Lockheed Display Model Stand

 models, new products  3 Responses »
Sep 012011
 

A recent project for a client: replicating a display model stand. The stand to be replicated was for a vintage Lockheed aircraft display model that did not have the original stand. A vintage Lockheed stand was produced to be copied. The stand was composed of a turned walnut base and a specially bent aluminum rod. The walnut based was outsourced to a local woodshop; the aluminum rod was fabricated in-house. This involved turning the exposed end of the rod, bending the rod around a special form and machining flats into the end of the rod to be inserted into the base. Once it was shaped and checked, it was potted in with epoxy, and the underside “fuzzed” in a  manner similar to the original. Two bases were fabricated simultaneously to assure that a backup was on-hand in case anything unfortunate occurred. As it turns out, both turned out just fine, so I have a spare Lockheed display stand (used for aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter, among others). If you are interested in it, contact me.

Photos below show the original Lockheed stand and the two replicas (with blue tape on the aluminum support rods).

 Posted by at 10:50 pm

Further thoughts on the “Wind Tunnel Models” book…

 aircraft, blather, books, drawings, history, models, new products, projects, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Aug 262011
 

After spending yet more time going through my files arranging things in preparation for maybe doing the Shuttle Wind Tunnel Models collection, I find I have north of 500 reports, at nearly 8 gig. Of those, about 250 reports/2.8 gig are of pre-Shuttle program manned lifting entry vehicles and lifting bodies… NASA reports on Dyna Soar, HL-10, M2, X-24, etc. What I’m now contemplating is breaking it up further… a “X-24A Wind Tunnel Models” book,” an “M2F1/F2/F3 Wind Tunnel Models” book, etc. and work up to various aspect of the Shuttle program. By breaking it up, the books become individually more affordable. A dozen books of 30 pages might be better than one book of 360 pages, especially if someone only wants the info on the unbuilt logistics spacecraft concepts.

The books themselves would be largely restricted to the relevant graphics… photos of the models (which in some cases were the actual vehicles), diagrams, cross-sections, that sort of thing. The books would be for people who want to model the designs or render them or… whatever. But the actual *data* simply would not pack into affordable books. So I’m thinking of having a CD-ROM or DVD supplement with all the reports that go with a particular book, available separately.

In any event, these would be fairly low priority publications. Comments welcome.

 Posted by at 8:30 pm

Space Shuttle Wind Tunnel Models: The Book

 aircraft, books, drawings, models, new products, news, photography, projects, rockets, spacecraft  16 Responses »
Aug 242011
 

I have a big fat pile of early Space Shuttle wind tunnel test reports, and it’s occurred to me that they could serve as the basis of an attractive book (or couple of books). I have put together a small, short, hastily-assembled prototype/mockup, downloadable below in PDF form, to give a rough idea of what I mean. Would something like this be of interest to y’all? It would be interesting not only from a historical standpoint, but also or model makers.

If interested, let me know… if I get enough “yes, I’d buy if the price wasn’t insane” comments, then I will go ahead. It’ll be something of a back-burner project, unless the response is overwhelming.

shuttle wind tunnel models proto.pdf

NOTE: the PDF was saved with maximum compression to save filesize, and the illustration s received minimal massaging to improve image quality. This is simply a test to gauge potential customer interest.

 Posted by at 12:32 pm

Where to advertise?

 AARRRGH, APR, blather, books, drawings&documents, Gah., new products, projects  18 Responses »
Aug 182011
 

I’m in serious need of jacking up business around here. Basically, this would seem to mean that I need to get the word out, especially regarding Aerospace Projects Review and the Aircraft & Spacecraft Drawings & Documents. I’ve done some magazine advertising in the past (most notably Fine Scale Modeler) with limited success. I need a return of print ads, or website ads, or something. Posts I’ve made on fora and newsgroups seem to have been of almost zero value, and nowadays seem to come with a “you’re a spammer” backlash.

I am open to practical suggestions, advice or flat-out help in this matter. Magazines, websites, relevant newsletters (I write the “APR Corner” bit for the Houston AIAA “Horizons” newsletter, for instance), what-the-hell-ever. Getting product reviews would be good, I think… but where/how? I know APR is a niche market… but come on, there have to be more than a few dozen people interested in this stuff on the entire freakin’ planet.

 Posted by at 9:48 pm

APR Special: B-58 Derived SSTs

 aircraft, books, drawings, history, new products, projects  13 Responses »
Aug 152011
 

At the end of the 1950’s, the future of aviation was to be the supersonic transport. In order to get there, Convair suggested that their Mach 2 B-58 “Hustler” bomber be converted into testbeds for SST technologies and operations. Several aircraft were designed, from pure test aircraft to planes designed for combined passenger transport and recon… all the way to a Mach 3 transport capable of carrying 135 passengers 4000 miles.

This book describes these designs, and is richly illustrated with contemporary and modern diagrams and full-color photos and artwork.

Article 35, “B-58 Derived SSTs,” is available in three forms. It is available in printed through Magcloud ($13.00 plus shipping):

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/227294
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It is also available for purchase directly from me as a downloadable PDF ($4.00):

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And now for the first time, it is available in both printed and digital form through MagCloud ($15.00 plus shipping):

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/258319

I’ve never done this last option before, so… let me know how it goes!

