Two planes

A new year has started. My last post was about what I hope for in this year, so i don’t have to get into that any more.
During the first month of 2023 I have made two models and brought back my models from their two and a half month stay in Uithuizen, where they were shown in the local library. I have had positive reactions so I think you could call it a succes.

In the meantime I was looking for new models to build. And I decided to keep it familiar territory. So it became a Fokker D.XXI and later on I had fun building a little Zio plane. Here are two pictures of the planes; after the break there is a more detailed report.

Zio's Breda BA-65

Nobi's Fokker D.XXI

X-20 Dyna Soar (part 4): What if?

Spring, 1980. On the long runway of Kennedy Space Center a horde of photographers stands around two small space planes together with one impressive big one behind them. One of the small planes is faded black all over, the other one looks like it is a child of the big one, although it is the other way around.
This photo-op is the last chance to see the two Dyna Soars and the result of their effort, the Rockwell Space Shuttle Orbiter OV101, together. The black Dyna Soar is shown in its former USAF livery. The black and white one is called Enterprise and the big Space Shuttle Orbiter is called Constitution.

More on the story and the build after the jump.

X-20 Dyna Soar with Transtage 1/48 (3)

Well, one moment you have all the time in the world and next it's like a pandemonium. We're working on the last bits of the documentary film about ANS, the first Dutch satellite, and we both have our daily jobs to do too. So there's little time to glue some paper there days.

Anyway, it did so happen this week I actually made some time and the Dyna Soar is finished.

 
Here's a picture of the finished model, for those who want to see more, just click on where it says "Click here to read the rest of the story!" and voilà.

X-20 Dyna Soar with Transtage 1/48 (2)

Where were we?
Oh yes. Wings. The X-20 was a sturdy little wedge shaped machine. The paper wings were cut out and with the help of a little dab of water on a wetted Q-tip, traced one time along the back of the paper where the wing needs to be curved works miracles. I should do a little tutorial about that one day.

You can read the rest of this story when you click on the orange text below, saying  "Click here to read the rest of this story!" 

X-20 Dyna Soar & Transtage 1/48 (1)

A legendary spaceplane. Never flown, never realised. In the late 1950s, when the X-15 made its first powered flights, the U.S. Ministry of Defense already dreamt about spying on the Russians from outer space. And what would be a nicer idea than a reusable space plane? Long story short, Boeing was chosen to create the little manned space plane called the X-20 Dyna Soar (dynamic soaring). But after creating a full scale mockup, selecting six Air Force pilots to become astronauts for the plane and lots of training equipment and space suit designs, senator MacNamara cancelled the project.  Reason: spysats had become very efficient and cheap(ish) and otherwise Gemini spacecraft could do the job equally well. No need for a space plane. Bye bye Dyna Soar.

Dyna Soar mock up with two suited men, presumably Boeing officials.
Photo: Wikimedia commons

But look at it. Just. Look. At. It. Isn't is beautiful? Paper model designer Mark Cable designed a beautiful 1/48th scale model with the so-called Transtage, a kind of kick-booster stage of the large Titan rocket family. A weird-looking contraption with protruding tanks having pointy ends, rocket engine bells on a trapezium tube construction and checkers on the sides. Hypergolically fueled, it had a simple and reliable propulsion method. No need for elaborate turbo pumps, the rocket was just pressure-fed and the fuel ignited when mixed.

Dyna Soar and its transtage in orbit. The forward facing windows were covered with a protective shield that would
be jettisoned after re-entry. The X-20 would land on a dry Californian lakebed using metal skids.
Image: Buran.ru

This is how the X-20 might have looked when arriving in orbit.
And that is how I am going to build it. Here's an initial photo, after the jump you can see the rest of the first session of building the Dyna Soar.

Hon Hon, C'est un Caudron!

 Oui, oui, I said I would build an inbetweenie so I did. I said I might build something by Fabrizio Prudenziati but this one has been on the list for some time too.

