Apr 252014
 

The CAD model for the 1/48 MOL kit for Fantastic Plastic nears completion. It is being modeled to represent the final generic design, without a whole lot of extra parts to keep costs down. However, the design is such so if you want to model one of the more complex versions, this will be easy to do.

Here is the MOL CAD model shown to scale with a Zenith Star CAD model I’ve built. Because… why not?

MOL-ZS 1

The Zenith Star is not planned to be produced as a kit, but rather was produced for the purposes of creating diagrams for a potential book (discussed HERE). Still, it’d make a snazzy – if rather desperately expensive – display model.

The view below shows the planned basic construction of the MOL model. A few external shells supported by internal rigidizing supports.

MOL-ZS 4

 Posted by at 8:38 pm
Apr 162014
 

A while back I sold limited editions of some 11X17 drawing-package booklets (of the BoMi, BWB, X-20 Dyna Soar and nuclear pulse propelled starship concepts). Based on comments that have come in from a few of the buyers (see: http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=23871), they seem to have been well received. While these particular books are now done, it got me thinking about a few possible future works:

1) “A Guide To American Nuclear Explosive Devices.” Finally, an idea for what to do with the diagrams of the nuclear bombs I’ve created (see HERE). The book would feature full-page scale diagrams of every American nuclear bomb (including RV’s) that I can reliably create. The following page would contain all the particulars know for the bomb… weight, yield, dates in service, that sort of thing. Plus, a standard illustration/graph/chart showing the damage effects for ground bursts and air bursts, probably at a common altitude.

2) “A Guide to the Strategic Defense Initiative.” This would would be more like sci-fi. By assuming the trope of an alternate history, I can present diagrams of things that I cannot, in reality, present *reliably* *accurate* diagrams of. Things such as the Brilliant Pebbles, the Saggitar orbital railgun, the Zenith Star test laser, the larger planned operational space-based laser, the larger still “Phaser” phased array laser, neutral particle beam weapons, etc. have the problem of only being known from concept art and diagrams of disappointing quality, so my own diagrams would be highly speculative. But in a fictional setting… shrug. Also included would be SDI launch systems such as the ZSLS, the McD “Barbarian,” Shuttle-C and the General Dynamics (“Millenium Express”), McDonnell Douglas (“Delta Clipper”) and Rockwell (“Platypus”) SSTO concepts from 1991. These last three I can at least present quite reliable diagrams of.

These would each be some ways down the line. I *really* need to finish up the Space Station V book first; the nukes books needs one to two research trips, and the SDI book needs a whole lot of drafting, including 3D modeling.

 Posted by at 9:46 pm
Apr 112014
 

This election year, it’s Iowa that’s turning out the interesting candidates:

[youtube 8Gl7xcy8ILU]

WOW. So… Bob Quast supports:

1) Term Limits

2) The Second Amendment

3) Using a Glock to blow the balls off the guy who murdered his sister (she was murdered by her husband in Ohio in 1999, chopped up and then the bits were hidden. The guy got a whopping 11 years for that.)

Compare with the campaign ad produced by Joni Ernst.

 Posted by at 6:24 am
Apr 072014
 

While advances in rocketry have been pretty minimal on the last few generations (see: Sprint), some other technologies seem to be actually proceeding. One is the railgun. Electromagnetic cannon have been around for 80 years or so, but it’s finally starting to look like militarily useful electromagnetic cannon might soon be practical realities. The Navy is very interested; while a railgun would be incredibly impractical for Army artillery, the Navy could easily pack all the secondary system needed within the confines of a ships hull. Muzzle speeds of a dozen kilometers per second or so would allow both long ranges and high altitudes. If the accuracy can be made good enough and the firing rate high enough, a railgun system could be adequate for anti-missile use.

[youtube w7Xh28hNRBQ]

[youtube NWZPp3aEjuM]

 Posted by at 4:27 pm
Mar 292014
 

A 1980 USAF video describing the MX missile basing scheme as it was then planned. A 25 square mile facility would be built in the southwest. A large number of shelter/launchers would be built, connected by roads. But only a few of the shelters would actually have an MX. Instead, they would each have an MX mass simulator. A very large truck would regularly trundle along from shelter to shelter, transporting either the missile or the simulator. Thus, the Soviets would not know which shelter contained a simulator, and which contained an ICBM.

[youtube 3DaQQ4ia5TA]

Interesting how much effort was made on making the MX environmentally “green,” considering its role.

 Posted by at 10:12 am
Mar 262014
 

This is kinda neat:

Why The U.S. Built A Giant Sound Stage In The California Desert

A large building at Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake was built in the early ’90’s as a means of testing missile guidance systems. In the Missile Engagement Simulation Arena, full-size aircraft mockups are suspended and maneuvered as marionettes for the benefit of missile sensors.

[youtube 2luHrpYDNc8]

 Posted by at 10:24 am
Mar 122014
 

A few days ago the Ukrainians released footage taken by a drone aircraft showing Russian military forces setting up shop on Ukrainian territory. A Russian solider is shown clearly trying to zap the plane with a green laser, probably in an attempt to blind its optics:

 

[youtube cdU611LWqwA]

 

A snippet from that sequence has been zoomed-in  to show what appear to be the muzzle flashes of at least two machineguns, perhaps shooting at the drone:

[youtube yP-if5vGI7I]

 Posted by at 9:57 am