 Posted by at 3:33 pm

AGM-129 Stealth Cruise Missile

 aircraft, drawings, history, new products, nukes  3 Responses »
Jul 222011
 

The AGM-129 entered service and was withdrawn from service, all pretty much entirely without fanfare. It was a stealthy cruise missile with a faceted nose, a flush NACA-style inlet for its turbojet on the underside and flip-out forward swept wings. Very little information about this has been made public over the years; not even a decent layout drawing of the thing. Oddly, though, multiple AGM-129’s are on display at museums around the country. I’ve taken photos and measurements made by myself and others, along with a few simple but official General Dynamics diagrams, and constructed a set of layout drawings for the AGM-129.

I’ve also made available a high-rez version of this that prints out at 1/48 scale when printed at 300 dpi (fits on a standard sheet of paper). And it’s free of charge… *if* you have a copy of Aerospace Projects Review issue V1N1. When you click on the link to the drawing, you should be prompted for a username and password; the username is “v1n1,” and the password is… the first word on page 11 of V1N1 (remember that capitalization counts).

 Posted by at 4:18 pm

Whispercraft Revival

 aircraft, models, new products, science fiction  10 Responses »
Jul 202011
 

One of the models I made master parts for Fantastic Plastic models was the 1/72 scale “Whispercraft” helicopter from the movie “The Sixth Day.” This was, IMO, one of my more entertainingly engineered kits, with lots of movable parts and options. Due to financial restrictions, it had no cockpit innards. And due to something happening with the molds and/or the master parts, it had a very limited production run and has been unavailable for some time.

There has apparently been enough interest shown that we are looking at re-releasing the kit, this time with full cockpit details. Also of *potential* interest is releasing a few extra parts to make a military variant. This would be invented out of whole cloth. I created a few clay “mockups” of potential alternate forward fuselage configurations, shown below. These are not meant to be the final designs, but instead are simply quickly-sculpted “sketches” to show possibilities.

If you are interested in a Whispercraft model, let me know via comments. Also, if you are interested in a Whispercraft and find one or another of the “alternate configurations” appealing, let me know that, too. if there is enough interest shown, the project will go forward, and probably with the alternate configuration that there is the most interest in.

First: a “conventional” configuration

Second: a “duck nose” configuration

Third: a tandem-seater like the Mil-24 “Hind”

Fourth: an asymmetrical configuration, like the Boeing AAH entry.

Fifth: a faceted “stealth configuration

 Posted by at 10:17 pm

Space Drawing 24: Dyna Soar/Titan II part 1

 aircraft, drawings, drawings&documents, new products, projects, rockets, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Jul 152011
 

New Space Drawing: part one of a set of diagrams showing the Dyna Soar spaceplane and it’s Titan II suborbital booster.

You get:

1: Martin Drawing 388-0400000: An inboard profile & section view of the Titan II booster with Dyna Soar. A grayscale scan of an “artistic” presentation of the diagram, airbrushed. 11,525 X 2268 pixels.

2: Martin Drawing 388-0400000: An inboard profile & section view of the Titan II booster with Dyna Soar. A grayscale scan of  the basic engineering line diagram. 17,275 X 3300 pixels.

3: Martin Model 388-1: An inboard profile & section view of the Titan II booster with Dyna Soar. A black-and-white scan of  the basic engineering line diagram. 17,067 X 3358 pixels.

4: Booster – Complete, Martin drawing 388-1000000. A grayscale scan of a complete overview of the Dyna Soar/Titan II booster air vehicle. 4750 x 2756 pixels.

5: Structural Configuration, Martin drawing 388-1000000. A black & white scan of the internal structure of the Dyna Soar/Titan II booster air vehicle. 20,154 x 3367 pixels.

All drawings come in JPG format and GIF format, as well as “halfsize” and “quartersize” versions for easier viewing & printing.

Space Drawing 24 is a 41 megabyte ZIP file, and is available for $5.50.

 

Be sure to check out my other Air & Space Drawings & Documents!

 Posted by at 6:03 pm

Space Drawing 25: Dyna Soar/Titan II part 2

 aircraft, drawings, drawings&documents, new products, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 152011
 

New Space Drawing: part two of a set of diagrams showing the Dyna Soar spaceplane and its Titan II suborbital booster.

You get:

1: Martin Drawing 388-0400098, Oxidizer Tank Fwd Skirt & Blast Shield, Stage II: Details both the forward end of the Titan II second stage as well as providing geometric data on the Dyna Soar stansition section and abort solid rocket motor.  A grayscale scan of the diagram. 4700 X 2666 pixels.

2: Structural Configuration. A grayscalescan of a presentation version of the internal structure of the Dyna Soar/Titan II booster air vehicle, airbrushed. 11,522 x 2814 pixels.

3: Fin Structure. A grayscalescan of a presentation version of the structural configuration of the large yaw and pitch fins mounted near the base of the Titan II, airbrushed. 4435 x 2781 pixels.

All drawings come in JPG format and GIF format, as well as “halfsize” and “quartersize” versions for easier viewing & printing.

Space Drawing 25is a 47 megabyte ZIP file, and is available for $4.50.

Be sure to check out my other Air & Space Drawings & Documents!

 Posted by at 6:03 pm
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