Space Station V & Orion III

 models, new products, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  11 Responses »
Oct 262011
 

The Space Station V kit will come with at least 2 Orion III spaceplanes. The question, of course, is how to scale the Orion III with the station, since there is no official size for either. One stated diameter for the SSV is 1,000 feet, which was apparently a size specified before filming. That’d be fine, except that apparently Kubrick thought that the Station looked small compared to the Orion III, and had it optically scaled up by a factor of two, leading to a diameter of 2000 feet.

The Orion III is also officially unsized. However, I believe that a good case was made for a span of 109 feet by Ian Walsh of Stargazer Models, described here.  And so, one of the Orion III spaceplanes will be scaled to the station by a ratio of 109 feet/1,000 feet, as shown here:

This is clearly wrong when you look at how the two objects scale against each other as actually filmed. However, it’s actually a pretty good match, and it really looks like this was how the two were originally intended to be scaled:

On the other hand, when they are scaled to a ratio of 109/2,000, they look fairly right compared to the screen.

So at least these two size of Orions will be included, so that the model builder can choose their own scale for the kit. Depending upon production costs, a third or even a fourth intermediate size of Orion may be included (such as one to depict the station being 1500 feet in diameter).

 Posted by at 10:36 pm

1/100 Cutaway Saturn V Available Again

 awesomeness, models, rockets, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Oct 092011
 

One of the more interesting model kits to be released in recent years was the “Famemaster” 1/100 scale model of the Saturn V. It was interesting not only because it was big, but because it was a cutaway model showing the innards of the tanks on all three stages. Assembled well, modified somewhat and properly painted, it can build up into a damn fine museum piece.

The two biggest problems with the Famemaster Saturn V were that it was expensive, and that it was not released in large numbers. A single production run a couple years back quickly vanished. At long last, though, it’s back. A number of online source have it for $300 or more, but Amazon has it for $250. It probably won’t be around all that long this time, either.

So, if’n yer interested, buy now. Feel free to use the link below…

 Posted by at 6:42 pm

Pluto Model News

 blather, models, news  No Responses »
Oct 022011
 

I’ve heard this evening that the Pluto 1/72 model from Fantastic Plastic got off to a good start in terms of sales. Now keep in mind that this is a “garage kit” model, albeit a very well produced one, so “good sales” mean something different than, say, a Monogram model kit. One of the upshots of this sort of kit is that production runs are typically measured in dozens, not thousands. This means that if sales are surprisingly good, the whole production run can be snapped up in a week or two. So if you were interested in one of the Pluto models, it might make sense to go sooner rather than later.

 Posted by at 11:50 pm

The Atomic Cannon is back

 awesomeness, models, news, weapons  2 Responses »
Oct 022011
 

The old 1/32 scale Renwall Blueprint model of the M65 “Atomic Annie” cannon with prime movers has been re-released by Revell. I’ve spoken to a  local hobbyshop owner who believed that there won’t be many of these made.

I *still* think these would be neato next to a 1/32 scale SICBM Hard Mobile Launcher…

 Posted by at 5:23 pm

1/72 Project Pluto model now available

 aircraft, APR, awesomeness, drawings, drawings&documents, models, new products, news, projects, rockets, weapons  15 Responses »
Sep 282011
 

From Fantastic Plastic, the 1/72 Pluto/SLAM model I mastered a while back:

It is available HERE.

NOTE: The kit has been retired.

http://fantastic-plastic.com/ProjectPlutoCatalogPage.htm

And to help with the detailing, don’t forget to pick up your Project Pluto CAD drawings, available to download for $3.

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And For Grud’s sake, if you are going to build a Pluto model, you have to download a copy of Aerospace Projects Review issue V2N1 with the ginormous Pluto article…

Available to download for a miniscule $8.00!

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 Posted by at 12:15 pm

Space Station V progress

 awesomeness, models, science fiction  6 Responses »
Sep 272011
 

A blog reader came through on the BluRay screenshots from “2001,” and they proved to be a lot better than my own DVD screenshots. Not terribly surprising, of course. They revealed a lot of details that were previously just small blurs. That’s good… lets me be accurate. That’s also bad… it shows me that the Station had a *lot* of little detail bits.

Here is a render of part of the model showing the current state of things. The greeblies on the spokes are completely different, and the spokes now feature additional cables running along the surface. The inner surface of the rim now features a good chunk of the detailing it needs… the broader strokes are in place, but a boatload of greeblies are needed. Windows are now punched into the rim surface… these windows are accurately placed.

My hope here is to end up with a Space Station V model that anybody would look at and say “yup.” The beauty of CAD is that after all the work is done, when the kit master parts are printed and cleaned up, the molds are made and the kit in production, I could theoretically always print out a bigger version. I’ve seen a number of people online making large-scale Space Station V models, either for themselves or intended as kits… around 30 inches diameter seems to be the general consensus. Not sure where I’d put a model that big, and I *know* I couldn’t afford to print one off that big… but it’s nice to know that it’s always a possibility.

 Posted by at 1:48 pm

Flying Boomers 6: DC-10 MX-launcher

 aircraft, history, models, nukes, projects, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 252011
 

A few photos of a McDonnell-Douglas display model of a DC-10 modified to launch a pair of MX (or MX-like) ICBMs. The missiles are held in pneumatic tubes, with a high pressure gas system near the nose of each missile; clearly, the missiles would not be simply slid out the back, but rather *shot* out the back with some authority. While the photos do not show the underside of the aft fuselage, clearly there has been some major modification to the design there. Less obvious is a change to the outer moldline of the upper fuselage… “bumps” are added to provide sufficient clearance for the angled missile tubes.

 Posted by at 3:52 pm

Space Station V update

 awesomeness, models, new products, science fiction  1 Response »
Sep 252011
 

Here are the first in-progress shots of the SSV CAD model being built with Rhino 3D. Most of the structure is worked out, but there’s a lot of surface detail to be fleshed out (is there *anybody* with the ability to take screenshots from the “2001” BluRay???). The model is being built for accuracy first, then some of it will be backed off a bit for the actual 3D printing process.. Some of the important details, especially those along the cables suspended alongside the spokes (the stuff in green), would be probably impossible to print, mold and cast reliably at small size, so some adjustments may be required.

 Posted by at 3:04 pm
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