Via the University of Alabama, Huntsville archive, a 1942 cutaway diagram of the German A-4 (“V-2”) ballistic rocket.
I’ve uploaded the full rez version into the 2024-06 APR Extras folder for subscribers/patron at the $4 level and above.
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
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:
——–
Turns out giant thin draggy structures don’t hold up that well against multi-vortex tornadoes.
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.
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.
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.
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:
The two new 1/18 Fat Man units. I can see where improvements can be made to the CAD model, but as is they'll build up into spiffy little pieces. So… who wants 'em? I've got 2 FM, 2 Little Boy. $60 per LB, $100 per FM, plus postage. If interested, let me know. pic.twitter.com/POjyRAyDLF
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 30, 2024
1/ Second version of the 1/18 Little Boy. Two fit on the printer at once; both came through with flying colors. the thickened tail surfaces worked like a charm; doesn't seem too out of scale. Flash seems to exaggerate surface imperfections. pic.twitter.com/m8nWg1TdAY
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 28, 2024
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.
Some early results with the 3D printer.
First up: some 1/144 and 1/285 X-20 Dyna Soars. Once I got the angle right, the results are pretty spectacular. The 1/285 ones will definitely be used to make metal castings; probably the same with the 1/144. pic.twitter.com/1O2fBWxy2P
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
As a lark, I threw in the M61 Vulcan in 1/18 scale, in two orientations. Both seem to have come out looking pretty spiffy, though I haven't trimmed off the supports yet.
Did this just because I wanted to. But if anyone wants one – or more – I can provide. pic.twitter.com/E5NdGp8eCS
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
The Casaba Howitzer in 1/18 scale. The original CAD model was created solely to create line diagram illustrations and was in no way optimized for 3D printing, thus the telescope shroud printed funny and fell off. Impressed that it did as well as it did. Model needs revision. pic.twitter.com/XIvNrtSdtT
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
Another one thrown in Just Cuz, a 1/350 North American Aviation Mars Excursion Module. Clearly failed, but again the model was not made for printing. The printer made a valiant effort to reproduce the RCS system, with is on hair-thin struts. Not much point in this at this scale. pic.twitter.com/fq6k2hM11k
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
1/18 Little Boy, again printed from a non-optimized model. Even so, I'm impressed… the tail was modeled as 3mm thick sheets, and the printer fully replicated that: 0.167 mm thick. Clearly too thin. So currently printing is an updated version. These would make great kits. pic.twitter.com/0D92hWuc0s
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
Lastly, two shells from a 1/18 Fat Man. The tail struct has the same issue as little Boy, so it'll need to be fixed before printing. Again I think this'd make a great kit. pic.twitter.com/OoxMmuUpHl
— Unwanted Blog (@UnwantedBlog) April 27, 2024
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.