Aerospace Projects Review: The Blog

 APR, blather, new products, news  1 Response »
Oct 042011
 

Problems, problems. After numerous issues of late with blogs and such, a while back I decided to create spinoff blogs (such as the one devoted to my photos, started a month and a half back). I obtained several new domains, but before I could start copying stuff over, something screwy happened which cost me time, trouble and money, turning the Unwanted Blog into a blank screen. So once I got it back I’ve been devoting too much time and trouble to getting the new blogs up and running. The first of them is:

http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/

It is pretty much what is sounds like it’d be… aircraft and spacecraft project posts, along with APR updates. None of the humor or brilliant political analysis y’all have come to know and loathe about the Unwanted Blog. It looks different… because efforts to get it up and running using the “Suffusion” theme, what’s currently running on the Unwanted Blog, were surprisingly unsuccessful. The banner image wouldn’t come up, dashboard pages were blank screens half the time, so on. Efforts to close out suffusion and replace it with something else uniformly failed; I had to erase all the files and re-load the WordPress blog base codes. Ugh. So I’m assuming that something screwy is going on with the Suffusion theme… which I bet will eventually strike the Unwanted Blog.

The Unwanted Blog will – at least until it explodes – continue on much as it has. If you like the wide variety of utter bilge that I post here, then the UB will be the place to be. But if you come here only for the projects stuff… the APR Blog will probably be the place to relocate your bookmark. Right now there’s not much over there. Over time, I will not only copy over the new posts from the UB, but I’ll also go back through the “projects” category of the UB and copy over selected and re-edited posts.

So feel free to tell everyone you know about the APR blog. All projects, all the time.

 Posted by at 11:57 am

1/72 Project Pluto model now available

 aircraft, APR, awesomeness, drawings, drawings&documents, models, new products, news, projects, rockets, weapons  15 Responses »
Sep 282011
 

From Fantastic Plastic, the 1/72 Pluto/SLAM model I mastered a while back:

It is available HERE.

NOTE: The kit has been retired.

http://fantastic-plastic.com/ProjectPlutoCatalogPage.htm

And to help with the detailing, don’t forget to pick up your Project Pluto CAD drawings, available to download for $3.

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And For Grud’s sake, if you are going to build a Pluto model, you have to download a copy of Aerospace Projects Review issue V2N1 with the ginormous Pluto article…

Available to download for a miniscule $8.00!

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 Posted by at 12:15 pm

Space Station V update

 awesomeness, models, new products, science fiction  1 Response »
Sep 252011
 

Here are the first in-progress shots of the SSV CAD model being built with Rhino 3D. Most of the structure is worked out, but there’s a lot of surface detail to be fleshed out (is there *anybody* with the ability to take screenshots from the “2001” BluRay???). The model is being built for accuracy first, then some of it will be backed off a bit for the actual 3D printing process.. Some of the important details, especially those along the cables suspended alongside the spokes (the stuff in green), would be probably impossible to print, mold and cast reliably at small size, so some adjustments may be required.

 Posted by at 3:04 pm

Air Drawing 57: B-47 Display Model Diagrams

 cats, contest, drawings, drawings&documents, eBay, history, I'm from the government, models, new products, news  1 Response »
Sep 222011
 

This (68 megabyte ZIP folder of jpg images) package contains diagrams to be used in the construction of accurate display models of the B-47. Includes:

1) Boeing drawing 23-2305, “Boeing B-47E Model Drawings 1/100 Scale,” 9000X5432 pixels, dated 1956

2) Boeing drawing 14-5068, “Boeing XB-47 Stratojet Model Drawing,” 13408X8412 pixels, dated 1947

Also included are halfsize and quartersize version for easier viewing and printing.

Air Drawing 57 can be downloaded for $$4.50.

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 Posted by at 5:29 pm

Air Drawing 56: 747 AABNCP

 aircraft, drawings, drawings&documents, history, new products, projects  1 Response »
Sep 222011
 

This drawing package (41 megabyte ZIP folder of grayscale GIF images) contains drawings of the AABNCP (Advanced Airborne National Command Post), or at least an early version of the design. The aircraft shown here is not quite the E-4 that actually flew, and differs in several notable ways. Most obvious are the long dorsal fairing covering satellite dishes, and especially the two extra jet engine pods under the wing roots (which appear to be electrical generators rather than additional thrust units). Included:

1) Boeing drawing 65B59599, “Markings Installation Decorative, Exterior AABNCP.” 26881X 7200 pixels, dated 1973

2) Boeing drawing 747-CP-4007, “747 AABNCP Study Configuration Phase 1B,” 30310X7200 pixels, dated 1972

Also included are halfsize and quartersize version for easier viewing and printing.

