Another project: early Convair lunar lander

 art, history, models, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Feb 112021
 

Recently finished, the CAD model for a 1/144 scale kit for Fantastic Plastic. This Convair idea utilized the same “landing boat” that Fantastic Plastic recently released in 1/48 scale. It’ll be a fairly simple kit. The design was illustrated in a number of renderings from the very late 1950’s/early 60’s, used often by or in conjunction with Krafft Ehricke as he tried to sell Americans on the future in space that they would soon have.

The vehicle had a landing boat at the top and a habitat module below it; below that is the stage with three RL-10 rocket engines, with six drop tanks around it. *Presumably,* the tanks, along with the landing gear, would be dropped shortly after launch from the Moon, with fuel in the main core providing not only the boost back to Earth but also a braking thrust to at least slow the ship, because I have *serious* doubts about that boat surviving a lunar re-entry.

 

 Posted by at 7:58 pm

Warp update

 art, models, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Feb 112021
 

It has been officially decided to go with 1/288 scale for the IXS Enterprise, making the model somewhat larger. Progress continues; the pylons have some more detail, the warp rings have been split into three inner segments, four outer segments, with a wall thickness of about an eighth inch and a hollow within, allowing lighting for those so ambitious.

 Posted by at 12:56 am

Making her point for her

 Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 102021
 

The actress Gina Carano is probably best known for playing the character Cara Dune on the Disny+ series “The Mandalorian.” She is probably second-best known for being an conservative in Hollywood, and for being open about it. She has tweeted a number of things that have set off the twitter mob. Most recently, this:

Her point seems to be that being a Republican these days is like being a Jew in Nazi Germany, where random strangers are taught that it’s ok to attack you in the streets. Is she hyperbolic? Yeah. Is she *wrong?* Welllllll…

So, after saying that being a Republican can get you attacked, what happened?

Disney fired her.

Gina Carano Is No Longer a Part of Star Wars

a Lucasfilm spokesperson said the following: “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.”

Claim that you are being unfairly targeted? Clearly you are a nut, so we will try to erase your career. That will show you the error of your ways. Bad, bad Gina! Wrongthink!

 

I’ll just leave this here:

 Posted by at 9:20 pm

Going to Warp

 art, awesomeness, Hmm..., models, news, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Feb 102021
 

My first book contract had the due date for the manuscript in July, 2020. But guess what, a pandemic came along and shoved that back a full year. So I got a *second* contract, with a due date in January 2021. But guess what… pandemic pushed it to March. That book is *almost*  done, but I’ve taken a bit of a break from it to work feverishly on a completely different project: a CAD model of the “IXS Enterprise.” This is a notional spacecraft designed by artist Mark Rademaker to illustrate what a spacecraft based on an Alcubierre Warp Drive might look like; NASA has used various renderings of this vehicle quite often for that purpose.

The CAD model, which is being produced with the assistance and approval of Mr. Rademaker and Dr. Harold White of NASA, will be used to 3D print master parts for a 1/350 scale resin model kit to be released by Fantastic Plastic. As originally designed the IXS Enterprise had a length of 62.3 meters (which is being changed due to recent updates in the design) and the overall diameter is 41.3 meters. The model will thus be 17.8 cm/7 inches long by 11.8 cm/4.64 inches in diameter. This will put it in scale with the Polar Lights NCC-1701 Enterprise kit and the Moebius XD-1 USS Discovery kit, along with a whole bunch of ships.

UPDATE: there has been discussion about the scale of the model… chances are fair that it will get bumped up to 1/288 scale from 1/350. That would make it 8.5 inches long by 5.6 inches diameter.

The project to convert the  original CAD model into a printable kit is proceeding at a good pace.

 Posted by at 2:18 am

The Great Filter

 AARRRGH, cats, humor  No Responses »
Feb 092021
 

Here’s a problem that just a few years ago would have been inconceivable. Now it’s conceivable. And hilarious.

Also hilarious: the legal notice that recording that hearing was illegal. Snerk.

 

 Posted by at 4:44 pm

A minor revision to the “insurrection” narrative

 Forward!, Hmm..., politics  No Responses »
Feb 082021
 

One of the most important points that is commonly raised about the January 6 weirdness at the Capitol is that a police officer was murdered, bashed in the head with a fire extinguisher by a Trump supporter.

Yeah, about that, CNN has some relevant info:

According to one law enforcement official, medical examiners did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma, so investigators believe that early reports that he was fatally struck by a fire extinguisher are not true.

Basically, Officer Sicknick fell ill later that day and died the next. The cause, at least publicly, remains unknown… as does the identity of the Capitol police officer who summarily executed Ashli Babbit for trespassing. In contrast, the police officers who were involved with the death of George Floyd were identified publicly and fired inside of a day. The investigative journalism world would seem to have some opportunities here for breaking a few stories.

 Posted by at 8:21 am

Supercooled water

 blather, Hmm..., science, youtube  No Responses »
Feb 082021
 

Winter has finally grown cold enough that the garage has dropped substantially below freezing, but bottled water is still liquid. Water can remain liquid far below its freezing point if it is pure enough; by not having a nucleation point for the freezing process to start on, undisturbed water can get to something like 40 below before it will freeze. But if supercooled water is agitated, the process can begin. Behold the utter excitement of life in my garage:

Yeah, yeah, vertical video. Learn to live with disappointment, it’s not like going landscape would have bought this anything.

 

 Posted by at 7:50 am
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