American Spacemodeling Cover....The Rest of the Story

A while back I showed you guys the cover of American Spacemodeling that featured John Dyer's plastic model conversion Saturn V moments before the loops began.... This week I was going through some old pictures and I found this...

Yep, that's John prepping the model for that same flight! Notice the clear fins that fit over the small stock fins. As it turned out it would take those PLUS nose weight to make this beast fly right. But she eventually did!

Also notice that it was pretty chilly and windy that day. The wind didn't help the PMC's much. Why is it always windy on PMC day? Is God trying to tell us something? Perhaps....

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Beyond the Clouds

Moon Day at the Frontiers of Flight Museum is a wonderful time to reflect on man's greatest step and look at what the future of spaceflight might hold. I have participated in all of them with DARS, and I would highly suggest it for anyone interested in space history.

One of the benefits of attending Moon Day is that you can meet a lot of great folks (both famous and not) who hold a vision of the future that is quite uplifting and refreshing. One such person was Richard Jefferies.

If you are a Star Trek geek, the name "Jefferies" should ring a bell. That's because Richard's brother, Matt Jefferies, designed the Enterprise, the Klingon Battle Cruiser and many other items for the show. In fact, the "Jefferies Tube" engine access portal on the Enterprise was named in his honor.

Richard often went to Moon Day to sell his book about his brother, "Beyond the Clouds." A couple of years ago I bought a copy and he was kind enough to sign it for me.

The book is quite good, and focuses on Matt's whole life, not just the Star Trek phase. Richard wrote it in an easy flowing conversational style, that makes for a fairly quick read. It has tons of illustrations as well! Here are some highlights:

Front cover highlighting the Enterprise

Back cover

A quick bio of Matt

...and one of Richard. 

He added an appropriate quote for me!

An early Enterprise. Notice the details were not quite nailed down yet.

An early sketch with even more strange details.

I love this shot of Matt with the Klingon Battle Cruiser!

The final drawings of the ships.

Richard was always very willing to talk about Matt, or really anything. He didn't really push the books, but was more than happy to sell you one if you asked! I rather looked forward to dropping by and saying "hi" every year.

I noticed that he wasn't at the last couple of Moon Days, so I checked on Google and it turns out that he, sadly,  passed away in June of 2015. I'm glad that I was able to meet him and get a copy of this great book.)

If you would like your own, they are still listed on Amazon.

So, until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

Where There's Smoke...

This week I decided to show you another member of the "to be built pile" that I picked up a few months ago at the local Hobby Lobby. The Estes Nike Smoke!

This is the 1/10 scale version, not the really big one. Still, I've always liked the looks of the Nike Smoke and with my 40% off coupon, the price was downright reasonable!

Although this is the smaller kit, it still has a respectable size, being about two feet tall. The nose cones on Nike Smokes are always the star of the kit, and this one is nice (although not overly detailed). I'm not a fan of the balsa fins, since getting a scale wedge sanded into them is going to be tough. I'm also not a fan of the 18mm motor mount. I see a 24mm in this kit's future!

When will that be? Heck, I don't know. I have so much going on and so many other kits in the pile, it might be a while. Still, it's a nice kit that looks to be a fairly simple build so it may be sooner than later.

There you have it! Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!