Sep 032015
 

I continue to tinker with the CAD diagrams for “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion,” as well as creating new ones. I decided to see what the diagrams for the 10-Meter design for the USAF would look like in a larger format… in this case, two sheets 40 inches by 10, at 1/96 scale. A fair bit of formatting needed as yet, but on the whole I think they look pretty good.

Anyone interested? I’m thinking a combination of prints (folded into a book or rolled) and cyanotype blueprints on vellum. If this idea is popular (I’m going to take at least this design to print, just for myself), I’d do something similar for the 10-meter NASA vehicle, the 20-meter NASA vehicle and the 86-foot 4,000 “battleship.”

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 Posted by at 9:59 pm
May 262015
 

As mentioned HERE I have some cyanotype blueprints that are available for a limited time, until May 29. Time runs short. As previously mentioned, only those sold in this period will be made, so the production run will be necessarily limited. In fact… I have so far sold none. So if you *do* pull the trigger on this, you will get something *extremely* rare.

 Posted by at 8:46 pm
May 152015
 

I’ve made a number of science fictional CAD models for Fantastic Plastic. Wonderfest, an annual hobby convention in Louisville, Kentucky, is coming up at the end of the month, and Fantastic Plastic is going to set up there. A while back I thought it might be interesting to take some of the CAD models I’ve created for current and forthcoming Fantastic Plastic model kits, specifically the Helicarrier, the Prometheus and the Messiah, and create 2D layout drawings… and then make cyanotype blueprints. Further, the blueprints would be at the same scale as the kits.

The end results? A moderately sized Helicarrier blueprint, two big Prometheus sheets (one showing the craft in flight, the other showing it in landed configuration), and one enormous Messiah blueprint, a full six feet long.

I don’t know if there is a market for such things. The Prometheus and the Messiah in particular are just gigantic. Were I to really try to commercialize them, I’d probably scale them down to at least 2/3 and more likely 1/2 the current size. Still, creating them was not a minor effort… so what the heck. I’m going to make them available for a limited time. Yes, they’re pricey. But they’re also *huge.* And a pain to make. And there won’t be very many of them on the entire planet (right now, two copies each of the Helicarrier and the Messiah; a grand total of one of the Prometheus prints).

These will be available for a two-week period, starting now. If some dark miracle occurs and I sell a hundred of them within that span, then, great! But however many, at the end of the two weeks, that’s it. All done, no more. I will total them up, and hand notate  each one as numbered limited edition (“1 of 5,” or whatever, based on the order that orders come in) plus I’ll initial each one. Because why not.

Feel free to order as many of each as you want. Don’t forget postage… and don’t forget that with this one-time postage you can order as many *other* cyanotype prints as you like.

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Prometheus prints:

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Helicarrier:

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 Posted by at 10:49 pm
Apr 282015
 

I’m currently working on a series of Shuttle Orbiter tile “maps” to massage them into a form where they’d look good as cyanotype blueprints. Two are shown below; what I have on hand are about a dozen, covering every surface of the Orbiter. The centerline diagram is sized for 40 inches wide by 160 inches long; this is *way* beyond reasonable size for cyanotyping. But at 18 inches wide, it’d be 72 inches long… just about what I can handle.

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Another option might be to stitch the separate views together, rather than two wings and a centerline. Printed out B&W on paper, it’d be pretty durned impressive.

 

 Posted by at 4:56 pm
Apr 212015
 

Along with the knowledge that you’re helping support the cause of preserving and spreading aerospace history, if you become an Aerospace Projects Review patron you get the first crack at stuff that might be of interest. For example… a little while back I sold off some one-off test prints, and more recently 85 or so old issues of Analog/Astounding science fiction magazines dating from the 1940’s into the 1970’s.

APR Patreon patrons get not only the first crack at these things (more such sales are coming, including a whole bunch of aerospace books), but also get them at a discount. The $10-level patrons have the opportunity at first dibs, followed by $4 and up patrons.

If interested, check out the APR Patreon HERE.

