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Use these phrases more often

 blather, Forward!, Hmm..., politics, weapons  No Responses »
Jun 052024
 

There is a constant war between sane people and those who want to neuter the English language in order to make it safer and more politically correct. One aspect of that the desire to remove from common parlance phrases that originate with firearms. For example:

 

https://grandparentsforgunsafety.org/gun-violence-facts/words-matter/

 

We speak casually about dodging a bullet… shooting the breeze… taking aim and smoking guns. The language of gun violence is pervasive in our culture.But it doesn’t need to be that way. We can be conscious of the phrases and metaphors from our vocabulary and begin to change the conversation about gun violence one word at a time.

 

Or, and here’s a thought, use these and similar phrases *more.* Normalize firearms in everyday speech.

This is not a complete list; I’m sure there are more. Feel free to comment.

 

ammunition
armed with the facts
aim for

at the end of a gun

bang to rights

best shot

big guns

big shot
bite the bullet

blaze away

broadside

brought a knife to a gunfight
bullet-points
bullet-proof

bullet train
bull’s eye

cannon fodder
caught in the crossfire
cheap shot

circular firing squad

dead eye
dodged a bullet
don’t shoot the messenger
even shot
faster than a speeding bullet

finger on the trigger
fire away

fire back

fire for effect
firing blanks

firing line

firing squad
flash in the pan

full bore

go ballistic
great guns

gun down
gun it
gun shy
gunning for someone
half-cocked

hang fire

have a shot at

heavy artillery
high caliber
hired gun
held a gun to my head
hot shot

hotter than a $3 pistol

in my sights
in the crosshairs

in the line of fire

itchy trigger finger
jumped the gun
Just shoot me!
keep your ammo dry
like shooting fish in a barrel
lock, stock and barrel
lock and load

long shot

loose cannon
magic bullet
misfired
missed the mark

more bang for your buck
moving target

number one with a bullet
outgunned
on target

open fire

parting shot
point blank
point & shoot
pot shot

powderkeg
pull the trigger

quick on the draw
quick on the trigger
rapid fire
ready, aim, fire

riding shotgun
rifle through

scattershot

set your sights on
she/he is a pistol

shoot blanks

shoot down in flames
shoot first, ask questions later
shoot for
shoot for the moon
shoot from the hip
shoot me an email
shoot off your mouth

shoot on sight
shoot out
shoot the breeze

shot across the bow
shot down
shot in the dark
shot myself in the foot

shot to hell

shotgun apartment

shotgun seat

shotgun wedding

shots fired
silver bullet

slow on the draw

small bore
smoking gun
son of a gun
stick to my guns

straight down the barrel
straight shooter

sun’s out, guns out

surefire
sweating bullets
take aim
take a shot
target market
top gun
trigger a response
trigger alert
trigger happy

trigger law

trigger warning

triggered
trip your trigger

turkey shoot
under fire
under the gun

welcome to the gunshow

whole nine yards
whole shooting match

with both barrels
with guns blazing

worth a shot

you could fire a cannon down the street and not hit anyone

young guns

 Posted by at 4:08 pm

3D Printer “Crowdfund”

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., models, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, sales & specials, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 252024
 

So after having the 3D printer for a while and running a *lot* of resin through it, I have achieved some good things. I’ve learned enough to know that there are some things that I plan on producing as full 3D-printed kits, some to be converted into metal castings. I have a few product lines that I want to do:

1: 1/285 (wargaming scale) “minis” of a range of appropriately sized unusual, rare, interesting and projected aircraft/spacecraft

2: “Mini”-sized, but of various scale, aircraft and spacecraft to go with each issue of US Aerospace Projects

3: 1/18 scale models of each American nuclear bomb/warhead/re-entry vehicle. This will range from the downright dinky to the “I’m not sure how to squeeze this out of the printer,” like the Mk 17 and the Flashback. I’ve successfully printed prototypes of the Fat Man and Little Boy A-bombs in 1/18, but they need to be revised.

4: Just whatever strikes my fancy by way of interesting aerospace/sci-fi concepts.

