A WORD FROM BILL KEITH, TRAVELER SCOUT DESIGNER

I thought I'd re-post this letter from the Traveler Scout designer Bill Keith from five years ago.

"Hello Woodsy,

Good to hear from you. I'm afraid I've never seen the toy you mention (Scout 3), and so cannot claim it as inspitation for my art. I'm sure a number of designs and concepts went into the original art; I first drew the Traveller Scout shortly after I started submitting artwork to GDW, probably around 1981 or so. I first submitted artwork to GDW in 1980, I believe it was.

The one spaceship concept I remember that might have contributed something to the design was a model kit coming out of the early 1960s, when I was a space-fanatic teen. I don't remember the manufacturer [Monogram?] or even the name . . . but the model was of a manned orbiting laboratory idea floating around at the same time as the Dyna Soar project--probably around 1962.

The lab was essentialy a converted Atlas rocket as a top stage; attached to the outside were two ferry rockets or escape re-entry gliders with the familiar triangular shape and painted bright yellow. 

I always liked the utilitarian simplicity of those designs, and they turned up a lot in my personal art doodles in school notebooks and such. Eventually, something like them evolved into the Traveller Scout. 

If that is the case, then the Scout does indeed draw somewhat on the X-plane and Dyna Soar project designs, which I believe influenced the look of that model kit.

I'm fine with you posting my artwork, but I don't know what the current copyright status is for Traveller art. I don't think I own it, so the current Traveller copyright holders would be the ones to ask for permission, not me.

I hope this helps!

Cordially,

Bill Keith

Italics: I've inserted these to make for easier reading. Woodsy


WOTAN BUTTS IN - this sounds like the model that Bill refers to: Convair Atlas Space Station/MOL (1958) courtesy of Fantastic Plastic.