nukes – The Unwanted Blog

Doc: 1987 Martin-Marietta “Titan II Program Familiarization – Titan II Training & Certification.” Well illustrated guide to the Titan II launch system.

Doc: University of Michigan report: “The Radar Cross Section of B-70 Aircraft,” 1960. originally secret, declassified report prepared for NAA describing the RCS of the B-70, and how to reduce it.

Subscribers/Patrons for the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program not only receive a monthly collection of aerospace goodies such as these, but can also pick up back issues all the way to 2014.

aerospaceprojectsreview.com/monthly.htm

1/18 Project Pluto #2

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Jan 272025

I haven’t finished the first Pluto, but I decided to go ahead with an improved version anyway. Pluto ver 2 now has a full weapons bay interior, shadow shield and air conditioning equipment. I am also going to completely revise the reactor and add booster rockets.

The first one will still be completed, to serve as a proof of concept and as a painting test to get that 24K gold look. Then I’ll probably see about selling it on ebay or something.

1/18 Project Pluto

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Jan 182025

So it has been a little bit of a while. Been busy, and lately I’ve been ill (influenza B). But the illness is finally fading and the busyness may be tapering a bit. So here’s a recent product of slow progress: the 3D printed bits of a 1/18 Project Pluto nuclear ramjet missile. Much of it is fiber-printed, with smaller parts resin printed. Why does it exist? Because I want one. But also because I hope other people may want one (or more). As shown here it’s fairly basic; nose cone and midsection are printed as single pieces, tail section left & right halves. A basic TORY nuclear reactor is included; it’s visible through the nozzle but not so much through the serpentine inlet. But if displayed as a cutaway, it should be pretty effective. If I go ahead with a production version, the midsection will be split left and right, with visible equipment including weapons bays. Who might be interested in this as a kit? Printed and ready for sanding (LOTS of sanding) and assembly, I’m guessing something like $200 plus shipping. A fully completed display piece would be rather more. Going to experiment some with getting a good golden surface. If interested in joining a list, send an email to:

Not shown are the 1/144 “Big Onion” SPS launching SSTO and the 1/1 M388 “Davy Crockett” warhead. Both of those are done and being painted.

So, anyways… I’m entering the atomic weapons industry…

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Dec 032024

… sorta.

As I’ve mentioned from time to time on my twitter (@UnwantedBlog), I’ve been helping out some friends for a bit. They’ve thanked me with a shiny new Anycubic Kobra 2 Max 3D filament printer. As such things go it’s a giant, capable of far bigger (but lower-rez) prints than my resin printer.

My first project to achieve success? A full scale M388 “Davy Crockett” atomic warhead. It takes four days to print out a single unit, assuming everything works out correctly. But the resulting parts are remarkably strong yet light weight. Here are the components taped together with an industry standard feline scale reference:

The antenna/timer assembly is the most complex and intricate part. The dial itself was resin-printed for high detail:

The nose half of the body was meant to print as a single large part, but it went a little goofy most of the way through so a separate replacement “cap” was printed. Any future prints will presumably have a unified nose.

The parts all need a lot of sanding and smoothing, assembly, filling and paint, but it’ll be fargin’ rad when it’d done.

Orion Battleship: found at last

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Sep 142024

Rumored and discussed for years, in 1962 General Atomic reportedly built a “Corvette sized” display model of the 4,000 ton Orion spacecraft as a spacegoing battleship. This model was shown to President Kennedy, and the reported reaction was… not great. The model was described by a few who had seen it, but all evidence of the model vanished, with the presumption that the model itself was either destroyed or lost, probably shut in a crate next to the Ark.

Well over a decade ago I took those scraps of description, coupled with random bits of data, discussions with a few who knew things, and some imagination, and pieced together my own interpretation of what the Orion Battleship may have looked like.

Some printouts of my diagrams, years ago:

Somewhat to my surprise, my diagrams have been spread far and wide and have become the de facto canonical image of the Orion Battleship, with sketches, 3D CAD models, paintings, etc. being made based to greater or lesser degrees on my design. My one real contribution, I guess. I’ve never tried to claim that it was accurate, just that it was the best that I could do with what I had. I never expected to be able to do better.

But then author Brent D. Ziarnick published the book “To Rule the Skies” in 2021. In it was, at last, a photo of the model. While the book was published 3 years ago, I only stumbled across this image today:

There are *clear* differences between the model and my interpretation. Mostly they involve the means of projecting the pulse units: I based my design on the system used for the 1963 4,000 ton Orion: a cannon along the ships centerline that shot the pulse units directly aft through a central hole in the pusher plate. But the model depicted an older, more cumbersome approach: those “fins” on the side are actually rails. They’d lob the pulse units past the edge of the plate. I now this because circa 2009-12 I communicated with Jim Bryant, who was an artist at General Atomic and he created a sketch for me of Orion as he knew it at about the time the model was made. From his sketch I created CAD diagrams:

You put my two diagrams together… and you get pretty close to the configuration shown in the model.

