In the beginning of stealth, some thought the key was to schmear the radar return across all azimuths evenly in hopes of making a smaller return in any one direction. This leads one to thinking about saucers! Which is exactly what Lincoln Labs scientists discovered during Project RAINBOW when they literally measured the RCS of an upside down tea saucer.
This got me thinking about taking that initial Lincoln Labs experiment and turning it into a jet. An additional modeling objective being to explore a smooth curved shape for trial a slightly different assembly scheme. Thus Discus was born! A hypothetical twin engine single seat stealth X-plane maybe from the earliest days of stealth. Would it fly for real???? Doubt it! But who cares! With a smooth high gloss metallic finish it provides some wild visual illusions on my display case and tickles my little airplane dweeb heart.
This model is roughly a 1/72 scale airplane, 5.5” long, designed around a posable Hogwerks 1” pilot figure and/or other 1” posable figures like from the Jazwares Micro Galaxy line. Discus also features a movable canopy as well as swappable landing gear. To complete you will need: 1> A resin printer, try FDM at your risk 2> CA glue 3> 1mm x 1mm magnets 4> 0.52mm steel piano wire 5> For a clear canopy and sensor window: clear resin + high gloss quick shine floor finish or other high gloss clear coat; the more it can self-level the clearer the finish can be! 6> I recommend wet sanding for all resin printing, less dust and can get real smooth finishes! 7> Misc small modeling hand tools such as xacto knife, sprue cutters, pin drill (hand or powered) 8> Lack of friends 9> A proclivity for airplanes, really an obsession. Probably an obsession for airplanes that encourages your loved ones to wonder if you should be diagnosed with autism, or really already have said neuro divergent tendencies towards flying machines. Aren’t airplanes cool? Seriously. Probably the coolest. You should stop reading this now and just start building one of these! Maybe even 2!