Lifting body model

 aircraft, eBay, history, Hmm..., models, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 282022
 

Currently on ebay is an aluminum model of a lifting body. The rear of the vehicle is that of the M1 or M2, but the nose is distinctly conical. The lack of useful volume leads me to think that if this is a legit wind tunnel model (rather than something someone just knocked out at a machine shop for giggles), then it’s not a design for a manned vehicle, either test or operational space logistics. Rather it would be something like:

1) A basic subscale research vehicle like ASSET

2) A concept for a maneuverable entry vehicle for a military system. An ICBM warhead, perhaps designed to glide either for range extension, to avoid incoming ABMs, or to maneuver to avoid tracking systems and come in from unexpected directions.

3) Or it’s just a vague, generic “let’s look at everything” shape.

The nose of the model does not inspire a great deal of confidence… it looks a bit unfinished, with some sharp-ish corners that don’t seem like they should be there.

If anyone knows better, by all means speak up…

 

 Posted by at 1:46 pm

JVX Art

 aircraft, art, history, projects  No Responses »
Oct 252022
 

Bell artwork circa 1983 depicting the proposed JVX tiltrotor, which would become the V-22 Osprey. The cockpit and the sponsons display the greatest obvious differences from the aircraft that would eventually be built, but the design seems to be largely just about there.

 

 Posted by at 6:05 pm

Manned Hypersonic Test Vehicle

 aircraft, history, models, projects, rockets, US Research & Recon Projects  No Responses »
Oct 242022
 

A photo of a wind tunnel model of a Republic Aviation design for a Manned Hypersonic Test Vehicle configuration. The photo was published in 1969, but the program was circa 1965. It used a configuration previously studied as both an Aerospaceplane (airbreathing SSTO) and Mach 10 recon. That latter design was written about and illustrated in US Research & Recon Projects #2. You can tell that this is the subscale demonstrator, rather than one of the full-scale operational vehicles, because of the additional fuel tanks, projection from the lower fuselage. The fuselage was conical and ringed with a scramjet engine; a rocket engine in the tail would, after separation from a B-52 carrier aircraft, accelerate the vehicle past Mach 7 or so to scramjet operational speed.

 Posted by at 7:01 am

Recent project

 aircraft, books, projects, US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 2  No Responses »
Oct 182022
 

Here’s a look at Book 4. Some of the diagrams I do are completed in just a few hours. Some take considerably longer… several to many man-days, sometimes spread out over months as I dial in details. This one was sort of mid-range. The most complex and time consuming are typically the diagrams of aircraft that were actually built… those have to be accurate, and more details are available. This one is of an unbuilt aircraft that is reasonably well documented, but was a configuration that was in a constant state of design flux.

 Posted by at 1:52 pm

Lithobraking

 awesomeness, blather, cats, history, Hmm..., humor, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 172022
 

Over the years there have been suggestions of using “lithobraking” as a means of reducing the cost of transporting payloads to the lunar surface. As the name suggests, the idea is to use the lunar surface itself – the lithosphere – to slow the craft. Meteoroids do this all the time, of course, though in their case it’s pretty destructive. But for those rare serious suggestion of using lithobraking, the idea would be to lay out a miles-long “track” of smooth lunar dust; the spacecraft would come in at a *very* shallow angle and touch down at extreme – essentially orbital – velocity, and use skids to brake using friction. The precision required, and lunar infrastructure required, would be pretty substantial. One early suggestion of what a lithobraking spacecraft might look like is this (from HERE):

It might be workable. But it’s not something I’ve seen demonstrated too often, either practically or in animated form. Well, until now. At last, we have a good video representation of what lithobraking might look like in actual practice:

 

 

 Posted by at 3:31 pm

“US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 1:” exists

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Book 3, books, drawings, history, new products, projects, rockets, US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 1, weapons  No Responses »
Oct 152022
 

Photos of a physical copy, fresh from the printer, somewhere in the wilds of Britain. UK/EU buyers should start receiving them shortly, I’d imagine.

The ordering link straight from the publisher:

US Supersonic Bomber Projects

And the updated Amazon link:

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Paperback – December 23, 2022

As previously mentioned, if you are interested in a signed, dated and bonus-print copy, let me know so I know how many to order.