I’ve got high hopes for getting an improved-rez version of the photo (maybe more!). I will use that to create a new set of diagram, probably also a 3D model, of the *official* “Orion Battleship.”

I don’t feel too bad about getting some things dead wrong. The Orion concept was in serious flux at the time; had the USAF proceeded with the battleship, it would *not* have used the pulse unit “fins.” Instead it would have evolved to something like what I drew up. It could well have evolved *past* what I drew up, but that’s a question that can only be answered in an alternate reality.

If you want the full Orion Battleship Experience, check out Aerospace Projects Review issue V2N2:

https://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/ev2n2.htm

Destruction of nuclear weapons with a neutrino beam

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Aug 262024

A scientific paper published more than 20 years ago was recently rediscovered by the internet:

Sugawara et al. 2003, “Destruction of Nuclear Bombs Using Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Beam”

https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0305062

A lot of this goes over my little post-Covid head, but the summary seems to be that, theoretically, an advanced high energy collider, similar to but larger and more powerful than the Large Hadron Collider could slam muons into each other and create a laser–like beam of neutrinos. OK, cool. But where I get fuzzy is the discussion of the “mean free path” of the neutrinos. By tinkering with the exact energy of the neutrinos, you can set the MFP to the exact distance from the collider to the target. The beam of neutrinos pass virtually unhindered through the Earth, then, at a fairly specific spot, they create a shower of hadrons. That’s where I’m lost: do the neutrinos suddenly decide “ok, let’s interact with the atoms in dirt right here,” or what, exactly? I’m puzzled.

But in any event, that shower of hadrons *is* perfectly capable of interacting with normal matter, such as the fissile material in a nuclear bomb. In a matter of seconds or minutes, the uranium or plutonium will heat up enough to cause the surrounding high explosives to catch fire or detonate, while messing with the nuclear properties of the warhead itself. They estimate that the bomb will “fizzle” with about 3% the yield it was designed for.

The anti-weapon weapon is hilariously impractical: even with advanced superconducting electromagnets the collider will be on the scale of kilometer in size, costing hundreds of billions. Each shot will require the power output of a nation, and will only target a single nuclear weapon, whose position must be known to just a few feet. And it kinda seems like this vast ring-like structure must be aimed physically. Good luck with *that.*

It seems like “physically possible, engineeringly impractical, financially impossible” project. Something nobody could pull off on Earth. On the other hand, the sci-fi possibilities are clear. Aliens, say, show up. Their scouts check out Earth, realize we’re loaded with troublesome nukes, so their von Neuman bots start carving up the moon. They dig a trench around the moons equator and fill that trench with a vast accelerator… with the reaction chamber pointed right at Earth. A relatively small jiggering of the chamber can aim the resulting neutrino beam to any desired spot on Earth; slight adjustments to the colliders power sets the precise range. Nukes in solos start melting down. Nukes on planes kept in constant motion, however, would likely be safe. Nukes on subs? If they can precisely track submerged boomers, they can probably target them.

1/18 scale Skybolt ALBM kit

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Aug 192024

Here’s the first nearly complete set of “sellable” 1/18 scale Skybolt ALBM parts. Only things missing are a stand(s) and a clear cover for the star tracker. There’ll be 2 variants… complete, and a simpler one without most of the innards (build with the stages/warhead joined). It takes about 2 *days* to print a complete set of parts. I’m still pondering the price. I will probably start on the low end and raise the price as I realize just what the frak I’m doing. Probably something along the lines of $80-$100, + postage. If interested, let me know.

Martin-Marietta HML Ad

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Jun 242024

I did my best to stitch together this two-page magazine ad. Dating from 1986, it shows missile programs then underway at Martin-Marietta; front and center is the Small ICBM (“Midgetman”) in its Hard Mobile Launcher. The HML would wander seemingly at random around the western US, being difficult to track and target by the Soviets. When the time came, the trailer would be dropped off and the suspension collapsed to lower the trailer to the ground; sloped shells would drop to the ground. In the event of a nearby nuclear detonation, it was hoped that the shockwave would roll over the shell without excessively damaging the trailer. Then the missile launch tube would be raised and the missile fired, sending a single warhead across the planet. The tractor for this version was designed and built by Caterpillar and used rubbed treads, unlike the wheeled Boeing competitors.

Image below is a reduced-rez version of the full scan. The full image 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 2024-06 APR Extras. If interested in this piece or if you are interested in helping to fund the preservation of this sort of thing, please consider becoming a patron, either through the APR Patreon or the Monthly Historical Document Program.

3D Printer “Crowdfund”

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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:

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