Just what is the SWORD scale? It's taxed my addled brain for a while. I always start with what I think is easy, the biggest spacecraft in the SWORD fleet must be the Saturn V rocket, especially when sat on the mobile crawler, which we know when both together, were the 'biggest vehicle in the world'. But that's the real world, not Century 21. Just how big was Zero-X, the Nuclear Ferry or the Booster Rocket? Going to the source must be the answer, an understanding of the comic strip you would think. Not so. Take a look at this illustration below from SOLO 20, June 1967.
Lots of SWORD for sure: PF2, PF3 (below) and NF and Booster Rocket (above). But the size comparison is impossible because of perspective. So, based on what I think I know, here's my best guess at a SWORD scale - in diagrammatic and font size representations below. Any other ideas/scales would be welcomed particularly anyone with any graphic skills whatsoever unlike yours truly!
Scout 1,2,3
Prospector Bug Ranger TF1,2,3
PF1 PF2 PF3
Saturn V Zero X Nuclear Ferry Booster
As you know, I have been thinking about this very thing in terms of making virtual models of Spacex vehicles. I decided on a person as the unit of scale: ie, if you were to build a vehicle around a seated astronaut, how big would it be?
ReplyDeleteOf course, there are no definitive scales for either SWORD or Spacex, so a great deal of it is going to be personal interpretation. But what a fascinating project! Does anyone else have thoughts on actual sizes of the craft?
Here are two approaches to determining the size of Zero X using the film, "Thunderbirds Are Go!":
ReplyDelete(1) We can see the size of the MEV section relative to the pilots. So we can work up from there.
(2) We can work out the size of Zero X relative to Thunderbird 2. And the length of TB2 has been given (in one of the annuals, I think). So a length can be determined from that.
Well, from that old design study, we have dimensions for the Nuclear Ferry. I suppose the size of the Booster Rocket could be determined by taking the diameter of the lander as equivalent to that of a Gemini capsule, as per THAT design study. Dimesions for the Saturn V are available, as are that for the Dyna-Soar and Space Glider. As for the rest, scale from the pilot figures!
ReplyDeleteGrif