The Unwanted Blog

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Here is a high-quality blueprint of the planned, but unbuilt, Northrop-Grumman F-23A stealth fighter, the operational version of the YF-23. This diagram shows top, side, front, back and cross-sectional views, and provides a great deal of data.

The blueprint is a high-resolution, high-quality print from a restored digital file, measuring 16 inches high by 24 inches wide. It will look great framed and hanging on a wall. Shipped rolled in a tube.

But fight as hard as breakfast  might… some things are just plain inevitable.

And then comes the time to prepare for lunch…

From microfiche, explaining the blurriness. Note that while the design was broadly similar to what actually got built, it differed in having an airbreathing propulsion system (for self-ferrying and occasional use after re-entry for cross-range extension) and provisions for large solid rocket “abort motors” below the OMS pods. The airlock was also located in the nose.

Had some fog Monday AM.

I’ve had a few more printed off. The future of this enterprise may be determined in part by the success of the Lockheed LS-200 sale on eBay… if it’s a dismal failure (currently standing at a whopping five bucks), then I’ll have some neat art, end of story. Otherwise, I *may* try to market *some* of these.

Right now, they are all-kinds-of-awesome-wallpaper. If you are interested, though, send me an email.

The large prints are on 24X36 paper.

Some illustrations from an Aerojet presentation to NASA-MSFC, July 1963, on nuclear lunar logistics. The original was a microfiche, explaining the blurriness. Note that the illustration of the engine is the same one I posted a few days back, but with notations.

Most of the programs that I backed up before taking the computer into the shop have re-loaded and operate without any observable difficulty. But a few are being troublesome… one being “Paint Shop Pro Ultimate Photo X2.” This is one I use daily for processing photos and fixing drawings and such, but the re-loaded version simply refuses to run, claiming that the configuration is wrong or some damned thing. It kindly suggests that I re-install the program… something I’d be happy to do if I could only find it. And after a day of digging, it’s nowhere to be found. I’m looking right at the paper user’s guide, but the disk itself has vanished like a fart in the wind. Best Buy, where I bought it, suggested that the proper course of action would be to buy another copy. Grrrrr.

Anyone have a copy they’d be willing to loan me for a day?

I got my computer back yesterday. With the hard drive clean and unspoiled, unsullied by things like “data” and “programs,” I’ve been dumping a lot of stuff back onto it, including drivers and whatnot. This process includes a lot of tests to makle sure things are back up and running… such as making sure the scanner works again. My scanner has an adapter for slides and negatives; for giggles I tried it with some microfilm and microfiche that I have. Results were… variable. For example, here’s an example of a scan from microfilm, a diagram of the WWII German BMW 109-028 turboprop. This was a project for a very large engine appropriate for large aircraft such as bombers. Apart from some scratches due to the film itself being scratched up, it’s not too bad.

On the other hand, scanning microfiche was not as successful. The fiche images are smaller than the film images, and I guess the scanner just doesn’t have the resolving power to really get this stuff. For being approximately 11X17, this portion of a foldout drawing of a North American Aviation Space Shuttle fyback booster is a bit blurry.

Some days ago - Wednesday, I think - I was driving north from Ogden when I saw this US Army Blackhawk chopper sitting on the ground not far off the road. This was at the northern end of the Brigham City airport. It looked then, as it looks in these photos, like the left landing gear leg had collapsed, or it had landed in a hole. But when it took off, the landing gear seemed to be fine. This was the same day that the Coast guard chopper had crashed way off to the south, so I presume it was there for the search & rescue operations.