Just as I though V2N5 would be done quickly, I though V2N6 would be done even more quickly. It started off at less than forty pages, as all of the original APRs did, and I didn’t think it would grow that much more. And then… I found the big stack of ROMBUS/ICARUS/Ithacus/ICARUS Jr./Pegasus stuff. That article alone is now at about 61 pages.
So, yeah, I’m still working on it…
Download all available issues of Aerospace Projects Review – V1N1 through V2N5, plus V5N6 – for $70 rather than the regular $94, a bit over 25% off.
Buy all of Volume 1 (V1N1-V1N6) for $35, rather than the usual $44.50 (a bit less than $25% off).
I keep getting asked the same questions, so I guess I should have a Frequently Asked Questions page for my downloads. Well, here it is.
Q01: How does this work?
A: It’s not an automated system. The way it works is that when you place an order through Paypal, Paypal sends me an email notifying me of the order. I then reply to the email address listed in the order, providing you with the web address where you can find your document, plus the username and password you’ll need in order to access it.
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Q02: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 2 seconds, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”
A: I’m asleep/out buying groceries/fighting off hordes of zombies. I’ll respond to your email just as soon as I can.
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Q03: “I just ordered a document. It’s been a whole 24 hours, and I don’t have it yet. Where is it?”
A1: Check your “spam bucket.” Some spam filters see response messages such as you’ll get from me as spam, since there is a web address listed in it.
A2: Are you using the email address attached to the Paypal account? The response email with all your download info will be sent to the Paypal-listed email address. If you are using someone else’s Paypal address, or something like that, then *they* will receive the reply.
A3: On rare occasion, the automated Paypal system that sends me order notifications fails to do so. Thus I don’t know you’ve ordered something. Feel free to send a “where’s my stuff” email to: 
A4: Search your inbox. You might have gotten the message, but not noticed or recognized it. The header will be something like “Re: Notification of payment received” or “Re: Payment received from YourEmail@YourEmailDomain.com.”
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Q04: “I ordered a document for downloading, but the username and password aren’t working.”
A: By far the most common reason for this is either you’re typing the password wrong… or if you are using cut-and-paste, you are grabbing a spurious blank space. Try again, making sure to cut *just* the password.
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Q05: “I tried that, but it’s still not letting me in.”
A: The second biggest offender is your web browser. Something or other to do with cookies, or something. If you have another web browser (Netscape, Explorer, Firefox, whatever), try that.
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Q06: “I’ve downloaded a PDF file. What do I need to open it?”
A: Adobe Reader. It’s a free program.
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Q07: “I’ve downloaded a ZIP file. What do I need to open it?”
A: Any modern computer should have come with an unzipping program built in. If not, do a search for “unzip,” and download a program to your liking.
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Q08: “I ordered a drawing set, and can see the files named ‘XYZ halfsize.gif’ and ‘XYZ quartersize.gif,” but not the full size image. Why?”
A: Some of the full size images are quite large. Sometimes they are so large that operating systems and/or image viewing and processing programs simply refuse to show them. All of the full-size images I sell are viewable on *my* system, which is a bit antiquated… but that doesn’t mean that they will be viewable on *all* systems. This is why I include the “halfsize” and “quartersize” versions, so that everybody should be able to see the images. You do still have the full-rez image… try looking at it on another computer.
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Q09: “Ooops, I ordered the wrong thing. I wanted A, but I seem to have actually ordered B. Can I have A?”
A1: If the error is due to something screwy in the webpage – rare, but it has happened that a typo in the HTML coding can lead to this sort of thing – then I’ll fix you right up with a proper download of A. Keep the other item, free of charge.
A2: A slightly more common error is on my part… you order SDOC4, say, and I mistakenly send you the link to SDWG4. In that case, let me know, and I’ll fix you right up with what you actually ordered. Keep the other item, free of charge.
A3: If the error is due to you simply ordering the wrong thing… well… the problem with digital files is that you can easily make copies of them, and thus cannot really be returned. So if my policy was to automatically “correct” “mistakes,” then it’d be the easiest thing in the world to scam me right out of half my catalog.
So… no. If you wanted A but mistakenly ordered B, I’ll be happy to fill your *next* order for A.
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Q10: “I bought one of your documents, and want to extract the images from it for my own devious purposes. However, it’s password protected. Gimme the password. Gimme.”
A: The documents (air docs, space docs and APr’s, but not DCD’s) are password protected *solely* to try to minimise piracy of ’em. The documents will open just fine and will print just fine at high rez, but image and text extraction will present a challenge. I’ve had issues with people taking the data I’ve worked hard to find and prepare and then turning it around and reselling it (grrr). However, if you have a valid use for extracted images, let me know, and I’ll almost certainly fork over the relevant password.
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Q11: “I want you to add me to your mailing list.”
A: No can do. The system I use now requires that the person who wants on the mailing list add themselves (I can add you, or the system will think I’m a spammer). So, simply go HERE and add your email address.
