D is for Delta - S is for Scout

I'm finally back after being relegated to the virtual wilderness of being offline. Technical issues are now resolved thanks to a few lengthy phone calls to tech helplines. Bill Gates has a lot to answer for, no wonder I only use Macs!

Anyway - I was wondering about the question of the shape of the Scout craft and its similarity to the Star Destroyer et al. Arthur C Clarkes 'Man in Space' book from the LIFE series has a number of beautiful paintings by Ed Valigursky, and among them is the shuttle concept pictured above. This bears a close resemblance to the red Scout toy, but if you look at the development of the delta wing in aerodynamics, its long been a favourite of designers in pursuit of speed. During the last years of the second world war, german engineers came up with a host of innovative and revolutionary concepts for fighters, bombers and missiles. Among them was the Lippisch ramjet powered fighter, which is basically two truncated delta wings fused together.
See here: www.luft46.com/lippisch/lip13a.html.
Theres a cracking model website www.fantastic-plastic.com/

'Fantastic Plastic' has built up examples of classic space models from the early days of plastic kits to the present. The site owner Alan Ury, has catagorised the kits into easy to find sections based on decade. He has a resin kit of he Lippisch DM-1 and other later models such as the 1958 delta winged passenger jet and the Monogram Hypersonic X-30. I managed to find the last kit in its commercial version - its not a complex model by any means, basically a top and bottom fuselage and a few control surfaces. Im thinking of converting it into a swordesque shuttle/glider combination. I just need to find a suitable piggyback glider...