Jan 262014
 

The last remaining bits of missingness from the Prometheus model are the numerous antennae. This is starting to be rectified. The two “radar” dishes” have been assembled. They are cruder and beefier than what’s shown on screen for the simple fact that these parts will need to be printed, molded and cast in resin, and to-scale parts would be far, far too fine to even reliably print. Note that the starboard dish is built on a ball and socket joint, and folds down into a recess for flight.

In the early stages is work on all the “rod” antennae that litter this vehicle. The actual kit parts will be a mix of resin and wire. So far I’ve cobbled together the two bundles behind the starboard “radar.” The wire components are shown in yellow. Wire placeholders are in place for all the bundles, as shown in the previous post showing the model dimensions.

2014-01-26

 Posted by at 9:08 pm
Jan 242014
 

Here are the main dimensions of the Prometheus model, assuming a 560-foot length and 1/500 scale. Dimensions are in millimeters. If you want it in inches or feet or yards or li or rods or fathoms or furlongs or leagues or parsecs… well, it’s late, I’m tired, and what, is your arm broke? Use a calculator.

2014-01-24

 Posted by at 1:15 am
Jan 232014
 

After more than a month (yay, H1N1!), here are some progress shots on the Prometheus. The vast bulk of the modeling is done (antennae and details on the lower “nose” being the main gaps now), but that doesn’t mean the project is done. The parts need to be hacked and carved and turned into printable, moldable and castable *kit* parts. This means turning the fat brick that is the main body into a series of shells, something my version of Rhino cannot do with the push of a button. So it needs to be “carved” out. The main body is here shown in four colors for the four parts it has currently been sliced into; this may reduce to two parts, top and bottom. Most of the hollowing is done; the extreme tail needs doing.

2014-01-23

Since the last update images were posted, the engines have been brought inboard to their correct position. The ball-and-socket joint should allow the engines to be modeled in landed, flight, or anywhere-in-between positions. Built right, it should be possible to build the whole thing so you can move them as desired, rather than fixed in place. However, the landing gear itself is being modeled in two distinct positions… if you want to scratchbuild that mess of pistons and hinges to be movable… well, you just go right ahead.

2014-01-23b

 Posted by at 1:35 pm
Jan 182014
 

There’s two ways to have a computer generated character walk:

1) You animate it walking, doign whatever you want

2) You *simulate* it walking, factoring in physics and anatomy and whatnot

For movies and whatnot, #1 gets the job done. #2 is far, far harder, and is prone to fail… but if you can pull it off, the results can be impressive.

 Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures

We present a muscle-based control method for simulated bipeds in which both the muscle routing and control parameters are optimized. This yields a generic locomotion control method that supports a variety of bipedal creatures. All actuation forces are the result of 3D simulated muscles, and a model of neural delay is included for all feedback paths. As a result, our controllers generate torque patterns that incorporate biomechanical constraints. The synthesized controllers find different gaits based on target speed, can cope with uneven terrain and external perturbations, and can steer to target directions.

[vimeo 79098420]

 Posted by at 4:26 pm
Dec 052013
 

The future ain’t what it used to be. Case in point: the “Futurama” exhibit from the 1964 Worlds Fair, displaying all kinds of stuff that people thought should have been in place by now.

[youtube 2-5aK0H05jk]

Beyond how close they got it or how far off the mark, one thing to consider: if such a display were put on today… would much of anybody even care? I suspect not. i just can’t see people getting excited by this sort of thing anymore. “Just Google it.”

 Posted by at 3:07 am
Dec 042013
 

A photo of dubious quality showing Phil Bono of Douglas standing next to a surprisingly large display model of the ICARUS/Ithacus intercontinental transport rocket. The photo was taken at the “Travel ’67 Show” at the Cow Palace convention center in San Fransisco. According to poster art found on eBay, this was held Feb 24 – Mar 5 of 1967. I haven’t been able to find out more about it, though it would seem that it must have been a convention about the future of transport. One can speculate that the facility was filled with representations of supersonic transports, monorails, high-speed trains, sleek cars with ridiculous fins…


More on the ICARUS/Ithacus, along with the related ROMBUS space launch booster, can be found in Aerospace Projects Review issue V2N6.

 Posted by at 10:16 pm