 Posted by at 2:32 pm

JVX, folded

 aircraft, art, history, projects  No Responses »
Oct 142022
 

A circa 1983 illustration of the Bell JVX tiltrotor concept, folded for storage aboard an aircraft carrier. The JVX would be developed into the V-22 Osprey. The differences between this concept and the final vehicle are relatively minor, with the sponsons on the side, shape of the nose and apparently less-lifted tail being the most obvious.

 Posted by at 8:28 pm

CAD diagrams

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, CAD diagrams, drawings, history, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 122022
 

I’m at work on a new series of CAD diagrams (see HERE for the first run) to be released as PDFs formatted for printing at 18X24. For example, here are first drafts of a few:

  • Boeing Space Sortie (3 sheets)
  • Saturn C-8/Nova
  • Jules Verne’s “Columbiad”
  • A-12 Avenger II (2 sheets)
  • Lockheed CL-400 “Suntan”

All of these require a bit more dressing-up, as well as explanatory text. But I think they’re starting to look pretty good.

 

 

I’ve selected a fair number more to work on. If any of these are of particular interest, or if any of the many, many diagrams I’ve made over the years would be of interest, let me know.

  • BIS “Daedalus” straship
  • Rockwell MRCC
  • Northrop Tacit Blue
  • Space Shuttle Main Engine
  • Boeing Bird of Prey
  • General Atomic 86-foot Orion
  • General Atomic Orion battleship
  • General Atomic 10-meter Orion
  • Martin SeaMistress
  • Space Launch System
  • Have Sting orbital railgun
  • Casaba Howitzer
  • X-20 Dyna Soar
  • B-47E
  • DB-47E/Bold Orion
  • DB-47E/RASCAL
  • B-52G
  • B-52H
  • B-52H/Skybolt
  • Boeing Space Freighter
  • Boeing Big Onion
  • Shuttle C
  • Rockwell Star Raker
  • Lockheed STAR Clipper
  • Lockheed SR-71
  • Lockheed A-12 (early canards)
  • Lockheed A-12
  • Lockheed A-12 (honeycomb panels)
  • Lockheed A-12 “Titanium Goose”
  • Lockheed YF-12A
  • Lockheed M-21/D-21
  • Lockheed AP-12
  • Republic YF-103
  • North American XF-108
  • Bell MX-2147
  • Convair Kingfish
 Posted by at 9:45 pm

Space Defense Platform

 history, Hmm..., models, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, weapons  No Responses »
Oct 102022
 

A model built by or for Raytheon depicting their concept of a “Space Defense Platform.” Shown in early 1962 (possibly late 1961), this is a very early concept for a space-based weapon system meant to destroy other space vehicles. Scale is unknown, but if it is 1/1 scale, it seems fairly small. It is surrounded by what look like interceptor missiles, missiles which bear a resemblance to the contemporary FIM-43 “Redeye” shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile. The space missiles seem to have infra-red seekers like the Redeye, four small fins up front much like the Redeyes (which of course doesn’t make any sense in context of a space-based missile), but no tail fins, unlike the Redeye. Presumably steering would be accomplished by vectoring the main nozzle or the use of divert thrust near the nose, or both. Perhaps the four small “fins” are in fact thrusters, each pointing “sideways.” Much later interceptor missiles for use in space used gas generators that ran non-stop and fired from all of the thrusters non-stop; doing so negated their thrust, until a valve closed on one or more thruster, making the thrust asymmetric.

 

Redeye missile for comparison:

The model has few other features of note. Some ports, some antennae, some ill-defined projections near the bottom… and a spherical item, held aloft by a short boom, at the top. Notice a small “radiation” symbol on the sphere, indicating that this spacecraft was to be nuclear powered. Presumably some sort of low-power system, an RTG or the like, rather than a full reactor. in either case, radiators are not in evidence.

For those lookign to nail down the size of the model:

1) Assume the missiles are Redeyes.

2) Down at the bottom is a shiny hemisphere… it *might* be someone’s head.

3) The ceiling lights and contours are likely made to standard sizes.

 Posted by at 11:50 am
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