The eventual 3D printed kits will be pricier than if they were cast resin “garage” kits, but this will allow me to make them on demand. I hope there is interest in this sort of thing. To that end, and to help refill my depleted coffers, I’m making available a “crowdfunding” project with three levels. What you will receive are the actual 3D printed components. Each level builds on the prior… Level 2 gets you the Level 1 stuff, Level 3 gets you 1 and 2. No additional postage is required for continental US address… Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, the rest of the world, contact me and I’ll work out the additional postage cost.

Note: many of these are “prototype” kits, with revisions and improvements possible or even probable. And some of these are not planned to be released further. This will be your only chance to get them, at least in this format.

Level 1. You will receive:

1/285 X-20 Dyna Soar spaceplane
1/285 XF-103 Mach 3 interceptor
1/285 Project Pluto nuclear ramjet
1/285 X-15 set (X-15, X-15A2, X-15A3, X-15/SERJ)
1/18 Davy Crockett battlefield atomic warhead w/stand

Crowdfund level 1: $60 in the continental US:

——–

Level 2. You will receive:

1/18 US Atomic Artillery Shells w/stand
1/144 X-20 Dyna Soar
1/18 M61 Vulcan Gatling Gun w/stand
1/18 Mk 72 Nuclear Warhead/Re-Entry Vehicle

 

Crowdfund level 2: $100 in the continental US:

——–

Level 3. This part will not ship immediately, as some of it remains unfinished. You will receive:

1/285 XF-103 w/missiles
1/350 Orion Nuclear Pulse Vehicle (with stand… not yet finalized)
1/2000 Aldebaran Concept Vehicle
Cast Metal 1/285 X-20 + XF-103 + X-15 + Pluto: Depending on the success of the casting process. Not all are guaranteed.

 

Crowdfund level 3: $200 in the continental US:

——–

 Posted by at 10:46 pm

Tanker Concept Art

 aircraft, art, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
May 212024
 

Procured from ebay, this piece of concept art sadly comes without context. It shows a tanker aircraft (pretty much a McDonnell-Douglas YC-15, though the engines appear a bit different… perhaps higher bypass turbofans) topping up an F-15.

The full-rez scan of the art has been made available as a thank-you to APR Patreon and Historical Documents Program patrons at the $4 and above level, placed in the 2024-05 APR Extras Dropbox folder. If interested in this or if you are interested in helping to fund the preservation of aerospace history, please consider becoming a patron, either through the APR Patreon or the Monthly Historical Document Program.

 

 Posted by at 9:09 am

Updates

 blather, models, news  No Responses »
May 202024
 

Obviously not a lot of blogging of late. A lot of this is due to much of the function of blogging having been transferred over to my Twitter (@UnwantedBlog), but also a lot of it is due to my time having been consumed by the new 3D printer. After some weeks of tinkering with it, I’ve gotten it to reliably produce some things easily, unreliably produce some things with difficulty, and fail to produce some things whatsoever. However, I’ve gotten it to make a lot of a number of different things. So as previously mentioned on Twitter and in the Aerospace Projects Review/Unwanted Blog emails, I’m planning on doing a “crowd funding” project. I’m looking at three levels… $50, $100, $150. Each would come with a package of 3D printed projects, from 1/285 scale “minis” to 1/18 scale aircraft ordnance and nuclear weapons. The top level would also have cast-metal minis in the mix.

 

I’m working on getting it all together and hope to have it available in the next few days.

 Posted by at 1:18 pm

More 3D prints

 art, awesomeness, Hmm..., models, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
May 062024
 

1/350 War Rocket, 1/18 Pulse Units, 1/18 Atomic Artillery Shells.

 

 

The War Rocket was modified & printed from a file created for Fantastic Plastic. Their version – currently available – is in much larger 1/144 scale. I was impressed with the tiny details that this smaller print picked up, but the wings are mutated. Two have been printed, both with mucked-up wings. Another round of printing is planned with the models standing straight up to see if that fixes the issue; but since that’ll be a *16* *hour* print job, it’s a low priority.

