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.
A nice writeup of some of my Orion drafting & scribbling here:
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.
I guess they know what they’re doing, but this seems of somewhat dubious worth:
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:
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.
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?
Well, here’s a spectacular bit of good news…
The latest releases in the “US Aerospace Projects” line (see the full library HERE):
US Bomber Projects #12 contents:
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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A video showing how a Holland and Holland double-barrelled rifle is made:
[youtube qUXoNUzAyvk]
Neat! So… how much will such a trinket set you back? Well, if you want to cheap out and not get *all* the bells and whistles, you can steal it away at a mere £105,000. Of course, you can go nuts and get it in a truly manly caliber… .700 H&H.
Next two releases in progress. Note that one is a little different…
Surprising that it has taken this long:
A somewhat anti-climactic video:
[youtube PHvze3_CcwU]
As shown HERE, way back in the 1980’s Bell/Boeing wanted to make an “AV-22” which would have been an attack variant of the V-22, equipped with a nose turreted 20mmGatlign gun, Sidewinders hanging off the side and Maverick missiles stored internally.