Space Shuttle Carrier Jet

Few sights in flight history are stranger, or more unforgettable, than a winged orbiter riding piggyback on the spine of a wide-body jumbo jet. This set captures that improbable pairing: the spacecraft built to reach orbit and glide home, and the heavily modified airliner that ferried it back across a continent to fly again.

The project builds as two complete aircraft. The four-engine carrier jet comes together first, a long swept-wing fuselage with its raised forward deck and twin tail fins, followed by the compact delta-winged orbiter with its heat-shielded underside and layered panel work along the fuselage. The orbiter then lifts on and off the carrier's dorsal mounting struts, so you can display the pair joined in ferry configuration or stand them apart as two separate models. At roughly 63 cm long with a 53 cm wingspan, the finished ferry stack is a genuine centrepiece build.