Aussies, nuke subs and France

 Hmm..., news, nukes, politics, ships  No Responses »
Sep 172021
 

Why France is angry about the US and UK giving Australia nuclear-powered submarines

In response to the trilateral agreement, a French official told CNN on Friday that France has recalled its ambassador to the US for “consultation” — marking what’s believed to be the first time the French have resorted to such a move in modern times.
The French ambassador to Australia has been recalled as well, the official said.
The problem: France had a deal with Oz to provide diesel subs. But Australia changed its mind and wisely went with nuclear subs. Why? Because the Pacific Ocean is friggen’ *big* and the Chinese are getting pushy. Now to get New Zealand on board…
The story also points out that the French Embassy has cancelled/curtailed some parties.
 Posted by at 5:16 pm

That’ll buff right out

 awesomeness, history, nukes, science, ships, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 122021
 

Some interesting footage of a ship getting nuked. This was the USS LSM-60, a “landing ship, medium” that was used as a float to suspend an atom bomb underwater during the Operation Crossroads-Baker test, July 25, 1946. A “Fat Man” style bomb was in a small submarine 90 feet below the ship when it went off with a yield of about 22 kilotons. No recognizable bits of the LSM-60 were ever located.

 Posted by at 7:21 pm

Dream Home

 awesomeness, history, nukes, rockets, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 112021
 

At the same time that Certain People want the citizenry to set their horizons low and small and accept Tiny Homes, high-density urban housing and public transport… I want me one of these. I’d prefer if it was out in the mountains, but if someone wanted to give me this out out in the middle of No and Where, I’d take it.

Finally enough shelf space!

 Posted by at 3:19 pm

The Ford Nucleon was ridiculously *small*

 AARRRGH, art, awesomeness, blather, Crazy, drawings, Gah., history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, science, science fiction, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 102021
 

One of the more imaginative and incredibly unlikely concept cars was the Ford Nucleon, a 1950’s idea for a nuclear powered car. Apparently this was pretty much a complete art and sales project, without much actual engineering; it was based on the notion that not only could nuclear reactors be scaled down small enough to fit in a car, they could be made not only wreck-tolerant, but that lightweight and virtually magical radiation shielding would be invented that would allow said reactor to hum away at full power mere feet from paying customers without roasting them or giving them explosive ass cancer. It was, let’s face it, wholly ridiculous… and entirely awesome.

Photos of models of the Nucleon have been available since the 1950’s, but diagrams have been lacking. An article posted online a few days ago included a few specifications for the proposed vehicle, finally nailing down some of the dimensions. And for reasons that seemed good to me (and which are probably obvious), I slapped together a quick side view. I think my side view is *reasonably* accurate based on numerous photos of the scale model Ford built and the dimensions given. What I’m not certain about is whether *Ford* truly understood their vehicle.

Here’s the side view using the 200-inch (16.7 ft) length specified by Ford, accompanied by two normal-sized humans:

The driver doesn’t even come *close* to fitting. So I scaled the Nucleon up until it seemed to look right, with the end result being that the car is now about 26 feet long:

That’s by no means a small vehicle… but then, it’s nuclear. Scaling it up by a factor of about 1.55 makes the cab big enough to fit actual full-size humans. But scaling it up that much makes the 77.4″ width (6.45 ft) into 120 inches, or ten feet. Good luck squeezing *that* onto the road; the Hummer H1, known as an uncomfortably wide vehicle, is a mere 87 inches wide.

Does anyone have any information to contradict and correct the Ford specifications? Or is it just another case of the art department kinda ignoring reality?

 Posted by at 4:28 pm

General update

 aircraft, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, blather, Book X, drawings, history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 092021
 

Might have noticed that blogging has been reduced mostly to posting YouTube vids and very brief grumbles of late. It’ll probably be much the same or even less for the next month or two… I’m hard at work on “B-47/B-52” and that takes precedence. Just passed 200 pages of diagrams; a few more left to do, but text is the current priority and I’m a slower writer than draftsman (and I don’t draft that fast).

 

Side note: Amazon has decided that I might be interested in these. Amazing! How do it know?

 Posted by at 10:46 pm

Behold, Book One: Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress; Origins & Evolution

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, B-47 and B-52 Origins and Evolution, Book X, books, drawings, history, news, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects  No Responses »
Apr 272021
 

My publisher has gone public with Book One, entitled

Boeing B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress; Origins & Evolution

Woo!

It is being published by Mortons out of Britain, is scheduled for release at the end of September, and is going to be around 250 to 280 pages (I’m still furiously working away at it). As those who have seen my work may assume, it will be loaded to the gills with diagrams, in this case covering the competitors to the B-47 and B-52, the original concepts, how the designs evolved and many of the proposed and built derivatives. You can pre-order at the link above. I’m getting confirmation on availability in the States… Amazon and Barnes & Noble and other sources. Will report back on that, but it does look like both outlets will carry it.

I will post more details – including glimpses of diagrams and some of the color art created for the book by Rob Parthoens – in the coming days. Feel free to ask questions.

 

Note: Book Two has not yet gone public. But Book Two should be published *first* since it is finished and edited; I’ve seen and approved the layout. All it’s missing right now is cover art, which is in process.

 

And…behold! An Amazon link, listing it as available in late November/early December. Just in time for Chrisnukkwanzayulmass! Note though that the “150 page” length listed there is incorrect… came from the original placeholder text.

 Posted by at 8:51 am
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