OK, here’s the final (pending review) Ajax CAD model. Different colors indicate different parts. Light blue indicates clear parts… except for the rectangular hatches on the rear spine. Those won’t be clear. If it looks like I’ve missed something or made a mistake, now’s the time to speak up.
Getting close to finished with the Ajax model. Just need to clean up a few bits and do some work on the engine and add some details to the rear of the “spine,” and it’ll be there.
There was some debate about how to deal with the nearly 200 rungs on the side of the vehicle. They are just big enough that simple raised rectangular bumps on the surface would look lame. So the decision as it currently stands is to include two options the builder can choose from. Both build on “troughs” cut in the surface.
1) The simpler option include segments that fit in the troughs and which have molded-in rungs. They simply plug in.
2) The more complex option uses segment plugs with gaps on the side, the end result being that when the plugs are inserted there will be holes in the surface. Into these holes will fit photoetched brass rungs. This will be labor intensive… but the end result should look phenomenal.
Coupled with the clear parts and theoretically easy lightability… this should be a damned spiffy model when finished.
A model I CAD-mastered for Fantastic Plastic has finally been released… the 1/288 scale Max Valier “Raketenschiff” from 1929. This was a very art deco “rocket ship” designed as a hypersonic trans-Atlantic passenger transport. It was never much more than a notion and some art, but it’s always been a concept I’ve been fond of. Its design is a combination of zeppelin and Colliers Ferry Rocket. Go to Fantastic Plastic and buy a couple.
Latest update on the Ajax, showing the location of ladder rungs on the surface. On the final model these will likely be molded-in raised rectangular solids. At 1/200 scale, the rung would be *really* tiny (they’re about 1/12 of an inch wide and of course much thinner than that) and could only be done via photoetch; and while that has the potential to look spectacular, holy crap it’d be a nightmare.
Also: note that there are a number of parts shown in light blue. These are parts that are meant to be cast in clear resin. The fuselage and wings are hollow, allowing ready access to clear parts for those who wish to light the model with LEDs. The walkways are “troughs” with the “ceilings” being separate flat parts to be cast in clear. The main parts of the walkways need detailing and will not have the open doorways.
Latest Ajax renders. There will be a few parts cast in clear: the canopy, obviously, along with the “lights” on the underside of the nose. The model isn’t being made *specifically* for lighting, but it’d be pretty spiffy with lights. It will also have a basic set of details for the bridge.
Constructing the wings of the Ajax turned out to be a bit of a chore, and they’re not done yet…
Based on the previously described walkway-based scaling system, the current plan is to produce the Ajax at 1/200 scale… a little over 14 inches long.
I’ve gotten as far as roughing out the walkway and railing. Does the human figure look properly scaled here? There is some play in this, as there were several models of the Ajax that differ in important respects, and a full scale set which differed even more.
Any dissenting opinions?
Progress on the next model for Fantastic Plastic…
No points for correctly guessing what this is. I *suspect* that recognition of this*might* be age-related. But I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
Obviously this is early in the modelling process. But it *should* be recognizable…
A Pratt & Whitney magazine ad from 1964 illustrating a spacecraft using a nuclear powerplant. This seems to depict only the actual powerplant, rather than an integrated vehicle. Some details of note are the large thermal radiators and the nuclear shielding. The reactor itself is the structure on the near end of the boom. Flanking it are two someone oddly shaped boxes; these are radiation “shadow shields” seeming placed and shaped to keep radiation from the reactor from impinging upon the radiators. The conical structure just beyond the reactor is another radiation shield , designed to shadow the main structure.
This appears to not be a painting, but a physical model… one seemingly made from metal. Accuracy is perhaps not 100%.
