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.
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.
… 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.
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
The USSF wants to actually be able to do their job. Could we see the return of the heady days of the Star Wars program? Now that we have actual almost-affordable and mostly-reusable space launch, we just might. Get ready for the pages of Aviation Week to be filled with artists concepts of space based lasers, neutral particle beams, orbital and cisluanr assets of all kinds. Can we even dream of manned nuclear powered spacecraft patrolling the spacelanes?
Of course, a lot will depend on November.
https://www.sbir.gov/topics/11201
OBJECTIVE: The end state of this project is to establish a robust and sustainable framework for Space Sustainment and Maneuver, enabling companies to facilitate movement within the space domain across all orbital regimes, including travel to and from the moon. This initiative aims to overcome current limitations in maneuverability, thereby providing strategic advantages in space operations, such as maintaining initiative, achieving surprise, and outmaneuvering adversaries. By fostering innovation in areas such as on-orbit servicing, refueling, orbital transfer/maneuvers , and payload capabilities, the project seeks to ensure the survivability and effectiveness of space assets in NextGen Warfare scenarios. DESCRIPTION: The work to be accomplished entails a comprehensive exploration of space sustainment and maneuver technologies aimed at advancing superiority in orbital operations. This endeavor encompasses multiple facets, including but not limited to: 1. Core Technology Development: Refining and optimizing sustainment and maneuver solutions for improved maneuverability, efficiency, and strategic advantage. 2. Prototyping and Testing: Developing and testing key components like payloads, refueling systems, and autonomous maneuver strategies. 3. Advanced Payload Systems: Integrating space domain awareness, cognitive radios, on-orbit servicing , and electromagnetic spectrum capabilities. 4. Innovative Refueling Technologies: Implementing innovative solutions, such as optimized propellant selection and architectures for on-orbit refueling. 5. Next-Generation Orbital Transfer/Maneuvers Strategies: Developing efficient orbital transfer/ Maneuver techniques for prolonged asset lifespan and gaining a strategic advantage. 6. Logistics Architecture: Designing robust on-orbit systems for resource management, maintenance, and repair in extended space operations. 7. Enhanced Security Measures: Implementing data protection, cybersecurity, and edge computing solutions for space assets. 8. Integration with Existing Systems: Ensuring seamless integration with current space infrastructure and operational processes.
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.
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.
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.
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