Project Orion Battleship: Own Your Own
Fantastic Plastic has (or is just about to) released the 1/288 scale model of the Orion “Battleship” that I mastered for ‘em. Check it out:
http://fantastic-plastic.com/ProjectOrionBattleshipPage.htm
There are just a whole hell of a lot of parts in this kit:
Included in the kit are three complete weapons bays and one complete “boat” bay (the ship would have three, but it was decided to just kit one). The black “darts” are the actual landing boats, used to transports crews to and from the surface; the red cylinders are the “taxis” used to transport crew from spacecraft to spacecraft. The weapons bays each include one 5-inch naval gun turret and two hypothetical “Casaba Howitzer” weapons systems.
You can read more about the design - as well as see further renderings and inboard/exterior diagrams in issue V2N2 of Aerospace Projects Review.
Some previous blog posts about this model project:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=4231
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=4024
January 18th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
The lifting body landing craft look a lot like the wind tunnel models of the X-24C; was that their inspiration?
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/x24c.htm
January 19th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Simply outstanding….
I always tried to figure out the real look of the “Michael” spacecraft in Niven and Pournelle “Footfall” novel and now I got it.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:06 am
OHH MY GOD
i wana one of these …
January 19th, 2010 at 7:15 am
Nice! I’ll be picking one up for Boy, and he can look through archived posts here to see it “growing”.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:50 am
will there also be a modell of “Michael”? (Footfall by Niven/ Pournelle)
January 19th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
> will there also be a modell of “Michael”?
Very unlikely. While I’d like to do one, take a look here:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=3432
Note that the Michael is about twice the size of the Battleship. And the Battleship is already just a bit on the expensive side. So a kit of Michael to scale with the battleship would probably cost a minimum of twice as much.
Now, if someone wanted to contract me to go ahead and build such a thing anyway, I’d be pleased to cash your check, go to work and turn out one hell of a product. But it’d be rather pricey.
January 19th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Yes, I tweeted the news that the model is now available, and I’m trying to spread the word on all the forums I am on.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Actually, it looks like the Icarus spacecraft from Planet of the Apes (1968), just painted black. Check this out: http://www.cloudster.com/sets%26vehicles/ApesShip/CGIrenderings/Ansa18sm.jpg&imgrefurl
January 20th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Of course I mean the “landing craft” in the interior bays, not the whole ship.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:11 am
The one that really looks like the Icarus is that multi-Mach cruise missile Scott found: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=4767
January 21st, 2010 at 9:58 am
> The one that really looks like the Icarus is that multi-Mach cruise missile…
Nope. The landing craft are an actual Orion-specific design, based on three sources:
1) Verbal description from one of the Orioneers
2) A single tiny photo showing a General Atomics artists impression of the landing boat on the artists desk, 50 years ago
3) A similar Convair spacecraft design.
Been meaning to post something about why the boat looks as it does for months now. Suppose I better go ahead and do so.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:09 pm
[…] landing boats depicted in the new 1/288 scale Orion “Battleship” model are not pure invention on my part. But sadly, neither are they reconstructed from clear blueprints. […]
January 24th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
For what it is worth, the Orion Battleship model kit was mentioned on Instapundit
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/92346/