Those interbellum French planes really had that je-ne-sais-quoi. They were sleek, long and short-winged, fast and just like Citroëns, very unique in their shape and appearance. Caudron built a lot of these racing planes in the thirties and this culminated in the Caudron Rafale.

The C.450 is one of the many versions of this plane, flown by, amongst others, Hélène Boucher. In 1934 she set a couple of records in this machine. She only had her pilot's license for two years and yet she flew as if she never has done anything else. Concentrating at aerobatics first, she drew lots of spectators to her performances in her Gypsy Moth. Soon thereafter, she bought a new plane and tried her luck on racing. She signed a contract with aircraft manufacturer Caudron and soon flew with their high-speed aircraft in air races. She set a new speed record over 100 and 1000 kilometres and the all-round speed record for women. Unfortunately, she crashed when taking off in a Caudron C. 430 in november 1934 and died of her injuries, only 26 years old.

All Caudron planes answered to the same aesthetics. long-nosed, short-winged. French paper model designer Philippe Renesson designed a very sturdy and super-tight fitting model of the C.450. This is the result, after the jump some build pictures.

Boucher apparently was not bothered with superstitious thoughts. She flew the number thirteen.

Myasishchev M-55 Geophysica 1/48 [part 1]

The first long-duration build of this year. Hopefully one with a prosperous end. Maxim from MaksArt treated us last year with a lot of splendid new models, amongst others this beautiful Myasishchev M-55 Russian (former) spy plane, designed to be built in 1/33!

photo: Wikimedia.org / Aleksandr Rebrov

The M-55 is quite an attractive plane to see, with its twin boom tail and its long wingspan. It also has an interesting history.
More on that below.

Beauty shots of Major Tom's capsule

I found a star shaped tealight holder in the thrift shop. Now I could finish the display. I took some extra shots of it just now, so you can see what I did with it. I painted it with Mars black (black with red mixed in it to give it a warmer and deeper shade) and well, this is it.
Expect a N-1 update in the next two days. Until then, here are 4 beauty shots.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.
--PK

I think his spaceship knows which way to go... (an inbetweenie)

If there is any pop singer I could be called a kind of a fan of, it is David Bowie. His songs have accompanied me in most of my adolescent and adult life. I enjoy his big variety in styles, his voice and the atmospheres he created on his albums. I was genuinely sad to read of his death. In the past few weeks his songs are in high rotation on my iPod. I must admit, I find his later work, from say, Let's Dance up to Reality not that compelling as the stuff he did before that (except for the Tin Machine albums and Earthling), but The Next Day (2013) is good and especially his most recent, Blackstar, is a remarkably fine album.
I wanted to do something as a little tribute to Bowie and his music, and what other way than to make a small model?
I took a couple of classic iconic symbols out of his catalogue and merged them into one display.

A little back story:
In 1995 I painted a huge picture (more than 4 metres long and almost 2 metres high) of Bowie's Space Oddity. It was used for decoration at dance nights in the quite legendary Vera Club, where I worked as a volunteer in those days. Not long thereafter, the piece was gone. Nicked by someone who appreciated it, I hope. I wish I still had it, I really liked it a lot. I only have some sketches of it left. This also was the starting point of what I wanted to make. It was the first time I started to do research on how the capsule actually looked and what I had to change to make it like I imagined it for Major Tom's spacecraft. It actually restarted my fascination with spaceflight again. Because of this, I started the collection of space books I now have.

A small drawing in an old sketch book of mine. In real life it was really huge. I wish I knew where it is. 
Lyrics of course © David Bowie

The build story is below.

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 5: A couple of beauty shots

So I was tinkering with a new camera a little this afternoon, and I decided to make some shots of the Gemini - Agena diorama. A little more visual details, but also some more blemishes and seams visible.
And more after the jump below.

Leaves me to wish you all a prosperous and peaceful New Year and all the best for you and your loved ones.
--PK

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 4: Finished!

