Fictional (But Realistic) Spacecraft

[XP67_Moonbat]

Justo's project looks like a distant relative of "Archie" from WATCHMEN.

 

[Hammer Birchgrove]

Justo's project looks like a distant relative of "Archie" from WATCHMEN.

As much as I love the design of "Archie" (and the graphic novel "Watchmen" in general) I keep getting bugged over how it was able to fly. I can't see how it would have enough helium, nor have I seen vertical fan ducts, and as advanced the technology in "Watchmen" generally is, I doubt Daniel Dreiberg would have an anti-gravity device. ???

 

[OM]

Robert McCall paintings (From his official website)

Concept and advertising paintings for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, showing the PanAm spaceplane and Discovery One

...An interesting film frame has surfaced recently courtesy of Doug Trumbull that shows McCall may have scaled the Pan Am Clipper about 10% smaller than the actual model to station ratio. The clip shows the Clipper in the landing bay, preparing for docking, and it barely clears the top/bottom of the bay. McCall's scaling allows for a couple more feet of clearing space.

I'd link to the pic, buy the bozo running Doug's site has it all set up in a flash nightmare, and it's a bitch and three-quarters to swipe an image from that morass.

 

[RanulfC]

Robert McCall paintings (From his official website)

Concept and advertising paintings for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, showing the PanAm spaceplane and Discovery One

I'm feeling a bit embarresed since it took me THIS long to realize that the bottom "concept" art obviously shows the 2001 spaceplane BACKWARDS resting on it's booster

Randy

 

[Orionblamblam]

I'd link to the pic, buy the bozo running Doug's site has it all set up in a flash nightmare, and it's a bitch and three-quarters to swipe an image from that morass.

"Print screen" is the only method I've found that works, sadly.

I'd not put a lot of stock in this image, though. It looks pretty clear that the Orion was simply cut out of one photo and pasted over the docking bay image.

 

[Barrington Bond]

There are links on this page to the pics on Trumbulls site.

Regards,
Barry

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=119101&pp=15&page=70

 

[OM]

There are links on this page to the pics on Trumbulls site.

...Good for them. As I don't visit every forum in the world, I was unaware of these efforts to distill the links.

 

[Orionblamblam]

There are links on this page to the pics on Trumbulls site.

Oooh. I'm not sure how "canon" this is, but... damn! The very first view of the otherwise unseen booster for the Orion 3!

 

[aim9xray]

Sierra Hotel!




Wait a tick - what's this? The Orion 2? The SpaceBus Industrie Z318?

 

[Michel Van]

There are links on this page to the pics on Trumbulls site.

Oooh. I'm not sure how "canon" this is, but... damn! The very first view of the otherwise unseen booster for the Orion 3!

So far i know this art work is from Robert McCall
so very dam close to Canon

zillion THX to Barrington Bond for Link
see for first time 2 of alternative Alien Designs

I'd link to the pic, buy the bozo running Doug's site has it all set up in a flash nightmare, and it's a bitch and three-quarters to swipe an image from that morass.

"Print screen" is the only method I've found that works, sadly.

I'd not put a lot of stock in this image, though. It looks pretty clear that the Orion was simply cut out of one photo and pasted over the docking bay image.

That is SFX Storyboard from Douglas Trumbull, not Stockimage from movie !

 

[Orionblamblam]

Wait a tick - what's this? The Orion 2? The SpaceBus Industrie Z318?

That model is barely visible in the Hilton office on Space Station V. It has been turned in to the Soviet "Titov" spaceplane, in model form:
http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/ilyushin%20titov.htm

The model is indisputably shown on screen (as a display model). The Soviet Titov was indisputably mentioned in the book & early script. The Aeroflot crew is indisputably seen on the SSV. So it's not a big stretch to assume thatthe spaceplane display model may be the Titov. This new photo showing it in a window of the SSV may (*may*) indicate that it was supposed to have been seen through a window at one point. Perhaps it just didn't look right, so Kubrick abandoned the idea... and someone stuck it on a desk instead.

The modeler didn't get it quite right... but until this newest image came along, it sure looked like he got it close.

 

[aim9xray]

Thanks for the info!

Hmmm. The amount of station-keeping to keep the "Titov" stationary with respect to that window makes my head hurt.

Perhaps the production photographer wanted the white model against a black background? ("Crickey! A white model against a white background? That's bollixing my light meter! Let's try this...it'll look artsy...")

 

[Orionblamblam]

Thanks for the info!

