Fantastic plastic has recently released some model kits that I created the CAD models for:
Northrop Low Altitude Penetrator:
“Razorback” from “The Expanse,” to the same scale with the earlier “Rocinante:”
Northrop M2F3 in 1/48 scale:
Some earlier FP models that might be of interest:
A photo montage of Boeing display models showing a range of launch vehicles intended to put the early (1959) Dyna Soar into orbit. The three at left are clusters of Minuteman ICBM boosters; the next two are larger solid rocket motor clusters. The next is a Saturn I booster, followed by an all-new recoverable liquid rocket booster, the Titan II and the Atlas/Centaur. The Titan II design was chosen, though it could not actually get the Dyna Soar into a true orbit. To do that, solid rocket boosters needed to be strapped to the sides of the Titan II… leading to the creation of the Titan III.
So here’s some good news for those oldster sci-fi nerds who were/are fans of the original Battlestar Galactica, who wanted spaceships to go along with their toy figures, and who currently have buckets of money:
That’s cool and all, but I have two current concerns, apart from the cost:
1: The 3D printed nature of the things is still really obvious. Of course as printing tech improves, the surfaces will also improve. Eventually these sort of prints will be indistinguishable from injection molded parts. Not there yet, though.
2: Some corporate suit will doubtless fire up the Legion Of Doom Lawyers to drop a ban hammer. “Someone is making a nickel selling something we couldn’t be bothered to sell even though there’s clearly been a market for close to half a century? OUTRAGE!”
So, a bit of games theorizing needed here. Do you shell out big bucks now for things that are – to the right person – pretty cool, yet still rather imperfect… or do you wait for quality to improve and cost to decrease, while risking a Cease and Decist making them vanish altogether?
These old Aurora and Revell model kits are back in production under the Atlantis Models brand, for the first time in half a century in some cases. Click the images to go to the relevant Amazon page (the usual Amazon type of ad isn’t inserting correctly for some reason).
But wait! There’s more!
Sure, these kits are simple, not terribly accurate, in many ways kinda crummy in their terribly outdated way. But that is kinda what makes them interesting and fun to build. They are *cheap* and you don’t need to worry about a billion parts and photoetched bits and so much effort required that you are assured of giving up a quarter of the way through. Probably good kits to get kids working on.
Not screeching insanely at the camera or engaging in massive self indulgence, but… dping actually interesting stuff. Take, for example actor Henry Cavill (link to a worthy instagram post):
Sure, it’s a single photo. But it’s a single photo of the guy who gets paid millions of dollars to play Superman holding and painting a tiny little Warhammer 40K figure. Not my hobby, but it’s a worthy one, and orders of magnitude more respectable than anything Madonna is up to these days.
When I first saw the thumbnail and title of the video, my initial thought was “I wish there was a store like that somewhere within a few hundred miles of me.” Having gone through the video… I’m really kinda glad there isn’t.
This model was shown with some regualrity about 60 years ago, an early representation of the hoped-for “Nova” rocket which was planned to put astronauts on the moon. I would’ve expect that the model had been long ago lost, but it seems to be held by the Smithsonian… and it’s much larger than expected at 1/72 scale and 48 inches long:
You can zoom in on the image at the Smithsonian link above, though good luck on downloading the full-rez version.
I have previously linked to a vintage photo of the model HERE. And if you want one of your very own, Fantastic Plastic is in the process of working on a set of Nova/Post-Saturn rocket models:
A little while back I was contacted by someone who had an old display model of a Boeing Controlled Configured Vehicle bomber and wondered if I was interested in buying it. Interested? Yes. Able? No. But I was able to put the seller in contact with someone else who was able to procure it, so this Boeing CCV-100-2 wound up in a good home. More on the CCV-100-2 is HERE. Still no confirmation of the scale of the vehicle, sadly.
Some recently unveiled helicopter mockups look promising, but they are just mockups. Build them, test them, prove them out… and if they work as advertised, put them into mass production ASAP before the Chinese stamp out ten thousand cheap copies.
UPDATE: AUCTION HAS ENDED.
Here are some things that I think *should* be of considerable interest. If you are indeed interested in making a bid, send it via email to: 
Buyer is responsible for postage, which for most of these can be Media Mail for low cost. Auction will end 48 hours after I put this post online. Items and photos after the break…
