Fantastic Plastic's FDL-6

This time around I went back to one a NASA's mystery craft. From Fantastic Plastic's site:

The FDL-6C SOMV (Sub Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle) is one of several designs to emerge from the AFFDL (Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory) during the 1960’s. The FDL concepts developed to explore the characteristics of spacecraft during hypersonic re-entry.  The FDL-6 shape was one of the shapes explored by the Lockheed Corporation.

It is rumored that, in the 1970s, the shape was explored again and the vehicle was sized to 33 feet long  to fit in the cargo bay of the US Space Shuttle.  This would allow it to be launched from orbit for a return flight to the United States. Whether this actually ever happened or not is not known.  The vehicle was to have an all metal TPS (Thermal Protection System) consisting of overlapping Columbium (Niobium) and Hastelloy “shingles” as opposed to the more fragile ceramic tiles seen on the US Space Shuttle.  It would likely have needed some kind of active cooling for the leading edges and nose similar to that designed for the McDonnell FDL-7.

Having a 'time flies' moment, the kit was released in 2009, and is not currently in FPs catalog of available kits. But I would keep constant vigil of their Store, as retired kits are brought back for limited runs all the time.

The kit is 23 pieces expertly casted by BLAP Models. There was no resin odor, no bubbles, and the pour plugs were very easy to remove.

It looked like a super simple build until I read the part where I had to cut the canopy from the fuselage. Uh oh.  I took my time and was pleasantly surprised how it turned out. It was then that I noticed a separate canopy in the bag of parts! Doh, I thought I had to use the cut out part! I used a PE type super thin saw from Hasagawa (I think).

 And finally open - 

Since the canopy opening is super small I thought it would be a good time to practice hyper painting the cockpit area. After all if I screwed it up almost nothing will be seen.

In the end I think it turned out pretty good. It's a shame it won't be seen. 

Here we are where the craft is mostly complete and primed white. I should have mentioned that FP gives you 2 choices for the build. It can either be white in a NASA scheme, or black with a USAF scheme. As you see by the paint - I went for NASA.

Here's a view from the bottom. One thing to note is the build was going along very nicely and I was cleaning of of the small wheels. POP! It flew and was promptly eaten by the carpet monster. Despite tearing the area apart it's still missing. In the end I took a piece a styrene and fashioned another wheel.  The other thing you'll notice is that the front had wheels while the rear had skids.

With the white primer most of the painting was done. All I really had to do was paint the bottom and the edges along the top to be black. The thruster rockets were done with Vallejo Metallics Steel. As a little side bar, I think the Vallejo Metallics are every bit as good as Alclad, and the over the top vote for me is that they are acrylics. 
I added some MIG black pigment to dirty (and dull) the inside of the thrusters. I also had some Gundam markers and used them for "painting" the attitude adjustment rockets.

The last step was to gloss the top of the ship and then apply the decals. Being it was a "concept craft" there was no weathering. I was still mad about the missing wheel, but I think it turned out ok. 

Thanks for looking.