 

 

Buttons horned in on the photography. He’s allowed. He’s old, he was unwell last night, he wanted attention, he gets it. He’s at this moment making typing a challenge for me.

 

The “pulse units” are actually failed Casaba Howitzers. The telescope components failed rather spectacularly. But with some minimal mods, they’ll make great pulse units for the 10-Meter Orion.

 

 

The 1/18 Atomic Artillery Shells have printed numerous times fantastically. They’re basically in production, but the rather simple stand I created for the set refuses to print right. Weird.

 

 

 

 Posted by at 8:37 pm

1/18 3D printed A-Bombs

 art, awesomeness, models, nukes, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 292024
 

I’ve printed off two more Fat Man bombs in 1/18. I can see where improvements can be made to the CAD model, but as is they’ll build up into spiffy little pieces.

 

Right now I’ve got 2 Fat Man, 2 Little Boy hopefully to sell to help defray costs; if there is interest I can clearly print out more. If interested, let me know. I have two of each right now hopefully to sell to help defray costs; if there is interest I can clearly print out more. So… who wants ’em? $60 per Little Boy, $100 per Fat Man, plus postage.  If you want both Little Boy and Fat Man… $150 + postage.

 

If I refine these for a regular production run, there will be some changes for improved printing, some additional details and importantly stands. But “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and the refined production kits will probably run 1.5 to 2 times as much. 3D printed kits provide options that cast resin kits can’t match, such as complete tail units, but they take many hours each to produce.

Photos at Twitter:

 

 Posted by at 10:30 pm

3D print results

 art, awesomeness, models, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 272024
 

I’ve been running the 3D printer, with mixed results. Failures and disappointments are the fault of the CAD models; the printer itself (Anycubic Photon Mono X 6Ks) is working as advertised. Printing is not a fast process; some prints took 12 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 2:32 pm

Ballpoint Pen Bombers

 art, awesomeness, drawings, history, humor, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 232024
 

This is a little outside the usual for APR, as it is satire rather than actual aerospace design. But I thought it appropriate nonetheless; I remember dreaming up just about the exact same ideas when I was twelve. There was something about the design of those pens that just *screamed* for them to be envisioned as spaceships and missiles and whatnot.

The full-rez scan of the article, and a few more bits, been made available as a thank-you to APR Patreon and Historical Documents Program patrons at the $4 and above level, placed in the 2024-04 APR Extras Dropbox folder. If interested in this or if you are interested in helping to fund the preservation of aerospace histgory, please consider becoming a patron, either through the APR Patreon or the Monthly Historical Document Program.

 Posted by at 11:29 am

3D Printer incoming…

 blather, models, news  No Responses »
Apr 222024
 

I went ahead and ordered an Anycubic Photon Mono X 6Ks. The reviews are good and the price was ok; I have high hopes that it won’t be a monumental learning curve, but I guess I’ll find out. i expect I’ll be watching a fair number of YouTube tutorials.

 

The CAD models I’ve made in the past for the likes of Fantastic Plastic will in many cases not translate over directly… something made to be printed at 1/72 scale would have fabulously thin wings, say, at 1/285 scale. So few of the things I’ve already done will be directly usable. But some will. Going to have to go through my catalog-o-stuff for some first test objects. Expect to see some badly mangled Orions…

 

Financially this was probably not a great idea. So I will doubtless try to come up with something near-term as a way to “crowdfund”a  purchase I’ve already made. One thought: my plan was for “standard” metal minis in the area of $25, and a set of 8 slightly smaller minis in the range of $100-$125. So… how about for early funders, $60 gets you one “standard” and one “set,” once I get things dialed in? These items *may* be “mystery items,” or possibly a choice from a very limited preliminary catalog.

 

 

 

Something I *really* want to do: a modification set for the Tamiya 1/350 scale USS Enterprise, CVN-65. This would replace the radar on the island with the original “beehive…” and put the launch shelters/platforms at for and aft for the Pegasus troop transports. *THAT* is the CVN-65 I want next to me 1/350 NCC-1701.

 Posted by at 1:53 am
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