Multiple Virgin Flights

Or... How much can we plaster our name over these two craft?

Can you guess how many times the name “Virgin” appears on this model (and of course the real thing that the model represents)? Answer at the end of this column.

I’m a huge fan of aviation (I once owned and flew my own Piper Cherokee some 30 years ago now), as many of you no doubt guessed, as well as visual effects modelmaking as well as sci-fi movies and TV shows. I am also a fan of a fellow named Burt Rutan, who is a kind of modern version of the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh combined into one accomplished aviation designer and innovator. As far as I know, this model is the only kit ever made available of one of his achievements. He’s a true modern aeronautical genius whose main focus was on making aircraft as efficient as possible as well as doing all he could to advance aviation design beyond the norm.

This is a diminutive model built from the 1/144th scale Revell kit of the White Knight Two (WK2) with a mere 11-5/8” wingspan (WK2) and its underslung spacecraft “Space Ship Two” (SS2). To sum it up, these two craft, funded by the multinational conglomerate “Virgin” who dabbles in everything from dumbphone service to airlines, were designed to launch a crew of two plus six paying passengers into space for a few minutes of weightless sub orbital experience or a mere $250,000 per passenger. The WK2 would carry the SS2 to a predetermined altitude and drop it the way experimental aircraft from the 1940s through 60s like the X-1 and the X-15 rocket planes and then the SS2 would fire its rocket motor, head straight up and emerge into actual outer space where the sky turns black even at high noon. There, the craft’s passengers would experience, for just a few minutes, what it’s really like to travel into space. They experience a sub orbital view of the Earth and complete freefall (colloquially known as weightlessness) and then return to earth. Using a unique “feather” technique, whereby the ship would fold itself in half to become stable during re-entry without heat buildup, floating down like a leaf falling from a tree. Then once in the atmosphere, it would reconfigure itself into a glider to land at its base.

Interested in learning more about this program and how it works? The experimental father of this design and how it was invented is covered in great detail in a fantastic 1.5hr documentary called “Black Sky: The Race for Space” which can be viewed on You Tube (at the time of this writing). I highly recommend it as it’s one of the best aviation documentaries I’ve ever seen. Very emotional and dramatic while being 100% factual.

Unfortunately, due to pilot error, this particular SS2, dubbed “VSS Enterprise”, was destroyed during a test when the “feather” mechanism was prematurely deployed while under rocket power at supersonic speeds. Of the crew, the copilot who prematurely deployed the feather was killed and the pilot-in-command was injured when he managed to escape by parachute. A second SS2 was also built, dubbed “VSS Unity” which never flew beyond glide tests and was retired as the entire project was later cancelled with the future of the system now apparently in limbo as of this writing. Nevertheless, one must remember that even failures can be learned from, and this entire assembly was a fantastic endeavour that is historically significant, as the original test version represented the very first venture into space that was entirely privately funded. Many aircraft throughout history have failed to meet their goals, but valuable lessons were learned from all of them.

Anyway, back to the model kit. It was built “box stock” except for two things. I didn’t care for the stand that came with the kit as it limited display options. So I designed a new one made from HDF (High Density Fiberboard used for flooring) that was far more sturdy and allowed for various display variants, as you can see from the pictures below. I also put magnets into the top of SS2 and the bottom of the mounting pylon of WK2 so the two could be attached or detached at will. I also put a magnet into the stand that holds WK2 while detached from SS2 so it could be displayed as you see here. I also made a stand pylon using a dowel and wire that could be plugged into the rocket bell modified with a piece of tube that travels the length of the fuselage of SS2 so it could be suspended as shown. The pictures shown should explain.

Oh right… you no doubt were wondering about the answer to the question I asked at the beginning.
The name “Virgin” appears an incredible 25 times on this model and of course on the real thing. Some of them are barely visible on the model, but the name is even buried in the blue splashes (the “eyeballs” and the nose art “flags”) shown on the sides of each fuselage! I guess they really wanted everyone to know who funded this project!

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