A Herd of Dyna Soars

 models, news, projects, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Sep 052012
 

Work progresses on the 1/24 scale X-20 Dyna Soar. Shown here are five of them… three under active development, two more on standby. The three are spoken for by clients, the other two are open. If you are interested, send me an email:

Also visible: an industry standard feline scale reference… and one of the printed “extras” that will come with the model. Note that the re-entry heat shields over the windscreens have embedded rare earth magnets to hold them onto the Dyna Soar. Not shown: the display stand and carrying case that will also be provided.

 Posted by at 11:57 am

Bell Fold-Rotor Concept Model

 aircraft, models, projects  1 Response »
Aug 262012
 

A photo of a Bell Fold-Rotor concept. The Fold-Rotor was a tiltrotor design that used the props for vertical flight and to get moving forward, but for high speed used other propulsion systems (in this case, the turboshaft engines mounted in the fuselage that drove the wingtip props would disengage and become straight turbojets), and the rotors would stop and fold back to reduce drag. It was an interesting idea, but it still had all the weight of a tiltrotor system, and then some, but with added complexity.

 Posted by at 12:47 am

Anybody want an X-20 Dyna Soar?

 aircraft, blather, history, models, projects, sales & specials, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Aug 252012
 

A customer contracted me to build him a 1/24 scale X-20 Dyna Soar display model. Photos below of preliminary castings, produced in the last few days using a silicone mold that turned out to be too thin. There are flaws in the too-thin mold that came through on the cast, but which wouldn’t exist on a second mold which I plan to make. And obviously the ginormous hole in the tail end wouldn’t exist on a finalized model.

The entry shield will be held on with neodymium magnets, and there’ll be a few more details along with some printed goodies (at least one of which should be *really* impressive) as well as a new stand. There will be specially printed markings, and a choice of finishes… ultra-glossy nitrocellulose lacquer, or satin nitrocellulose lacquer.

The new mold will require that I buy $500 worth of silicone. Anyone interested in an X-20 of their very own? There won’t be too many of these made. If interested, send me an email:

Again, the model shown here is not a final version, just something of a “prototype.” The actual models will look substantially better.

 Posted by at 9:20 pm

Various Updates

 APR, blather, models, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion  2 Responses »
Aug 142012
 

1) APR V3N3: working on numerous CAD drawings of the XC-132 and related designs

2) NPP: re-designing the “Landing boat.” It’s amazing what people will sometimes post online without knowing just what it is that they have… in this case, three paintings of the landing boat, finally visible with adequate resolution.

3) Whispercraft model is just about done. Will be followed up by the Soviet LK lunar lander. Tremulis Zero Fighter may be sandwiched in there somewhere.

4) APR on MagCloud: after a few emails, it’s clear that substantially revising Volumes 1 and 2 *again* for release on MagCloud would not be worth the effort. So they will be reformatted to fit the MagCloud layout, some minor errors corrected, then released at some point. I’m considering producing a collection of CAD drawings to be released as an 11X17 formatted pDF, probably one collection per volume.

 Posted by at 4:17 pm

Martin Marietta HL-10 concept model

 aircraft, models, projects, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Jul 112012
 

From the NASA HQ history office, a photo of a Martin Marietta model of the HL-10. The ID plaque on the base of the model reads “NASA HL-10 LIFTING ENTRY RESEARCH VEHICLE,” but the interior clearly shows that this design was intended for transportation of crew, and possibly cargo, to space.

More info, including several diagrams, HERE.

 Posted by at 7:41 pm

Zenith Star Mockup

 history, models, nukes, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  3 Responses »
Jul 052012
 

The “Orphans in Space” DVD set contains a bunch of really rather odd old films about space, from the early part of the 20th century up to the 1980′s. The video of most interest to readers of this blog is a Martin-Marietta promotional video for the Zenith Star laser satellite, featuring snippets of a speech by President Reagan at the Martin Marietta facility (near Denver?) in front of a full-scale Zenith Star mockup.

The video was copied to DVD from a videotape, which is why the resolution is a bit low.

 Posted by at 10:25 am

Own your own Space Station V

 awesomeness, models, new products, science fiction  9 Responses »
Jun 202012
 

Seems Fantastic Plastic has released the Space Station V I modeled for ’em:

I haven’t seen one of the kits in person, but I have seen the laser stereolithographically produced master parts… and I gotta say it looked pretty spiffy even in that unfinished format. What with the photoetched-steel “unfinished rim” bits, the finished model photos look pretty snazzy.

 Posted by at 12:24 am

NAF Float Wing Convoy Interceptor

 aircraft, drawings, models, projects  8 Responses »
Jun 152012
 

Taken from a January 1947 NACA-Langley wind tunnel test report are some images describing the Naval Aircraft Factory “Float wing convoy interceptor.” This was an unconventional single-engine, single-seat fighter plane designed to be catapulted off of a ship (a cargo ship, presumably), land in the water and then be picked up by crane and returned to service. There was no landing gear. The unusual fuselage had substantially more drag than a conventional one, due to the cutout needed for the mid-ship mounted propeller. The model was 1/4 scale. Full-scale information includes:

Engine: one Ranger XV-770-9, max 625 hp
Normal gross weight: 4000 lbs
Fighter overload gross weight: 4319 lbs
Wingspan: 29.83 ft
Wing area: 160 sq. ft

It seemed to be a poor performer. Not only lots of drag, but the rudder had a tendency to shake badly. This was clearly a WWII-era design; by 1947, not only was its design obsolete, so was its role.

 Posted by at 11:20 pm
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