I’ll update this FAQ as questions come in. Feel free to comment
Found in the Jay Miller collection was a glossy of a display model of the Bell “SEAKAT,” a proposed derivative of the X-14 VTOL research testbed. While there were numerous proposed derivatives of the X-14, this was probably the design furthest from the X-14… even the VTOL propulsion system was entirely different. The SEAKAT was a 1971 concept for a short range anti-sub aircraft, operable from small vessels that normally would be equipped with only a helicopter.
Read more about the SEAKAT in issue V1N3 of Aerospace Projects Review, where I somehow managed to get the name wrong as “SkyKat.” Shrug. This image was discovered after the article was published; but the article does have other artwork and layout drawings of the craft, along with several other X-14 derivatives (such as the X-14C and X-14D).
The landing boats depicted in the new 1/288 scale Orion “Battleship” model are not pure invention on my part. But sadly, neither are they reconstructed from clear blueprints. They are the result of some deduction and detection and educated reconstruction.
First off, they were described to me by one of the actual Orion engineers as being about the size of a PT boat, and seating about 20. Additionally, they were “diamond shaped,” and used an extended skid during re-entry. The diamond shape part was a bit of a head scratcher, as I could not get further clarification on exactly what that meant (there were some communication difficulties). So, I looked through the open literature from the late 50’s/very early 60’s to see if I could find something from the NACA, USAF or Convair/General Dynamics that would fit the bill. I found a few, starting with this one:
And another from the NACA that looked more promising:
I went with the latter design as the basis for the landing boat for the CAD model of the Battleship that I put together for issue V2N2 of Aerospace Projects Review (go here and buy a copy, ya mooches).
As for the re-entry shielding skid, that was confusing until I was directed to this snippet from the December 1960 issue of Flying Review:
Not much I could really do with that, though.
As so often happens, once the product is out the door, more information comes in. In this case, I was put in contact with one of the artists employed by General Atomic Back In The Day (see HERE for more discussion of the long-lost Time Of Quality Aerospace Artwork), and it happens that he illustrated the landing boat. Sadly, the art seems to have been stuffed down the memory hole… but a single photo of his desk at the time remains, and on his desk was a painting of the landing boat:
No better resolution of that photo is available. The landing boat is on the far right. The other two paintings supposedly illustrate some other aspects of the Orion program, but there’s not enough visible to make heads or tails of ’em other than they seem to be in Earth orbit. An enlargement of the landing boat:
This clearly shows a head-on view of the boat. This verifies the “diamond shape,” at least as far as the cross-section of the craft. Also visible is a raised canopy, discrete wings, tricycle landing gear and a braking chute. As it turns out, the first NACA re-entry shape I’d looked at and passed over was closer to the correct shape.
Something about the wings bothered me. At last I recalled that I had seen something very like them before… in a Convair Astronautics Division Project Apollo proposal from 1961. Keep in mind, at the time General Atomic, like Convair, was a division of General Dynamics… and the two divisions were separated by only a few miles. It’s thus quite likely that re-entry vehicle design work at Convair was fed to General Atomic. Here, an advanced Apollo system was briefly discussed that would use a lifting body for the command module, a lifting body with stowed wings that seem to be the spitting image of those shown on the landing boat painting.
And so I took the “diamond shaped” front view, the NACA RV work, and the 1961 Apollo wings, and built from them a Landing Boat.
Ta-Da…
Volume 2, Number 5. Finally.
Aerospaceplane – 1962: a moment in the development of an early USAF “operational” orbital aircraft. With all-new color artwork by G. De Chiara.
Convairs “Spaceplane” by Dennis R. Jenkins: A detailed look at the Convair Aerospaceplane entry
Curtis Wright Helicopter Airliner concept from 1944
Convair post World War II Seaplane Studies, Part II by Robert Bradley
Fairchild NEPA: an early nuclear powered bomber concept
Messerschmitt Me 328 variations, Part 1: numerous studies regarding engine location and the like
Martin SeaMistress: a giant jet-propelled cargo seaplane
After the release of APR V2N4, I had expected to get V2N5 out the door in record time. Well… it’s kinda come true. Except “record” in the wrong direction. Well, it’s just about done… less than a page left to finish up and a few editing passes which are *sure* to miss a bunch of foolish spelling and grammar errors. But, within a few days, it’ll be out the hatch.
This will be the first “two part” APR. The second part will be for those who are APR subscribers when the issue is released, sort of a “Sorry I was late” addition for those who paid in advance…
Here’s a little teaser promo for the next issue (V2N5) of Aerospace Projects Review. Does it look familiar? If you are at all aquainted with 1950’s American science fiction movies it damned well aughtta… it looks like *someone* in the aerospace industry watched the movie “When Worlds Collide” and decided that George Pal’s rocketship “Ark” was a good design.
I have three two one no remaining prints of the Pluto poster from last summer. These three two one are slightly darker than they were supposed to be, which is why they are the last three. However, given that the artist will be unable to finish the “second edition” artwork in the foreseeable future, these are the last Pluto posters for the foreseeable future. If you would like one, two or all three of them, send an email here:
Price is $25 each, plus $4 shipping within the US ($4 total, regardless of how many you order). Overseas shipping, $6.
Finally get to use words that I don’t think I’ve ever used: SOLD OUT.