Well, merry christmas everyone!
Gemini XII is finished and docked, floating high over the earth with Buzz making a nice long EVA.
I changed a little to the model since last time, you can see what I did after the jump.
Here's a photo of the finished product. Well, as I say finished, I mean more or less, actually because I need to put four little shock braces on the back collar of the engine. Totally forgot about them. But with these shots you'll get a good picture of what it looks like as a finished diorama anyway.

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 3: Gemini cockpit & yet another astronaut

Well hello, here I am again.
Still busy but now and then there's time to maintain the model building skills a little. Work on the Gemini diorama is continuing with the round up of the capsule build and the building of Buzz.

Here's a closer look at Buzz' empty chair, while he's doing his EVA. I added some extra details to his chair, like the arm restraints and all the belts, which float free now Buzz is outside. (all pics are a little larger than shown so click for bigger)
More after the jump.

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 2: Gemini cockpit & astronaut

And on we go.
It's been some time and it feels good to have regained some time to fiddle with glue and paper.
After the Agena it's time for the docked Gemini spacecraft. The idea was to show it with the hatch opened during Buzz' space walk. So the interior is visible and of course, Jim Lovell in the commander's seat is visible as well. So I had to do the interior and an astronaut inside as well.

Here is the result, the pictures of the build are after the jump.

Yes, the astronaut is made of paper, too. The helmet however, is not.

Gemini XII - Agena EVA 1/48, pt. 1: Agena Target Vehicle

Well, it looks like I still am able to build something out of paper. I already started to doubt myself. It's just a little exercise, nothing really special. I decided on building the last Gemini flight, with the spacecraft docked to the Agena target vehicle while Buzz Aldrin is doing his EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity, for those of you who are not yet in the know).
The models come from Delta 7 models, designed by Dan Shippey. Very well detailed and totally worth the price. Absolutely recommended. In the files you'll find all Gemini versions (12 of them), the different Agena's, the Angry Alligator (ATDA), an 1/96 Titan with Gemini, an extra detail set with opening doors and even a splashdown  model.  I already did two Gemini's earlier on, depicting the rendezvous between Gemini's 6 and 7. And there will be more to come!  

I used several types of paper, used lots of test pages to get it all in the same and right scale and the build commenced.
Here's the end result of the Agena, the build pictures are after the jump.

Watchers of the Skies: Planck [2]

The times are filled with loads of stuff to do. At the moment we just have started the actual editing of not one but three documentary films that all have to be finished in the summer. (a link to the trailer of the biggest one will follow soon.) So you can imagine I do not have seas of time to work on my model stuff, even though I'd love to. 

Anyway, I did make some progress the last week. Planck is a nice little model, and I am using two different designs and kind of kitbash them together. One is John Jogerst's kit, a very fine and easy fitting model. The other is one I downloaded from the ESA website. It' much simpler but on some parts the graphics are better. So I use the best of both and of course a lot of scratch building.
After a couple of days, I found the thermal shields of the probe were too thick, they were made up of three thick layers of paper and it just got too bulky for my taste. So I redid then using just one layer of paper in which I carefully removed some gloss top surface to mimic the petals' separation lines. The bottom side was covered with petals of aluminium tape. These looked so much better.
Here's one photo, the rest of the pictures are as usual after the jump.

Watchers of the Skies: Planck [1]

I have mentioned before how I am fascinated by deep space probes. I still can't tell you exactly why that is, but part of it must be that they're far away and all of them are pioneers. And I also have a fascination with pioneers. 
Some of them just head out and will forever roam away from their planet of birth, like Voyagers 1 and 2 and Pioneer 10. Some stay a little closer but also travel unspeakable distances. Lots of them pass Earth more than one time again to gain speed to catapult themselves into another orbit or trajectory to a planet, comet or some other celestial body.
Special ones are designated to spend their working life at the poetically named Lagrange points. These specific spots in the neighbourhood of a planet or moon are exactly where the gravitational pull is more or less cancelled. An object placed at such a point will travel around the sun with the same speed as the Earth and moon and will look stationary from the viewpoint of as well the Earth as the moon. Such points are ideal for stationing or observation.

