Rockwell USAF RLV model

[Triton]

"USAF RLV Rockwell International" space shuttle model found on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rockwell-International-USAF-RLV-Space-Shuttle-Model-/180655394052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0fe68d04

Real concept? Or speculation from Far East craftsmen?

 

[Orionblamblam]

That's... hmm. There are bits of the design that are clearly from an earlier version of the shuttle (RCS pods on the wingtips, smaller, lower OMS pods, etc), and then there are design aspects that are really, really unusual (the pointy nose jumps out). And by this stage in the Shuttle development, the USAF was *not* going to get their own. And the term "RLV" seems quite an anachronism. But it *looks* like a decades-old factory model.

On the whole, it gives me an uncomfortableness.

 

[starviking]

Didn't the Shuttle at that stage also have flip-out RCV assemblies near the nose?

Also, seems to be too much detail on the crew hatch for such an early concept - and the payload bay doors seem to have a hump at centreline that IIRC represents a payload arm storage area - which I don't think gels with the positioning of the ventral docking/manouvering windows near the payload bay.