1/288 scale "Orion Battleship"

[Orionblamblam]

A modification of the CAD model I created for APR is going to be kitted by Fantastic Plastic.

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=3216

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=3219

 

[Triton]

Is this the design that horrified President John F. Kennedy?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Yes. Basic configuration is accurate. Details are speculative but based on descriptions from Orioneers.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Dear Scott,

Do you have a schedule for this project? And will you have the Mk 42s? Got to have those five inch guns to be a Space Battleship!

Which raises an interesting "What If?" question...

What would such a ship be called? Would USAF commission it as a United States Spaceship (USS Billy Mitchell) or would it receive a permanent call sign as a name like NASA spacecraft (Orion 5)? Or would it just be the 702nd Strategic Missile Wing with a single vehicle assigned with it's USAF serial code?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Dear Scott,

Do you have a schedule for this project? And will you have the Mk 42s?

The illustration shows the model as it is meant to be made available. There will be differences, but they are largely in the way of *completing* the design... hinges, details, different landing boats, etc.

Schedule: I dunno. Hoping to complete the CAD model within a week or two; it will then take X number of day/weeks to get the parts printed up, Y number of days/weeks to clean up and finish the parts, and Z number of months for the parts to be send to a caster for molding and casting, followed by who the hell knows how long for other preparations. I wouldn't expect it out before 2010.

Here's the turret bay, saved as an STL file (a stereolithograhy file). In a perfect world with a perfect 3D printer, this is what the parts would come out looking like.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

The illustration shows the model as it is meant to be made available. There will be differences, but they are largely in the way of *completing* the design... hinges, details, different landing boats, etc.

Any chance of a crewman in local control of the five inch gun? Got to be the best job in the space corps...

 

[flateric]

Abe, this was really nice

 

[Rickshaw]

Several questions.

How do they overcome the recoil from the guns?

What are the two tubes above the turret in the bay on the sloping ceiling?

Why did the design "horrify" President Kennedy? Cost?

 

[Abraham Gubler]

Abe, this was really nice

It makes me laugh... glad to see others join the party ;-)

How do they overcome the recoil from the guns?

Recoil takes into account the mass of the overall launcher system. Which in the case of an Orion space battleship is several thousand tonnes of space ship. Plus active stabilisation and its "no big thing..."

What are the two tubes above the turret in the bay on the sloping ceiling?

"Casaba Howitzer" Read the post history or ie. an X-Ray detonation laser system.

Why did the design "horrify" President Kennedy? Cost?

Nahh, compared to the cost of 600 Minutemans... nothing much $$$ wise. He was freaked out by having a single corvette sized ship with the lethality to wipe out humanity. Sure it may have ended the Cold War 20 years early but a hard thing to embrace; the old Orion space battleship. Its our Ace up the sleeve if we ever need to fight someone from outside our planet... Fly Orion!

 

[Just call me Ray]

Don't forget the part where merely launching it would probably wipe out humanity according to the most nuclear-phobic out there; but either way this thing uses the detonations of nuclear bombs to propel it, so you can go ahead and figure out why people weren't so fond of it (or Orion ships in general).

 

[Orionblamblam]

Posted a bunch of new progress shots to my blog.

 

[bobbymike]

Wow incredible!! ;D

Abe - Back in the 50's I wonder if the US made a decision to advance science and engineering development on all these systems where we would be today. Instead of spending $3.2 trillion on non defense and non space stuff and spend only half of this on space and defense I shutter to think what we would have today. Totally agree with your "it would have ended the Cold War 20 years earlier" Question to the politicians - Why did you hold us back?

 

[Rickshaw]

Abe, this was really nice

It makes me laugh... glad to see others join the party ;-)

How do they overcome the recoil from the guns?

Recoil takes into account the mass of the overall launcher system. Which in the case of an Orion space battleship is several thousand tonnes of space ship. Plus active stabilisation and its "no big thing..."

"Active stabilisation"? I assume that means some form of compensatory jet firing on the reverse side to the gun firing?

What are the two tubes above the turret in the bay on the sloping ceiling?

"Casaba Howitzer" Read the post history or ie. an X-Ray detonation laser system.
[/qutoe]

So that is what they supposedly looked like? Looks a tad flimsy for an x-ray detonating laser system. I expect something more than just a tube open at either end. :

Why did the design "horrify" President Kennedy? Cost?

Nahh, compared to the cost of 600 Minutemans... nothing much $$$ wise. He was freaked out by having a single corvette sized ship with the lethality to wipe out humanity. Sure it may have ended the Cold War 20 years early but a hard thing to embrace; the old Orion space battleship. Its our Ace up the sleeve if we ever need to fight someone from outside our planet... Fly Orion!

I suspect it wouldn't have ended it but would have caused its escalation. The destabilising nature of such a weapon system would have been extremely dangerous to MAD. As to it being useful to fight a potential invading alien race, I rather think that if they are able to harness energy sufficiently to have an interstellar invasion force, we'd need something a tad more powerful than one Orion. Perhaps a computer virus?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Re: 1/288 scale "Orion Battleship:" Now Available

It's now available. Buy fast!

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

 

[amsci99]

Scott,

In actual operation, would the long piston dampers be covered by some sort of shroud? They look rather exposed to space debris which might impede their damping function over a period of time.

 

[bobbymike]

Orionblamblam - you got a link over at Instapundit about Orion. Its a popular political site. Hopefully you get a lot of increased traffic and orders for APR. ;D

 

[quellish]

Excuse me? Where have I suggested any such thing or is it perhaps that if someone disagrees with your viewpoint they must automatically be 100% supportive of the opposition? This is like Doubya's childish, "if yer not wit' us yer agin us," thinking on 11 September. :

I'm sorry, I must have clicked on "The Bar" accidentally. I thought this was a thread about a spacecraft model?
I used to build models, and they were not left or right leaning at all, unless I got my fingers stuck together.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Hopefully you get a lot of increased traffic and orders for APR. ;D

Increased traffic... yes. Increased orders... well, "three" is an increase over "zero," I suppose...

It is in fact an infinitely large increase. In percentage terms at least.

 

[Jemiba]

Perhaps we should come back to the details of the model and not discuss pros and
cons of nuclear radiation ? :
It's neither the right section of the forum, nor is the tone the best for such a discussion.

This is intended as a warning, continuation in the way we've seen, would lead to the topic
being locked .

 

[quellish]

Sure. But now the question is... what benefits can accrue from irradiating the model itself? Would lightly irradiated urethane resin provide any advantages? Would it glow in the dark? Would it be structurally stronger? Would it stomp around your room and smash your other model kits if you taunted it?

I have to admit, making this particular model glow in the dark does sound pretty cool.

 

[martinbayer]

"I have to admit, making this particular model glow in the dark does sound pretty cool."

quellish,

I completely agree - I think putting a plug into the push plate and marketing it as a night light might actually increase sales...

Martin

 

[Matej]

It seems that it does not help. Topic is locked for a few days. Till that time cool down and prepare the facts about the Orion Battleship. If you want to discuss Nazi science, global warming or anything equally stupid in this case, please use the PMs.