Graphics Design and USBP

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, Hmm..., new products, projects, US Bomber Projects, US Fighter Projects, US Launch Vehicle Projects, US Spacecraft Projects, US Transport Projects, US VTOL Projects  13 Responses »
May 012016
 

I admit that the USBP series looks kinda… bland. It’s text and line drawings; not a whole lot can be done to jazz that up. Especially since I have no head for graphics design whatsoever apart from layout diagrams.

Still, one reader sent me a mockup of a revised cover of USBP #18:

USBP18blue

Things are moved around a little bit, but the obvious change is the addition of color. The suggestion was also made to consider color-coding each title in the USXP series. Just off the top of my head, I came up with:

Bombers: Olive Drab

Spacecraft: Black

Launch Vehicles: Blue on bottom, transitioning to black at the top

Fighters: slightly bluish gray (like the F-15 or F-22)

Transports: ??

VTOL: ??

The USBP#18 cover was re-done to reflect this, thusly:

USBP18green

Thoughts? Is this more appealing?How about color-coding… good idea or not? And if so, what colors?

I tried something vaguely like this once before, with USBP#05.

 Posted by at 9:43 am

US Bomber Projects #18, Transport Projects #6 Now Available

 aircraft, drawings, history, new products, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, US Transport Projects  No Responses »
Apr 172016
 

Now available: two new US Aerospace Projects titles.

US Bomber Projects #18

US Bomber Projects #18 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #18 includes:

  • Boeing Model 726-13: A nuclear powered bomber with the cockpit in the tail
  • Martin Model 164: A pre-war high altitude twin-tailed bomber
  • North American WS-110A: An early concept for what became the B-70, with “floating wingtips”
  • Convair MX-1593: An Early, large five-engined Atlas ICBM concept
  • Boeing Model 701-299-1: The final XB-59 supersonic bomber design
  • Boeing Model 464-72: A B-52 with pusher turboprops
  • Boeing F-15GSE Global Strike Eagle: An unmanned F-15 with a giant missile on its back General Dynamics – Light Weight Attack Configuration 29: An advanced ground attacker with vectored thrust

usbp18ad2 usbp18ad1

USBP #18 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

——

US Transport Projects #6

US Transport Projects #06 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #06 includes:

  • Lockheed CL-408-15: An early Mach 3 SST
  • Lockheed L-155-4: A very early 8-engine jetliner
  • Boeing Model 754-4V: A very-wide-bodied cargo hauler for Husky
  • Gates Learjet PD1502A: A four-seater with a turbofan
  • Convair Comet Seaplane: An American idea for turning a British jetliner into Flying Boat
  • Lockheed Twin C-5 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft: Two C-5’s mated together to carry a Shuttle between them
  • Boeing Model 765-096 Rev A “SUGAR Volt”: A hybrid jetliner
  • CRC HOT EAGLE – Super Global Troop Transport: Finally, hard data on a rocket transport for Special Forces and Marines

ustp06ad2 ustp06ad1

USTP #06 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

——–

——

And don’t forget…

US Fighter Projects #1 and US VTOL Projects #1 are still new and still available!

 Posted by at 9:44 pm

Zielpunkt: NYC

 aircraft, drawings, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  8 Responses »
Mar 052016
 

I managed to finagle a complete full-color scan of an original copy of Eugen Sanger’s 1944 report, Uber einen Raketenantrieb fur Fernbomber (A Rocket Drive for Long Range Bombers). A “meh” quality B&W PDF of an English-language translation of the report has been available online for a while, but it seems to me that the world needs a proper high-rez version of the original, in color where appropriate.

One of the pages I’ve cleaned up from the new scan shows the statistical damage potential if New York City was regularly targeted by a very large number of bombs. This image, at least a black-and-white English-translated version, several generations removed from the original, is reasonably well-known and commonly reproduced… and as described a few years back, is generally described wrong.

Sanger (1) S2 (101)

 Posted by at 6:03 pm

Surveyor

 art, drawings, history, nukes, spacecraft  No Responses »
Mar 042016
 

Artwork depicting the Surveyor lunar probe as of June, 1962. Reasonably close to the final product, but some differences are visible. The subsurface probe  I believe was not employed; neither was the SNAP-11 nuclear power source. That was intended to power the lander through the lunar night.

missilesrockets1011unse_0270

 Posted by at 11:03 am

AH-56 & JVX

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, Patreon, projects  4 Responses »
Feb 282016
 

I’ve put scans of a 1968 Popular Science article on the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne attack helicopter and a Boeing-Bell brochure on the JVX tiltrotor (which became the V-22) on the APR Patreon dropbox, in the 2016-02 folder.

The Pop Sci article featured cover art by Robert McCall. Just cuz, I tinkered with the cover art, attempting to scrape off the text and restore it to just the painting. Perhaps not a 100% success, but not too bad. The JVX is not *quite* the final V-22 design; a notable difference is the inclusion of a .50 caliber gatling gun in the nose and a rocket launcher hanging off the side the cockpit.

If interested in getting these, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon. The “Extras” are available to all $4 patrons. Quite a pile of high-rez stuff is available now.

jvx ah-56

 Posted by at 3:02 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries