… that drive up processing time. All the little ridges, bumps and corrugations on the MOL model have turned this from a simple construction to something the computer has a fit trying to deal with.
Nov 052013
Nov 032013
Maybe coming soon to Fantastic Plastic, the recently “unveiled” SR-72.
Nov 012013
The X-20 CAD flub threw me off, but there has been some progress on Prometheus’ landing gear. It’s shown here not quite yet complete; the engines are not quite in the right positions, but this gets the idea across.
Oct 232013
Oct 192013
Fantastic Plastic has re-released some kits I mastered for ’em:
This is a “missile only” lower-cost version of the earlier kit.
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And FP posted photos of the still-available SPECTRE rocket, assembled and painted (really well) by a customer:
Oct 182013
X-20 Dyna Soar. Model being made for the purposes of illustrating the next issue of APR. Dunno if there’s enough interest in a physical model to make a stab at it, though a cutaway model showing the truss-structure innards – a thing only possible via 3D printing – seems appealing. Note that the heat panel lines are being modeled in place, so they should appear on any theoretical 3D print, and definitely appear on rendered illustrations.
Further progress on the Prometheus, mostly tinkering on the engines. You know what? These components are nightmares. But the final model is gonna be *awesome.*
So if you’ve been wondering why my blogging about old aerospace projects has fallen off of late… here ya go.
Oct 162013
Status, via photos and screenshots, of various model projects I’m working on.
Oct 082013
During Reagan’s “Star Wars” days, concept art of space-based anti-missile systems were cranked out on a fairly regular basis. Much of it was, most likely, pure artistic license with little basis in reality. However, some of the weapon artwork was clearly based on actual engineering, such as the Zenith Star and Brilliant Pebbles programs.
One uncertain design is shown in the painting below. It represents a space-based railgun, apparently capable of firing projectiles at high speed in rapid succession. While attributed to the DoD, the vehicle has “Boeing” painted on it. Unlike a lot of the designs, this one at least has a sufficiency of attitude control thrusters. Power for the system is probably nuclear, with the reactor on the far right, surrounded by conical radiators.
Seems it’d make a nifty display model.
Oct 082013
All the major structures have been in place for a while. Detailing is going to be a long progress…
Oct 072013
Interesting:
Stratolaunch quietly making progress
It seems they’re gearing up a manufacturing facility in Mojave to build the large twin-fuselage carrier aircraft, with a planned first test flight in 2016. Photos of display models of the carrier aircraft and the orbital vehicle at the link.