Huh.
Jan 232015
Jan 192015
So, a guy decides to kick in the (incredibly cheaply made) front door of an apartment while wielding a machete. What could possibly go wrong? Well… the guy on the inside of the apartment having a pistol, for starters.
Didn’t kill the maniac, but it did at least put him down.
Jan 062015
A scan of a piece of art from 1961 depicting a Long Beach-class guided missile cruiser launching a Polaris ballistic missile. Note that the caption says that this *will* happen; as it turned out, not only was the Long Beach never equipped with Polarises, it was also the only ship in its class. The US Navy decided that putting strategic nuclear ballistic missiles on easily-spotted and tracked surface ships was less desirable than putting them on far stealthier submarines.
Jan 032015
Much hot air has been expended over the “crossguard lightsaber” that’ll be in the next Star Wars flick. But just imagine what other configurations are possible…
As one commenter HERE noted…
Yes, the crossguard lightsaber is an absolutely ridiculous design for a laser sword wielded by a space wizard.
Jan 022015
A nice writeup of some of my Orion drafting & scribbling here:
Hard SF Feature 04: Scott Lowther
Some of my Orion diagrams:
I suppose I really do need to finish that book some day. Having the publisher vanish on me kinda sucked the joy out of it, though. You’d think I’d be used to that sort of thing by now… I guess that there just might not be a maximum level of disappointment. You can always be more disappointed.
Jan 022015
I guess they know what they’re doing, but this seems of somewhat dubious worth:
The BulletSafe Bulletproof Baseball Cap
It looks like this:
It appears to be made from Kevlar helmet material, and provides protection for the forward hemisphere. That’s nice, I suppose, but it seems to really only armor the wearers forehead. Better than nothing, but it’s still a pretty small area. Plus, the armor plate would seem to be *real* close to the head, so impact energy would be transferred pretty sharply, I should think.
IMO, if’n yer gonna go with a less-than-full-helmet, there’s really only one choice:
Dec 262014
There was a delay getting the December rewards out, and a further delay in putting this notification together that the rewards are available… so it might be only a short-ish time before these are gone, replaced by the *January* rewards. So if these look of interest… act fast!
PDF Document: “Design Study for an Air Force Model F-82E Airplane Modified to a Ground Attack Aircraft with Allison XT-38 Turbo Prop Engine,” a North American Aviation report from 1948. This was not for a simple engine swap-out… the cockpits were moved forward and the engines located behind them, driving the props with long shafts.
PDF Document: “SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System,” a 1973 US Army description document of what would become the Patriot missile system.
Large Format Diagram: a large-format full-color (w/bonus grayscale versions) diagram of the X-20 Dyna Soar. Very detailed and clear. Looks great on a wall (believe me on that!)
CAD Diagram: Boeing Model 853-21 “Quiet Bird” a 1961 design study for a low radar cross section (i.e. stealthy) research aircraft.
If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.
Dec 222014
Arrrgh. Some time ago I found a much-higher resolution version of this image… I think in a book or magazine, but perhaps online somewhere But for the life of me, I cannot remember where I saw it. Is it familiar to anyone hereabouts?
Dec 182014
Well, here’s a spectacular bit of good news…
China Tests ICBM With Multiple Warheads
Saturday test of a new ICBM that is thought to have up to 10 MIRVs (same as the Peacekeeper, which the US no longer has any of) and has a range of more than 7,400 miles, giving it complete coverage of the continental US. Much of the tech needed to do this was given to China by the Clinton Administration. These will be road-mobile, and thus damn difficult to target.
Yaaaaay.
Dec 172014
The latest releases in the “US Aerospace Projects” line (see the full library HERE):
US Bomber Projects #12 contents:
- Boeing Model 464-41: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
- Boeing “Big Bird”: a long-durational, low-speed, low-altitude missile carrying loiterer
- Douglas MX-2091-E: A 1950’s canard configured missile carrier
- Boeing Model 701-238: A supersonic design on the road to the B-59
- Northrop Nuclear Flying Wing: Atomic power with two crew pods
- Martin Model 223-12: the final design in the XB-48 design series
- Rockwell MRCC: An airplane that could be tossed into space atop an RSRM
- Lockheed CL-820-8: A Mach 3 variable-geometry design
USBP #12 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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New: American Nuclear Explosive Devices #01
This is a prototype issue for what may become a series but which I hope to turn into a Real Book. The plan is to eventually document via accurate and detailed diagrams every nuclear explosive device produced by the US (obviously some are a little lean on declassified data). This includes bombs, Re-Entry Vehicles, a few actual “physics packages” and some stand-alone test devices. ANED01 contains information and diagrams of the first three atom bombs worked on by the US: the Thin Man and Little Boy air-droppable bombs and the Trinity “Gadget” test device. The American Nuclear Explosive Devices webpage is HERE.
ANED01 is formatted for 11X17, so the diagrams are good and large.
ANED #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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