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More stuff will be coming soon…

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 Posted by at 7:25 pm
Mar 122015
 

I have a batch of new large format cyanotype blueprints coming along (the files for the transparencies are at the print shop now). Weather permitting, I should start producing these in a week or so… but the question is: how many to print up? I’m not yet taking orders, but I am trying to gauge interest. So if you see something here you think you’ll want, please let me know via either comment or email. Remember that as well as the cost of the prints there will also be postage… $10 in the US, $18 elsewhere, regardless of how many prints are ordered.

2707-200 Supersonic Transport, 48 inches by 22: $50

2707-200 cutaway 48x22

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B-36D, 61 inches by 22: $60

B-36d 61x11

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Shuttle diagrams, set A: 41 inches by 11 (two sheets): $50

shuttle setA 41x11

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Shuttle diagrams, set B: 41 inches by 11 (five sheets): $125

shuttle setB 41x11

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Trident SLBM: 49X11, $25

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 Posted by at 9:34 pm
Oct 142014
 

Not long ago, I was alerted to a pair of eBay auctions for vintage blueprints of “Supersonic Escape Capsules.” The blueprints, produced by the US Army Air Forces, depict models of the capsules made from plexiglas and plywood. This would be generally interesting to me, but one of the diagrams seemed to indicate that the diagrams might not be what they said they were. Instead, it looked a *lot* like an aerodynamically improved “Fat Man” atom bomb. I suspected that what was for sale were actually test or display models of early atom bomb casings, intentionally mis-described for security reasons. I managed to score both blueprints with surprisingly minimal fuss.

Upon receipt of the blueprints, my suspicion that at least one of them depicts an evolved Fat Man seems to have been misplaced. Fat Man was about 60 inches in diameter; the model is 38.5 inches in diameter, which would make for an odd scale. But the idea of a supersonic escape capsule being studied in 1946 is also odd, since the USAAF was years from having supersonic aircraft. And the configurations don’t really seem to work as escape capsules; typically such things are the entire cockpit which can break away from the aircraft, but these would make for very unfortunate cockpits for supersonic aircraft. So at the current time I can’t quite figure this one out. I’ll continue to see if I can run down info on this, but leads are few.

I have not scanned in these blueprints yet. They’ve been folded up longer than most of the people reading this have been alive, so it’ll take a good long time to flatten them out and make them safe for scanning. But I’ve taken some photos, which I’ve made available in full rez in a ZIP archive for all of my APR Patreon patrons. The APR Patreon page is HERE. If you want to help preserve and make available obscure aerospace history items such as these, please consider contributing to the APR Patreon. For as little as $0.75/month, you can help out, plus gain access to a bunch of aerospace “rewards” like these. You can also help out by helping to spread the word.

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The first “escape capsule” on a quite good vintage blueprint. The resemblance to “Fat Man” is obvious… but likely dubious. It’s a close match to the Davy Crockett warhead from a decade later.

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The second “escape capsule,” on a larger and more badly faded blueprint.

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One of the problems with photographing large format blueprints is the almost inevitable groupies. Cats like paper. Cats *love* crinkly paper. And 70-year-old vellum blueprints are the crinkliest of crinkly paper. Fortunately, no damage done.

 Posted by at 12:50 pm
Aug 042014
 

Th atomic bomb canvas blueprints I put on eBay several weeks back didn’t sell, but eBay keeps rolling over the auction week after week. So if you were interested but just forgot, they’re still available.

I added some to the descriptions. Hopefully the new verbiage will be a bit more enlightening.

 

“Little Boy” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

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“Fat Man” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

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 Posted by at 12:09 pm
Jul 242014
 

Less than a day left on these ebay auctions. Given the dearth of bids and watchers, it looks like not only will you be able to get them cheap, this’ll be your *only* chance to get them.

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A while back I took a stab at printing cyanotype blueprints on canvas (the kind used by artists for painting on). After a rough start, I managed to get the process to work pretty well. It’s more complex and substantially more expensive than cyanotype printing on vellum paper, so I don’t know if I’ll make canvas blueprints available for regular sale like the paper versions. Still, I’ve put the first three successes on ebay if anyone is interested:

“Little Boy” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

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“Fat Man” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

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Dual Saturn V blueprint on canvas

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 Posted by at 1:45 pm