… sorta. Some guy (not me) has a Gemini boilerplate capsule for sale on eBay, for the low, low buy it now price of $42,900:
***AUTHENTIC GEMINI CAPSULE BOILER PLATE #313***
May 122011
May 122011
Someone (not me) has a great big ol’ SR-71 for sale. Claims it’s a wind tunnel model; I doubt it. Maybe a movie prop?
***8ft SR71 FIBERGLASS ENGINEERING/WIND TUNNEL MODEL***
Jan 262011
Someone is selling a display model of Rocketdyne’s NASP concept:
This is obviously not the final X-30 NASP design, but an earlier concept when the engine manufacturers and airframe builders were still doing their own separate designs. This dates it to about the 1985-1987 timeframe.
The design itself, while representing the mid-1980’s state of the art, was by no means new. The basic shape of the vehicle was already well established by 1966 or so as one of the Lockheed CL-655 variants; that would be used as either a hypersonic single-stage long range vehicle, or a hypersonic first stage for a rocket powered (and Convair designed) second stage. The engines for the CL-655 were to be advanced air-breathers developed by Marquardt… but the exact engine layout, and even engine *type,* do not seem to have been finalized.
This is the same designl that I built a display model of for the Marquardt program manager. The model is now on display (well, as of 2004 or so) somewhere at NASA-MSFC.
By 1967 Lockheed had released more artwork of geometrically similar hypersonic manned vehicles, one a research vehicle, the other apparently a passenger transport.
Note the rocket engine at the tail for boost (probably a toroidal aerospike).
The same basic geometry was used at McDonnell-Douglas in 1973 for a hypersonic test vehicle:
And was used again by McDonnell-Douglas in their early NASP/hypersonic transport efforts:
And which was shamelessly stolen by me to help me flesh out the “Aurora” concept model that I mastered for Fantastic Plastic:
And finally, some Rocketdyne artwork of their NASP concept. Note that the leading edges of the wings are curved rather than straight:
The repetition of this same basic shape does not mean that aircraft designers are just lazy. It just means that this is a good shape for this sort of vehicle.
Aug 042010
Original, North American F-86, Wind Tunnel Test Model
Note that while the fuselage is definitely F-86-like, the wings are much closer to those of the F-100. My guess would be that this was an early F-100 study, starting life as a highly modified F-86.
May 032010
Another blueprint reproduction, this time of the V-371 supersonic twin-jet interceptor.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250626613646
Apr 152010
A while back I took a series of photos of the B-1 bomber on display at the Hill Aerospace Museum and stitched them together into what I must say is a fairly impressive large image. A few weeks back I had it printed on a 24X36 sheet of matte photo paper. The aspect ratio was just a little off, so there are white “borders” at top and bottom.
Earlier this week I took it down to the Museum, with the intention of showing it to the gift shop’s managers and seeing if I could get them to carry this and other image. Short form: No. Not enough display area to carry such large pictures. Thus ends *that.*
So, having more need of money than for one of my own photos… who wants it? It is a really big picture, and IMO really quite good. It is also a one-of-a-kind, and likely to remain that way… if i somehow or other do manage to figure out some way of selling these as prints, they will almost certainly be on different, less-expensive paper. But I’m not foreseeing any such business venture anytime soon, so whoever buys this will have Print Number One of a run total of One.
Photos show the size of the print, as well as a few minor imperfections. It seems that when I got back to my car from the gift shop, I should have tossed in my coat *first* and then the print, not the other way around. Oh, well. Gives it “character.”
Rather than eBaying it, I’ll do with this what I did with the aerospace art prints a week ago. First person to say “me!” wins the auction at the most recent price listed. I’ll start at some ridiculously high price, and occasionally toss out lower bids. If you want the items and I get down to a price you’ll accept, simply post a “Me!” comment. If you’ve never commented before, you’ll find that your first comment must be moderated by me and won’t appear instantly; but go ahead and bid anyway. Comments set aside for moderation are put into their proper order once moderated. If you don’t wish to bid publicly, send me an email:
So, what do we have here…
Apr 082010
Some years ago I had access to a large-format printer. I used it to print out some high-rez scans of some old aerospace art glossies. Some of the prints were successful; some less so. One of the problems encountered was “banding,” where horizontal stripes cross the image. In these cases, the banding wasn’t atrocious, but it was a nuisance. This sort of thing does not occur with the prints I have made these days.
