by Simon Barraclough

Developed in conjunction with Earthforces and the Earth Alliance Space Agency (EASA), the Mitchell-Hyundyne X-23 was developed to support Earth's expansion through the galaxy via the jump gate network, Earthforce needed a highly maneuverable spacecraft to counter the threats to the expansion of humans throughout the galaxy.

As the prototype craft earlier design features that changed with the SA-23 production model can be seen. Particularly of note is the visible surfaces of the recently developed Unobtainium alloy. Offering excellent strength to weight ratio for the high g maneuvers, it also possesses thermo-optical properties ideal for minimising absorption of heat from star and planets will maximising the rejection of waste heat from the engines. Improvement in engine technology minimised the need for this radiating area in the production models, allowing for the all over low-vis gray seen in production models. Also visible are the original weapons system which was eventually shown to be inadequate for requirements and replaced by the more capable version in the production model.

While unusual for a military, the enthusiasm of the development team at Mitchell-Hyundyne could not resist borrowing the tradition of earlier 'first ones' (SpaceShipOne, StarShipOne) with a fury/explosion of stars across the StarFuryOne upper wing livery. Painted with the star motif and Ferrari red leading edges, StarFuryOne impressed both Earthforces and EASA customers during displays viewed from orbiting space stations.

I started this 10 years ago when the model first appeared on the market. Work stopped abruptly when real work took me to the other side of the world to work in the real space industry as a thermal engineer. After following me from home to home for 10 years, I finally decided that enough was enough and it was time to go back and finish it. All that had happened by that time was fixing the wings and filling in the holes.

Knowing that I wanted it to be something different I started thinking of a aerobatic livery version (think Blue Angles..). While researching this and other Starfury work I came across the Pimp My Ride competition and got inspired.

Can't remember why the Scaled Composites Space Ship One scheme came to me as an idea for the Fury, but the idea stuck. After studying pictures of SpaceShip One and planning it out on line drawings found on the Internet, the long task of hand painting the stars started. The stars were stenciled using stickers, which given the 'girly' colours of the star stickers gave it a My Little Pony look. But thankfully this didn't last and you can see the result. The few decals used in the model partly come from the original box set and spares from a uncompleted Scaled Composites Voyager model (a happy coincidence to use another Scaled craft) The one item not from the kit was the vertical part of the stand as I didn't like the original, however all of the ship is kit. Conveniently being the prototype Starfury allowable me to deal with the problem that has plagued all Starfury builders, the poorly cast weapons. On this build they are simply an earlier version.

Next job will have to be a scratch build of StarShipOne.....

Image: Left/rear view

Image: Top/rear

Image: Top

Image: Underneath

Image: Right side

Image: Left/front

Image: rear

Image: .... It's full of stars...

Image: Pilot

Image: Engine

Image: Masking