Hmmm. The amount of station-keeping to keep the "Titov" stationary with respect to that window makes my head hurt.

Realistically, the Titov would just flash past the window. I know Kubrick was a stickler for details, but I don;t remember seeing *anthing* out the SSV windows, apart from the Earth rotating outside the "phone booth" window. *Perhaps* is was tried and found to jsut not be worth the bother... it'd be just a white streak past a window, perhaps looking more like an error on the filmmakers part than an exteriro spacecraft. Guesswork, of course.

Perhaps the production photographer wanted the white model against a black background?

Perhaps even more likely, dunno.

 

[OM]

There are links on this page to the pics on Trumbulls site.

Oooh. I'm not sure how "canon" this is, but... damn! The very first view of the otherwise unseen booster for the Orion 3!

...It matches what Fred Ordway described back in 2002 when he dropped into town for a rocketry convention - Scott might remember this con, it's the one where the full trailer for Man Conquers Space was supposed to have premiered with a big hoo-rah-rah, but never arrived due to "UPS problems" so we had to settle for a poor-quality MPG. Although Fred didn't have any sketches of it to show - IIRC, he actually said Doug Trumbull "might have some" - he described two versions, one where the booster was a "mirror image" of the Orion 3 orbiter, and another where the orbiter sat on a second Orion 3 with a more flattened top, no hump for the twin engines, and instead either three or four large chemical-based rockets on the tail end. The total length of the booster was the same as the orbiter.

So yeah, I'd go so far as to venture that drawing's as close to canon as you're going to get

 

[Orionblamblam]

That model is barely visible in the Hilton office on Space Station V. It has been turned in to the Soviet "Titov" spaceplane, in model form:
http://www.planet3earth.co.uk/ilyushin%20titov.htm

I just got an email from Douglas Trumbull, confirming that that model is, in fact, the Titov.

 

[Pem Tech]

also the Marsship from "Conquest of Space" by George Pál (littel help by Dr. Von Braun)

Mainly my activities on Secret Projects is to lurk and gather information for new projects, but I have a moderate/strong opinion on this topic.

The Mars ship "Space Ship" from Conquest of Space was a travesty. It was very loosely based on VonBraun's Mars Glider, which was part of a larger armada of landing craft, supply ships and crew vessels. Not being an expert I won't discuss the wing loading characteristics of the ship or specifics of Mars atmospheric density, but suffice it to say, the wings of the landing gliders were extended significantly once more accurate atmospheric DATA was available. Space Ship did not exhibit this extended wingspan.
Also, how many months were the crew going to be trapped in that tiny ship both outbound and return flight? Talk about Cabin Fever. And supplies, what about supplies/expendables? That tiny little ship could carry enough fuel to escape Mars' gravity well as well as carry enough food and water for the round trip?
Then there are engines on the leading edges of the wings to act as breaking motors?! ACCKK....
Wonder what the special effects guys were drinking that day? All that extra mass and plumbing when all you have to do is reverse your craft and use the main engines.
The most questionable aspect was the dead-stick skid landing on an unknown/unprepared planet surface. At least VonBraun had planned on landing on ice in the polar regions.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Mars Glide Lander concept. It is very eye catching...
Matter of fact I liked it enough to build flying models of the bird.
Here is our HMAS Bonestell.

 

[The Artist]

These items are from about 5 years ago, but I just stumbled across them. It seems that the Aries-1B model from 2001: A Space Odyssey was found to still exist and is largely intact. The first link is a Cinefex article about the find, and the second link has a photographic survey of the model. I'm also posting two sample images from that survey. The survey includes notes here and there noting things like kit parts used. What led me to stumble across this was seeing a notice that Moebius Models has announced an injection molded kit of the Aries-1B for next year.

Aries 1B Archives - Cinefex Blog

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=69180

 

[The Artist]

One other thing to point out about Bob McCall's painting (which I love, by the way) is that he shows the Orion III making a forward exit from the station. If you pay attention to the docking scene in the movie, you get the feel that the Orion's wingspan is too great to pass through the core of the station. Since the Orion is shown docking nose first, it would have to back out of the station. Artistic license is a wonderful thing.

Robert McCall paintings (From his official website)

Concept and advertising paintings for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, showing the PanAm spaceplane and Discovery One

...An interesting film frame has surfaced recently courtesy of Doug Trumbull that shows McCall may have scaled the Pan Am Clipper about 10% smaller than the actual model to station ratio. The clip shows the Clipper in the landing bay, preparing for docking, and it barely clears the top/bottom of the bay. McCall's scaling allows for a couple more feet of clearing space.