Air Drawing 56 can be downloaded for $5.50.

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 Posted by at 5:29 pm

Air Drawing 55: F-14A Tomcat Inboard Diagrams

 aircraft, drawings, drawings&documents, history, new products  3 Responses »
Sep 222011
 

This (36 megabyte ZIP folder of jpg’s) package includes:

1) Grumman drawing A51F091 (1 of 3), Inboard Profile, F-14A (10784X4269 pixels)

2) Grumman drawing A51F091 (2 of 3), inboard profile F-14A (10680X4302 pixels)

3) Grumman drawing A51F091 (3 of 3), inboard plan view, F-14A (10624X4221 pixels)

All dated June, 1969.

Also included are half-size and quarter-size versions for easier viewing and printing.

Air Drawing 55 can be downloaded for $4.50.

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 Posted by at 5:29 pm

Panoramas! Come and get ’em!

 new products, news, photography  No Responses »
Sep 172011
 

I’ve finally got the rudiments of the *other* website roughed out. Currently, 29 of my panoramic photos are available in 12X36, printed on high-quality heavy bond photo paper. Get ’em while the gettings good!

A lot of the descriptive verbage is yet to be scribbled, but you can see all the panoramas and, most importantly, order them.

 Posted by at 10:06 pm

DM-3 Rocket Motor Test Photo Book

 books, new products, news, photography, rockets, Utah  1 Response »
Sep 162011
 

On September 8, 2011, ATK fired the last of the Shuttle-scale solid rocket boosters at their Promontory, Utah, test site. The Development Motor-3 test fired a five-segment booster generating 3.6 million pounds of thrust. I was in the public viewing area at the time with three cameras going. I have put together a photo book with the best of my photos of that test, and am making it available in two forms:
1) Printed by Magcloud, for only $7.99
2) Printed by Magcloud AND with a digital (PDF) copy, for only $9.49

They can be previewed and purchased here:
http://scottlowther.magcloud.com/

 Posted by at 8:33 am

Space Station V

 awesomeness, models, new products, news, science fiction  6 Responses »
Sep 142011
 

My next model project for Fantastic Plastic has been confirmed: Space Station V from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This will be mastered as a CAD model and printed out. The current plan is to include parts for both a *complete* SSV (all resin) and as the *incomplete* SSV as seen in “2001” (with photoetch parts).

Also to be included: Orion III spaceplane. There will, in fact, be *two* Orion III’s, and for a good reason: scale. Since there are no “canon” diagrams of the SSV laying out exactly how big it is, people speculate and make measurements off of screen captures. The closest there is to an “official” diameter was 1000 feet, based on some thing written by tech advisor Fred Ordway. But while the model may have been built to represent that diameter, the story goes that Kubrick thought the station looked too small compared to the Orion III, so he arbitrarily “scaled it up” optically to twice the diameter… 2000 feet. So what the FP kit will do is have two Orion IIIs, one twice the size of the other. The scale of the kit will then be up to the model builder. Current plan is to produce the model at about 8.57″ diameter… meaning either 1/1400 or 1/2800 scale, depending on which Orion III you choose.

Note: the scales listed on the Fantastic Plastic website are a little different from here. At this stage it’s no matter… it’s being built in the computer and can be adjusted with ease. The specifics will be determined a little later.

So.

Does anyone have a BluRay of “2001” and the ability to make full-rez screencaptures? If so, there are some shots that I would really appreciate.

 Posted by at 4:40 pm

Space Doc 22: Apollo operations handbooks

 drawings, drawings&documents, history, new products, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Sep 062011
 

Previously available only on CD-ROM, now available for download. NOTE: these are downloadable as separate PDF files, and should be downloaded one at a time… they are pretty substantial, and if you try to download ’em all at once, the system could get bogged down and timed out. Total filesize is over 300 megabytes.

A collection of five North American Aviation reports covering the Apollo command and service modules (primarily the former), Blocks I and II, in exhaustive detail:
APOLLO OPERATIONS HANDBOOK COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULE. SPACECRAFT 012 (1010 pages)
APOLLO OPERATIONS HANDBOOK COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULE. SPACECRAFT 014 (718 pages)
COMMAND SERVICE MODULE SYSTEM HANDBOOK AS-501 (395 pages)
APOLLO OPERATIONS HANDBOOK BLOCK II SPACECRAFT VOL. 1 SPACECRAFT DESCRIPTION, Oct 1969 (962 PAGES)
APOLLO OPERATIONS HANDBOOK BLOCK II SPACECRAFT VOL. 1 SPACECRAFT DESCRIPTION, Jan 1970 (1067 PAGES)

Price to download: $13
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 Posted by at 9:13 pm
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