And now with the canopies on. Much subtle shading was done with pastels prior to the final matt acrylic coat. With the canopies on, you can finally get a feel for the Rapid Rabbit. Mach 3.5-3.6 ... imagine. While the Habu was capable of higher mach, she was limited by the nose shockwave. At authorized mach 3.3-3.5, the shockwave was outboard of the engine inlet. In these mach regimes the engine inlet worked as appropriate reducing the air intake speed below mach 1. But if you exceeded mach 3.5 the shock wave migrated into the inlet and "unstarted" the ramjet.
High temperatures were another thing. At sustained mach 3.5+ the windshield splitter screen began to delaminate due to high temps. These reasons, not turbo/ramjet limitations, were the primary cause of SR-71 speed precautions.
She is a beauty. And an amazing machine that did not require major engine overhaul for high mach operations (c.f. MiG-25).