Lagrange points around the Earth and its Moon.

Let's take point L1 for example. An object there always will be at the same place between the Moon and the Earth. By doing so it will be at a predictable spot so you can easily fly towards it and, for example dock. Imagine a journey to the moon and a little further than halfway there is a docking station. There you can get off and transfer to a moon taxi that will bring you to the surface. The ship you came with refuels and returns to Earth. Beyond the orbit of the Moon you'll find L2. It also is a very precise spot with a very precise purpose. Here, the moon cancels out the reflections of light coming from the earth. The object practically always is in the shadow of the moon*. So, no hindrance of excessive light. At such a spot you also could have a special kind of observation platform, like a space telescope.
Planck is such a space telescope. It was built by the European Space Agency to be placed there and survey the galaxy around us. 
In 2009 Planck was launched, together with its brother telescope, Herschel, on top of an Ariane 5 from Kourou. Planck was placed at the L2 point and there observed the phenomenons of the universe, mainly things like the cosmic background noise which is used to determine the age of the universe.  Planck was operational until august 2013. After that, it had run out of cooling fluid for its telescope parts and it could no longer function. It then was put into a parking orbit around the sun, to keep the L2 point free for successors and was powered down.

Well, that's just a little tip of the iceberg. Lots more to tell about Planck. But I started with a model of the telescope. And that is what this blog is about. Paper models.
Here's where it started, more after the jump.

*"practically always in the shadow of the moon": of course this is only partially true. In reality, the probe orbits in a special "wobbly orbit" around the imaginary Lagrange point, so it also can catch some sunlight to power its equipment.

Saturnial Prelude [7]: The finished F-1

Sunday and today I've worked on a little way to display the finished F-1 engine. I took some thick yellow paper and scratch built this little transport cart for the engine. I then grabbed a photo frame and quickly designed a concrete block paved surface. Here's the final result of my Rocketdyne F-1 engine model.
I hope you like it. Up next maybe an inbetweenie, or maybe the start of something really big...
'til then, thanks for watching!
--PK

(A lot more after the jump, as usual.)

Saturnial Prelude [6]

The F-1 engine has been finished. All the piping is added and I am quite pleased with it. But the whole display is not entirely finished. I now am working on a small kart on which the engine was transported from one assembly hall to another. That will come later, here's the pictures of the finished Rocketdyne F-1 engine.

And as usual, more after the jump.
Thanks for taking a look!
--PK

Saturnial Prelude [5]

Time is precious, and that's not any different with this build. There's a lot to do besides paper building and so progress is slow. But I like what I see. Since I redid the small plumbing at the side of the turbo pump manifold, I really got back into this build. This engine started out as having to end up as another version of Greelt's F-1 engine, which is, in all regards, a beaut. But after the engine bell was made, I just started freewheeling as usual. Discarding most of the parts of the paper kit, making my own and just trying to make as much detail as possible.
I have started on the big tubes around the neck of the engine. These pipes directly distribute the fuel and oxidizer to the turbo pump and the engine. The amount of fuel they needed was incredibly high so they needed to be big.
I also found out the engine went through a lot of modifications before they were used with the Saturn in the end. This version is, in a sense, becoming a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. Greelt used the rounded manifold around the engine bell, while the flown engines had a shape that more or less resembled one's back end. Also, the plumbing differs a lot between versions I have pictures of. Presuming the engine didn't change a lot after the first couple of flights, I presume the other large differences are all older versions of the engine. (if not, let me know, I really am interested in those things).
Anyway, here's some paper stuff to look at. And as usual, more after the jump.
See you!
--PK

Saturnial prelude [4]

Details. And redo's. I decided for example to redo the little plumbing lines that go from the engine bell's neck to the turbopump's manifold. They were too ugly after all. I now didn't use primer before painting them silver. The rest just are some more progress pictures with not much textual to add.