I'd link to the pic, buy the bozo running Doug's site has it all set up in a flash nightmare, and it's a bitch and three-quarters to swipe an image from that morass.

 

[Grey Havoc]

 

[Grey Havoc]

https://spacethatneverwas.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153180449455

https://spacethatneverwas.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F154049352250

 

[The Artist]

You like the Nostromo? Then this will blow your mind:

the nostromo, part 3, the final shots

Here is the wrap up post to the final details and set up of the newly restored Nostromo miniature from 1979’s “Alien” it has been a while since the last posts were put regarding …

johneaves.wordpress.com

Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction | Los Angeles, 2020

Get ready for another record-breaking live auction of film and television memorabilia, coming to Los Angeles this summer...

propstore.com

This auction has passed, but the catalogue has some great detail shots of the filming model.

 

[JohnR]

I remember reading that much of the early design of the USS Enterprise was based on concepts by NASA.

 

[Richard N]

The 500 page auction catalog pdf is available here: https://content.propstore.com/auction/EMLA+LA/EMLA-LA2020_Catalog_OnlineView_B2.pdf

High quality pictures of items from many movies including Alien, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Trek, etc.

 

[The Artist]

The 500 page auction catalog pdf is available here: https://content.propstore.com/auction/EMLA+LA/EMLA-LA2020_Catalog_OnlineView_B2.pdf

High quality pictures of items from many movies including Alien, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Trek, etc.

This company is worth keeping an eye on if you have any interest in science fiction movies and TV shows. A few years back they ran an auction consisting exclusively of props, costumes, set pieces and set components from the Ender's Game movie. Their current upcoming auction is of a collection of movie posters.

 

[The Artist]

I remember reading that much of the early design of the USS Enterprise was based on concepts by NASA.

While this book does not go back that far, are you aware of this new book - Star Trek The Motion Picture: Inside the Art & Visual Effects by Jeff Bond & Gene Kozicki?

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Motion-Picture-Kozicki/dp/1789091993

Has good selections of the Ralph McQuarrie art for Planet Of The Titans and Phase II and of Robert McCall's concept art for the V'Ger memory images. It goes into the Bob Able & Associates period and Douglas Trumbull & John Dykstra's work to save the production. Interesting detail views of build of the Phase II and Motion Picture filming models. All in all, a great book for any Star Trek fan.

 

[Grey Havoc]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzP-_5gTCE

 

[Grey Havoc]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OqcvTcJJIQ

 

[Rhinocrates]

This thread deserves support, considering the popularity of the sf thread. I nominate the Leonora Christine from Poul Anderson's Tau Zero as an old favourite. Here she is, along with the Sagan from Clarke's The Songs of Distant Earth and the Eriophora from Peter Watts' 'Sunflower' series of short stories. All illustrated by Manchu (Philippe Bouchet).

BTW, the premise of Watts' series is to consider the implications of all the awfully convenient transport networks left by departed elder races that appear so often in sf (e.g., The Expanse). 'What about the poor bastards who had to build them?' he asks.

Here I am being an old man grumbling into his cocoa: What is there in The Expanse that couldn't have been written better by Larry Niven or Frederik Pohl fifty years ago?

 

[jeffb]

ISV Venture Star from Avatar - extra points for cool because it has the engines in front and pulls the rest of the ship along behind it.
Thrust is in the direction of the green arrow. Pic at bottom is the launch from Earth configuration (minus solar sail).

In the upper diagram is a green arrow at the ship's nose, indicating the direction of flight. The ship is 1.5 kilometers long. In the Sol departure phase, a battery of orbital lasers illuminates a 16 kilometer diameter photon sail attached to the ship's nose (sail not shown). A mirror shield on the ship's rear prevents the laser beams from damaging the ship. The lasers accelerate the ship at 1.5 g for 0.46 year. At the end of this the ship is moving at 70% the speed of light (210,000 kilometers per second).

Keep in mind that battery of orbital lasers is going to have to be absolutely huge if it is going to push a lightsail at 1.5 g. This is not going to be a tiny satellite in LEO.

 

[Rhinocrates]

ISV Venture Star from Avatar - extra points for cool because it has the engines in front and pulls the rest of the ship along behind it.
Thrust is in the direction of the green arrow. Pic at bottom is the launch from Earth configuration (minus solar sail).