In going through some of my stuff yesterday, I came across a number of these prints. At first my thought was to throw them out, but I figured someone might want ’em. So, I’m going to try to sell the lot. This is a one-time deal; I will *not* be reprinting these to sell more. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
I’m going to try something different, just to see how it works. Most auctions start at some low value and bid upwards, continuing either until the bidding grinds to a halt or, as with eBay, until a specific time. Another form of auction I’ve heard of is one where the opening price is ridiculously high, and the auctioneer – me, in this case – goes *down* in value. First person to say “me!” wins the auction at the most recent price listed. So, what the hell, I’ll do that. I’ll start at some ridiculously high price, and occasionally toss out lower bids. If you want the items and I get down to a price you’ll accept, simply post a “Me!” comment. If you’ve never commented before, you’ll find that your first comment must be moderated by me and won’t appear instantly; but go ahead and bid anyway. Comments set aside for moderation are put into their proper order once moderated. If you don’t wish to bid publicly, send me an email:
So, what do we have here…
1960’s North American Aviation airbreathing hypersonic research vehicle
UTC concept for “Titan IIID,” with two extra boosters and a Gemini capsule
F-108 Rapier cutaway art
Mid 1970’s Space Freighter concept
Early 1960’s NAA SSTO concept (part of Aerospaceplane)
NAA airbreathing hypersonic research aircraft
Boeing “Space Sortie” vehicle
And here are some closeup photos showing the “banding.”
So if you’re interested, keep an eye on the comments section to see the latest bid price. I suppose I should have the “steps” occur at specific intervals… but I’ll actually just step it down whenever the hell I feel like it, with sorta random steps in price.
Mar 182010
Only a few hours left on this. And my surprise over the disparity only grows… the bids for the Convair SST are now more than seven times as high as for the Super Hustler, with twelve times as many bids.
What is the world coming to when a passenger transport is more popular than a wholly impractical Mach 4+ nuclear bomber???
UPDATE: The end results continued to surprise the hell out of me. “Super Hustler” is scratched off the list of potentials. Huh.
Mar 172010
Some of the blueprints I had printed up I went “wow” when I first saw them. A few others I went “meh.” So I’ve put three of those up on eBay with Buy It Now options. These include:
Don’t get me wrong, they don’t suck… they’re just not blowin’ my skirts up, if you follow me. So these will be the *only* ones like these that will be available, the Dyna Soar and Hubble blueprints assuredly. The Cheyenne I might re-work at some point if there’s interest, but I’m not seeing it just now.
UPDATE: Huh. They were all posted with a minimum price of $9.99 and higher Buy it Now prices. Two have minimum bids… and the Buy it Now prices seem to have vanished from those. I guess the Buy It Now option goes away when someone bids.
Mar 152010
Here’s an odd thing.
As previously mentioned, the eBay excercise is an attempt to determine the level of interest in the printed blueprints. The F-23A seems reasonably popular, which does not surprise me much. But what does surprise me: at this time, the Convair Hustler-derived SST is beating the tar out of the Convair Super-Hustler. Currently bid four times as high, ten times as many bids, twice as many watchers.
To my mind, the Super Hustler, a Mach 4 bomber, would seem obviously more interesting than a supersonic passenger transport. And the Super Hustler print is substantially larger, as well. Is it because “SST” in the title is recognizable, and likely the subject of occasional searches, while “Super Hustler” is not as recognizable and not likely to be the subject of as many searches?
As an aside: the print shop folks got kinda nervous when I handed over the flash drive with the blueprint image files and I said I wanted one each of the “F-23,” the “Dyna Soar,” the “NERVA” the “SST” and the “Super Hustler.” If you’re not an afficionado of arcane aero-lore, “Super Hustler” might come off a bit creepy, I suppose.