FOX ONE 1/144 D-21 Drone
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
One of the more fascinating stories of airborne surveillance has to be that of the Lockheed D-21 drone. Originally designed to be launched from the back of an M-21 Blackbird carrier aircraft, it eventually saw operational status from under the wings of a B-52. The program was canceled in July 1971 due to its poor success rate. Given that, of the four operational missions, one self-destructed over the Soviet Union, two sank at sea, and one crashed in China, success and the D-21 really were polar opposites. Still, the D-21 looked neat atop the M-21, and ever since it has captured the attention of modelers.
The Kit
While the D-21 has been kitted in 1/72 by several injection plastic companies, and a nice vacuform in 1/48, those who build in a smaller scale have had to go without. This has changed with this release from FOX ONE Design Studio, and we now have a nice D-21 to set atop the Arii 1/144 SR-71 kit. Molded in a light gray resin, this kit comes with several options and a useful decal sheet. The latter is not for the drone, which had no markings, but for the M-21 mothership.
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The drone comes with a one-piece main body, complete with wings, and features recessed panel lines throughout. These are nicely done, but due to the scale thickness of the wings, there are several areas where they actually cut through to the other side. Hopefully these will fill in with a coat of primer. The vertical fin is separate, as are the two nose probes. The latter are nicely cast, but it might be wiser to replace those with brass wire.
The kit comes with the option of being shrouded or not. This is handled with separate nose cones and tail cones. For the shrouded example, it's just a couple of simple cones on both the front and rear, and once smoothed in there is little else to do. For an operational example, you'll have to worry a bit about the intake leading edge and the exhaust, but these areas are cast well enough to not be much of an issue. Of course, the more colorful option is the shrouded one, so that might sway one towards that choice.
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With the drone assembled, the last part is mounting it on the M-21. This is the last part of this kit, the mounting pylon. The instructions are clear on its location, measuring back 150mm from the tip of the nose. As mentioned, the other M-21 addition in this kit are the decals, and these provide the star and bars, the fuselage US AIR FORCE, and the tail serial numbers. There isn't much else in the way of markings on either of the aircraft, so this is about all you'd need. For the M-21 and the shrouded D-21, the color scheme is natural metal with black edges. The operational D-21 is just black overall.
Conclusion
This makes for a great addition to a 1/144 collection, and given that it is a simple model kit to build up, it could be a fun project as a break from more serious endeavors. My thanks to FOX ONE for the review sample.