In the upper diagram is a green arrow at the ship's nose, indicating the direction of flight. The ship is 1.5 kilometers long. In the Sol departure phase, a battery of orbital lasers illuminates a 16 kilometer diameter photon sail attached to the ship's nose (sail not shown). A mirror shield on the ship's rear prevents the laser beams from damaging the ship. The lasers accelerate the ship at 1.5 g for 0.46 year. At the end of this the ship is moving at 70% the speed of light (210,000 kilometers per second).

Keep in mind that battery of orbital lasers is going to have to be absolutely huge if it is going to push a lightsail at 1.5 g. This is not going to be a tiny satellite in LEO.

Yep, more from Winchell Chung's* Atomic Rockets here: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/slowerlight3.php#valkyrie

*Best wishes for a miraculous recovery of course, but thoughts and prayers are synonyms for 'useless'...

 

[Rhinocrates]

I always loved the work of Peter Elson. His his spaceships were not necessarily realistic, but they always looked as if they were. I'm probably not the only one here with a collection of Crowley's Terran Trade Authority books.

 

[jeffb]

Yep, more from Winchell Chung's* Atomic Rockets here: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/slowerlight3.php#valkyrie

*Best wishes for a miraculous recovery of course, but thoughts and prayers are synonyms for 'useless'...

Atomic Rockets is a fantastic resource. I'm very sorry to hear Winchell is ill, absolutely best wishes...

 

[martinbayer]

The 500 page auction catalog pdf is available here: https://content.propstore.com/auction/EMLA+LA/EMLA-LA2020_Catalog_OnlineView_B2.pdf

High quality pictures of items from many movies including Alien, Back to the Future, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Trek, etc.

As an aside, page 181 features a submarine model designed by an esteemed member of this forum...

 

[Tonton-42]

From Zyldav Aviatzitja Historical Service Archives
Post-3

I have build this model from non official plan I drew at the biginning of XXIst century ... The scale is 1/72.

 

[GTX]

I have long liked this style:

 

[T. A. Gardner]

This link is for the ship portion of a board for the game Traveller. The ships are all designed to one of several variants of the rules. There are pictures for some of the ships. There was an art gallery of these associated with the site but it hasn't been reopened after the site migrated to a new server.
Most are quite plausible and have to meet a pretty lengthy list of design criteria as part of the game rules.

https://www.travellerrpg.com/index.php?forums/the-fleet.16/

 

[T. A. Gardner]

Some starships designed with Traveller rules

The most iconic design in the game:

 

[publiusr]

Seeing "X"s now.

 

[X-39]

Not spacecraft per se, but space fighters, so i'll post the ones that i can think about:

The Gunstar from 1984's film "The last Starfighter" created by no other than Ron Cobb, the same one who crafted the "Nostromo" and alternative depictions of the "Derelict" spaceship in Ridley's Scott 1979 "Alien".

Gunstar

A Gunstar is the primary space superiority fighter and attack craft deployed by the Star League. Capable of both short and long-range space flight, the Gunstar is a two-person craft. It is approximately 20 meters in length and carries a complement of two operators, a pilot and a gunner. Its...

thelaststarfighter.fandom.com

[...] A Gunstar is capable of rapid acceleration. Gunstars can also abruptly stop their forward acceleration by using reverse thrusters.

​

​

 

[X-39]

Next we have the star of the Show! The "Starfury" from Babylon5, a design so realistic that NASA even showed interest in adopting the concept as a zero g forklift

SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury

Starfury has other uses. Please see Starfury (disambiguation) for other meanings. The Mk2 SA-23E Mitchell-Hyundyne Starfury is the Earthforce standard non-atmospheric deep space interdiction and recon fighter. It first entered service in the 2240s. By 2260 Earthforce began to supplement this...

babylon5.fandom.com

A Starfury carries a standard armament of four forward-firing Copeland JC466/A Pulse Discharge Cannons and two Copeland JC44 Pulse Discharge cannons with an additional eight external hard-points on the engine pylons to allow additional payloads such as missiles or slug tanks.[5] It was powered by a fusion reactor system and had thrusters on both the forward and rear along with stabilizers.

Curiously enough:

The Starfury was co-designed by Ron Thornton and Steve Burg as a means to showcase how Newtonian physics could be portrayed in space combat.[12] The configuration was intended as a nod towards Ron Cobb's design for the "Gunstar" from the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter