be nice. I wonder how long it will be before we know what replaced the SR-71? 

Tamiya’s kit is the Italeri kit, but with the addition of crew figures!  I didn’t know this until a friend told me.

Sorry guys, I never got around to writing “1/72, 1/48 & 1/32 SR-71” on Zoukei Mura’s whiteboards at hobby shows.  I intended to add doodles w/ captions in Japanese for essential features.  (I am batting 3:3 so far: Ho-229, Do-335, and as of this am Ar-234.).

Anyhoo, it is strange that one of the coolest airplanes ever has no modern tool kit.  I’d be afraid for Trumpy to do it because they have a track record of divot rivets, version feature mash-ups, and of course their signature misshaped canopy/intake/fin.

Tamiya and Italeri makes them in 1/48 scale......... Although they may no longer be in production but they're probaably still out there if you know where to find them.