The Art and Graphics of Nick Stevens. Available for hire.I specialise in unbuilt space projects, and the spacecraft of the Soviet Union.
Real spacecraft that were made and flown
Right, I may twiddle and tweak a bit, but I am calling this one done.
I’ve done various configurations, but (at least so far), I am only doing one fully textured version. And that’s the Mars Pathfinder version above!
The others use generic textures, rather than depict one specific mission.
Here are a couple of perspective free sets:
Working on various elements of this rocket, with no particular plan.
I’ve also started looking at the various differing elements, such as the fairings and the number of boosters.
Anyhow, here are a selection of renders!
I decided I really ought to go back and finish up the Delta II rocket. There were no real blockers, I just let it slip somehow…
As is often the case I like a spacecraft with a distinctive shape, and it’s also cool that I can easily make several variations with different logos and numbers of boosters.
Here’s how it’s coming along!
Continue reading “Current Work In Progress, Delta II rocket”
Finishing up the historical Soviet rocket from 1935, “Aviaveento”.
As usual everything done in Lightwave 3d, this one os based on some old Russian language books I bought on Ebay.
I’m a little unsure abut the long indented areas along the main hull. The references were a bit contradictory. But all those knobbly rivets were really there!
Continue reading ““AVIAVEENTO” “АВИАВНИТО” Historic soviet rocket”
I’ve restarted working on the models I did of the manned Soviet Lunar program, with a view to taking them to the next level.
I’m starting with the rotating gantry, here are the old and new versions of the hub:
Continue reading “N-1 – Restarting work on the Manned Soviet Lunar Program.”
I did all the custom graphics for this book, and am waiting for my copy to arrive.
It is about getting the cost of reaching orbit down to a managable level, and the history of how we have got here. It includes an extensive history or space exploration.
And there’s a considerable amount about the non-rotating skyhook, which was the focus of my graphics work.
I am particularly pround of the video, which shows a complete mission. This includes how a craft would rendezvour with the lower end of the skyhook, and get haulled up to the main station. It would then be transferred to the upper end, and reeled out before being released.
All visuals by me, and the soundtrack, (Done using the SmartSound system).
Continue reading “Opening the High Frontier – the book is out!”
Identifying N-1 variants. I mentioned this briefly in an earlier post, which featured some images I stitched together from video, but here it is in a bit more depth.
You are generally trying to distinguish between 5 different N-1 variants in photographs, the four that flew, and the weight model. This is most easily done via the colours, though there are several other differences.
This post is not about ALL the differences between the variants, just about how to tell which rocket is which.
This is easy to identify, as it is the only one with entirely grey first and second stages. The third stage is half white, with the white part facing upwards on the transporter, which is the side away from the gantry once the rocket has been erected. It was transported to the pad in winter, and there are photos of it with snow on.
Note that there was no green on any of the N-1 variants! This is a widely held misconception, as many museums show it as green, (including the London science museum, and many Russian museums too). Olive green was only used to camouflage missiles, (and green would make lousy camouflage in Baikonur at the best of times). This error has spread to the point where photographs have been tinted to make them look green). And sometimes it was just poor quality film stock.
The NK-33 engines were originally built for the Soviet Moon Rocket, the N-1. (Under the designation of NK-15, and NK-15V for the high altitude version). This design was a direct result of a blazing row between the Chief Designer, (Sergey Korolev), and the best rocket engine designer, Valentin Glushko. Glushko wanted to use propellants which Korolov considered far too dangerous. So Korolev turned to Nikolai Kuznetsov, who up until that point had only designed engines for jet aircraft. Large rocket engines are notoriously difficult to design, due to combustion instability, so they were pretty much forced into a large number of smaller engines.
Many consider this a key reason for the failure of the N-1 program.
I was dithering over what to title this N-1 post. New photos? Not exactly new, as they are based on old video, and (in most cases) stitched together from video that panned around.
Anyway, here are some photos I put together from video. If you are interested in the Manned Soviet Lunar program, it’s worth following Roscosmos on YouTube – they seem to be slowly restoring and releasing the various bits of N-1 footage at higher quality, and releasing it piecemeal in the items on the history of space exploration.
The quality of these photos is highly variable, (by which I mean that some are awful!), but given the shortage of N-1 references, I hope they will prove useful.
Let’s start with the banner image, showing the L3 (upper) section, of the N1-5L This is a pretty good shot of the farings that cover the parts that would reach the moon.
It’s worth noticing the crew escape system on the left:
Note how the exhaust holes near the tip are two different sizes. This is so that, if it is used, it will carry the crew to one side, and away from the main rocket.
I’m surprised to see I have not mentioned this yet here on my blog!
A few years ago Matt Johnson approached me with the idea of putting together a book on the Soviet moon rocket, the N-1. I had previously given him some references for making a flying model, and he thought it would be cool to put together a book gathering the research, and using my CGI to illustrate it.
Here’s what we came out with!
(The picture links to the store at ARA Press, where I think you can still buy a copy).
The idea was that it would combine a history of the program with a detailed modeller guide. If I had known the effort it would take I would probably never have signed up! But with the help of some Russian friends, notably Axenadart Schliadinsky, we set about it. Continue reading “N-1 For the Moon and Mars – Part 1”
